Looking to enter the world of DSLR

mmonster

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Hi all,

As the tradition goes every year, me and the wife tell each other what we want for Christmas. Buy it and we exchange presents then. I want to enter the world of professional photography just as a hobby for now and need to find a good entry or above decent DSLR camera that doesn't break the bank.

I never been into camera's before until I bought my wife a Nikon Coolpix P520 bridge camera last Christmas. The image quality to me was far superior than any of the standard digital cameras that I ever used in my life and with high clarity and sharpness. In short, the £279 I paid was one of the best investments I ever took and my wife couldn't be more pleased with it as she likes traveling and taking pictures of scenery and locations.

I'm looking to spend around the £500 for a DSLR camera and so far I seem to like Nikon D3200 which seems to offer good value for money for the functions it offers and it seemed to receive a good feedback from most users.

What do you guys think of this camera and is there anything else similar or of higher spec that you would recommend? I might be able to stretch the budget but not by far much.
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Thanks Mick, that's £50 cheaper than I what I found on curry's as it's on there for £399.

@mmonster ... @little_pob is the man to ask about photography, hopefully he gets a notification for this thread.

However I did find the Nikon D3200 for £349 here

DigitalRev

Hopefully that helps your budget :)

Mick
 
The 4 major marques (Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony) all have options within your budget.

If you're not already invested in a brand, either through fSLR or dSLR, the choice is ultimately down to your tick sheet of wants.

However, things to keep in mind:
  • Weight - most users carry their SLR around their neck. Investing in an elasticated neck strap is recommended if you'll also do this.
  • Cost of accessories - whilst some add ons can be used on any cameras (memory cards, filters), some can only be used on one brand. These include lenses, flash guns, some shutter releases.
  • Lenses - if you stick to a brand's upgrade path you can reuse your lenses. Therefore it's often worth paying a little extra for the lens. Having said always check out 3rd party lens offerings.
  • Protective equipment - a padded camera bag of some discription is a must, and UV or skylight filters for each lens is recommended.
 
Just started down the same path 6 months ago and bought a Canon 650D -- nearly went with the Nikon 3200 but i liked the rear screen and someone recommend Canon to me . If your serious then most photo buffs will always say "invest in the glass" -- the lens . I would also recommend the video course Fundamentals of Digital Photography by CreativeLive followed by the Fast start series for what ever camera you decide on . Look at the range of lens and what suits your type of photography .
As mentioned above DigitalRev is probably the cheapest and delivery is bloody fast and efficient - have ordered stuff from them before but if you order on their "group buy" please be aware that postage is normal snail mail where normal purchase is vial DHL and within 4 days .
 
I have done a bit of reading over the weekend as well as visited few stores. It seems now my choices upped to either Nikon D5200 or Canon EOS 700D. Each which seemed to have different good specs but as I found you'll never be able to combine all the functions you like into one single camera.

I agree that having the right lens is probably as much as important as having a good camera if not more. Even lenses tend to hold their value compared to the camera's after purchase.

I was also told that DSLR's cannot have similar powerful optical zoom that you could achieve on some bridge cameras such as up to 50x. Still need to read more on lenses and understand what each can achieve. But I will wait for few months after I got the camera before I start investing into more lenses.

Just started down the same path 6 months ago and bought a Canon 650D -- nearly went with the Nikon 3200 but i liked the rear screen and someone recommend Canon to me . If your serious then most photo buffs will always say "invest in the glass" -- the lens . I would also recommend the video course Fundamentals of Digital Photography by CreativeLive followed by the Fast start series for what ever camera you decide on . Look at the range of lens and what suits your type of photography .
As mentioned above DigitalRev is probably the cheapest and delivery is bloody fast and efficient - have ordered stuff from them before but if you order on their "group buy" please be aware that postage is normal snail mail where normal purchase is vial DHL and within 4 days .
 
...I was also told that DSLR's cannot have similar powerful optical zoom that you could achieve on some bridge cameras such as up to 50x. Still need to read more on lenses and understand what each can achieve. But I will wait for few months after I got the camera before I start investing into more lenses.
True, but very few people need the 1200mm equivalent lens. All I can think of are professional wildlife and aircraft photographers, plus photojournalists (including the paparazzi).

Due to this limited market, and the cost of scaling the optics, the price is prohibitory. Even opting for an 800mm lens, which will give you an equivalence of ~1200mm when attached to a DSLR with an APS-C sized sensor, would cost in excess of £4k.
 
As little_pob says it all depends on your sensor crop factor and lens -- full frame is way out most people's league but with a good tele photo lens on a 1.5 or 1.6 aps-c sensor you will get great results. You won't go far wrong with either the Nikon or Canon but I found the adjustable screen on the Canon a bonus when taking over head shots in live view :)
 
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