You guessed it, another beginner asking what camera to buy.

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bombfrog

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Hi Guys,

My first post here so please be gentle. I came here to get some advice on buying a camera and I've read through some other similar questions. They tend to get the same respone (e.g. what kind of photos do you want to take, what's the budget etc.) so I'll try to give as much info as possible....

Me:

I'm fairly new to this and only own a Sony Compact cam at the moment. I've learned a little bit about ISO levels, white balance etc. and can take an OK photo in certain situations but I want to learn on a proper camera so I need to buy one and I know nothing about lenses etc.

Photos I'd like to take:

The main point of this for me is that I'm going on a 10,000 mile road trip round the USA next year and want to be able to take a variety of different photos such as:

* Landscape shots - Grand Canyon, Golden Gate Bridge etc.
* Panoramic shots
* Night time shots - e.g. fireworks/traffic trails/vegas
* Architecture - e.g. Sears Tower/Times Square
* HDR images (possibly other efects requiring exposure bracketing)
* Sunsets

So basically all the interesting sights.

Probably not interested in:

* Studio Photography
* Portraits (although some photos will no doubt feature people)
* Macro Photography (although you never know)
* Sports/action shots

Budget:

£1500 all in. That will have to include any additional lenses/filters/bags/tripods/batteries etc.

So far

So, Need to buy a camera body for around a grand, kit maybe for a bit more. The main two options for me seem to be the Nikon D90/D300s or the Canon 50D/7D.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
 
First thing I'd suggest is to shake your budget up.....spend £350-£500 on the camera and the rest on lenses and other bits.....

2nd hand 40D for roughly £400, roughly the same on a 2nd hand Canon 70-200mm f4 L, about £225 on a used 17-50mm f2.8 Tamron and £80 on a brand new 50mm f1.8. Should cover most bases and you'll have plenty left for a tripod, bag, memory card, battery grip(?) etc etc......

All that gear is tried and tested by many and is some of the best value for money gear you'll find IMHO! :thumbs:
 
I'm going to limit my response to Nikon equipment as it's what I know...Canon stuff is roughly equivalent in all areas and the choice should come down to personal preference regarding the handling and ergonomics...

The D300s will do all that you've listed here and more...
It's the lenses that will really make a difference...'faster' more expensive lenses will be a bit sharper, produce better colours and hues, focus a bit faster and allow images to be taken in more shooting situations than the budget 'kit' lenses...

In your situation, I'd look at the second-hand market - maybe a D300/300s and a 24-70 f/2.8...
That's be maybe £2000...

That's the 'no-compromise' approach.

It can be done much cheaper of course...
A D5000 and a decent 'budget' lens shouldn't be discounted right off the bat...

You also need to factor-in the cost of memory cards (get more than one for security), a bag, maybe a flash-gun etc.
 
I'm not sure i'd want to be on a 10,000 mile tour, seeing loads and loads of awesome sights, scenery and people and be learning how to use my camera at the same time, which could result in you getting home with 20,000 **** photos.

I have an SLR, with many lenses, flash and studio gear and accessories. Travelling with all that in tow is not only heavy, but insuring it to be taken round the world wouldn't be cheap.
So I have a Canon SX1 IS compact bridge camera for when I am travelling, it has all the functions of an SLR, like setting aperture, shutter speed, iso and white balance. It also has a 20x optical zoom and full HD video.

Like everyone will say, it boils down to what you want to do with it and depends on how experienced you are.

I'm glad I didn't go travelling when I first bought my SLR, as i'd have kicked myself, now i'm more skilled and could take much better images.

A top spec bridge should suffice all your needs. It's upto you really.

Al
 
From my experience, all those years ago, I feel that setting you sights too low can be counter-productive. My first SLR was a Zenith-E, bought off a school mate for £25. It was good for teaching me the basics but it was so simple I found myself wanting something with a bit more pretty soon after. I am tempted to say go into a camera shop like Jessops and handle the various cameras available. Don't take their advice though as the staff are targeted on selling and will not be impartial. As far as performance goes you will not see any difference between the 'big' names - it just comes down to how it feels in your hands. I have big hands so the likes of the Canon EOS450D was no good as it was too fiddly. A female colleague has one and loves it as it's light and compact. Horses for courses. Good luck and I hope you will be happy with whatever you go for.
 
Slimbert said:
First thing I'd suggest is to shake your budget up.....spend £350-£500 on the camera and the rest on lenses and other bits.....

2nd hand 40D for roughly £400, roughly the same on a 2nd hand Canon 70-200mm f4 L, about £225 on a used 17-50mm f2.8 Tamron and £80 on a brand new 50mm f1.8. Should cover most bases and you'll have plenty left for a tripod, bag, memory card, battery grip(?) etc etc......

All that gear is tried and tested by many and is some of the best value for money gear you'll find IMHO! :thumbs:
Click to expand...

:thumbs: I agree, sounds like an ideal set up.
 
I too can vouch for the 40D, I just feel an SLR novice would struggle with it. I could be completely wrong like.
 
Thanks to everyone who's replied so far, this is what I'm currently thinking....

Going 2nd Hand: Instinctively this feels like something I'd rather not do. I'm not totally decided yet but what I really wanted to do was buy the best kit I can with the money I have for now.

Lenses: I could buy a cheaper camera and more expensive lenses, but I currently don't know what to do with them. I figured that if I get the best body I can for now then I can get more lenses in due course as I need them and as I learn more about them.

I assumed that I would only need different lenses if I wanted to do something specific like Macro or Wide-angle photography but I'm getting the message that replacing the kit lens with a better quality one would give me better shots. Although, I still don't understand why or what the difference between a 1.8 or a 2.8 is?

So I'm currently thinking about the same options as before but realising that I need to think a bit more about lenses before I make any decisions.
 
Canonite said:
I'm not sure i'd want to be on a 10,000 mile tour, seeing loads and loads of awesome sights, scenery and people and be learning how to use my camera at the same time, which could result in you getting home with 20,000 **** photos.
Click to expand...

That's why I'm buying the camera a year early and getting myself some lessons between now and then.

I won't be carrying it everywhere and expect to take a point and shoot with me too for day-to-day use but I really want to be able to take good shots when I go to places like Monument Valley, New York, Las Vegas etc.
 
bombfrog said:
Going 2nd Hand: Instinctively this feels like something I'd rather not do. I'm not totally decided yet but what I really wanted to do was buy the best kit I can with the money I have for now.
Click to expand...

I think for your first SLR, when you have nowt else, I'd say that's a sensible choice - I'd now be much happier buying second hand I reckon, but it's always a big leap...

bombfrog said:
Lenses: I could buy a cheaper camera and more expensive lenses, but I currently don't know what to do with them. I figured that if I get the best body I can for now then I can get more lenses in due course as I need them and as I learn more about them.
Click to expand...

Not sure I agree with this - I have a 350d, which I got about 3-4 years ago, but I am still at the stage where the lenses are limiting me more than the camera - I upgraded my telephoto to a 100-400L recently - massive investment, but even on my body, it can take awesome pictures, and was well worth the money - no point having a top-spec body, then throwing cheap glass on it - you'll get much better pictures from the off the other way around...

bombfrog said:
I assumed that I would only need different lenses if I wanted to do something specific like Macro or Wide-angle photography but I'm getting the message that replacing the kit lens with a better quality one would give me better shots. Although, I still don't understand why or what the difference between a 1.8 or a 2.8 is?
Click to expand...
1.8 or 2.8 is referring to the f-stop, i.e. f1.8 or f2.8. A lower f-stop tends to mean [for a given lens length] a higher quality lens - most "walk-around" cheapy lenses [i.e. Canon's basic 18-55 have an f-stop minimum of around f3.5-5.6] - this means that it has a noticeably smaller maximum aperture and as such is worse [longer shutter period needed] in low-light conditions. For comparison, Canon's L [professional-grade] lens for the same sort of range [24-70?] has a minimum f-stop of f2.8.

HTH?
 
bombfrog said:
Going 2nd Hand: Instinctively this feels like something I'd rather not do. I'm not totally decided yet but what I really wanted to do was buy the best kit I can with the money I have for now.
Click to expand...

Just a quick note to say I am new to DSLR and am super happy with my 2nd hand buy (from TP). Was going to buy new but its just not necessary. Very glad I took the advice on here, anyway just my experience. Hope you are happy with whatever you decide.
 
Thanks Snap Happy,

So, let's say that I was comparing two Nikons, the D90 and the D300S

The D90 is £779 (Amazon) and comes with a "18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens"

The D300S is £1028 Body only, so that's £250 more, plus the cost of the cheapest lens.

If I went for the D90 then I could add a "Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 SP Di (Nikon AFD)" lens for £339 (which by the way is just the first one I found that looked vaguely right).

So the D90 with what I'm guessing is a decent lens will be cheaper than a D300S with a bog standard lens. Does that sound like a good idea?

Can anyone think of any reason why I should push the boat out and get the D300S instead?
 
ajj1001 said:
Just a quick note to say I am new to DSLR and am super happy with my 2nd hand buy (from TP). Was going to buy new but its just not necessary. Very glad I took the advice on here, anyway just my experience. Hope you are happy with whatever you decide.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm not dead set against it and have a while to make up my mind. Will be scouring Ebay to see what the actual price difference is.
 
If I were looking at Nikons, the minimum I'd look at would be a D90, that gets you access to all of the Nikon range of Lenses, I'd then spend the rest of the money on lenses, You'll change bodies loads of times as they progress but the lenses will remain (if looked after exactly the same)

I have lenses from the early 1990's that are still useable on todays cameras.
 
So it seems you are mainly into landscapes... The important things for you would be a good sturdy tripod, a camera that can take clean files at ISO 100, sharp and light lenses, some filters and a remote release. Sensor cleaning function can be very important too. On the other hand very fast lenses and sports grade AF are probably not essential for you.

For a 'budget' kit I would consider Nikon D90 or Canon 40D, etc. You will probably want something like Tokina 11-16mm or 12-24mm for the wide scapes, something like 24-70mm f/2.8 / 17-55mm f/2.8 / 24-105mm f/4 or Tamron and Tokina alternatives and Canon 70-200mm f/4.

Perhaps the best landscape kit would be 5D mk2 or Sony A900. Canon make some excellent f/4L zooms that are both light and very sharp.

Either way you would need to add a tripod like Manfrotto 190XPROB, a polarizer (77mm size is the most practical), and graduated filters.

Don't forget that you can mix and match as you like, and sell and buy bits as you need it. Changing brands is not easy once you have a few items.
 
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