Camera Advice - Please

Vanish · Sep 24, 2008

Well I currently have Samsung S700 (pictured below)

and I was wondering what would be a good dSLR camera to start with? Budget is around £250 ($450) it does not have to be AMAZING but pretty good - I want to be able to take better pictures of my daughter instead of my rubbish camera.

I am not sure what media is the standard media cards but if possible I would like it to use SD Cards as I have quite a few of those already - but if it doesnt then that is fine as well.

Thanks for reading,
Vanish

poopingfish · Sep 24, 2008

The rivals here are the D40 mainly and the Rebel XT.
Id say, if you feel comfortable try and grab a used 30D then find a general use lense of your liking. The 50 1.8 is quite popular for less then 100 dollars but doesnt leave much flexibility.

Vanish · Sep 25, 2008

Oh right thanks for the info there buddy - I will try and track one down - anyone else have any other thoughts please?

Thanks
Vanish

Mike_E · Sep 25, 2008

Sorry for the pointy question but what is your yearly budget going to be?

You are unlikely to be happy with your kit without a $1200 to $1500 investment (camera body, lenses, filters, flash, bags, batteries and so on) before you are done.

It's worth every bit of it but it's different than a compact camera (P&S).

Good luck and enjoy!!

Steph · Sep 26, 2008

Some other (used) cameras to consider:

- Pentax K100D
- Olympus E410/E420

Bifurcator · Sep 26, 2008

Why used? The Oly 420 is around $500 and the Pentax there is around $550 Both prices include lenses.

Stay far far away from the D40 or the XT... they suck! (I say this even though Nikon is my favorite company) Advertising BS and brand-name loyalty has everyone chanting Nikon & Canon but the D40 and the XT suck so bad it's just sad. Check out Pentax, Oly, Sony, and Samsung and compare (as I have). You'll be surprised at how badly the low end Nikon and Canons suck massive nuggets. Not that it will prevent the brainwashed masses from recommending them over and over and over again tho..

This is a pretty good read: http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/best-digital-slr-of-2007.html