Looking for DSLR Budget £250 ish

[shackahn]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to take the step forward and buy a DSLR.

I have been looking at the Nikon d40 for £220 from a local shop. Is this a decent camera?

Anyone got any shots they could post up here?

If not is there another camera anyone would recommend. I would honestly be a beginner really so if you could bear that in mind when making any recommendations.

Thanks everyone

[BUFF]

is the £220 body only or c/w lens?
If it's a new c/w AF-S DX 18-55mm kit lens that's an excellent price (presumably net after Nikon cashback).
the only other couple of new DSLRs that would get close price wise would be Olympus 410, Pentax K100D/Samsung GX1 & Sony A200.

The other route is to buy something second hand.

Also remember that you will have accessories to buy - memory card, bag, filters etc. - & that over time you will probably end up spending more on lens than the body.

[shackahn]

Thanks for the fast response BUFF

thats complete with lens, "Nikon D40 + 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G ED Graded"

thats the description of it.

I have no problems spending more on the lenses etc not sure what the mrs would think though

I will have a look at the others you have recommended

[colmo]

£220 for a dSLR and lens is pretty good - make sure you are fully aware of the limitations the D40 imposes regarding focusing and metering with certain lenses.

Looking ahead, the first two things you'll likely want are a telephoto lens and a flash. It's possible to get a telephoto as part of a twin lens kit. Only the Olympus E410 is going to work out at anything close to £250, but I've added a few other models which lie just beyond your budget.

Here's a few current bargains:
Olympus E410 10mp TWIN Lens Kit includes 40-150 and 14-42mm lens - Ebuyer
Olympus E510 10mp TWIN Lens Kit includes 40-150 and 14-42mm lens - Ebuyer
- These Olympus cameras have been superseded by incrementally better models, but a twin lens kit at these prices are hard to ignore.

Samsung GX-10 Body + 18-55mm lens - Only £399.99 - £50 Cashback - Park Cameras Online - The Samsung is not an entry-level camera; it is actually built like a mid-range camera with weather sealing and a PC sync socket, and competed with the Nikon D80 when it was launched. It has been superseded by the much more expensive GX20.

The Sony A200 is available from a number of places for £299 including standard lens. It is the most recent camera listed here, and probably boasts the best image quality (lens permitting) of this group (D40 included).

For cameras with just a standard lens, you can add a Tamron 55-200mm telephoto for barely more than £50 from a number of retailers. The only exception to this is the Nikon D40/D40x/D60, which lacks a focus motor, and thus cannot auto-focus the Tamron. Fortunately, Sigma and Nikon have similar lenses, but they do cost more.

If you have shaky hands or like shooting in the gloom, you might benefit from image stabilisation - the Sony A200, Olympus E5xx series and most Pentaxes/Samsungs have this in-body (the sensor physically shifts to compensate for camera movement), and will work with any lens - it can save you in situations where the shutter speed is marginal for the focal length you are using, without investing in more expensive stabilised or large-aperture lenses.

[BUFF]

thats complete with lens, "Nikon D40 + 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G ED Graded"

OK, it's a refurb/return but as long as it has full warranty not a problem.

I would be wary of buying cameras from eBuyer as they often have grey imports.

As colmo said of the ones that I listed the Sony A200 is the most recent & almost certainly best specified but it's over your budget - best I have seen so far is £289 c/w the 18-70 kit lens & Argos do it for £299.
Wilkinson have the Samsung GX1 for £199 c/w 18-55mm Wilkinson Cameras / Cameras / Digital SLR Cameras / Samsung / SAMSUNG DSLR GX1S & AF 18-55MM

Get to a shop & handle them to see what suits you as what is comfortable for 1 person may not suit another.

[colmo]

That's a nice spot with the Samsung GX1S! I see firmware updates mean it can use SDHC cards, but I'm not keen on the AA batteries (I'd use Uniross Hybrio type for their slower discharge rate when not in use).

For that sort of money, I'd scout around for a Sony A100 (my own camera - Mifsuds have a used one here) - it has it's issues, but image quality is superb (ISO 400 and slower), anti-shake comes in handy, and battery life is amazing.

Get to a shop & handle them to see what suits you as what is comfortable for 1 person may not suit another.

Definately - For instance, I like the ergonomics on Sonys and Pentax/Samsungs the best, whereas Nikon's button placement baffles me, and (cheaper) Canon's have an uncomfortable grip. I wanted to like the Olympus E4xx series, but the material they used to make them (at least the E400 I handled) feels like Bakelite, when I hoped it would feel like one of my manual-focus SLRs. If you (the OP) do get a chance to fondle some cameras, let us know what you discover.

[shackahn]

Thanks for the posts guys.

Having done some reading about based on your recommendations, its deffinately between the Nikon d40 and the slightly more expensive A200

I am going to my local currys on friday to have a fondle, though if you could answer a couple of questions that would be great?

I was a little concerned about the lack of motor on the D40 would this be as much as a problem as I imagine and would the increase in cost of lenses for this camera negate the extra £60 or so for the A200

Also I have read that the a200 doesnt support "live view" would this pose any problems?

[BUFF]

the D40 doesn't have Live View either so, no ...

As for the no in-body motor it depends what & where you are going to buy in terms of lenses - it will certainly cut down the no. of usable s/h lenses.

The extra £60 for the A200 also gets you e.g. a larger/newer sensor & in-body image stabilisation.

[Whiternoise]

The D40 doesn't support live view either. Few DSLRs do, if i recall correctly. The viewfinder works just as well and i haven't missed the live view. If anything it makes taking pictures easier, framing and so on.

Lens wise, the stock D40 lens seems very good both from a bit of hands on experience and from reviews. The AF-S/I lenses may cost more in the long term, and i'm stuck in that position at the moment, but for now i'm happy to use the stock and i'll save up for one. I guess at least you can be sure that they're pretty good lenses for the money. That's not to say you can't use old lenses, just that you have to focus manually which is pretty much a no go in lots of situations - unless you take lots of macro photos. It's also got a faster flash sync (1/500 compared to the 1/160 of the A200) and +-5eV compared to +-2eV.

As BUFF says, the A200 sports in body stabilisation, an obvious downside to the D40 - however, there are a lot of VR lenses that can go with the D40, but of course that's money out of your pocket too.

The A200 is also a very good camera for your budget and of course you've got the benefit of more lenses (handy if you want to pick up cheap second hand ones from ebay). If megapixels are your flavour (not that you should use them as a deciding factor) then it's got 10 as opposed to the D40's 6 - of course this shouldn't make any difference regarding picture quality. I imagine it also does auto bracketing - something the D40 doesn't - so if you want to take HDR pictures, that'd make it easier.

The way i personally decided was by going into town and handling a few to see which felt better. It's the best way and you can also see what the GUI is like hands on too.

Discussion Forums @ Nikonians - D40/D40X/D60 - Fully Compatible AF-Lenses There's a list of D40 compatible lenses shamelessly stolen from the other thread

Oh and finallly.. remember that Nikon are doing rebates on the D40 and lenses until the 30th of June!

[colmo]

Live view is actually available in quite a number of entry-level dSLRs - The Olympus E410/E420 and E510/520, Sony A300/A350, Canon 450D...however, it's not a necessity on a dSLR - some users find it useful in certain situations (macro shooting, awkward/hard-to-get-at subjects, or as a waist-level finder), others do not.

I will say that buying new Sony or Nikon lenses doesn't present any significant price advantage one way or the other (Sony lenses are priced high right now) - the main advantage of the screw-drive focus in the Sony is that it works with all those classic Minolta AF lenses (which are at sky-high prices on eBay right now ), and works with all the Sigma, Tamron and Tokina lenses for the Minolta/Sony mount.

I agree the Nikon flash system is superior to the Sony one right now, and the Nikon flashguns are better priced (if I wanted a top-end flash for my Sony, I'd just get the Metz 58 AF-1). There is one advantage to the Sony, though - it can use the pop-up flash as a wireless controller of other compatible flashes (the Minolta 3600 and 5600, all the current Sony guns, plus the Sigma 500/530 DG Super and Metz 48/58 AF-1 and 54 MZ3/4). While wireless flash may seem like an esoteric luxury, it is extremely handy for certain tasks; I wish I could afford two or three guns to really make it work for me.

Here's an article on it:
Minolta's (now Sony's) Wireless Flash

Pentax and Olympus have since followed suit and introduced the same feature with the pop-up flash - Nikon and Canon require a mounted flashgun for the same effect - considering the cost of those things, you don't want to waste one by mounting in on-camera!
You can use dumb radio or optical slaves such as described in Strobist, which produces great results with much cheaper, older flashes, but does not do TTL (Through The Lens) metering, which is necessary when time is an issue.

The Sony wins handily with the in-body stabilisation, which works especially well with wide-aperture primes like a standard 50mm, and it also works on wide-angles for surprisingly long exposures (e.g 1/4 or 1/2 of a second).

The Sony does do auto-bracketing, though only 3 frames of +/- 0.7 EV (a bug-bear for Sony-shooting HDR enthusiasts).

A camera system is only as good as it's rabid fans - Nikon have Nikonians (I believe FredMiranda is also good), and Sony has Dyxum.

[BUFF]

I will say that buying new Sony or Nikon lenses doesn't present any significant price advantage one way or the other (Sony lenses are priced high right now)

the 70-200mm f2.8 G just dropped by 1/3 ...

I agree the Nikon flash system is superior to the Sony one right now, and the Nikon flashguns are better priced

I'm going to disagree on this one about the pricing, imo the Sony flashes are priced pretty comparatively in the UK at actual street prices (not MSRP).

[colmo]

the 70-200mm f2.8 G just dropped by 1/3 ...

Where?! I think back to the time I ogled the 80-200mm HS in Hong Kong 4 years ago, but thought the price was high then...how wrong I was...

I'm going to disagree on this one about the pricing, imo the Sony flashes are priced pretty comparatively in the UK at actual street prices (not MSRP).

I stand corrected - using Bristol Cameras as a pricing source:

Mid-range:
£175.00 Inc VAT | Nikon SB600 Speedlight Flash
£139.00 Inc VAT | Sony HVL-F42AM Flashgun
£135.00 Inc VAT | Metz 48 AF-1 Flashgun
£165.00 Inc VAT | Pentax AF360FGZ Flash
£169.00 Inc VAT | Canon Speedlite 430EX Flash
£149.00 Inc VAT | Olympus FL-36R Flash

High-end:
£235.00 Inc VAT | Nikon SB800 Speedlight Flash
£229.00 Inc VAT | Sony HVL-F56AM Flashgun
£159.00 Inc VAT | Sigma EF 530 DG Super Flashgun
£215.00 Inc VAT | Metz 58 AF-1 Flashgun
£325.00 Inc VAT | Pentax AF540 FGZ Flashgun
£305.00 Inc VAT | Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash (Claim £40 Cashback Until June 30th 2008.)
£310.00 Inc VAT | Olympus FL-50R Flash

Sony are actually the cheapest of the non-3rd-party manufacturers on this list. Of course, shopping around will unearth some better prices than these, though I believe this is as good as it gets for (non-grey market) Metz and Sony at least in the UK.

[icanhazburger]

Oh and finallly.. remember that Nikon are doing rebates on the D40 and lenses until the 30th of June!

I sent off for my rebate last week, not sure what form you get it back as though.

[BUFF]

Where?! I think back to the time I ogled the 80-200mm HS in Hong Kong 4 years ago, but thought the price was high then...how wrong I was...

ABC Digital Cameras>Sony Alpha G-Series 70-200mm f2.8 Zoom Lens
even better Warehouse Express will price match +25% against them ...
so that's 1729-662=£1067.

[shackahn]

Hi Guys,

I went with the Sony A200 in the end. Although I thought the interface was better on the Nikon I liked the feel of the sony better.

I have been having a quick play around with it today and been trying to get used to the various settings.



I have been impressed so far but obviously its going to take me a while to get used to everything

Thanks again guys for the help

[BUFF]

enjoy!