DIGITAL SLR CAMERA - which one?

[jeangenie]

Looking for recommendations on a decent digital SLR for under £500
my point and shoot is totally crap and I'd like to get a decent SLR and do some courses in the Autumn to maximise my abilities
so if you have a good one please let me know what it is and what you like about it.

thanks

I am about to invest in one of these so will watch with interest

I have a Canon 400D and Hubby has a Nikon D80, what do you need to know .

TBH, your best route is to get some camera magazines for a little while - read some reviews, decide what features you want/need in a DSLR, then get yourself down to somewhere like Jessops to feel them in your hands. If you've done your homework and got the magazine, Jessops often do a voucher where you can price match any price in that magazine and get the same price in store (plus you have the benefit of being easier to deal with any problems if they occur).

I love the Canon 400D because it's smaller and lighter weight. Dh prefers his Nikon because he can fit his hand more comfortably round the grip. In terms of picture quality, both are excellent (and of course, buying different higher quality lenses makes a huge difference, but both kit lenses are fairly good). The menu systems work differently and that's down to preference. Mine has sensor cleaning, dh's doesn't. Canon equivalent lenses tend to be cheaper than the Nikon and Canon comes with free RAW converter software, the Nikon only comes with a very basic one. But fairly minor differences tbh.

The budget DSLRs are becoming so good now, that in general differences will be minor and down to personal preference rather than crucial to the quality of the image produced.

Oh - don't just look at the price of the camera - do look at the whole package - how much are the lenses you'd like (I wanted and eventually got a decent macro lens), what about other accessories like grips, flash units, etc? You might not want or can afford to buy them now, but if in general one brand doesn't have as wide a selection or is much more expensive than another then the time to find out is now.

Even if you upgrade later, chances are you'll want to stay with the same brand so you can keep lenses that you've bought to fit this one, so you should take that into consideration when choosing a DSLR.

Dh has been looking into these. He previously fancied a Canon Eos 400D as he has always been a fan of EOS SLRs however having read some of the geeky discussion forums is now leaning towards a Nikon. The thing to be aware with the 400D though is that the standard 18-55mm lens it comes with is allegedly crap (body only price is circa £450 or just a bit more with the thrown in lens - so lens provided is of neglible value really). You will need to pay anything between £200 - £400 (the sky's the limit really) for a decent lens on top of that.

Suggest you read the camera geeks' forums.

Bollocks is it crap I'm getting easily as good a pictures as dh on my kit lens. I also got a brilliant 50mm prime for £70 so you don't need to spend loads for a good lens. My macro lens did cost nearer £400 though.

hmm, I do want a macro lens in the end. I had hoped to be able to use my old olympus slr lenses but of course olympus seem to be the only ones who have built their DSLR from scratch so it can't use the old lenses so I am starting afresh

I have heard Good Things about the Nikon, but not sure I can afford the D80, must check

I'm planning to buy the camera with basic lens first and save for extra lenses on top over next year or two

where are these camera geek forums (fora?)? [like I need ANOTHER internet discussion forum to spin my head!!!]

we have a Canon and I love it! It is easy to take great pictures on. We have invested in a wide angle lens recently for it which is fab too!

TBH I suspect any diffences between them is neglible and the major factor is the operator! - unless you want to blow your photos up to Wall paper size that is?

my current point and shoot (which was expensive in its day) just doesn't seem to get the focus right - and it can't be me as it is on auto - it's made me well nervous and I want something that doesn't suffer from that fatal flaw!

I need something that has decent auto for when I can't be bothered faffing about (or relying on my dodgey eyes) but also the capacity to allow me to get a bit more inventive

so far canon and nikon are coming up trumps - they are which magazines best buys too, so maybe I just pop along to jessops and do the palm test...