What Camera to Buy?? - Read me Before Posting

TJJP

Rael wrote: »

Also can anyone recommend a photo printer to go along with it?

Wouldn't be keen on a printer in this case. They are not economical to run if used a lot and are not worth it if used a little. Print shops are everywhere these days and there are good deals on prints to be had. Just being the memory card in to the store to get prints.

On cameras, go for a 5MP or better. On the basis of your budget have a look in dixons or argos where you will likely find a deal. I'm a big fan of Canon Ixus range.

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=30001&langId=-1&catalogId=1500001101&productId=1500211583&Trail=C%24cip%3D1500012926.Photography%3EC%24cip%3D1500012934.Digital%2Bcameras&categoryId=1500012934&clickfrom=name

There are a few camera printer deals on Argos too, round the €220 mark, but they don't excite too much. Ink and paper is €€€.

You need to factor in the cost of a memory card too. A 2GB SD is about €16 in Aldi at the moment...

If you're not in a hurry to get the camera have a look at www.7dayshop.com. Takes a week or so to ship.

mir2001

Hi
I want to get a DSLR camera and having looked at the current canon & nikon ranges I have settled on a Nikon D80. However my budget is quite limited and therefore the Olympus e510 looks interesting - first major advantage is the stabiliser is built into the body so you dont have to shell out for expensive lenses with stabilisation built in (as with Nikon). I dont have very steady hands so this would be important.
Secondly, because the body is cheaper there is, again, more money left over for lenses and also you can purchase the 4/3 range of lens at reasonable prices.

However what makes me wary of the olympus is the following:
1. a number of reviews on amazons website mentioned that the olympus did a lot of 'hunting' in low light. I do want to use it in dark conditions.
2. smaller sensor - not sure how much this will impact in reality
3. Slower start up time (due to dust removal system).
I have read somewhere that the "hunting" can be solved by restricting the auto focus to one central point (as opposed to the default 3 point one)

I would appreciate any opinions on this - esp if somebody has experience of using the olympus and/ or nikon , thanks

nilhg

mir2001 wrote: »

Hi
I want to get a DSLR camera and having looked at the current canon & nikon ranges I have settled on a Nikon D80. However my budget is quite limited and therefore the Olympus e510 looks interesting - first major advantage is the stabiliser is built into the body so you dont have to shell out for expensive lenses with stabilisation built in (as with Nikon). I dont have very steady hands so this would be important.
Secondly, because the body is cheaper there is, again, more money left over for lenses and also you can purchase the 4/3 range of lens at reasonable prices.

However what makes me wary of the olympus is the following:

mir2001 wrote: »

1. a number of reviews on amazons website mentioned that the olympus did a lot of 'hunting' in low light. I do want to use it in dark conditions.

In certain circumstances you may need to find an area of high contrast to focus on and then recompose, just a matter of learning a new technique. I can't believe that any of its direct competitors are hugely better, if you are going to do loads of low light people shots you will probably end up with a flash, if its landscape/still life off a tripod then you use live view and manually focus.

mir2001 wrote: »

2. smaller sensor - not sure how much this will impact in reality

Again not hugely different to its direct competitors but high ISO is probably never going to be best in class.

mir2001 wrote: »

3. Slower start up time (due to dust removal system).

Totally irrelevant (apart from not needing to worry about dust), dreamed up by folks who like to compare stats not take pictures.

mir2001 wrote: »

I have read somewhere that the "hunting" can be solved by restricting the auto focus to one central point (as opposed to the default 3 point one)

I would appreciate any opinions on this - esp if somebody has experience of using the olympus and/ or nikon , thanks

I dont think you will be sorry if you decide to go for the OLY, any camera will have its weak areas but the E510 is a fine machine.

Tinytony

Chunky Monkey wrote: »

Funny I went on this thread to ask about the Nikon D40 (non-x, 18-55mm) and saw it was already being talked about Won't have a chance to get a 'feel' for it, it'll be a Christmas present (my first SLR ). I've only glanced through the thread so sorry if this has already been answered but does anyone have this camera? I'd love to see pictures taken with it. I'm quite new to photography and wouldn't understand technical details but I'm working on that

Hi guys,

I was also wondering about the Nikon D40. I wouldn't be that experienced with cameras but I would really like to get into photography a bit more and the aim area would be looking at is sports/action shots (only as a hobby not professionally or anything). Would the D40 be good for action shots or would there be a camera in a similar price range that would be more suited to my needs? Or am I going for overkill here and jumping straight in at the deep end when a €200 camera would do the same job?

Any help appreciated!!

Edit: This is the one i'm looking at: NIKON D40 black + AF-S DX 18-55 mm Lens

Thirdfox

Action shots as in a picture of your child running around the kitchen? Or a falcon flying through the air? Or a F1 car hurtling around a circuit? (Not trying to be dense but it does help if you give a more detailed requirement).

I use the D40 and find it adequate for my uses - general photography. For shooting "fast" things like sports it is more important to have fast lenses. Buying a dSLR means that you can change lenses to suit the occasion... on account of myself being a poor student I only have "slow" lenses but they will work for action if you know how to use them properly (in good light!) Here are two examples of "action" shots (one using the kit lens 18-55 and the other with a 55-200mm VR lens).





If you can afford it better equipment will give you better shots (providing you know how to use it properly) but I find the D40 a great camera for its price and it allows you access to a wide range of Nikon lenses (some of which will not autofocus - might be an issue for action shots... but all of Nikon's newest lenses will autofocus properly; there are around 50 lenses you can buy that will work perfectly fine with the D40).

edit:
I'm sure someone will come along and suggest the Canon, Olympus, Pentax or Sony equivalent and in my opinion it's pretty much the same between Canon and Nikon (the Canon 400D has more features but costs a bit(?) more). I also loved how the Nikon feels in my hand (something that is important if you're going to be using the camera all the time). In the end - any of the entry level dSLRs from the leading brands probably won't disappoint you (if you're not going to be shooting football matches professionally).

Tinytony

Thirdfox wrote: »

Action shots as in a picture of your child running around the kitchen? Or a falcon flying through the air? Or a F1 car hurtling around a circuit? (Not trying to be dense but it does help if you give a more detailed requirement).

Sorry, ya I meant to put that in.

By sports/action I meant mostly hurling, football and horse racing. Quite similar to your 2nd photo below, which is very good.
I just came across an article where it mentioned that the D40 was a bad choice for this sort of photography due to a missing auto-focus driver which meant you need to buy extra expensive lenses. Would this be relevant if your just taking shots as a hobby?

Thirdfox

Like I said - all the newer lenses from Nikon and most of the Sigma (3rd party lens manufacturer) and a couple of Tamrons have the motors built in.

All of Canon's lenses have the motors built-in the lens - they switched around 30(?) years ago. Nikon is just in a transition period right now. For serious sports shots you'd want to get a 70-200 f2.8 vr (which is fully compatible with the D40), for less money you can get the 70-300mm vr (fine with D40) or cheaper yet is the 55-200mm vr (the one I have).

There's only 3 autofocus points (which would be a bigger issue in sport) but I just use one point anyway and recompose the scene.

As for the body autofocus motor...none of the current budget entries have it anymore (D40, D40x, D60). Any new lens that Nikon is going to introduce will have AFS (motor in lens). So apart from the one issue that there isn't a short lowlight prime lens (not suitable for sports shots anyway) that can autofocus for cheap (Sigma have a 30mm f1.4) I really do not see any limitation in lens choices.

The 55-200vr should cost around 230 euro, 70-300 costing 500(?) euro and the 70-200 f2.8 costs around 1200(?) euro. Guess which one is the professional lens?

Tinytony

Cheers for all that.

I'll be stretching the budget getting the D40 so if i do get it then an extra lens may have to wait! Although I probably wouldn't ready to get the most out of one of the better lens for a few months anyways.

Thirdfox

Look on adverts.ie, photography section - there was someone trying to sell an almost new one for 400 euro sometime ago...

here's the ad - http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=44029&cat=51

If money is tight then looking for a good second hand one might be a good option (they usually come with extras like filters for your lens, bags, memory etc.)

Tinytony

Cheers,

Pixmania are doing them at the moment for for €398 so thought it looked like a decent deal

Thirdfox

Good price! I bought mine for 480 a year ago in China (prices over here would have been in the 5/600 region).

Here's a very in-depth review of the camera from a very trusted source:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40/

Keep in mind that the D40 can no longer be considered "new" - there's the D40x and D60 out now but if the D40 meets your needs then buy it and spend the extra on a new lens or flash.

cashback

Hi there,

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good quality bridge camera for someone stepping up from a standard compact. I have a strong interest in photography and just want to upgrade. My little Samsung A40 has served me well, but it's too restricting.

Will be going travelling soon around Asia and Australia/NZ. I had been thinking about a DSLR and possibly a Nikon D40 or Canon EOS 400d but have decided might be too much trouble carrying lenses around etc. Besides just looking for some sort of intermediate option to get me started.

My friend seems to have his heart set on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18. By all accounts, it does sound good. Any other options out there? Willing to spend 300 to 400 euro I suppose.

Thanks...

zoehellar

Manufactureres are now more focusing on this part of the camera niche, so you can get your hands on some great models recently introduced. May I recommend my website, wich has many reviews on these types of cameras:
http://digital_camera_reviews.protechltd.com

Regards,
Zoe