Beginners DSLR for under £400

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 2:02 PM

Hi, So im just playing around with the idea of investing in an DSLR kit. Im on a budget though as have just spent quite a bit recently on my HC kit and saving for uni.

Im a novice in the area and my photography skills so far only go as far as some snaps on my camera phone. Id really like to get into photography more though and maybe do some prints to frame and hang on the wall.

Any advice on kits upto £400 would be good. Either new or an estimate of prices for some good 2nd hand kit would be appreciated.

I dont know if i could get anything half decent for this price or not so please say if not.

Thanks

Yandros · 15-09-2008, 2:19 PM

Canon 1000D or 400D
Nikon D40 or D60
Sony A200

All are great beginners cameras, and some will leave you with cash for extra lenses on a £400 budget.

michael.redfern · 15-09-2008, 2:19 PM

Don't mean to be rude, so don't take this the wrong way, but this is possibly the most asked question on the forum.

The search feature, top right, is your friend.

Gingerbillc · 15-09-2008, 2:22 PM

Now if you were to ask this question next month, you might find a 3 month old D60 +twin lens kit bag and filters coming in under budget....goddamn D90 making me spend money.

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 2:23 PM

thanks.
have sinced searched for similar threads and found more info.

Monopot · 15-09-2008, 3:02 PM

I picked up a Sony A200 last week from Amazon for £253 delivered. This is my first DSLR and I have to say I am astounded by it so far.

The quality of the photos coming from it and the ease of which you can take some great snaps has really won me over. Even the misses who was a bit unsure that a DSLR was the right thing before really does love it now.

Build quality feels excellent to me and the camera is very easy to use for a beginner like me even though I'm trying to stay away from full auto mode. battery life is also brilliant! Took just over 200 practice photos over the weekend and battery still has 82% left.

I was thinking of a Canon EOS 450D but the extra cost put me off as I though with the difference I could get a decent extra lense for the Sony, plus memory card, bag and gorillapod which so far is going well. Very very happy with my purchase!

Hope that helps.

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 3:04 PM

ye i was looking at the 450D but am now looking at the 400D as thats nearly £100 cheaper.
i will have a look at the sony you mentioned. could be a good choice then like you say extra money for a better lense. etc

lurcher · 15-09-2008, 3:11 PM

luke90,
If you decide to go for the Sony A200 see if you can buy the body only cheaper than combining with the 18/70 kit lens ( dont know if thats possible ) as I have an unused kit lens that you can have for the price of postage seeing as you are going to be a skint uni man.
This offer is to you only.

Julian

Yandros · 15-09-2008, 3:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke90

ye i was looking at the 450D but am now looking at the 400D as thats nearly £100 cheaper.
i will have a look at the sony you mentioned. could be a good choice then like you say extra money for a better lense. etc

A few random thoughts....

The Sony A200 (with in-body image stabilisation) offers the best bang for the buck by far (£248 with kit lens), but a lot of people prefer the feel/build of the Canon/Nikons. Sony image processing isn't quite up to Canon/Nikon standards, but unless you shoot at high ISO regularly you won't notice.

The Nikon D40 is stupidly good value at £250, and is tiny. It also has some of the best high-ISO performance around. Only downside is the lack of AF on the 50mm f1.8 and one or two other lenses.

The Nikon D60+18-55VR is now £333, so you can get an image stabilised starter kit to match the Sony for only £80 more.

The 400D/1000D are a bit more expensive, but don't suffer from the lens limitations of the D40/D60. A 1000D+18-55IS kit is £372, so still comes in under your budget.

marchand · 15-09-2008, 3:39 PM

Got to be the Sony A200 (best value for money).

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 3:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurcher

luke90,
If you decide to go for the Sony A200 see if you can buy the body only cheaper than combining with the 18/70 kit lens ( dont know if thats possible ) as I have an unused kit lens that you can have for the price of postage seeing as you are going to be a skint uni man.
This offer is to you only.

Julian

ahh that would be awsum if you would. stil undecided between cameras now though. haha. im hearin good things and bad about the a200K

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 3:42 PM

im basically looking at the Canon 400D or the sony A200K now. The sony is the cheaper of the two so is good but ive heard its worth the extra money to get the 400D.

Also have heard that the sony lens that comes with the kit can suffer from barrel distortion. anyone experianced this?

Monopot · 15-09-2008, 3:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke90

im basically looking at the Canon 400D or the sony A200K now. The sony is the cheaper of the two so is good but ive heard its worth the extra money to get the 400D.

Also have heard that the sony lens that comes with the kit can suffer from barrel distortion. anyone experianced this?

Not had this yet, every picture I've took has been superb. Really surprised with this as when using my old compact I'd probably only get 1 in 4 decent pictures.

I could have afforded the Canon 450D but chose the A200 purley because I wasn't sure how I would get on with a DSLR. I'm surprised I have liked it so much and I'm more than happy with the A200 to the point where if I brought the Canon first, I would most likely be thinking should I have saved the money and got the A200.

Plus and minus's for both cams really. Cameralabs.com has some good comparisions of them btw.

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 3:54 PM

seriously thinking about the a200k now. since i am a student, obviously cant afford the best or anything expensive and with the good offer that was made to me earlier that could really help me out.

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 4:00 PM

Ok, thanks for everyones help in deciding what camera would be a good choice.
I am now looking for the Sony A200 but just the body only for the cheapest price.
If anyone even had a second hand one in good condition i would be open to offers.

Any help would be appreciated.

Yandros · 15-09-2008, 4:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke90

Ok, thanks for everyones help in deciding what camera would be a good choice.
I am now looking for the Sony A200 but just the body only for the cheapest price.
If anyone even had a second hand one in good condition i would be open to offers.

Any help would be appreciated.

Bristol Cameras...£240 delivered

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/prod607.html

I would suggest that you nip into Jessops and try out a few before you buy though.

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 4:20 PM

Have seen the body only on dabs for £216 plus around £5 postage so at the moment this is the cheapest i have found it.
The cheapest kit i have found at the moment is £248 on amazon inc postage.

Strobe · 15-09-2008, 4:24 PM

The kit lens for the A200 is OK. When it first came out it was considered better than the Canon equivalent, but both the Canon/Nikon IS/VR kit lenses surpass it now. However, the cost over the body only is peanuts these days and I would purchase with the kit, even if you only keep it as a spare.
Barrel distortion is ever present but is not a major issue. Eg. you are unlikely to notice it greatly for normal people/nature photograhy but it will be evident with buildings/architecture/horizons and such like. Having said that, barrel distortion is very easily corrected in software such as Photoshop Elements so I wouldn't wory about it greatly. As with most kit lenses, recognise its limitations and it will serve you well until you can uprade to something better (eg. Tamron 17-50 F2.8 or Sigma 17-70).

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 4:27 PM

the only reason i was looking at the body only is because i had been offered a lens for the price of postage by another member of the forum. but i suppose even if i did keep it as a spare wouldnt be bad. dont know if i would want to pay the extra though just for a lens i wont need.

Strobe · 15-09-2008, 4:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke90

the only reason i was looking at the body only is because i had been offered a lens for the price of postage by another member of the forum. but i suppose even if i did keep it as a spare wouldnt be bad. dont know if i would want to pay the extra though just for a lens i wont need.

Just noticed Lurcher's kind offer ... nice one! Worth considering if you want to save £20.

leaky5 · 15-09-2008, 4:55 PM

The kit lens is not the devil it is made out to be. For the £35-40 you will save by buying the body only, I am not sure if you will be able to get another much better lens, you would certainly be looking at second hand Minolta ones.

Smiffy 2 · 15-09-2008, 5:37 PM

I would buy the body only, take up Lurchers kind offer and look around on e-bay for a Minolta AF 50mm f1.7 lens second hand.
This is a superb piece of glass and can be picked up for about £50.00 or thereabouts and will give you superb pictures and has great low light abilities.
I initially thought the kit lens that came with the A200 was a little "soft" but experimenting with various apertures proved to me that it is a very good lens indeed. Much better than some people would have you believe.
This was taken with the kit lens and I can't really criticise it's sharpness at all

Or if you think you are going to want more of a telephoto lens, again e-bay is your friend.
Might all seem double dutch at the moment but you could buy a mint 70-210 f4.0 "Beercan" for about £150.00 and you would have one heck of a nice set up for your £400.00
Rob

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 5:41 PM

Ahh yes. cant fault that lens really.
Going to have to check the money status once ive moved into uni and after a week or two of being there before i go making any big buys i think though. but wil definatley keep this camera bookmarked.

going to uni seems like burning money :[

Yandros · 15-09-2008, 6:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke90

Ahh yes. cant fault that lens really.
Going to have to check the money status once ive moved into uni and after a week or two of being there before i go making any big buys i think though. but wil definatley keep this camera bookmarked.

going to uni seems like burning money :[

Taking bets now as to whether Luke drinks his way through his camera fund by the end of freshers week

Smiffy 2 · 15-09-2008, 6:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yandros

Taking bets now as to whether Luke drinks his way through his camera fund by the end of freshers week

I'll have some of that

luke90 · 15-09-2008, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yandros

Taking bets now as to whether Luke drinks his way through his camera fund by the end of freshers week

haha. place your bets now.
ill get back to you on that by monday 29th which is the end of freshers week.
i have stuff to pay for like tv license and internet

they both come to around £230 at least.

lurcher · 16-09-2008, 7:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke90

i have stuff to pay for like tv license and internet

they both come to around £230 at least.

Heh , internet & tv ? , when I was a lad a penny whistle kept me entertained

luke90 · 16-09-2008, 11:47 AM

need the internet though.

i do everything on it. haha

munkeectr · 16-09-2008, 11:56 AM

Or you could get a Canon 450d on the cheap!

Do you know anyone who is traveling out of a UK airport soon ?

Then get them to buy you the Canon 450d for £408.52 at 'Dixons tax free' which are after the security gates, then apply for the Canon cashback to claim £50 off that price, giving you the Canon 450d + kit lens for a bargain £358.52

That's what I did, currently waiting for the cashback to come back!

But the offer ends on the 30th of September - although their website says the 12th of January, which is odd - see link on going into it, it says the 30th of Sept.

Oh and if you are planning on doing it, ring the airport and get them to reserve you one.

luke90 · 16-09-2008, 2:23 PM

oo thats a good idea.
not sure if i know anyone going out of the country anytime soon though.
even at £358 though i could get the sony a200k £110 cheaper and on a budget it makes sense for a beginner to go for sumthin cheaper to see if i like dslr's etc