Very new beginner here, advice would really help!

[locccen]

Hello everyone,

as the title of the thread suggests, I'm very new to all this. I have been doing a lot of research and looking around for a suitable camera to purchase to get great photos and was wondering if anyone could recommend a starter camera.

One of my friends who is an amateur has recommended the Nikon D40X as its entry level and in his opinion produces good quality pictures. Obviously I don't want to spend a fortune on my first camera so my budget is a max of £300 and I'm certainly looking for a SLR Camera.

Any help or information would be very much appreciated!


Tim

[jet_kit]

Hi Tim and welcome.
This is a question that gets raised very often and I can only give you the advice we give everyone.
Go to a camera shop and have a play with whatever they've got in stock. See what feels good in your hand.
Your choices are really Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Sony and Olympus. Each has it's strong points and each it's weaknesses, but any will serve you well. The camera will not take good pictures, only you can do that. So, get something that you're comfortable with and something that can grow with you.
Make no mistake the Nikon D40X is a good camera, but as far as I know it's been out of production for sometime. You will certainly be able to pick up a second hand one with a 18-55mm kit lens within your budget, but you won't have much change. By the time you've bought a Memory card and a spare battery you'll be at your limit. If you want a new camera you're going to have to increase your budget by at least 50% which will get you a D3100 with kit lens. I don't know anything about Canons, Pentax etc., but you're probably looking at much the same sort of prices.
The alternative option is to hold off getting a DSLR to start with - it's not the easiest of tools to get to grips with anyway - and think about a Bridge camera. These have most of the attributes of a DSLR without the interchangeable lenses. The fixed zoom will have a very large range and this will give you an excellent starting platform within your budget.

[locccen]

Hello Jet-Kit

Thank you very much for your reply, iv decided on going for a Bridge camera as one of the options you have advised and have been looking around some more and come to the conclusion that something like this would be best Fujifilm FinePix S4000.

Going by the review most are very happy and is more than within my price range so I can get a decent SD card and camera bag as well with still £100 left of my budget.

Thank you for the advice its been very helpful

Tim

[DigiDiva]

The Canon 1100D is an excellent starter. I have just moved up from the 1000D (replaced by the 11000D) myself. The entry level of the Canon 11000D will be a great starter for introducing your to DSLR's

[wavemachine]

Originally Posted by locccen

Hello Jet-Kit

Thank you very much for your reply, iv decided on going for a Bridge camera as one of the options you have advised and have been looking around some more and come to the conclusion that something like this would be best Fujifilm FinePix S4000.

Going by the review most are very happy and is more than within my price range so I can get a decent SD card and camera bag as well with still £100 left of my budget.

Thank you for the advice its been very helpful

Tim

Depends on how much creative control you want and indeed expandability.

For example all the bridge cameras I have seen when reverting to maual focus it is a button pushing exercise rather than the intuitive twist of the lens, same as the zoom. With a bridge camera you are generally stuck with one lens and can't change them over.

However a bridge camera is more compact, more affordable and more portable.

If you find you enjoy photography you will probably find yourself wanting a DSLR quite quickly having said that I have a bridge camera as well as my DSLR and find that pretty handy on certain occasions.

I guess rather than saying if I buy a bridge camera I can have a bag and a decent SD card make sure you have carefully thought through want you want to d and where you are likely to want to go, bags can be picked up quite cheaply off ebay and 7 day shop sometimes has bargains, similarly an 8GB Sandisk SD card can be had from play for £5.99

[jet_kit]

Originally Posted by DigiDiva

The Canon 1100D is an excellent starter. I have just moved up from the 1000D (replaced by the 11000D) myself. The entry level of the Canon 11000D will be a great starter for introducing your to DSLR's

Like I said, I don't know anything about Canon, but I have to admit that pretty cheap for a DSLR and might well be worth considering.

[locccen]

Yes the Canon 1100D looks wonderful but quite a bit over my budget.

It seems like there's a massive jump from Bridge to DSLR, the only other option I have is picking one up second hand although going by eBay they aren't much cheaper than getting a brand new one :/.

looks like I'm kind of stuck to be honest and now more confused than ever lol.

[beatnik69]

You should be able to get a D40x within your budget or you could go for the D40 (my last camera) for a bit less. The only difference is that the D40 is 6MP whereas the D40x is 10MP but as you are only starting out this isn't something to worry about unless you plan on making really big prints.

[locccen]

The only other option is to safe for a while for something like this Canon EOS 1000D EF-S / Rebel XS. Ah well i will keep my eyes peeled for now for a good deal

Thanks again for everyone's help! much appreciated

[DigiDiva]

You can still get a 1000d for a decent price, or second hand.