Which DSLR

[tomscott]

Put it this way most of my images were taken with a 5 year old 10mp Canon 40D. (amazing little camera tho)

Doesnt matter what kit you have if you have the eye and know how to get the most out of your kit you can do anything!

Well im a Canon boy so I would go with the Canon. Nikon make good cameras but the glass is no where near as good as Canon. The EF lens mount is probably the best and most diverse system you can buy into.

The nikon being better in low light is so negligible that unless your a severe pixel peeper then you wouldn't notice, once its printed you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. More for the side by side 100% monitor comparisons which has so much detail that you can see minuscule differences. In the everyday there is very little between them, there might be 1/2 stop possibly. In the grand scheme of things this is no worry what so ever for average shooter. Could be for low light photographers that are shooting into the ridiculous ISO as normal practice like 6400-12800 and above. The Nikons are known at the moment for having better Dynamic range which means you can pull the shadows back, but if you expose the image correctly there isnt so much need for incredible DR. Its a pet hate of mine you find on the canon and nikon forums. But at the end of the day it is useful but for pros its a non issue which is why whenever you go to any event everyone is shooting canon. Lenses are better were known to be a tad cheaper, but now they are getting a little on the expensive side for new releases.

The 550D is a great little camera. The only thing it doesn't have compared to the 600 is the flipy screen otherwise its smaller, lighter and more compact. But I wouldn't buy a flipy screen simply because I would break it with the usage my cameras get. Great for getting different angles without getting all dirty lying on the floor. The 550D is a great camera, but the 60D offers a little more frames per second and a bigger body which I find more useful. I started with a 350D back in't day, so if you feel like you want something more you can alway upgrade later if you get into it more.

The advice I give to everyone starting out in photography is to buy a starter body then spend the money on lenses. Lenses are much more important than the body. Putting good glass on a camera is imperative. Also when you invest in lenses they outlive the cameras so once you have them you dont need to buy new versions.

Should be looking at lenses like the 15-85mm 17-55mm and 10-22mm specifically for the EF-S mount, L glass isnt a good idea for the wide end on a crop camera (which all the xxxD xxDs are) The sensor is smaller so if you use L glass you have to multiply the focal length by 1.6. A 24-105mm standard lens on a full frame camera would be 38.4-168mm 38mm is rubbish for wide angle on a crop body camera. Whereas it works out well on the longer end, a 70-200mm is a 112-320mm so you get more on zooms. Which is why I use crop cameras, I shoot a lot of motorsport so you get extra length without having to spend a fortune on the big whites.

A 70-200mm is 112-320 add a 2x extender you get 224-640mm although the quality does reduce slightly and the AF speed but its very useful.

Lenses on my wish list for your camera would be, in order:

17-55mm F2.8
10-22mm
70-200mm F4 IS
100mm 2.8 Macro IS

This is an expensive line up which you can upgrade to in time.

For now the twin lens kit is ok for starters but I would upgrade the standard zoom lens as quick as you can.

18-55mm 55-200mm

I would be looking to swap the 18-55mm to either the 15-85mm or if you can stretch to it the 17-55mm.

The 17-55mm and the 10-22mm are renowned for having L glass quality for crop cameras but without the weather sealing.

Hope this helps

And more than anything shoot as much as possible, can have the best gear in the world but if you dont learn the limits of your kit or shoot as much as possible then you cant get the best out of it.

I have just bought a 7D to fill in until I can get my hands on a 5D MKIII because my 40D finally gave up the ghost. I wouldn't buy a 7D for a long long time as I saw the ISO performance at low down was worse than the 6 year old 40D so I stuck with it. Now I pulled the trigger I can say yes it is a little noisier but it is an epic camera and people make out these tiny factors are huge problems when they are very minimal. Its a huge upgrade over the old cameras. Cant wait to get myself a 5D MKIII but the 4K price tag puts me off a tad for the shooting I do crop is better but want a full frame camera again after my 5D MKII went to a watery death lol.

 

[gadgetJunky72]

Whichever way you go, check out cash back offers that are often on over the summer and may still be on. Sony and Canon were both doing them recently I'm sure.

if you're buying online check out quidco as you could get quite a bit of cashback with such a large purchase.

 

[Carol M]

Great advice as ever Tom

We're camera twins now!
7D is a brilliant piece of kit.

 

[Anonymous]

Whichever way you go, check out cash back offers that are often on over the summer and may still be on. Sony and Canon were both doing them recently I'm sure.

if you're buying online check out quidco as you could get quite a bit of cashback with such a large purchase.

Oh and if you plan on air travel also look at Duty Free - just saved a fortune on a D800 at Dixons at STanstead.

Flew Ryan Air, hand baggage only and collected on return to the UK - holiday and Christmas together …...

 

[gazrobbo]

Ive spotted a good deal on the 550D at Jessops, also an interst free option:

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/85580/show.html?cm_re=Home-_-Rotate3-550dtlk-_-060712

so ill pop in the week and try out the NIkon and Canon, but if Im happy with the canon I will start with that one, there is also an option to get the 50mm f/1.8 MKII Lens for £50 with this bundle, do I need it?

so much info to take in, I think Ill get the twin lense starter and then start to make choices on what I need once I have the camera in my hands.

 

[gazrobbo]

also.. am I right in think the Canon have stabilisation built into the camera unit, but the Nikon only have it in the lense itself?

 

[RubyBlueZ4MC]

also.. am I right in think the Canon have stabilisation built into the camera unit, but the Nikon only have it in the lense itself?

Canon and Nikon both use in lens stabilisation. Sony use in camera stabilisation.

 

[Anonymous]

Ive spotted a good deal on the 550D at Jessops, also an interst free option:

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/85580/show.html?cm_re=Home-_-Rotate3-550dtlk-_-060712

so ill pop in the week and try out the NIkon and Canon, but if Im happy with the canon I will start with that one, there is also an option to get the 50mm f/1.8 MKII Lens for £50 with this bundle, do I need it?

so much info to take in, I think Ill get the twin lense starter and then start to make choices on what I need once I have the camera in my hands.

The only half decent lens in the bundle is the 50mm F/1.8. The other two lenses are (and I'm being very generous here) at best, mediocre. They are built to a price point and because of that, compromises have been made. The materials used in the construction are lightweight and the focusing/zoom rings are not smooth. To give you an idea, the body only price for the camera is around the £400-£420 mark. That leaves around £150 for two lenses which isn't a lot of cash.

If it were my money, I'd buy the body only and then look at something like this which can be had for around £300. It's not a perfect lens, but it is a much better quality lens than the two in the Jessops kit.

 

[Mr Whippy]

I bought a Sony A77 earlier in the year.

Their price has come down a bit since then and I think it's a really nice DSLR for the money...

I think it's the first innovative DSLR for a long time, aside from the usual more resolution, more iso approach to 'new' models.


The only thing I'd recommend generally is a good couple of lenses, 1.8 50mm and a 24-70 2.8 or something in those kinda ranges. Also try get something with two command inputs so you can run manual mode and adjust f-stop and shutter speed quickly per finger/thumb or whatever combo you use

Dave

 

[RJS-Z4]

I hate the place but I can't recommend gumtree enough.

I recently (last week) picked up an utter bargain 500D.

Be vary careful of the scammers though, they're easy to spot a mile off. Look for those only willing to meet up and deal cash, who are willing to offer a demo of the camera and have an ad with actual picture of the camera and offer and accurate description.

I think I got a right bargain but I'm totally new to it so I'm never sure, I bought from a bloke who'd got the camera to take photos of his kids as babies, but now had a compact because it was too much to carry around with the toddler stuff.

I got a mint 500D, kit lense, 50mm 1.8 canon lense, UV filter, spare battery, lowe pro bag, all original box, cables, manuals CD's, even the original bag he bought it in, the receipt from jessops and every tag cut off of everything he bought.

The total was £781 and I gave him £310!!!!!!!

 

[Mr Whippy]

The only half decent lens in the bundle is the 50mm F/1.8. The other two lenses are (and I'm being very generous here) at best, mediocre. They are built to a price point and because of that, compromises have been made. The materials used in the construction are lightweight and the focusing/zoom rings are not smooth. To give you an idea, the body only price for the camera is around the £400-£420 mark. That leaves around £150 for two lenses which isn't a lot of cash.

I totally agree.

Those lenses were bad on the 350d level camera 8 years ago, so their badness is going to be even more evident on something newer. Also, the depreciation on those cheap common lenses is horrible, as it will also be on a mid-level 'new' body like that.
Ie, the lot will be worth half that in a years time...


I always thought the stuff around the Canon 20/30/40D series were really nice. All the technical gubbins to do the stuff you need but at a reasonable price used. Pretty sure the 40D is still a metal body etc too.

Not sure on the best cheap Canon lenses though, I had Nikon personally and at work we just bought Canon L series stuff. I'm pretty sure you can get some ok lenses for Canons relatively cheap though, you just have to wait for the right ones to come up on eBay


I'd go used really, you'll get much better kit and it'll probably do a better job all for the same price, AND lose less value!

Dave

 

[tomscott]

A 24-70 In crop terms is 17-55mm. I forgot about primes but for beginners can be hindrance as zooms offer a better compromise. But a nifty fifty is always a good one to buy especially the canon as is £80, build quality is awful but image quality is at least as good as a 50mm 1.4 if not slightly better. So is renowned as a great lens for cost.

50mm on crop is 80mm so is a perfect head and shoulder portrait lens. But primes are better suited to more advanced users unless you need a very fast lens, faster than 2.8.

For a beginner variable apertures are fine, 2.8 zooms are complete overkill and will be twice the price.

The only gripe I have is that those 18mp sensors need really good glass to resolve that detail so the standard kit lenses are a bit poor. They should have left the mp count to 10-14mp then it would be fine.

But ultimately buy one and see if you need better! If your printing 6x4s you won't notice any difference in quality. If you got A3/A2/A1 or even as big as B0 then you will need better glass. Also Lightroom/photoshop have awesome lens profiling software that sorts out all distortion except sharpness so they standard stuff should be ok for now!

 

[tomscott]

Btw all the standard lenses have been updated with better elements and have IS since the 350d days and score pretty well optically for the price. Also residual value is good on all canon lenses so don't worry about that.

20/30/40/50/7d all have magnesium alloy bodies but the 60D and all xxxDs are impact plastic.

The 40/50D offer incredible value for money and my 40D is definetely better IQ wise than the 7D up to 400ISO the 7D (18mp sensor in that whole range) has the same size sensor but 80% more resolution so for the size difference in printing to a slight downgrade in image quality isn't an awful compromise, but a compromise non the less.

 

[Smurfalot]

I'd say canon.
I needed/wanted one for our honeymoon in Kenya. Came as a package, inc a 80-300 lens.
It's an eos something.
Didn't take a bad picture, and I'm no professional!
Lenses are reasonably priced too.

 

[tomscott]

Also the cheap lenses don't focus quickly they can hunt for focus in dim light and the front element moves so if your using filters can be a pain. Also they are very very loud! They can dare subjects like wildlife.

Look for:
IS image stabilisation
USM ultra sonic motor (quiet and quick focus)

L is canons luxury professional range. Most are weather and dust resistant

EF-s are canons crop camera lenses look for the gold ring USM versions they are the higher quality EF-s range.

 

[gazrobbo]

Well I popped to jessops after work, had a quick play with both, my head is saying buy the canon, as the kit will give me all the bits I need to practice with.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/Digital%20SLR%20Cameras/products/Canon/EOS%20550D%20Digital%20SLR%20Twin%20Lens%20Kit%20-%20Exclusive%20to%20Jessops-85580/Show.html

But the Nikon felt better built, slightly more compact and weighty, is the weight a bad thing though?
Not really any packages avalible though, I did find this in comet

http://www.comet.co.uk/p/All-Digital-Cameras/buy-NIKON-D5100-KIT-All-Digital-Camera/697807

Perhaps I should get jessops to price match?
Are the lenses better?

 

[tomscott]

I think weight is better, I always buy a grip to weigh them down.

Go with what you feel is right. The Nikon is better ergonomically. Feels better in hand but the canon has better lenses and a better menu system it's def down to personal preference. Buy what you feel is right!

Jessops should price match

 

[gazrobbo]

I think weight is better, I always buy a grip to weigh them down.

Go with what you feel is right. The Nikon is better ergonomically. Feels better in hand but the canon has better lenses and a better menu system it's def down to personal preference. Buy what you feel is right!

Jessops should price match

Are the lenses in the canon kit better than the Nikon ones?

 

[gadgetJunky72]

if you shop at Tesco £5 of clubcard vouchers = £10 at Jessops

http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/product.aspx?R=1979

 

[Pants]

Just to throw a spanner in, I've recentl shelved my Nikon dslr and have moved to the Sony nex 5n. Two reasons firstly low light no flash shots (truly stunning, dont ever use flash now) and secondly it can transform from a little pocket camera to something capable of competing with either the canon or Nikon entry levels on pictur quality.

Drawbacks are its mirror less and if you want a traditional view finder it's electronic and and extra cost.

I've found that I take it with me more often now as it is so small. It also with the aid of an adaptor that costs about a tenner can use all of the old manual lenses from yesteryear I have 6 or 7 and prefer the image quality to my newer lenses.

Cheers

Pants