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Swiss Deano

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Hi guys

This question must frustrate the heck out of the regs so I apologise in advance....

I want to buy a DSLR - my first. I have many years ago used an old-school SLR which I loved and I want to get back into it.

For a budget of around £400 what would you recommend me to start out with (body and lens)? My understanding is that nikon/canon are basically the only brands to consider. I want something for general use - family shots and landscapes/sky/outdoors so it I guess will need to be fairly generic

What are the features I should be looking out for for comparison?

how important is DPI / multi shot feature / screen / etc etc.

I've tried reading threads on here but haven't really found a specific resource to pluder. f anyone can maybe point me in the general direction of some decent threads to save time i'd be very grateful

Thanks
 
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I wouldn't rule out the other brands so quickly. Sony have stopped making DSLR's in the strictest sense of the word but their SLT offerings are functionally similar and have a good reputations. Pentax are also worth a good look. It's probably true that Nikon and Canon have a larger following and this is helpful in some ways particularly when looking for secondhand gear or if you work in fields where more specilaised lenses are required.

For the budding amateur, I don't think there is anything to separate them which means it's basically down to personal preference. Two things that are well worth considering though: Firstly what do your friends/family use? If you can borrow the odd lens that could be a big help. Secondly ergonomics. Each manufacturer's bodies feel very different to use and you need to be comfortable with whatever you're shooting with. Worth popping down to your local camera shop and having a play with a few even if it's just to get some ideas at this stage.
 
For £400 an entry level camera with kit lens will do it.
They are very capable, have pretty much the same features and controls and the standard kit lens provides a good range from widish to short telephoto covering your generic needs (which is exactly what they are for)

Personally I have no allegance and would happily use any from Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax etc,. but others seems to feel very strongly about the camera being right for them so you may want to try a few out and see which feels best to you.
 
The right camera for YOU is

The camera that feels most comfortable in YOUR hands. YOU after all will be holding it not us.

It will be the one that has a control and menu layout YOU find most intuitive.

It will be the one that fits YOUR budget

So go to the shops and try as many as you can. Remember all the cameras can take good shots, it is you however that will make them great.
 
PsiFox said:
The right camera for YOU is

The camera that feels most comfortable in YOUR hands. YOU after all will be holding it not us.

It will be the one that has a control and menu layout YOU find most intuitive.

It will be the one that fits YOUR budget

So go to the shops and try as many as you can. Remember all the cameras can take good shots, it is you however that will make them great.
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WHS
 
ok, thanks.

a number of people have mentioned the handling being a draw - i have a decent shop around the corner from me I need to go and check out. the scary thing as a newbie is not knowing what the features are and whether or not any models have reputations for being substandard/quick to break/inferior to other models in the same range. I would rather thavbe a camera that takes nice pics than one which feels great and the menus are great but has annoying idiosyncrasies. I guess with my budget I cannot be too choosy though

So far, based on price, reviews and features I'm drawn towards one of the nikon d3100's as prices are very competitive right now(new) - meaning I might even be able to buy myself an additional lens

as a second lens based on the assumptions that i'll be shooting the kids(with the camera obv - although their behaviour occasionally would warrant something high calibre :lol: ) my partner and mainly trees / landscapes, can you recommend what I should be looking for please?

sorry for the questions
 
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Swiss Deano said:
Hi guys
I want to buy a DSLR - my first. I have many years ago used an old-school SLR which I loved and I want to get back into it.

For a budget of around £400 what would you recommend me to start out with (body and lens)?
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It depends what your priorities are but personally I'd forget about mp couts, frame rates and even screen sizes.

Personally upon moving from SLR to DSLR I found the latter body and lens combination bulky and heavy and found that I was happiest shooting with a relatively compact body and prime combination. My DSLR does get used but mostly these days I use a Panasonic G1 compact system camera and a manual prime lens and as that combo is relatively compact and light and the rear screen can be turned to the body I find it quite a film like experience. Perhaps you could add compact system cameras to your possible shopping list?

With your budget you're probably going to be looking at quite an entry level body and lens combination unless you're willing to look at used items too?

As previously mentioned, Canon and Nikon are the two top players in DSLR's at the moment but you could certainly look at Sony and others too.
 
Swiss Deano said:
ok, thanks.

a number of people have mentioned the handling being a draw - i have a decent shop around the corner from me I need to go and check out. the scary thing as a newbie is not knowing what the features are and whether or not any models have reputations for being substandard/quick to break/inferior to other models in the same range. I would rather thavbe a camera that takes nice pics than one which feels great and the menus are great but has annoying idiosyncrasies. I guess with my budget I cannot be too choosy though

So far, based on price, reviews and features I'm drawn towards one of the nikon d3100's as prices are very competitive right now(new) - meaning I might even be able to buy myself an additional lens

as a second lens based on the assumptions that i'll be shooting the kids(with the camera obv - although their behaviour occasionally would warrant something high calibre :lol: ) my partner and mainly trees / landscapes, can you recommend what I should be looking for please?

sorry for the questions
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None of them are particularly substandard or prone to break - as a very general rule all of the Canons have great feature sets and so the cheaper ones have lower build quality, whereas the Nikons will miss features to get the price down, so the build feels better. But that's a massive generalisation.

Another massive generalisation; if you go for a Sony or Pentax or similar, you'll get more features for your money, Canon and Nikon can keep their prices higher because they know that anyone with aspirations to be a pro will go to them.

Personally I had a schoolboy crush on a Canon T90 when I all I could afford was cheaper manufacturers - so when I decided to buy an AF camera and I could afford to be choosy, I went back to my first love and bought Canon.
 
Swiss Deano said:
Hi guys

This question must frustrate the heck out of the regs so I apologise in advance....

I want to buy a DSLR - my first. I have many years ago used an old-school SLR which I loved and I want to get back into it.

For a budget of around £400 what would you recommend me to start out with (body and lens)? My understanding is that nikon/canon are basically the only brands to consider. I want something for general use - family shots and landscapes/sky/outdoors so it I guess will need to be fairly generic

What are the features I should be looking out for for comparison?

how important is DPI / multi shot feature / screen / etc etc.

I've tried reading threads on here but haven't really found a specific resource to pluder. f anyone can maybe point me in the general direction of some decent threads to save time i'd be very grateful

Thanks
Click to expand...

You may wish to consider a compact body/zoom, something like the Sony RX100. It may surprise you.
 
On the features front, don't get too drawn in with the gimmicky stuff to the point that it's swaying your decision making. I don't think that you can buy a new DSLR that doesn't cover all of the basic functionality that you realistically require long term. There are plenty that have 'fun' features like built in HDR or built in tilt shift for example but once the novelty of these has worn off, they're fairly pointless, besides which a lot of this stuff can be done better with software afterwards and it's very often free.

Most camera offerings, particularly at entry level are so well matched these days that the benefits of one over another are almost entirely subjective. You'll see this in magazines as well where two magazines will do a similar group test with an entirely different verdict. That's why the best deciding factor often comes down to pure ergonomics. We're all built differently and some cameras will fit like a glove and everything will seem second nature where as other's will feel clumsy.
 
Hi Dean and welcome

I used to have a film SLR and a few years ago sold it and bought my first digital camera. Just didn't cut the mustard and last year I bought a £450 bridge camera (digital cross between a compact and full SLR).

I've now discovered that it just hasn't got the quality I used to get with my old film SLR and I'm now on the hunt for something better.

The zoom and various gizmos are cracking on these newer cameras but when it comes to quality it's the size of sensor that lets the whole package down. It's the sensor that dictates the quality of the image as far as I can make out.

The bridge cameras are heavily cropped, the Nikons cropped to 1.5 and Canons to 1.6. Then there's full frame (not cropped) and a whole host of others. All, unfortunately, cost more and more and are way over the £400. As for decent lenses, they cost more than the camera in many cases (perhaps it's always been like that?)

Sorry to put a gloomy post in, but I thought that it might help you take stock and research more to ensure you get the right sort of camera. Cheap compacts will do what you want but the image quality will not be a patch on your old camera.
 
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snipsnap said:
Hi Dean and welcome

I used to have a film SLR and a few years ago sold it and bought my first digital camera. Just didn't cut the mustard and last year I bought a £450 bridge camera (digital cross between a compact and full SLR).

I've now discovered that it just hasn't got the quality I used to get with my old film SLR and I'm now on the hunt for something better.

The zoom and various gizmos are cracking on these newer cameras but when it comes to quality it's the size of sensor that lets the whole package down. It's the sensor that dictates the quality of the image as far as I can make out.

The bridge cameras are heavily cropped, the Nikons cropped to 1.5 and Canons to 1.6. Then there's full frame (not cropped) and a whole host of others. All, unfortunately, cost more and more and are way over the £400. As for decent lenses, they cost more than the camera in many cases (perhaps it's always been like that?)

Sorry to put a gloomy post in, but I thought that it might help you take stock and research more to ensure you get the right sort of camera. Cheap compacts will do what you want but the image quality will not be a patch on your old camera.
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You have this a little wrong the 1.5 and 1.6 crop are not the bridge cameras from these brands. Bridge cameras in many cases have the same tiny 1/2.3" - 1/2.5" size sensor you find in any compact camera. The 1.5 and 1.6 crop refer to aps-c sensors which are found in most consumer dslr's and are around half the size of a full frame sensor. I bridge camera will never compete with an entry level £400 dslr in image quality. In many cases they can not compete with budget compacts with smaller zooms.


300px-SensorSizes.svg.png
 
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This is all confusing the matter, they have asked for advice on dslr's. £400 will get you a very nice camera from sony/pentax/nikon/canon this market is very competitive and arguably the best value for money. Visit a shop and have a play with them all and decide then.
 
rjbell said:
This is all confusing the matter, they have asked for advice on dslr's. £400 will get you a very nice camera from sony/pentax/nikon/canon this market is very competitive and arguably the best value for money. Visit a shop and have a play with them all and decide then.
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Agree.
 
ok, truly appreciate all of the replies, I'll go and find which works best in my hands and assume they are all fairly much of a muchness.
 
Hi Swiss Deano, welcome to the forums.

I had the same issue when I went to buy my first ever DSLR, I wish I had spent more time testing the different models out, I chose a Canon and while I am happy with it, might have been happier with a Nikon, I have heard that Nikon have better quality of optics.

My own choice was the Canon EOS 1100D, it is a good beginners camera and will last me a while, but, I am now even only a few months in, looking at a camera with a higher burst rate and better build quality as the 1100D is very plasticky to the touch and feels very light in handling.

Spend as much time checking the various makes and models out and get as much information as you can before parting with your dosh.
 
kry10 said:
My own choice was the Canon EOS 1100D, it is a good beginners camera and will last me a while, but, I am now even only a few months in, looking at a camera with a higher burst rate and better build quality as the 1100D is very plasticky to the touch and feels very light in handling.
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Within a fixed budget the build/materials used will be lighter. Not necessarily bad build quality but definitely cheaper materials. Of course one of the hidden advantages is that you get a lighter camera than the more expensive models which to me is a key criteria!
You may or may not need features or functionality that lead you to upgrade in future but that is neither here nor there when buying with a fixed budget at the low end as there really aren't that many options (if buying new)
 
I too picked up a Canon EOS 1100D with a twin lens kit for not much more than your budget. As a total beginner, it has more than enough features to keep me going/confused for the time being.
 
I'd go for a Canon 500D/550D/600D depending on what offers you can find.
 
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