Advice on the following cameras

red_ice

Hey, myself and my gf went around town looking at entry level SLR cameras yesterday and got a few model numbers.

Basicly, she does a bit of photography in college and knows a bit about cameras, but i on the other hand know nothing! We came across a couple of bodies that seemed to be within our price range - Nikon d50, d40x and a cannon eos 10d.

Im just wondering what you guys would make of these cameras. What settings do they have (b settings/manual), special features (low light) and what lenses you can get for them etc. These are all things my gf asked me to look up, but theres only so much crap one can go through to get an answer!

If you were picking from those 3 cameras (or something else in the price range), what would you pick? The main subject of the cameras use would be live gigs and possibly some sports (skating etc, not football).

Cheers

Paulw

Canon 10D ??? Surely you should be looking at the 400D or the 40D.

What is your budget? Have a browse online for something in your price range. Have a look on ebay at kea-photo, and you'll get brilliant value for your money.

quilmore

argos has the d40 with the 18-55 with image stabilization (a VR lens I assume) at €499.99
http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=30001&langId=-1&catalogId=1500001101&productId=1500191899&clickfrom=name

Stephen

The D50 is obsolete (I have one ) and was discontinued about a year ago. Canon 10D is ancient (seriously, March 2003). The entry level canon at the moment would be the 400D (or the brand-new-just-announced-last-week 450D). Nikon D40x is a current model about to be replaced by their new D60.

The D40x is the most modern camera in your list but it has one big shortcoming: No built in autofocus motor, which means you rely on your lenses having their own built in motors. This probably isn't such a big deal when you don't already have a bunch of lenses! The D60 will be the same.
To be honest, from that selection I would pick the good ol' D50. I'll be holding on to mine at least until Nikon brings out their D80 replacement. If the Canon 400D was on your list I'd probably go for that. You'll be able to buy any of these cheaper online too, but it may be worth buying it in a bricks and mortar shop just in case you want to have somewhere to take it if it breaks!

All of them allow fully manual control.

Lenses are much more important when it comes to what you use the camera for (low light, sports, etc), and you could potentially spend a hell of a lot more money on the lenses than the body.

For live gigs a 50mm f1.8 or f1.4 if you're willing to spend more money should do the trick. For sports a cheap 70-300 zoom would probably do. Serious sports photographers usually have massive telephoto prime lenses or high-end zooms (f/2.8 or faster).

red_ice

kick ass, i thought as much about them being oldass and not really up to par with the more modern cameras. That d40 was priced at 430 second hand, with no lens, and its 500 new in argos with a lens.. typical.

we are looking at spending 500 on the camera, we will push to 600 if its a really good deal! Idealy we want a new camera, but we wont turn our nose up at a good second hand one.

Snowdrop

Likewise I am very keen to get into digital photography as a career and am hoping to start a course soon. Unlike Red ice, my main focus will be on studio/location portrait photography initially with the plan of progressing to wedding photography. Can anyone recommend a good versatile SLR camera to start off with.
Also what one lens would you recommend for portrait work.

I am hoping to spend no more than 750 Euro and have no problem buying second hand from a reliable source.


Any advice would be gratefully accepted.

whyulittle

Some good deals over on adverts.ie. *cough cough*

ShakeyBlakey

snowdrop, if i was you i'd jump on the above (Canon 400d), haggle a little, but it aint a bad camera and your getting an extra lens, or if ur paying full whack persuade him to throw in a cf card(2gb) and ur sorted:D

Plus: you'll have a lot of 2nd hand lenses on the market, should the need arise.

heres a review/specs

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082416canoneos400drebelxti.asp#specs

ThOnda

Pentax K10D is the way to go. Price is falling and if you are not sure that you want K20D, welcome to exclusive club of people "who know" ;-)