Some advice for cameras appreciated.

Altheus

Hey, never posted on this board before but it seems to be the place to go for this sort of thing.

I've been planning to buy a camera for a while, and have finally saved enough dough to really buy what I want (need).

I'm looking to buy an entry level dSLR (budget €700 to €1100 including memory card) and a good compact digital (budget €1 to €300) for portability and snapshots.

I've read the slew of reviews on dpreview.com and narrowed the field down on the SLR front to:

Nikon D70/80
Canon EOS300D/350D
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 (not an SLR, but looks good)

What I'm looking for here is a good feature set, a camera that I can learn on, and follow through with once I've really grasped the concepts as this will be my first time using a manual camera.

As far as the compact goes, what I'm looking for is something that I can fit into my pocket or is at least light enough to carry on my person without it being too obvious! I've not really been able to narrow the field down too much on this so I'm open to suggestions.

I'll probably be buying off eBay, from someone like DigitalRev.com or hopefully a UK based seller, so this is where I've got my price estimations from.

(also I realise the animosity between the Nikon vs. Canon crowd, so I hope I dont start a flame war...)

Cheers!

Fajitas!

Get the compact first. Learn to see a good photo with that!

When you're happy, go for your DSLR, Whether it be Canon or Nikon. If I were you, I'd be holding out til the 400D comes out, so you'll be choosing between the D80 or 400D, no point in buying old technology!

From personal experience, I wouldn't buy of digitalrev.com

Altheus

I've taken photographs before, but what I'm saying is it will be my first forray into the world of ISOs and Apetures.

The reason I'll include the 350 and D70 is due to the amount that will be sold on once/since the 400 and D80 have arrived.

unklerosco

for a compact id recommend this
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/351707/art/sanyo/xacti-e6.html?itag=6050

Its a nifty little camera, works a treat, its small, has a huge 3" screen and is a sinch to use...

Altheus

unklerosco wrote:

for a compact id recommend this
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/351707/art/sanyo/xacti-e6.html?itag=6050

Its a nifty little camera, works a treat, its small, has a huge 3" screen and is a sinch to use...

Read one or two reviews that gave it about a 50% score, though it was PC Mag and another non authority on the subject.

What about this one: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N1 ? Though it just about tips the pay scale, it's 8M pixel and probably will retain it's value better than the Sanyo so worth the extra €

davmigil

If you are thinking of a second hand Nikon D70(s), you might also consider a new D50. Argos/Dixons selling them for €580 (with 17-55 kit lens). Image wise not much difference between d50 and d70 (d50 has the edge at higher Iso apparently). Has less feature wise, but that mightn't be a huge consideration.

snickerpuss

Anyone have any opinions on the Fujifilm s9500 zoom? I have this ancient 3 million pixels finepix and it takes a good picture so presumably this would be much better?

I can't really afford a seriously expensive digital cos my main love is my SLR.
Any ideas?