First DSLR?

JRPDoyle

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Hello all I am looking to buy my first DSLR.
I was looking at either the D3200 or the D5200.
Any suggestion on which would be best? I will be using it mainly to take pictures of my family at first (kids ages 1 - 5) and using that to learn about how to use them. I have never used a DSLR before but have seen the quality of pictures from them.
Also any suggestion on lenses for this would be brilliant.
 
Hello all I am looking to buy my first DSLR.
I was looking at either the D3200 or the D5200.
Any suggestion on which would be best? I will be using it mainly to take pictures of my family at first (kids ages 1 - 5) and using that to learn about how to use them. I have never used a DSLR before but have seen the quality of pictures from them.
Also any suggestion on lenses for this would be brilliant.

Well either will suit your needs fine really, I think the question to ask yourself is the camera something you'll only be using occasionally for say family photos and vacations or is photography a hobby your really looking to get into at least somewhat seriously? If it's the former I'd go with the 3200, if it's the latter I'd recommend the 5200. The 5200 will stlll be very easy to use when your first getting started, but it will give you some more advanced features that you can make use of after you start learning your way around the camera. So if you plan on getting even semi-serious about your photography then I'd go with the 5200 myself.

In point of fact I own a 5200, and I love it.
 
The main selling point between the D3200 and D5200 (in my opinion) is the articulating screen on the D5200. The sensors are pretty similar... the D5200 just takes a slight edge as far as I know (and I think the above-linked comparisons confirm that, though I could be mistaken). It offers just a little bit here and there over the D3200, which to me was worth it (so I bought the D5200).

The articulating screen on the D5200 is extremely useful to me. I can get some interesting creative shots with it, and it turns the camera into an excellent device for video. It's really easy to use the camera strap around your neck as something to get some tension for stabilization between the camera & your neck, hold the camera down low, tilt the screen so it's facing you, and then video. Definitely something to think about if you care about video at all, especially if you've got young ones who you might want to lower the camera for when videoing. For picture-taking, the articulating screen really helps when in live-view mode (ex. you want to take a shot too low to the ground or too high to use the viewfinder, just tilt the screen and you can see what's going on).
 
Well the difference in the price of both with the kit lens is less than €100 so price doesn't really come into it but I would initially be using it for family etc and then hopefully doing more with it once I learn to use it a bit more. The part that really confuses me is the lenses. Is the kit lense going to be good enough for taking pictures of my kids or do I need a much better lens taking into account getting them to stand still long enough for a picture is quite rare.
 
The kit lens will be good enough to start, to learn, and to take pictures of your family. You may find a hard time only indoors or in the evening, due to low light. Alternative cheap and very good lenses for the D5200 are, for instance, these ones:
- Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Nikkor Lens 2183 B&H Photo (~USD $197)
- Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G Lens 2199 B&H Photo Video (~USD $217)

These are not zoom lenses, but their quality is very high, while the price very low.

Read this article:
- Best lenses for the Nikon D5200 - DxOMark
 
Cool thank so much for the help I asked loads of questions in the camera shops here and got very little info. It's so handy being able to ask questions here to people in the know.
 
If money is not what makes the different then get the D5200, its the better camera!

As for lenses, well lenses is a long story and you need to understand what each lens strong and weak points are.
For a novice I always recommend first to get the camera with its kit lens, these kit lenses are actually good and will work well for many scenarios, my favorite kit lens is the Nikon 18-105mm VR, I had this lens and found it to be a good balance between price, overall perfromance and focal range.
The 18-55mm kit lens is ok but the focal range is too short for my needs.
2 more lenses I usually recommend are
1.Nikon 50mm 1.8G, a rather cheap lens but its a fantastic lens, great for portraits, super sharp and excellent for low light or night photography, it will be perfect for taking pictures of your family inhouse.
2.For telezoom when you are outside the Nikon 70-300mm VR, also relatively affordable lens, very sharp and I think great value for the money

But in the beginning I would concentrate at the kit lens and the 50mm lens

Another important thing is to learn how to use your camera, some people think the fact they own a good camera will automatically upgrade their pictures, well it wouldnt in most cases, you really need to understand how the camera work and know how to work with it, once you do then you will truly see the results and be able to fulfill the potential of your camera.

Good luck
 
Well the difference in the price of both with the kit lens is less than €100 so price doesn't really come into it but I would initially be using it for family etc and then hopefully doing more with it once I learn to use it a bit more. The part that really confuses me is the lenses. Is the kit lense going to be good enough for taking pictures of my kids or do I need a much better lens taking into account getting them to stand still long enough for a picture is quite rare.

Definitely start with just the kit lens and use it for a while. You can get really usable shots from the kit lens and it's always better to start with it, then once you've taken a fair amount of pictures then you can consider whether or not you need another lens that will fulfill another role for you or do something for you that your kit lens just doesn't.

Not much point in spending a ton of money on lenses until you really know what it is you want and or need. The standard kit lens will do just fine taking picture of the kids, and if your going to be working indoors maybe at some point look at adding an external flash unit of some sort. This of course is something you can always do down the road as well, it's not an absolute must have starting out.
 
Cool thank so much for the help I asked loads of questions in the camera shops here and got very little info. It's so handy being able to ask questions here to people in the know.

Well guys at camera shops make money when they sell you a camera, and depending on certain things they might make even more money if they can sell you more camera then you actually need.. lol. Sales people generally are not a good resource for information as a result.
 
The main selling point between the D3200 and D5200 (in my opinion) is the articulating screen on the D5200. The sensors are pretty similar... the D5200 just takes a slight edge as far as I know (and I think the above-linked comparisons confirm that, though I could be mistaken). It offers just a little bit here and there over the D3200, which to me was worth it (so I bought the D5200).

The articulating screen on the D5200 is extremely useful to me. I can get some interesting creative shots with it, and it turns the camera into an excellent device for video. It's really easy to use the camera strap around your neck as something to get some tension for stabilization between the camera & your neck, hold the camera down low, tilt the screen so it's facing you, and then video. Definitely something to think about if you care about video at all, especially if you've got young ones who you might want to lower the camera for when videoing. For picture-taking, the articulating screen really helps when in live-view mode (ex. you want to take a shot too low to the ground or too high to use the viewfinder, just tilt the screen and you can see what's going on).

bingo. articulating screens are WONDERFUL. Use mine all the time. i cant believe the higher end models don't have them. It is like you take a step up to a higher end model you take a step back losing the articulating screen
 
Hello all I am looking to buy my first DSLR.
I was looking at either the D3200 or the D5200.
Any suggestion on which would be best? I will be using it mainly to take pictures of my family at first (kids ages 1 - 5) and using that to learn about how to use them. I have never used a DSLR before but have seen the quality of pictures from them.
Also any suggestion on lenses for this would be brilliant.

Picture quality may be negligible for what you want to use it for, but you should definitely research features and get everything you 'might' want to use in the future. I currently have a 3200 and I will be upgrading soon to the 7100 because of DOF button, bracketing, etc. that the 3200 does not have. I am not upgrading because I am dissatisfied with the PQ of the 3200. I wish I would have researched more than I did before I bought a DSLR.

BTW, I think you are in the UK (I'm in the US) but I have a 3200 I will sell you, with the kit 18-55 and a 55-200, and even throw in an extra battery. :mrgreen:
 
If money is not what makes the different then get the D5200, its the better camera!

As for lenses, well lenses is a long story and you need to understand what each lens strong and weak points are.
For a novice I always recommend first to get the camera with its kit lens, these kit lenses are actually good and will work well for many scenarios, my favorite kit lens is the Nikon 18-105mm VR, I had this lens and found it to be a good balance between price, overall perfromance and focal range.
The 18-55mm kit lens is ok but the focal range is too short for my needs.
2 more lenses I usually recommend are
1.Nikon 50mm 1.8G, a rather cheap lens but its a fantastic lens, great for portraits, super sharp and excellent for low light or night photography, it will be perfect for taking pictures of your family inhouse.
2.For telezoom when you are outside the Nikon 70-300mm VR, also relatively affordable lens, very sharp and I think great value for the money

But in the beginning I would concentrate at the kit lens and the 50mm lens

Another important thing is to learn how to use your camera, some people think the fact they own a good camera will automatically upgrade their pictures, well it wouldnt in most cases, you really need to understand how the camera work and know how to work with it, once you do then you will truly see the results and be able to fulfill the potential of your camera.

Good luck


I know that just buying a good camera doesn't guarantee good pictures but I will also be buying David Busches guide on the camera I pick. I will definately plan to get the 50mm 1.8 G lens as my second lens after the kit lens once I've learned to use the camera as most my shots will be indoors of the kids.

Thanks for the advice I've spent weeks looking at this stuff and found constant contradictions. 24hrs here has given me more answers than the previous 3 weeks.
 

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