moving to dslr

Creaney

Creaney

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Aaron
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hello ive been using my Panasonic fz38 for around 2years now and I feel I am ready for the jump up to dslr photography.

I mostly take pictures of cars but using the camera for holidays trips away scenery etc etc is also important

my budget is around the 500 mark. I was thinking of a nikond90 and a fixed 50mm 1.8 lens to start me out. Opinions are greatly appreciated :thumbs:

later down the line a want a 10-24 sigma or tamron so choose the body accordingly thanks
 
I have class so I dont use Nikon :). Would you consider Canon? Do you want new or would you consider 2nd hand?
 
haha. yes I would consider either or canon or nikon and with my budget I think im better off going for something second hand!
 
Seeing as this would be your first step into the world of Digital SLR's, may I make a suggestion ?
I myself have recently taken the plunge into the DSLR world and I walked into Jessops with a £500 budget and walked out with the following.....

A Canon EOS 1100D
Tamron 70-300mm Telefoto lens
Memory Card
UV Filters for both lenses
Protective Screen Plastic
Camera Bag

All for £490, which I believe has now been reduced, so, well worth checking out.
The 1100D is an ideal entry level camera, admittedly there are others around the same price, but, this is the only one I can truly comment on due to personal experience.

Hope this helps.
 
I would advise you do go in to Jessops or somewhere and have a play about with all the cameras and see what you like. the 1100D Kry mentioned above is what I started on and served me well to get to grips with a DSLR which really does take a while to get used to.

Second hand a 40D would cost you around £300 then a 50MM 1.8 say £60, that is a good combo and a bargin at the price. leavign you money to save for another lens. The 40D does take CF cards so you would have to buy if you didnt have.

If video is important the there is the 500D or 550D which are both within your budget second hand with money left over.

The XXXD models are smaller than the 40D and 50D and IMO not as user friendly. The 40D and 50D are also bigger and much better made. Again go and get a hands on feel for all of them..... even Niiii... Niicck... oh good I cant even say it.
 
Have you considered Pentax?

They do not have anywhere as big dealership as Canon or Nikon and the range of their own lenses is more limited, but there are very good third party lenses that will cover the range that most folks will want.

Will Pentax cameras produce better photos than Canon and Nikon or any other makers? No they won't, but they will be just as good. The same can be said for other manufacturers too.

An advantage of Pentax is that any Pentax K mount lens made from about 1975 onwards will fit the Pentax DSLRs and there are some good cheap lenses available second hand. Depending on the age of the lens you may lose some or all of the auto functions which may or may not be important - for birds in flight a good quick auto focus is, at the very least, extremely useful; for landscapes a fully manual lens is no handicap.

Pentax image stabilisation is in the camera body rather than the lens, so the lenses tend to be simpler in construction and any lens used, no matter how old, becomes a stabilised lens.

Dave
 
I think your decision should depend on if you plan on if you plan on upgrading at some point in the future. In that case an upper entry level body like the D5100, could be a better move than a basic entry level like the D3100, or as you suggested you could get a mid range camera like the D90 because it will probably be longer before you find the limits of the camera. :) DSLR's don't take too long to get to grips with the basics either. :)
 
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Best advice is go to your camera shop, try out as many camera's as possible and choice one that you feel comfortable holding and operating.

Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Panasonic, Olympus all make good entry level camera's and performance is pretty much of a muchness. If you can avoid buying the kits (ie camera and lens(es), buy camera body and lens separately) as they ain't great, but down to your budget.

You don't have to buy new, there are some fantastic older models out there, you'll get for for your $$$

Nikon D90/80
Canon 40/50D
(leave recommendation upto the sony/pentax owners)

Personally I would avoid the nikon 3000/3100/5000/5100 camera, its personal choice, but with no inbuilt focus motor, you losing out on a world of decent older lenses from nikon, think its a major limitation of those camera's, although not knocking there performance in any other way.
 
pete.rush said:
Personally I would avoid the nikon 3000/3100/5000/5100 camera, its personal choice, but with no inbuilt focus motor, you losing out on a world of decent older lenses from nikon, think its a major limitation of those camera's, although not knocking there performance in any other way.
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I totally agree. and I wouldn't be able to get my 50mm 1.8 that I have my heart set on. I am off work Monday so going to take a trip to a camera shop and take a feel and see what I feel comfortable with
 
the 50mm 1.8 is a really sharp lens but for example if you buy a D90 and a 50mm 1.8G it won't be 50mm because the body is dx and the lens is fx, to really get around 50mm you would need to buy a 35mm DX 1.8G because if you use the DX lens on a DX body that will be the same as using the 50mm on a FX body, its worth considering if you havnt already thought about it because i was going to buy the 50mm for my D200 which is DX but after i realised i really wouldn't be getting 50mm i found the 35mm DX lens and that is equivalent to 52.5mm approximately if using a FX body and FX lens
 
pete.rush said:
Personally I would avoid the nikon 3000/3100/5000/5100 camera, its personal choice, but with no inbuilt focus motor, you losing out on a world of decent older lenses from nikon, think its a major limitation of those camera's, although not knocking there performance in any other way.
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Another thing to think about regarding the focus motor is, as a friend of mine found out, if the motor goes wrong in camera you can't use the camera, but if its a motor in the lens that goes wrong, at least you can still use your camera with another lens.
 
jjjeeezz picking a new camera is going to be harder than expected :D
 
tbh ive no reason at all. ive found 550d's on ebay for similar money. think its 370 delivered for the body only then id buy a nifty fifty second hand off here! but im just trying to get the best camera for the £
 
I would suggest going to your local camera shop and handling the two cameras and see what each one feels like (D90 + 550d).

I thought you had made up your mind for the D90. I just sold all my Nikon gear 2 x D300s and lenses due to illness and not using them enough. I decided to get a bridge camera and the Nikon P510 took my fancy, I read up on other cameras but I had decided to go for the one that took my fancy and so far I haven't been disappointed.
 
Personally I wouldn't buy a dead fly from ebay. If it was my decision I would buy the one from TP, because you know you are not going to get ripped off and if there are any problems it WILL get sorted.
 
I'd just like to throw in that coming from a bridge camera with an 18x zoom - having to stick with a single fixed focus lens is probably going to frustrate you very rapidly. IMHO you would be better off with the kit lens to begin with so at least you have some flexibility.
 
Creaney said:
so the d90 is a much better camera than the 550d going buy that site!
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While personally I would consider the D90 a better camera than the 550D for most applications (larger body with more buttons makes for nicer shooting, while the 550D is more compact and more of the features are accessed in menus), I would never pay any attention to anything on snapsort.com it puts far far to much weight on numbers which are next to insignificant to 99% of people using either camera and takes numbers out of context (it uses DxO sensor ratings as a measure of image quality, which it is not).
 
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ahhhh your confusing me even more now haha:D
 
PJWebster said:
I'd just like to throw in that coming from a bridge camera with an 18x zoom - having to stick with a single fixed focus lens is probably going to frustrate you very rapidly. IMHO you would be better off with the kit lens to begin with so at least you have some flexibility.
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ive been told that before. but i very rarely use my zoom tbh i mainly take pictures of cars and transport at shows and shoots etc so i am able to be as close as i like! My legs will be the zoom for the foreseeable future :D
 
Creaney said:
ive been told that before. but i very rarely use my zoom tbh i mainly take pictures of cars and transport at shows and shoots etc so i am able to be as close as i like! My legs will be the zoom for the foreseeable future :D
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I'd go for the D90 if Nikon and Canon are the only brands you are looking into. If not I'd consider stretching the budget a tad and looking for a second hand K-5. If not maybe a K-7 which will fit the budget just fine.

The K-7 offers similar IQ and nicer JPEG OOC but you also get a better built/weather sealed and smaller/lighter body, in body IS and a huge collection of lenses including some rather great pancake primes. If you decide to go for the K-5 you also get D7k levels of IQ as well. What neither of the Pentax excel at is video shooting and AF speeds (depending on lens).

Or you could even get a second hand K-r for a lot less + the 35mm 2.4 or the 50mm 1.8 for around 350 all in and when you decide that you have outgrown the K-r go for the brand new K-30 which looks line an amazing mid range DSLR (Weather sealing, IBIS, pentaprism, two wheels) things that you find on £800+ cameras on the other brands plus the rather great 16mp sensor found on the D7K/K-5.

I made the jump from a Nikon to Pentax and I have not regretted it one bit. IBIS is fantastic to have and all the DA* lenses and the K-5 feel so well built while remaining relatively small.
 
decided on a nikon d90 purchased one from the classifieds on here cant wait till it arrives
 
Welcome to the never ending wallet drain of DSLR photography :bonk:

Enjoy it :thumbs:
 
You won't regret buying a D90 :thumbs:
 
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