Best Digital SLR for £350

fleshtuxedo

Hate to do this on a cycling forum, but it's an emergency....

Need to buy the missus one of the above for a bday present. For taking better photos (we have had several allegedy good compacts but have always found the results a bit meh) just of family holidays and suchlike. Would ideally not be huge.

Any recommendations from someone who knows about this stuff?

father_jack

Canon.£350 isn't enough for proper SLR and lenses. Oh make sure it supports RAW format (uncompressed picture)

fleshtuxedo

Thank you Father. What's the minimum I need to spend then? <ominous>

TMR

You could ask here mate:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=28

A very, very knowledgeable bunch of guys. They'll point you in the right direction

Biscuiteer

Check out Olympus digital SLRs if small is important (four-thirds standard). Their E-450 comes in at under £350 with one kit lens, or just over £400 with two. If you're familiar with the old 35mm film camera focal lengths, multiply Olympus digital lens lengths by 2x to get their 35mm equivalent.

Or for really small and compact but still with interchangeable lenses, then check out the Olympus micro four-thirds standard cameras, such as the Olympus Pen E-PL1. These are a bit pricier though and not to everyone's taste.

Proceed to http://www.dpreview.com if you require total information overload.

fleshtuxedo

Oh, I forgot to mention it needs to take movies as well....

Thanks for the pointers, so far I'm thinking this looks a decent bet. The £350 budget lies in tatters...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digital-C ... B0020MLKF0

Any thoughts on the above (Canon Eos 500D)?

The Olympus doesn't seem to take movies, unfortunately.

Savagestorm

The Sony DSLR's are great quality and reasonably priced (though now that they have established themselves in the market they have begun hiking their prices). I'd suggest going to ebay for a slightly older model, they will be just as good as the ones Sony currently have on the market for a good 2030% less. Check out the A500 if buying new from ebay, A700 if second hand on ebay, A230 if new from Amazon.

If you'd like more shopping advice, check out http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14 .

Biscuiteer

Movies... well, that's the Olympus E-series SLRs out of the equation then, though the smaller Olympus Pen series do possess a movie recording capability. However, like on my Panasonic compact, each clip appears to be limited to less than 15 mins. Might be worth double checking the continuous recording time of any camera you consider if long filming sequences are important to you,

Aggieboy

You have a PM.

balthazar

At £500 ish, look at the Panasonic GF1. Here's an account that partially sold it to me (and many others):

http://craigmod.com/journal/gf1-fieldtest/

I can use my beloved old fast Canon lenses on it too. I'm pleased to be free of SLR's... "micro-four-thirds" is the future! (though it needs a catchier name).

wetherbob

im a nikon man myself, take a look at the d3000

Anonymous

I had a budget of about tree fiddy in mind when I was looking for a new SLR. Ended up spending a grand.

stannie

You can get a Canon 1000D for £ 350 but I don't think it does video


http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-can ... t/p1030429

I would go for a Nikon and spend a bit more


http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nik ... /p10001156


http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nik ... s/p1518874

fast as fupp

get a nikon- canon lenses are like an old lady with cataracts

verylonglegs

Got a Nikon D5000 myself, think it was about £470 as it had a £50 cashback offer at the time. Was like yourself at the time, was initially looking to spend less but decided to go a little bit further after a bit of reading up.

thinbo

you could give Canon Outlet a try, it is Canon UK's ebay shop where they sell "refurbished" Canon products. They all come with full Canon warranty etc.

I have bought a compact camera from them and have 2 friends who have bought DSLRs from them, all with no problems.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet?_rdc=1

ScottieP

+1 for what Thinbo's advising - the Canon outlet store is your answer - but you may need to be patient. I've seen SLR's going pretty cheap there if you get lucky. They have a regular flow of them right up to the top end- but you could expect to go fairly close to your budget of £350.

You won't find the Canon's cheaper.... I've tried and failed.

Good luck.

ScottieP

barriecusvein

if you really wanna stick to £350 then you could try the Panasonic Lumix G10

Amazon link

I got one about 3 months ago and have been super happy with it. It uses the micro four thirds system like the Olympus EP line so lenses can be swapped, and an adaptor lets you use other lens types if you want. It takes lovely pics and does 720p video. The EVF isn't as good as on the G1 and G2, but for this price thats something you have to live with. Definitely worth checking out. Dpreview review posted below, it did pretty well.

Review

Weejie54

get a nikon- canon lenses are like an old lady with cataracts

Yawn.......They are both excellent. Like Campag and Shimano.

zanes

Remember that, like buying the best paintbrushes won't make you the next Van Gogh, buying a DSLR won't automatically make you a better photographer. In fact, I reckon my DSLR (Canon EOS500D) is worse on full auto than my £100 samsung compact is. However, once you get onto manual, the game changes totally.

Also, movies wise CMOS sensors are poor.

RDW

Can't go wrong with Nikon or Canon, but if buying new your original budget only gets you a Nikon D3000 or a Canon 1000D, neither with video. Step up to the £500 level and you can get video and a better camera, e.g. the new Nikon D3100 or the D5000. Here's a good price comparison site:

http://camerapricebuster.co.uk/

Check here for reviews:

http://www.dpreview.com/

e.g., for the Nikons in your price range, this page has a comparison:

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/Nikond3100/

If it's not a surprise, take her along to the shop and see which she prefers - like Campag and Shimano, Nikon and Canon have slightly different controls for doing the same thing, and people often prefer one or the other.

MattC59

NapoleonD wrote:

I had a budget of about tree fiddy in mind when I was looking for a new SLR. Ended up spending a grand.

You should be careful, if you go about letting people know you have tree fiddy, you'll have the Loch Ness Monster after you !!

father_jack

Big :shock:

MattC59

Father Jack wrote:

Big :shock:

If Aggieboy gets hold of one of those (the lens) we're going to get a lot more 'girls in lycra' shots

RDW

If Aggieboy gets hold of one of those (the lens) we're going to get a lot more 'girls in lycra' shots

That tripod looks a bit awkward, though. How about one of these?:

[/quote]

father_jack

would you trust a £5000 lens on a unipod? nope

Suffolkwheels

I'm about to sell a Canon EOS 400D with Canon 18-55mm lens plus 2 memory cards, battery, charger, all leads, CDs, manual, original box, Lowepro camera bag, extendable tri-pod, all in mint condition, tomorrow.

I'm selling it for £350, a blokes picking it up tomorrow. If you can give me a better offer tonight, its yours!

Delivery will cost £11 or £23 for next day.

Stuey01

Suffolkwheels wrote:

I'm about to sell a Canon EOS 400D with Canon 18-55mm lens plus 2 memory cards, battery, charger, all leads, CDs, manual, original box, Lowepro camera bag, extendable tri-pod, all in mint condition, tomorrow.

I'm selling it for £350, a blokes picking it up tomorrow. If you can give me a better offer tonight, its yours!

Delivery will cost £11 or £23 for next day.

WTF? Bang out of order. You don't agree a sale and then pull out of it like that. It's just not cricket.


In answer to the OP, my missus has a Nikon D60, it is an entry level camera but great for starting out, sounds about right for what you want to be honest. Can be had for around your budget.

father_jack

Suffolkwheels wrote:

I'm about to sell a Canon EOS 400D with Canon 18-55mm lens plus 2 memory cards, battery, charger, all leads, CDs, manual, original box, Lowepro camera bag, extendable tri-pod, all in mint condition, tomorrow.

I'm selling it for £350, a blokes picking it up tomorrow. If you can give me a better offer tonight, its yours!

Delivery will cost £11 or £23 for next day.

This isn't a auction site.

fleshtuxedo

Well I can't give the missus second hand goods, leaving aside the ethical issues raised, so thanks but no thanks.

Thanks for the replies, think it'll come down to the Canon EOS 500D and the Nikon D3100. I'll be going to Jessops to see what looks best.

Muchos gracias

Aggieboy

FleshTuxedo wrote:

Well I can't give the missus second hand goods, leaving aside the ethical issues raised, so thanks but no thanks.

Thanks for the replies, think it'll come down to the Canon EOS 500D and the Nikon D3100. I'll be going to Jessops to see what looks best.

Muchos gracias

As you obviously don't know what a PM is , I'll put some waffle on here. For your money, I'd look at the Pana Lumix FZ38 'bridge' camera. For £250, it's an amazing camera for the money with stereo video, with a 27mm - 490mm inbuilt Leica zoom, takes RAW, blah, blah.... I love mine.

Just my 2 prints worth

Review - http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-c ... MC-FZ38/p1