Newbie Question

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turbo5

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I have decided to get a DSLR after some terrible photo's taken with a digital compact camera. even though its 7 Million Pixels (indoor with poor light, friends wedding, don't worry I wasn't the photographer) It takes good shots in daylight.
I am quite keen on my motorsports and have a few holidays coming up and decided to get something better. (a friend of mine introduced me to this site from a car forum) Hi Ross
My budget is around the Canon EOS 350d or Nikon D50 mark.
I have seen special offers on dixons tax free at the airport, also Ebay have a few offers mainly HK. I am going to Malaysia Kuala lumpar and Penang in 1 1/2 weeks time and was thinking they may be a lot cheaper there (especially in Langkawa, its a tax free island)
I like the 350D because of its size but also like the 50D. if you had a choice what would you you go for ? and what are your views on buying abroad ? I am sure they should have manufacturers warranty on them regardless of where you bought them.
 
turbo5 said:
and what are your views on buying abroad ? I am sure they should have manufacturers warranty on them regardless of where you bought them.
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Hi mate and welcome. Canon provide an international warranty on lenses regardless of where they were bought. Not so though with 'grey' import bodies.

I previously owned Nikon kit some years ago and the situation was much the same. The Nikon dealer I bought my gear off told me that if pressed Nikon have an obligtion to warranty their gear regardless of where it was bought but they would insist on it being returned to the country of origin, at the purhaser's expense - basically the maximum hassle they can give you. ;)

Both my current DSLR bodies were faulty initially and had to be replaced, so there's a high possibility with this hi tech gear that you could encounter problems. I would have no qualms in buying a lens from abroad, but not a camera body for the reasons I've given. If you do so just be aware it's a gamble - you might be lucky, but possibly not.

As for which camera to go for out of the two you mention, it's largely personal preference. Both are excellent so you really need to handle both and see what suits you best, although you'll no doubt get lots of good advice from people here. :)
 
Also I was quite surprised that the duty free prices in Dubai airport last week were higher than UK prices for a lot of the electronic stuff inc cameras and iPods.

Check around - you may find it's cheaper here...
 
Hi Dave :thumb:

As above really, the potential savings are offset against any warranty issues you might have...but then again if something went seriously wrong and you have accidental damage cover on your home insurance :whistle2:

Whatever brand you choose, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Cheers,
Ross
 
Both models seem to be available in the UK for pretty go prices at the moment (eg 350D at dabs for £500 http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=3MHY and Amazon for the D50, sorry no link)

Whichever you choose make sure you have some extra cash for another lens or 2 as the kit lenses supplied with both won't be much good at low-light or motorsport photography.

P.s. I can highly reccomend the Canon 350D, I've been extreamly happy with it since purchasing it last summer. One area where it might be the better choice for you would be it's excellent control of noise at high ISO's, it'd be the clincher for me if I was planning on low-light shooting.
 
Pretty much what the other have said, try and get into a store and get a bit of hands on though, ergonomics I think you will find are very important in the choice - so try and handle a few of the contenders to make sure it feels comfortable to use.

350D here, and never regretted it:thumb:
 
Problem with that site is they are comparing against their own high street prices which are not very good anyway.
 
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