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Right, my birthday is coming up (1st August), and my gf said she'd buy me a camera for it. That made me happy, when she told me I could get it just before my Bday made me even happier.

Anyway, I've been in and out of Jessops and The London Camera Exchange looking at different cameras, mostly the Nikon D3000, D5000, the Canon 1000D and 450D.

Jessop were doing a bundle off on both the D500 and 450D which consisted of the camera, an 18-55mm lens (I think :? ), a 17-300mm lens (I think :? ), a bag to carry it, spare battery a 4Gb SD card and a free filter of some sort. Anyway, this was all for around £650. Went instore but they couldn't better the offer on their site. Went to the LCE, and managed to get a very similar deal (minus the filter and SD card) for about the same.

I want a camera that I'll be able to learn with, but at the same time last me a while after I become more profecient with it. I don't want to have to fork out a couple of £££££ just to carry on the learning curve so to speak.

I've looked at things like the D90, and it's too expensive and more than I can really utilise tbh.

What I would like is some advice on what you lovely chaps and chapesses would get. As for background info? I'm using a Nikon Coolpix L100 bridge camera atm, which has served me well for about a year.

All the help is appreciated :)

Ta,

mars

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Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:11 pm
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I've got a 500D and I'm happy enough with it - not so much the kit lens though.


(Any whinges I make here about using it usually come from me using 35mm cameras and then having a jarring gear change as I have to remember how the software works - the day someone makes a DSLR with controls like on my 35mm body I'll be a happy chap. But I digress.)

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Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:23 pm
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Remember you're buying into a system, and it looks like you've ruled that down to either Canon or Nikon.

The best advice I can offer is to hold any possible cameras, fire off some test shots, even if in full auto mode, and just work your way around the camera, checking the buttons feel like they're in places that fit your hands.

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Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:26 pm
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Cheers so far!

I've held both the D3000 and the 450D, the 450D feels a little more 'plasticy', but better (if that makes sense). I prefer the 450D as it appears to be a tad bigger as well, I have huge hands as it is, so a small camera won't be that comfortable. And yeah, I've heard about the system, with lenses etc.

I had a quick look in the Panasonic store near me, and well.. They were less useful that a chocolate teapot.

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Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:33 pm
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Now this is the point where I inject personal bias, and say I too found the equivalent Nikon at the time of my purchase just a bit too small. I bought a Canon (400D) and have been very happy with that choice.

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Thu Jul 08, 2010 9:15 pm
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Personally I don't find 'plasticy' to be a better feel of quality, but then this is your thread. (8+)
mars-bar-man wrote:
I prefer the 450D as it appears to be a tad bigger as well
Get the Nikon D5000 and a battery grip. If it's too small without the grip then it should be just right with it.
If the Canon is just right without the grip and then you decide to get one it'll likely feel too big.
Battery grips are good (if your camera needs one </smug>) for allowing you more shots without the need to swap batteries all the time and they also provide you with a dedicated portrait shutter button which means you can hold the camera in a much more comfortable position whilst taking images in portrait orientation.
They also provide an amount of weight and stability to the camera that you may find a little lacking without, especially if you decide to splash out on lenses that add more weight to the front of the camera.

Mark

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Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:04 am
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I've got the 400D, and while I carry a spare charged battery I rarely need to deploy it on a day's shooting. The buggers seem to last for ever.

Have you looked at what Sony has to offer of late? They've got some serious looking cameras in their DSLR range now.

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Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:30 am
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The 'you're buying into a system' argument always comes up but that doesnt mean the Pentax/Olympus/Sony systems should be ignored. Granted they're not quite as popular but there's a whole range of lenses (incl. 3rd party) for most of the brands. You might not get the ultra high end stuff that the Nikon/Canons offer but then how many non-pros do?

Given those brands arent as popular too you could even get more for your money. These three here are all under £600 (Sony is slightly over) with two lenses.

(Just to be clear I'm not saying dont get a Nikon/Canon, just that there are other options which tend to be overlooked. I bought into the Pentax system and apart from not being able to buy a sub-£100 nifty fifty I havent been limited by my choice.)

Pentax K-x £439 with what some say is a pretty good kit lens (metal mount rather than plastic, etc) - £567.99 with twin lens kit and Sanyo charger/batteries

Sony A550 with 18-55 & free 55-200 lenses £609

Olympus E-620 with 14-42 & 40-150 lenses £569.99

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Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:43 am
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veato wrote:
(Just to be clear I'm not saying dont get a Nikon/Canon, just that there are other options which tend to be overlooked. I bought into the Pentax system and apart from not being able to buy a sub-£100 nifty fifty I havent been limited by my choice.)
I seriously considered Pentax, but I wanted full-frame sensor and at that time Pentax didn't do one, so despite my want of a Pentax as my primary choice I had to discount it and went for Nikon.
If I was making that decision again today, I'd still seriously look at the Pentax offerings.

Mark

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okenobi wrote:
All I know so far is that Mark, Jimmy Olsen and Peter Parker use Nikon and everybody else seems to use Canon.
ShockWaffle wrote:
Well you obviously. You're a one man vortex of despair.


Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:02 am
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I'd love to go full frame tbh but the cost cant be justified. I'd also considered to upgrading to the Pentax K-7 given the good reviews its been getting and its compatible with every bit of kit I've got.

As a side note there's a cheque for a boat load of money sat in my work bag to be paid in today and I thought of getting my first Mac when it finally arrived. I'd also been looking recently at a couple of lens options and its making that K-7 upgrade look like a option. But.... given that I've gone all sensible and the like I'm going to pay off any debts and book the wedding. Ye Gods whats happened to me!! Phil of old would have blown the lot!

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Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:13 am
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timark_uk wrote:
Personally I don't find 'plasticy' to be a better feel of quality

He didn't say "better quality", just "better" (8-p). I presume he meant it felt more right for him. We know Nikon make decent cameras and we know Canon make decent cameras - they're just different.

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Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:39 am
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As an aside to the comments re battery grips. I'd say it depends very much on what you want to do with the camera or what you think you'd like to try in future.
Like Heather said, I've never found a single battery to be a hindrance for the photography I've done so far. The biggest test I've done was shooting my little brothers graduation. I shot over 250 images (admittedly without flash) on a part charged battery. I did have a spare with me but I didn't need it.

If you want to do lots of flash work (that'll be powered by the camera rather than independently) or do a lot of continuous shooting (for example sports or some wildlife photography) then a battery grip would be a good investment, otherwise just having a spare charged battery should be sufficient.

Jessops or LCE (or any camera shop worth its salt) should let you try both cameras with their associated grips to see how they feel.

Definitely try shooting off a few shots in the shop with any camera you're thinking about. Just make sure they have a decent sized memory card in the camera. I had a go with an EOS 50D that only had a 32 MB (that right MB) card in it and it could take 6 - 7 pictures at the Large JPEG setting before the card was full :roll:

As you may have guess I went down the Canon route.
My brother has a Nikkon (D70 I think) but I didn't like the feel of it or the way the controls were laid out but that's my personal preference.

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Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:58 am
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Why not try some of the more expensive cameras and buy second hand - you could get a far better camera for the money and there are some bargains to be had out there? Doesn't matter which brand as they all have good and bad points. Once you do buy into a brand though, it's difficult (expensive) to change. Battery grips are for me with hand straps - secure enough to hang onto my 40D/grip and 100-400 lens :D

Al

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Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:55 am
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Please bear in mind that whatever camera you get, the chances of you getting a really good lens with are very slim at best, so you may want to budget extra for a good lens.

Mark

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okenobi wrote:
All I know so far is that Mark, Jimmy Olsen and Peter Parker use Nikon and everybody else seems to use Canon.
ShockWaffle wrote:
Well you obviously. You're a one man vortex of despair.


Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:58 am
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timark_uk wrote:
Please bear in mind that whatever camera you get, the chances of you getting a really good lens with are very slim at best, so you may want to budget extra for a good lens.

Mark


What he said. Good glass will probably last longer than your first camera or at the very least be usable on another one if you upgrade at a later date.
If you can afford it, investigate body only prices for the camera and see what you can get lens wise with the money you save. Remember that full frame lenses will work quite happily on a crop frame sensor (for example, Canons EF lenses will work with pretty much any EOS camera but EF-S lenses will only go on their APS-C based camera bodies, likewise with Sigma DG (full frame) and DC (crop format) lenses).

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