Nothing over complicated with functions I would never use, just a nice easy to use quality camera ?

Second hand canon 400D with a couple of decent lenses...


I had a 400D for a couple of years and its really well built compared with the 600D I replaced it with

expanding a little, "different lenses" anyone give a brief dummies guide as to why and what for, remember this guy knows little (nothing) about photography and have spent years point and shoot bog standard digital stuff ?

What do you want to photograph?


If you can get a basic "kit lens" (bog standard spec) with image stabalisation (IS) say 17-40mm or something around that you would be able to have a play and then decide what you want to do.

I mainly have a 10-20mm wide angle on my camera but I tend to do a lot of photography in tight spaces so the wide angle is really handy for me.

I just bought a Nikon D3200 This one it was recommended to me by a friend, Its suitable for beginners and experienced photographers.

Lenses, all about what you can afford, I always buy zooms with f2.8 max aperture but then I'm a Pro
Often Sigma & Tamron give more lens for less money than proprietary main brands.
Image stabilisation is not really necessary unless your hand holding long lenses with shutter speed less than focal length equivalence i.e. 200mm lens use minimum 1/200 shutter speed

How about a bridge camera?
I know most people with DSLR don't like them, but I like the fact they are a step up from point and shoot. And the cost is usually a fraction of a DSLR.

How much money do you want to pay ? the sky is the limit on cameras and lenses

Jon the Nikon 3200 is a good entry camera, i'm looking at this one too as a step up from the Lumix.

Shop around though as prices really do vary a lot and some sellers have great deals on bundles including bags and SD cards.

Camera link

Remember that digital rev is a seller from Hong Kong and thus the camera is a "grey import"

I personally don't have a problem with this as I just bought one of hdew.

Have a look on talk photography but be careful as you will get hooked. I ended up reading a 28page thread last night

My Canon 450d is for sale, Camera, Bad, Tripod etc etc etc cost over £700 new sell for £300

canon 1100d is a good starter camera and very easy to use, its what I went for as a newbie to the SLR world.

I was recently led into the SLR world by my daughter taking photography and needing one for projects, I figured if I was going as far as spending about £270 for the basic entry model (1100D) just for her use then I'd be better upgrading the family camera that she could use as well, so after a lot of looking around and comparing I just bought a canon 700D a couple of weeks ago which is the upper end of the beginner level (canon being the favoured make as that's what they use at school).

Having owned several digital compact's over the years I was surprised to quickly figure out more about the settings of the canon in the first 24hrs than I ever have with any other camera I've owned, its context help and menus are surprisingly easy to navigate. and the picture quality straight out of the box from a novice user far surpassed anything I've taken before. I wish I'd bought one years ago.

I can recommend SLR for Dummies which is proving helpful in understanding the features and terminology used.

As has been said above the camera is only half the story, with SLR's the choice of additional lenses is huge and expensive but critical as opposed to the 'jack of all trades' built in lenses on regular compact digital's, so that's worth remembering when budgeting for the camera.

I ended up getting mine from Jessop's, £500 (after canon's £50 cashback) and came with a spare battery, carry case and IS 18-55 lens, after reading above I'm not sure how important the IS is on a short lens but figure any help a noob can get can only be good.

While there's nothing wrong with cheaper grey imports while they work, if they fail under the guarantee period you may be liable for returning it to the originating country for repair at your own cost so its something to consider.

I've had a sony alpha 200 for several years - been great for a non-photographer like me!

I used these guys http://www.wexphotographic.com/ just before christmas for a Canon 600d, came with a free stand and a few other bits.
Don't forget you'll need a decent SD card to hold all those lovely pic's (beware of fake SD card's).

As said above its learning how to get the best out of the camera and the lens.

Good bundle price from UK seller, best to have a good shop around though.

D3200 link

Another option is a mirror less interchangeable lens camera (MILC).

I've had a Sony NEX-3 for a few years now and it's all the camera I'll ever need. I love it's small size when compared with an SLR and there are a good range of lenses and converters.

It can be a nightmare choosing a camera but now is probably a good time to do it. CES just finished so a whole bunch of new cameras have been announced and you might see some bargains on last years models. The main thing I learned was that the most important thing is the glass - a good lens will last a lot longer than the body.

Hope that helps and best of luck with it.

John

My mum has a Nikon D70 IIRC with a 17-200mm on it that she is looking at selling. Let me know if you are interested.
Only been used a couple of times, there is a case too and I think a spare battery as well.
Knowing her she will have kept all of the original box etc as well.

Very nice camera if I'm honest.

Tilly

[Edited on 17/1/14 by tilly819]