Which SLR ?

[Cornholio]

Ok im taking the plunge, i know feck all about photography but its something ive been meaning to get into for years. Going into town tomorrow to buy one, then spend the weekend having some fun .

Question is...which camera ?

Don't really want to spend more than £330 to start with.

SONY A200 & AF 18-70

NIKON D40X & AF DX 18-55 F3.5/5.6 G II - FREE 3 YEAR GUARANTEE

Help ! hopefully some replies by dinner time....as thats when im buying

P.S :: Will be taking a trip to scan for a memory card so if you could point me as to which would work ok ide be greatful

Andy

[Cornholio]

http://forums.hexus.net/photography-...t-250-ish.html

just been reading that, looks like the a200 is the one to go for !

[BUFF]

Handle them & then see which suits you best as both are capable of producing very good images.
They both use exactly the same image sensor but the Sony has in-body stabilisation & an in-body AF motor (not all Nikon lenses will AF on the D40X, only those with an inbuilt motor AF-S I believe is Nikon's terminology). It also won the TIPA entry level DSLR award for 2008.

You can get better pricing on the A200 e.g. http://www.dixons.co.uk/product.php?...d=DVD+Bargains or http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=5586

[Cornholio]

Didn't even think to look at dixons ! you not reckon wilkinsons will be up for some haggling ? As for handling each of them, would you let a student dressed in a hoody and jeans with tattoo's on his arm handle your camera lol.

So you say the a200 over the d40x then buff ? ( why have you ventured from the kpc forum you traitor )

Also...what memory type's best for the a200 ? says it takes loads ! ( ideally i would like to attend a few track days with my mates and snap some moving photo's (motorcycles) )

Andy

[Whiternoise]

Memory is your choice really.

All flash is dirt cheap, and if you pick up 4 Gigs then that'll sort you out easily.

I believe compact flash is faster for less money, but SD and whatnot are still more than fast enough for the casual user. It's only when you need really fast transfer, for things like continual shooting at high speed that it will make a big difference.

[dave87]

I believe the EOS400D isn't far off your £330 budget new, so worth considering?

[BUFF]

Didn't even think to look at dixons ! you not reckon wilkinsons will be up for some haggling ? As for handling each of them, would you let a student dressed in a hoody and jeans with tattoo's on his arm handle your camera lol.

well, going armed with info may help you haggle.
I wouldn't buy from a photo shop that wouldn't let me handle/play with a camera.

So you say the a200 over the d40x then buff ? ( why have you ventured from the kpc forum you traitor )

Well, I'm a long time Minolta/now Sony user so I admit to some bias but yes, I genuinely believe that the A200 is an excellent package & offers more for the money than the D40X but if the D40X suits you better handling wise buy that as both are capable of excellent photos.

I'm on lots of forums incl. KPC still but I just find KPC hasn't got much on it atm worth me posting.

Also...what memory type's best for the a200 ? says it takes loads ! ( ideally i would like to attend a few track days with my mates and snap some moving photo's (motorcycles) )

Compact Flash.
I've never done motorcycle track days but I guess that it's not too dissimilar from taking shots of aeroplanes at airfields.
If you shoot just in jpeg then even a 1Gb card will give you hundreds & hundreds & hundreds of shots but if you shoot in RAW (better for post processing as more info is retained but far larger file size) or RAW+JPEG then I suspect that it may not be enough so I would suggest a 2Gb card minimum.
Play.com do a 2Gb Sandisk Extreme III for £14.49 http://www.play.com/Electronics/Elec...oduct.html?P36 but they also do a 4Gb for £17.99 http://www.play.com/Electronics/Elec...tml?P36=8WFUAW which is what I would suggest as it's excellent vfm.
Extreme III are 133x cards, you can get faster (266x, 300x) etc. but they are noticeably more expensive & all that it affects is how fast the camera can refresh the buffer (for continuous shooting) & how fast you can download the images to your PC. I wouldn't bother with anything slower (e.g. 80x etc.) though given current pricing.
Again, being forearmed maybe you could twist Wilkinson into throwing in something free to compete against Dixon's/DABs pricing on the body ?

[Cornholio]

Cheers buff, i ended up buying the Sony A200, also took a trip to scan and bought the sandisk extreme 3 4gb cf card

Have to say i love the camera, the build quality of it is excellent, now i need to do some research into what lenses are best for what application. And how to start out in the photography world, i took the camera with me today when i took the dog for a walk ( more exercise for me now by the looks of it ! ) managed to have a bit of a play with it ( Iso/shutter speed ), im so eager to learn !

Thanks for the advice buff, and if you know of any good websites where i can learn hints/tips to get me started ide greatly appreciate it.

Regards Andy

Edit :: Just noticed i purchased the same 4GB CF card you said to get, i paid a little more though around £30 from scan ( still alot cheaper than anywhere else in my area ) and meant i could get out snapping tonight.

One thing i will need to learn pretty sharpish is how to snap a moving object ( my sister has qualified for some horse show final and will be attending shows in a week or so ) so i would like to get pictures of her jumping etc...

[BUFF]

given your trackday & horse jumping & presuming that budget is still important you may want to look at this
http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2008/0...e-macro-ld-di/
Unfortunately Tamron had a price rise in May & it looks like that is now affecting current prices (Warehouse Express was £115 last week, this week £130).

As for taking moving objects you can either opt for a fast shutter speed to freeze the action or try panning trying to keep the object in focus but blurring the background.
Panning takes a lot of practice (I suck) but generally results in more dynamic looking images.

Some useful sites & forums for Minolta/Sony users.
www.dpreview.com
http://www.dyxum.com
& the aforementioned photoclubalpha.

There are plenty of sites which deal with dslr photography in general.

[HSK]

I'm in the kinda that same position at the moment, i want to buy a DSLR, but i've never really used one before .But i feel i'd pick it up easy so i don't want buy something that's too basic, and would like something that would give me a little bit of scope to expand, but still not sure what's hot and what's not!

[Bobster]

don't skimp on the quality of your lens

[HSK]

Would it be better to just buy the body, and get a separate lens? (better then a standard one that comes with).

[BUFF]

it depends upon the deal that you get (& your specific needs) - sometimes it's only an extra £10 or so with the kit lens v body only so you might as well.

[Saracen]

Would it be better to just buy the body, and get a separate lens? (better then a standard one that comes with).

Depends what you mean by "better".

I can't think, offhand (though perhaps someone will come up with one) of a single exception to the rule that kit lenses coming with entry level camera kits will be compromises. They may be a decent compromise, and they may be good value for money, but there will be better lenses available. Of course, they may also be a lot more money. And maybe a LOT ( !!!!) more money.

Kit lenses generally provide a good way in, a good way to get a feel for things and are probably a good way forward for someone starting out in SLRs, unless you already have a pretty good idea what you're going to do. But once you start adding lenses for specific purposes, and assuming you have some budget for it, the likelihood is that the kit lens will then end up unused.

Personally, I'd suggest that if the budget will stretch to it, think very carefully about whether to go straight for a better quality lens. After all, anyone buying an SLR is, presumably, reasonably serious about photography, and therefore after the best quality they can get for the money, and the lens used is probably the biggest single limiting factor.

In other words, what Bobster said .... don't skimp on lens quality.

It's also worth bearing in mind that lenses tend to outlast camera bodies. People outgrow bodies, but a good investment in lenses will last through several iterations of camera upgrade. That's also why it's a good idea to think about lenses before settling on camera make - because once you've started buying, it ties you in unless you want the expense of selling up your lenses and starting again from scratch.

[HSK]

thanks Saracen, good points there. Yea as you said, to start off with the kit lens would be fine then. By better i guess i mean something that will give me more flexibility, and at one point i'd want to do macro shots, so im guessing i'd need a dedicated lens for that.

sorry for hijacking your thread modd1uk.

can any one drop a few names of decent midrange dslrs i can look up and research?

[BUFF]

what do you call midrange?
They pretty much all (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax/Samsung, Sony) make good ones with each having their own unique blend of features/benefits & potential drawbacks depending upon your own personal needs.