Buying my first SLR, help???

[Ladyjackson8]

I have been using a compact digital camera for a few years and now want to expand my photography skills, and learn more about cameras and taking photos - e.g. light settings, apertures, speed etc, and how it can all affect a photograph.

I've got up to £500 to spend on an SLR camera and was torn between the Nikon D3000 and the Canon 1000D. Having held them both and read numerous reviews, I have decided that I want to go down the Nikon route. But then I was shown a very bad review on the Nikon D3000 by Ken Rockwell who completely slated the processing time/time for the photo to appear etc, and suggests that I would do much better to spend the money on a Nikon D40 if you can still find one for sale!! As a real beginner to SLR's, and not much knowledge on how to compose a photograph etc, I am just wondering if this is really going to bother me. I have read so many reviews on the D3000, and see that it has won an award for best entry level SLR in 'What digital mag' etc, and am just not sure if this speed issue is going to cause me that many problems as I don't know any better. I will mainly be photographing landscapes, macro, and the outdoors, and not shooting much stuff at speed. I am also very attracted to the user guide that is a feature on the D3000, and hope it will help guide me through the process to taking better photos.

My other worry is that a) where do I buy a Nikon D40 from? I have only seen them for sale on places like Ebay and Amazon, second hand. This means I would have no warantee if something happened to them, and no guarantee that I wasn't being conned and buying a camera that has had a rough life etc. b) am also worried that if I wanted to sell the camera in 5 years time, that the Nikon D40 would be well past it's sell by date by then, but the D3000 would still be fairly new, and I would have had it from new, and known it's history etc.

Any advice??

[Sue Allen]

First rule of researching cameras - taken anything Ken Rockwell says with a pinch of salt. For an in depth review try http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond3000/
For the type of photography you have in mind any of the entry level DSLRs will give decent results. Although some disagree I think the lack of an AF motor in the entry level Nikons is something to consider as it restricts the use of thousands of bargain lenses if you want to add more lenses later on. TBH any budget camera released today will lose a lot of value in 5 years as things move so quickly.

[chris-p]

As Sue says, Ken Rockwell is (usually) an idiot.

If you've no experience with SLRs then you'd never notice the read/write times on ANY camera as they'll all be considerably faster than your compact.

In reality (again as Sue has said) all the entry level cameras are pretty similar. In my opinion the best all round value for money kits are from Sony & Olympus. You'll get a bigger range of accessories and options from Canon & Nikon but you'll pay a little bit more for it.

You seem to have done some decent homework and come to sensible decision. If you want a more in depth and much less biased review of the D3000 have a look here but you'll not be disappointed with it.

Ignore the D40, it's too old, not worth enough and the technology has moved on a long way, especially in the AF and metering systems which are pretty important!

Ah, and the Guide mode on the D3000 is actually very good. It's well laid out and very easy to understand.

All in all you won't be disappointed with the D3000 and you'll have a much better all round camera than the D40.

[lorraineb]

Maybe you've already purchased your camera - if so I hope you went for the Nikon D3000. I've had mine for a couple of months now, and I'm delighted with it! The step up from a compact digital is easy with the auto settings and guide mode, and the improvement in photo quality is just jaw dropping.

After just a couple of sessions practicing with my new camera, I had a shot of my two neices worthy of a 30 x 40 inch canvas. Cool.

Maybe one day I'll step up again to a more Pro camera, but for now my Nikon is just perfect.