Help me decide on a Digital Camera...Please!

daveyboy · Mar 17, 2007

Hiya guys i was wondering if you could help me. I literally no nothing about digital cameras and to be honest aren't that keen to buy one, although i no i need too for cost reasons and because that seems to be the industry standard nowadays.

I have a small budget of up to 300pounds. Im from London. Curious to know what you experts think are good cameras for around that price bracket. Im a amateur photographer and don't really know what i need to look for in Digital. Is the megapixel the only thing that affects the quality,sharpness of an image? Im looking to take quite high res photos, unsure what resolution but guessing i need maybe 1gig card, im unsure.

I want it to be a Digital SLR. Sorry this isn't a clear post, but if anyone has thoughts and recommendations that would be great.

Thanks all.
Dave

Don Simon · Mar 17, 2007

Unfortunately £300 is a small budget for a dSLR. I expect you are probably looking at either used or 'refurbished' cameras. Of these I would consider 'refurbished' the safer option. If I remember right, Canon have an official 'refurbished' camera seller on Ebay, and you might be able to get a 300D or maybe even 350D, while a good shop in Watford sells refurbished Pentax *ist DL or DS for under £300. There may be other retailers who sell these or Nikon, Minolta and other brands refurbished, but hopefully someone else will have more info. Bear in mind that all of these 'refurbished' cameras are likely to be a body and no lens.

The reason I say £300 is a small budget is because as I have pointed out, it will probably only get you a body without a lens. This brings me to another question... megapixels are not the only thing that affect the quality or sharpness of an image. There is the size and quality of the sensor, the software used in processing (including that used by the camera when shooting Jpeg)... but most important of all is the lens. I imagine that for just over £300 you could get a 6-megapixel dSLR (nothing wrong with that) and a basic kit lens... but that kit lens would not be all that flexible and would not produce the sharpest images. It would be good to begin with but the main point of an SLR system is the ability to use a variety of different lenses. Even if you decide to stick with the standard kit lens, there are other costs... not only memory sticks but batteries, filters, plus software... and of course it might be 'free' to shoot photos but it still costs money to print them.

Sorry if this is a silly question, but if you know "literally nothing" about digital cameras and aren't even keen on buying one... why do you want one? And why do you want a digital SLR? Digital may be the "industry standard"... so are you in an industry and do you need to conform to the standard? Also how much photography do you 'do'? If the answer is not a lot, then is it really going to be cheaper to go digital?

hape · Mar 18, 2007

Hmmmm ... 300 Pound is a very tight budget for a DSLR Camera
I am happy with an Olympus E-300 and the kit lenses
You might get one within that budget second hand
Just saw one on ebay UK. Still 30 hours to go and currently at 155 Pound
Item number: 230104512028

Sincerely
Helmut

simonkit · Mar 18, 2007

Hi,

Out of interest what type of photography are you going to be doing - perhaps you don't need a DSLR in which case for £300 you can buy a very good "high end" P&S ?

If a DSLR is a requirement then £300 makes your choice difficult. I'm currently considering one myself but as my main use is Landscape photography I need a good wide angle lens - this alone will cost around £400 !!

simon

daveyboy · Mar 18, 2007

Hi thanks for your replies. Im not in the industry but i spent a lot of time taking photos and i really wonna have the luxury of being able to take loads of shots and then creating some form of digital contact sheet and choosing what image is best. At the moment with film cause it costs a lot, i can only afford to take 4-5 shots at max and hope one of them works out well.

I love Joel Sternfelds images and am looking to get clean sharp images. I know he used Medium Format, but at the moment i have a Minolta 660si 35mm camera and the images can look a little flat. Maybe it's the lenses? I'm not sure. I use a zoom, which i no doesnt give as clean an image as a prime. I got given the camera and lense, 40-135mm, so im unsure how good the lense is. I love the camera though.

I mainly take lifestyle photos, on steets etc. But i wonna start taking portraits on location, hence desire to have lot of detail in photos.

Maybe a refubrished one is a good idea, im a bit wary of ebay as ive been burned before on there!

Cheers
Dave