My first D-SLR, advice please

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TJenkos

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Tom
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Hey all,

Just made a post in the 'Welcome' page but this is more suited here.

Im looking around at D-SLR's and have read a few reviews, but just wanted a view from the professionals about what I should be going for..

Budget wise, Im looking at £400 but could stretch to £500 if its worth the push.

Im looking at mainly shooting motorsport and vehicles, with some landscape..

Not used a D-SLR before, but have had a Fuji S6500 bridge..

The possibilites I have searched are;

Nikon D60

Canon EOS 1000D

Canon EOS 450D

Sony Alpha 300

IIRC the 450d is on offer at my local Jessops for £480 and seems top all round, highly used by many photographers but is that little bit more than the rest. Is it worth going the extra mile?

Thanks
 
I would really recommend going to a shop where you can hold them all. Its your camera, and you want it to be comfortable (and hopefully somewhat intuitive) to use! Also bear in mind that you are buying into a system, so worth looking at what extras/lenses you might want, as glass can be very much more expensive than the body! Hope this helps!
 
I use a Sony a200 and am very happy with it, however if i'd had a little extra money at the time i'd have (maybe) gone for the 450D.

If you go for a Nikon Dxx or Sony Alpha xxx, you might have a little money left over for a decent enough starter zoom lens, such as a Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 APO or similar, which you'll need if you're shooting motor racing etc.

I think at the lower end of the DSLR market, there isn't a great deal of difference in quality between the various brands, what's more important are factors like how the camera feels in your hands and how you find the layout of the buttons etc
 
unless you need the Liveview & tilting LCD then imo the A200 is better value than the A300.
 
As Atti has said get out there and have a play with all of the options in a shop. Until I held one I wanted a Canon but it was just not right - tried the Nikon and it felt much better :thumbs:

Don't forget to consider second hand as well. You can get some cracking deals in the for sale section on here and other places.

Good luck - oh and Welcome to TP :wave:
 
Forgot to add, that one upside of having the Sony lens mount is the ability to use "old" minolta lenses. Meaning you can get reasonable quality glass for cheap! One downside is the proprietary hot shoe for adding a flash.
 
Mustn't hang about!

After your advice, I have visited Jessops where they had an offer I couldn't refuse, and am now £560 down!

I ended up going for the Sony Alpha 200, along with a Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 lens, 2 UV filters, Sandisk Extreme III 4GB and a camera bag.. along with 3 years cover.

Now its time to get shooting :D
 
I don't think you'll regret your purchase, though I do feel you erred in buying your Tamron lens and mem card, I got the very same lens from ebay for £50 and the mem cards are much cheaper, but besides that, I'm sure you will be very happy with your purchase, don't forget to post your pics here for all to see and critic ;) good luck :D
 
strandville said:
I don't think you'll regret your purchase, though I do feel you erred in buying your Tamron lens and mem card, I got the very same lens from ebay for £50 and the mem cards are much cheaper, but besides that, I'm sure you will be very happy with your purchase, don't forget to post your pics here for all to see and critic ;) good luck :D
Click to expand...

I have to agree with the above, I think you got stung a little bit on the Jessops deal:shake:

However, I doubt you'll regret buying the Alpha, not many people do!:thumbs:
 
probably the 3 year warranty that they sold him that was the biggest sting ...
 
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