A beginner, help!

Ravage1616

Hi all,

I want to get into photography have always been into it, wish i had picked a course in it now but just want to take it up as a hobby! I wouldn't know to much about the cameras and want to get a decent enough one to start off with but not too dear! any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

conorgriff

what is your budget

Ravage1616

Around 800, won't know for sure till after christmas! any ideas? i've been looking myself but not sure about the cameras!

Shrimp

800 might be a bit steep for a beginner. Try narrow it to about 500 hundred, if you jump in at the deep end you'll just get put off.

Ravage1616

Thanks for the advice, any ideas?

conorgriff

well 800 is a big investment no doubt but when I was learning to dj I spent 1500 euro on gear to start off on. I bought the best stuff I could afford and I found learning on quality equipment is alot more encouraging than learning on stuff that's gonna hinder your development. I'd definitely say that goin out and buying the absolute top end stuff would only swamp you with features you'd never use but I also think it's important to not be hindered by the equipment you learn on either. In the 800 price range there are several excellent cameras on the market and I'm actually a beginner myself and have learnt alot in the last few weeks regarding equipment and features. The Nikon D50, Canon 350D (generally accepted as the best for the money at the moment) and a few others like the Pentax *ist DL. Digital SLRs are the way forward and if it's photographic quality you want rather than portability then they are the camera's you should be looking at. The Nikon D50 is around €800 in Dublin and the Canon 350D is around €1000 in dublin. However both are cheaper online from stores like Technikdirekt and Digital Wonder World

Ravage1616

Thanks a million! i'll have to think about it and do about more research!

Zanza

What about $100-$200 budget?

conorgriff

well you're not really gonna get much for that kind of budget. Possibly an old 35mm film slr from a shop which sells refurbished equipment

beans

Ravage1616 wrote:

Hi all,

... want to get a decent enough one to start off with but not too dear! any ideas?

How about getting an old second-hand single lens reflex camera on eBay?

I bought an Olympus OM-10 with a lovely 1/1.8 50mm Zuiko lens for 50€, and it takes nice sharp pictures. The Zuiko lenses are lauded as being very finely made, and there is quite a large second-hand market for them so you can pick them up quite cheaply.

I really love the OM-10. And if i had your budget i would also now have 750€ worth of lovely Japanese-made Zuiko lenses for it too!

Ravage1616

I'm not to sure waht to do now! my budget will probably go up now as well, gettin a few extra hours over the christmas! A friend from school is a photographer i'll ask him for some ideas as well!

conorgriff

did you try the links to the two camera's I put up in a post near the top?

Ravage1616

Yeah i did thanks, i'll probably go with one of them actually! Just need to get some money now! Thanks for the help!

Ravage1616

finaly narrowed it down to the Canon £50d or the Olympus E-500, anyone have any final advice before i pick one?

Fajitas!

Lol, just make sure your getting a lens with it, and not just a body!

Other than that, it's all plain sailing!

Ravage1616

not that stupid, the 2 cameras seem very simular not sure which one to get!

SOL

I would entirely suggest nikon especially from an upgrading point of view, if you do decide to take it really seriously there pro/am border stuff is much cheaper than Canon and better in some cases, take the D200 vs the 5D,
the nikon is almost half the price of the canon and just as good, infact someways it's better...
And in terms of lenses, I would be a bigger fan of Nikon, although thats just me and not a particularily valid opinion...

Fajitas!

I was born and raised on Canon, so I'm gonna have to differ, but either way, they're good cams.

Better Elaborate on that, wasn't in the best of mind at the time!

I find Canons auto focus much better, you can use Sigma lenses, which are more reasonably priced than the Canon ones, and the software that comes with Canon is much better than Nikon if you are going digital.

tina27a

Hi all,i'm just a beginner and want to buy my first digital camera.I think i have decided on the Canon Powershot A520 and was going to buy from pixmania but just saw this thread and had a look at Technikdirekt and they were cheaper.Just wondering if you buy from them does the manual come in english or is it german cos if i buy from pixmania the manual comes in french.I have also seen some bad reviews about pixmania so was just looking for opinions.
While i'm here can anyone tell me if the powershot is worth buying?I'm sorry but i'm not as rich as ye:) so i only want to spend up to about 230 euro.
Any replies appreciated.