Help with buying a camera

E

Ecto Kid

Suspended / Banned
Messages
7
Name
Parminder
Edit My Images
No
I am going to be starting an online course in photography and I've been told that I need a camera with manual settings, so I looked into this and found that my only options are ether a DSLR or a bridge camera.

I don't want the expense of the DSLR since i'm just starting out so that leaves me to choose a bridge camera.

I was wondering anyone can give me any suggestions on a good all rounder camera with a budget of £200 - £250 new or second hand, the photography I like to do is sports, wildlife, landscape and buildings e.g cityscapes, ruins etc. :help:

Many Thanks in advance for your help.
 
you'd be much better buying a decent 2nd hand DSLR or a brand new entry level one like my Nikon D40 or a D40x if you need a higher MP rating. should be around the same budget.
:thumbs:
 
I disagree, I think if you're on a budget and starting out a decent bridge could be the way to go. For the same money as the second hand dslr you'll get a good all-rounder with macro capability and telephoto capability that would cost you extra (more lenses!) on a dslr.

I couldnt tell you what is good nowadays but try and get a dslr style one, ie aperture/shutter settings easy to adjust on scroll wheels rather than buried in 5-deep nested menus, easy manual focus, tripod mount etc... One with a filter thread might also be handy.
 
If your after a good bridge camera the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38 would be a good start @ around £250 - although you cound pick up a good second hand DSLR for around £300 with perhaps a couple of kits lens like the samsung gx10 or Pentax k10d.

The DSLR will help build your skill more, than a bridge camera. Getting the camera off auto is the key to learning photography :-)
 
Hi everyone thanks for you suggestions.
Reading most of your comments they suggest that a DSLR is the way to go, so I have been reading reviews and looking @ prices & came across the sony alpha a100 for around £250 obviously second hand would this be OK.
 
sony is a good choice

but to shoot all these on a budget:
sports, wildlife, landscape and buildings e.g cityscapes, ruins will be a little tricky from one lens.

i.e kit lens 18-55, won't have the reach for wildlife.
personally building shots are best with a wide angle etc.

if yoyr budget was more i have an a300
 
I think it depends how likely it is for you to continue.
A bridge camera I suspect is not likely to hold its value second hand. A cheap second hand or primary body for a DSLR, is also not going to hold a lot of value in two years. However lenses will.
If you are going to continue with photography, then there is going to be little return on a bridge. If you are not going to continue, then the add (optional) extra complexity of a DSLR is not going to be of benefit.
 
I have just got my first DSLR after a very happy year snapping away with a bridge camera (Panasonic FZ8) - and I'm really glad I went for the bridge first as it was a cheap (£150) way of getting into photography and was very versatile. I don't have a lot of money and to build up the lenses I would need to match the bridge camera's versatility is going to take time and a lot more cash! I'll definately be keeping it as well for taking out when I havn't got the room or inclination to carry around a DSLR.

THE-BIG-MAN-SAYS has a bridge camera up for sale in the classifieds that you might be interested in:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=169738
 
For £250 you could get:

Canon EOS 300D (6 megapixels) - about £140 or even lower; if you're lucky you might find a 10D for this price
Canon EF-S 18-55 - about £40 - gives you an all-purpose zoom, including a reasonable wide angle; if you can afford an additional £30, get the IS version
Canon EF 50 f/1.8 MkII - about £65 - gives you a low-light and portrait lens

The 300D will continue depreciating as time goes on but you are likely to be able to sell the other 2 lenses for what you paid for them when you are ready to move up.

The 300D is an older digital camera but at the time had the same image quality as the Canon EOS 10D, it was just built a bit cheaper. It was my first DSLR and the results I got with it were much better than any compact camera I've ever had, especially at higher ISO's. I paid around £700 for it in 2004 and I'm still impressed with the pictures I took with it 5 years ago, even though I've now moved up to a 5D.

I'm sure you could construct a similar scenario for an older Nikon body, say the Nikon D70, but I'm a Canon user myself so I know more about 2nd hand prices for Canon.
 
maarten.dhaese said:
For £250 you could get:

Canon EOS 300D (6 megapixels) - about £140 or even lower; if you're lucky you might find a 10D for this price
Canon EF-S 18-55 - about £40 - gives you an all-purpose zoom, including a reasonable wide angle; if you can afford an additional £30, get the IS version
Canon EF 50 f/1.8 MkII - about £65 - gives you a low-light and portrait lens
Click to expand...

Hi m8 have been looking into the 2 canon cameras you mentioned and came across a Canon EOS 300D plus the standard EF 18-55 mm lens £165 including delivery, so I was wondering what sort of photography am I limited to with this lens.

Many Thanks.
 
You can get a brand new A200 with kit lens from Currys at the moment for 250 (only seen this instore though) and preowned A200s can easily be picked up in the classified section for around £200. These will be infinitely better than a bridge camera and you'll feel like a proper photographer ;)
 
Can't fault the bridge camera I had a Fuji S9600 for about a year. It has lots of manual features and shoots in raw (very slowly but raw non the less) it gave very acceptable results and i'm glad i bought it before my 40D. I believe it is discontinued now but was very reasonable at the time and a good practice camera. Having said that a DSLR like the 1000D will give better results and give much more longevity.
 
I agree with others that the DSLR route is the one to take, but if you decide against it you will no doubt find dozens of bridge cameras within your budget.

My opinion, FWIW, is that you should find yourself a camera that is easy to use in manual mode, i.e. the aperture and shutter controls can be accessed without taking your eye from the viewfinder.

Rob
 
In reponse to your question about the limitations of the EOS 300D:

- Fast-moving action (sports) will be difficult to track, but that's true of all entry-level bodies (350D, 400D, 450D, 500D, 1000D)
- If you go above ISO 400, you will see noise in your pictures, quite a lot at ISO 1600. However, this will still be a lot better than the results you would get from any compact camera (such as the G9 etc.). Converting to Black and White is a good idea if you need to shoot at ISO 1600 with a 300D. Make sure you get the Canon solutions CD with the body you will buy because this will give you Canon Digital Photo Professional, which is a software package that you can use to clean up noise in your shots.
- With 6 megapixels, you will be comfortably able to print high quality up to A4.
- The camera will be slower to operate as compared to more recent models: turning it on will be a bit slower, image review will be slower.
- The LCD is rather small compared to today's standards.

However, if you intend to shoot landscapes and people, the limitations above don't matter that much. I've used it for a holiday in New Zealand and Norway a few years ago and my shots at ISO 100 - 200 are very very good in terms of image quality.

Do you have an idea on what you want to use it for primarily? If you can stretch your budget there are better alternatives obviously, but I was trying to give you an option that fits within your budget.

Also, it's always a better idea to spend more money on lenses than on the camera body; lenses keep their value well whereas camera bodies don't.

In the context of that, the IS version of the Canon EF-S 18-55 is supposed to be better optically and it has image stabilisation which is very useful for subjects that are static (i.e. don't move around). It's only about 30 GBP more than the non-IS version.
 
maarten.dhaese said:
In reponse to your question about the limitations of the EOS 300D:

- Fast-moving action (sports) will be difficult to track, but that's true of all entry-level bodies (350D, 400D, 450D, 500D, 1000D)
- If you go above ISO 400, you will see noise in your pictures, quite a lot at ISO 1600. However, this will still be a lot better than the results you would get from any compact camera (such as the G9 etc.). Converting to Black and White is a good idea if you need to shoot at ISO 1600 with a 300D. Make sure you get the Canon solutions CD with the body you will buy because this will give you Canon Digital Photo Professional, which is a software package that you can use to clean up noise in your shots.
- With 6 megapixels, you will be comfortably able to print high quality up to A4.
- The camera will be slower to operate as compared to more recent models: turning it on will be a bit slower, image review will be slower.
- The LCD is rather small compared to today's standards.

However, if you intend to shoot landscapes and people, the limitations above don't matter that much. I've used it for a holiday in New Zealand and Norway a few years ago and my shots at ISO 100 - 200 are very very good in terms of image quality.

Do you have an idea on what you want to use it for primarily? If you can stretch your budget there are better alternatives obviously, but I was trying to give you an option that fits within your budget.

Also, it's always a better idea to spend more money on lenses than on the camera body; lenses keep their value well whereas camera bodies don't.

In the context of that, the IS version of the Canon EF-S 18-55 is supposed to be better optically and it has image stabilisation which is very useful for subjects that are static (i.e. don't move around). It's only about 30 GBP more than the non-IS version.
Click to expand...
Hi m8 what I'll be using it for is a bit of everything but not straight away.

I have also come across a Canon EOS 350D with standard 18-50 macro lens + 75-300 lens for £180.

I thought I would get your advice on what you think.

Many Thanks.
 
Canon EOS 350D with standard 18-50 macro lens + 75-300 lens for £180 is an excellent price and you should go for it in my opinion. It's as if you are getting the 350D for less than £100!

I have an 350D (amongst others) and I find it to be a very capable camera.
 
You could try a cheaper hobby like formula 1 racing, photography is a slippery slope to "I want one of those". I would appreciate the link to the On-line course
 
I've also had the 350D and it was quite a big improvement over the 300D. Quicker operation, quicker review of images, bigger screen, 8 megapixels instead of only 6, etc. If it fits your budget, it's a much better camera.

You say 18-50 macro and 75-300. Are both of these Canon lenses or is the 18 50 a Sigma lens? Is it the Sigma 18 50 f/2.8 macro?

If you let me know the make of the lenses I can give you a better idea if it's a good deal or not. It certainly sounds like a good price for everything you're getting!

Here's a link to some pictures I took with the 300D, the Canon EF 17-40 f/4.0 L, the Canon EF 50 f/1.4 and the Sigma 70 300 APO Macro in Norway in 2005:

http://dhaese.smugmug.com/Travel/2005-07-Norway/933645_GK2w3#P-1-16
 
micloi said:
Canon EOS 350D with standard 18-50 macro lens + 75-300 lens for £180 is an excellent price and you should go for it in my opinion. It's as if you are getting the 350D for less than £100!

I have an 350D (amongst others) and I find it to be a very capable camera.
Click to expand...

Agree - great price for a kit that gives you a good range. As said a 'fast' lens for low light/portrait use may be useful but that is a reasonably cheap add-on.

My only question would be are you supposed to be getting a digital or a film camera? Some courses require film and you do the processing etc yourself.

You may also need a flash, have they given you a list of requirements?
 
Mike54 said:
You could try a cheaper hobby like formula 1 racing, photography is a slippery slope to "I want one of those". I would appreciate the link to the On-line course
Click to expand...

Hi m8 if your interested in the link for the on-line course that I'm starting it is as follows:-

http://www.dmcphotographycollege.com/index.asp

You can start the courses when you want & you can pay in full or instalments, they also do outings at a cost as well.

Many Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top