[psenior1]

Been looking at getting a DSLR for a while, decided to pull my finger out today and make a decision (I've tried out a few), difficulty is that I have a budget limited to £300.

I ordered a Nikon D60 today, but couldn't afford the VR kit - so have the D60 body with the non VR 18-55mm lens, delivered for £320 (inc Nikon cashback). My plan is to get a Nikon VR 18-200mm lens in the next couple months when I have some more spare cash.

I guess the advice I'm after is that how much of a difference would having the VR 18-55mm lens make over what I have ordered and am I likely to still get decent pics with what i have ordered? I'll be using it mainly to photograph our newborn baby girl and other two kids, both indoors and out...

Thanks!

[tps58]

Excellent, I'm sure you'll love it. The 18-55mm lens is fine and saving cash for an 18-200mm is a great strategy. DSLR's rock.

That looks like a pretty good price for a D60 too.

T

[Triggaaar]

Originally Posted by psenior1

am I likely to still get decent pics with what i have ordered?

Yes, without question. VR is a newish technology and millions of amazing photos were taken before it was invented. Also, the advantage of VR is allowing you to hand hold your camera with slow shutter speeds, which isn't what you want for taking photos of kids anyway.

Did the lens come with the camera as part of a kit? How much could you have saved not getting the lens? While there is nothing wrong with it, the upgrade you are thinking of making in a couple of months will make the 18-55 suddenly worthless, so you could have gone for something else instead (I'd recommend the cheap Nikkor 50mm f1.8 for indoor photos of kids without flash).

[psenior1]

Originally Posted by Triggaaar

Yes, without question. VR is a newish technology and millions of amazing photos were taken before it was invented. Also, the advantage of VR is allowing you to hand hold your camera with slow shutter speeds, which isn't what you want for taking photos of kids anyway.

Did the lens come with the camera as part of a kit? How much could you have saved not getting the lens? While there is nothing wrong with it, the upgrade you are thinking of making in a couple of months will make the 18-55 suddenly worthless, so you could have gone for something else instead (I'd recommend the cheap Nikkor 50mm f1.8 for indoor photos of kids without flash).

thanks for the advice, that has put my mind at rest! The 18-55mm lens was included as part of the kit...

[julian_fraser]

Congrats - the 18-55mm standard DX kit lens is very well thought of and is capable of producing amazing photographs. It's more than enough while you get to grips with the camera itself...and the 18-200mm VR is a popular lens, even amongst the D300 brigade, so you'll have some serious kit once you've got that too.

[Yandros]

Nope, not a mistake at all.

This group test might interest you...

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Ni...st/index.shtml

I went straight for the 18-200VR and it's a superb swiss army knife lens.

As has already been mentioned, the Nikon 50mm f1.8 might be useful for low light portraits as well (and is only £70) but is quite a tight field of view, and only manual focus on a D60.

[Triggaaar]

Originally Posted by Yandros

and only manual focus on a D60.

Ah, that's a pain, I didn't realise. With the shallow depth of field you'd want indoors, for looks as well as fast shutter speed, you don't want to be using manual focus with a dslr (IMO)