My niece has saved some cash up, and is wanting to buy a camera as she's getting into photography.
Now, I'm in two minds.
£400 will get you into a DSLR. There's a lot to be said for a conventional DSLR.
However, I find myself wondering of late about the phrase 'The best camera is the one you have with you', and as far as that goes, I've been really impressed with a colleagues Fuji X-Pro 1. It absolutely rocks and the quality is seriously impressive.
So, I'm torn.
I think we're looking at a Canon 600D, or a Fuji X-A1. Outsider choice might be the Sony RX100, which is a whisper outside her £400 budget, but I'd happily make up the short fall.

Any thoughts ladies n gennelmen?

My little bro has an awesome Panasonic 4/3 camera. Really compact but some awesome results and a lot of control too.

It's a Panasonic GF2.

DSLR entry level under £400? Well I'm a Pentax man so probably a K500 or get a couple more quid together for a K50. The vast number of cheap, old, compatible lenses is a big selling point for me. I have a manual 28 f2.8, 50 f1.7 and 13 aperture blade Helios-44 that combined cost the same as a night on the town!

The Nikon D3200 and Sony A58 are in the same price braket and the Canon 1200D just outside it - all with 18-55mm lenses. Depending on the user and requirement though I'd be more than happy with a CSC or if investment in lenses isn't going to be an option an advanced compact.

The Oly E-PL5 with 14-42 lens is a good price at WEX as is the Fujifilm X-A1 with 16-50. Again to go slightly out of budget would net a Fujifilm X-M1 (£429) and X-E1 (£449) with lens.

I actually quite fancy an X-E1 at that price myself!

Veato has a great point & I'm a big fan of the recent Pentax SLRs. I played extensively when looking 18 months ago.

However, for me, it's easy:

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-nikon-d3200-black-digital-slr-with-18-55mm-vr-ii-lens/p1548789

£50 spare for cards or whatever too. All the camera she'll need for most things and with a much better kit lens than a Canon. You've also got a bigger sensor and a great selection of DX lenses should she wish to move in that direction.

I cannot say what your niece should or should not buy, I don't know what sort of photography she's interested in doing, how she would likely cope with carrying around a DSLR body vs a micro four-thirds body vs a compact body, the best I can do is link you up - yes I now those are cameras priced under £500, but you said you wouldn't mind making up the difference in your OP, so y'know ...

Mark

When I got my D90 I made a decision to only by fx lenses. That way, if I upgrade to an fx body I can still use my existing lenses, which I would not be able to do if I'd bought dx lenses.

Just a thought.

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You can still use DX lenses on an FX body, you just don't make full use of the FX sensor, which somewhat negates the use of an FX body in the first place, but it does mean you can upgrade the lenses as and when you see fit without losing the use of the ones you already have.

Mark

Also lenses designed specifically for APSC sensors will generally be smaller and lighter, often cheaper and have focal lengths appropriate for the crop i.e. a kit APSC lens tends to be 18-55 whereas a kit FF would traditionally be 28-80.

Surely, the most important thing has to be the quality of the images? OK, so FX lenses are heavier and costlier but, as Mark said, if you buy DX lenses and upgrade the body then your lenses won't make full use of the sensor, which, to me at least, would be not acceptable.

Each to their own, I suppose.

There is no cheap or easy way to upgrade from DX to FX. So why be bothered about it. I have two lenses for my crop camera. One is an uprated kit and one is an full frame telephoto zoom. Each served a particular purpose when I bought them and continue to do so.But ultimately, as Mark says, it's about what the camera will be used for. That link makes some good suggestions, but personally I hate the feel of entry-level Canon bodies. I love the idea of the NEX range from a size POV, but dislike the slower focussing. So for me the top two there are the Nikon and Pentax SLR.

But again, it rather depends on the individual.

The point I'm trying to make is that if I decide to upgrade to FX I can do so by getting a new body. All of my lenses are FX so will still work with no image quality issues, which you would get with DX lenses.

This was how I approached it. I'm not saying I'm right and anybody else is wrong. I'm just saying that this is what I did.



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I have a DX D90 that obviously came with a DX kit lens. I have also only been buying FX lenses should I wish to upgrade in the future. If I don't then no big loss either way.

Same camera as me and the same reasoning. Only difference is that I didn't get the lens with the camera, only the body. I didn't need any lenses at the time as I was using the F65 film camera and the lenses that came with that were, and still are, fine.

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Update on this:
Just had an email from her, saying she's gone with the Fuji XM-1. Which I think it pretty neat.
She visited a few shops and tried things out, and this one clearly worked for her. It's looks like a nice bit of kit in fact.