Advice/Questions on buying Cameras & Accessories. **Please read OP first**

TelePaul

Hey all, have been out the photo game for a while. Thinking about re-introducing a member of the older generation to it - might get the old man his first DSLR for Christmas (probably a 1000D). I have a couple of questions first - the type I never thought I'd be posting here again

1) Firstly, I'm assuming John Gunn's is still the place to go for good value and good quality?

2) Is there any merit in ordering online from one of the usual outlets features in the monthly mags? Park Cameras and Warehouse Express always seem to feature heavily.

3) Whatever happened to that cheap and cheerful Sigma 70-300mm Tele/macro lens? They seemed to get a lot of love here as a first Tele zoom but I havn't seen them in a while.

4) This is where it gets weirder....supposing I wanted to hook this up to a Telescope....would the presence or absence of an infra-red filter on the 1000D cause an issue?


Any help would be great chaps.

kjt

Hey Paul,
Good to see you're back in town. I can only help with a few of those. Yup Gunns is still around and the best in town!!

If I was ordering online the only person would be from Kerso in Scotland as his prices are very good and service has always been great! In saying that, if there was €50 in the difference, I'd go to Gunns as I'd love to give them the extra business.

Hope that was a bit of help,
Kyle

TelePaul

kjt wrote: »

Hey Paul,
Good to see you're back in town. I can only help with a few of those. Yup Gunns is still around and the best in town!!

If I was ordering online the only person would be from Kerso in Scotland as his prices are very good and service has always been great! In saying that, if there was €50 in the difference, I'd go to Gunns as I'd love to give them the extra business.

Hope that was a bit of help,
Kyle

Heya Kyle, thanks for the heads up. Kerso, he wasn't e-bay based at one stage was he? I guess I'll have to hit town and check it all out, was just trying to save myself some time. Lazy I guess I guess photography still hasn't embraced e-commerce fully.

marko93

Nikon D3100. Peoples opinions? O_O
Aunty picked it up for me in America, not allowed have it till chirstmas though ;_;
So what do you guys think of it?

Saggitarius

marko93 wrote: »

Nikon D3100. Peoples opinions? O_O
Aunty picked it up for me in America, not allowed have it till chirstmas though ;_;
So what do you guys think of it?

No offence meant, just few things what don't like me on first look: too small, not avail. saving in RAW format, slightly expensive (600eur), very slow auto-focusing at video recording.
By a comparison what I saw, for me not exactly usable in high ISO's from 1600 (at 12800 totally unusable already)

marko93

The only thing i can say is, i got it for a fair amount below 600 euro (in America)

Oh well, guess i'll have to learn to love it. What is this ISO? O_O
New to all this, so not sure on that....
ehm but thanks for the feedback...
Good Or Bad, all is welcome

Anyone else that might own one have any comments?

kjt

Yup he was/maybe still is on ebay, cheaper if you email him directly though

Saggitarius

marko93 wrote: »

The only thing i can say is, i got it for a fair amount below 600 euro (in America)

Oh well, guess i'll have to learn to love it. What is this ISO? O_O
New to all this, so not sure on that....
ehm but thanks for the feedback...
Good Or Bad, all is welcome

Anyone else that might own one have any comments?

The ISO is the sensitivity.
I suppose, best before you use this machine, you have to learn some basic things. (ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed, Depth of field, how related these values for each other etc. etc.)

marko93

I'll certainly look into all of them! Thanks

Winger_PL

Hi All,

I need an opinion, about to get my first DSLR and I've made my initial choice but would like to know if it makes any sense, so I'd appreciate some help from the pro's.

Up until a few days ago I wouldn't even know what a focal length or aperture is, only used compacts in the past but I'd like to play around and learn a few things and I intend to do so by avoiding the 'AUTO' modes at all times.

My eyes are set on a Canon 500D. Why not 550D? I won't be printing wall posters from the pics so 15Mpix will be enough, I also have a HD camcorder so won't be really recording videos with the Canon. 500D is a good bit cheaper than 550D and the differences aren't that important for me.

I have a friend over the pond so I'd be buying over there, I can get a 500D with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS for ~ $600 USD, which would leave me with approx. 900 USD budget for additional lenses (total budget for the body and lenses/filters is 1100 EUR, so it's around ~$1500).

Regarding the lenses:
I want to shoot some landscapes and I'm also particularly interested in dark/night shoots. I'm also a bit of a railway fan so I'd sometimes try to make some nice pics of trains while moving.
My wife wants to shoot our dogs and cats (she's a total beginner as am I).
I reckon I'd go for a wide lens for myself (don't need wide aperture as I'd use a tripod for shoots hence longer time should do).
For my wife (and my train stuff) I'd go for something up to 200-300mm with at least f/3.5 (our dog is like a tasmanian devil, so I want to keep the times low).

Am I missing anything obvious here or does that make sense? I don't know much about filters and if I'd need them, so I haven't really taken them into account, maybe I should?

There's also a deal on Amazon where for a total of $710 I can get a bundle: a 500D with the standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and a 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6, sounds like a nice deal but I'm not sure if the aperture is good enough on the telephoto. Maybe I should go for that and keep the remaining $800 for future shopping until we learn the stuff and decide what exactly would we need?

What's the best option here? Any hints will be much appreciated.

ringoh

Thinking of buying a Cannon D10 camera for Kayaking/Mountainbiking etc and general use. Reviews online differ greatly. Anyone recommend this or any other similar. Not interested in waterproof housings!!!!

eddyk

well lads im buying a used slr for myself and stuck on making up my mind as to which to go for, its between sony a230, canon 350d/1000d etc, and nikon d40/d60, anyone able make up my mind for me. thanks

gbee

ringoh wrote: »

Thinking of buying a Cannon D10 camera for Kayaking/Mountainbiking etc and general use. Reviews online differ greatly. Anyone recommend this or any other similar. Not interested in waterproof housings!!!!

The Olympus Mju Tough line. My son took one through Cadet Training and had a tank drive over it and took it diving. We had the Pentax W version first, the tank won.

I'm a Canon person but I'd NOT buy D10, it's an afterthought design, trust me on this one, the Olympus MJU Tough is the ONLY option.

dinneenp

eddyk wrote: »

well lads im buying a used slr for myself and stuck on making up my mind as to which to go for, its between sony a230, canon 350d/1000d etc, and nikon d40/d60, anyone able make up my mind for me. thanks

There's many threads/posts on this exact topic.

• go instore and feel them in your hands, play with features. You might prefer the feel of one.
• If a few friends have one brand maybe go with that. You'll be able to borrow lenses and try them out easily.
• I have a Pentax K-X so am giving it a plug. It gets 'best intro dslr' in a lot of reviews/magazines. Downside is that lenses are a bit harder to get 2nd hand. Very nice camera though with in body stabilizer.

vixdname

Hi lads, I'm not a usual poster here on the photography threads but I'm seriously thinking of getting a semi-decent digital camera for xmas.
I'm looking to spend approx €300 - €350 on the camera.
Can any of you recommend any makes or models that are within this price range and are decent cameras.

Many Thanks !!!

5uspect

At that price range you're either talking secondhand SLR or shiny new point and shoot.
P&S cameras are a dime a dozen so they're not much to recommend in a particular model.

See above for SLR info.

AnCatDubh

vixdname wrote: »

Hi lads, I'm not a usual poster here on the photography threads but I'm seriously thinking of getting a semi-decent digital camera for xmas.
I'm looking to spend approx €300 - €350 on the camera.
Can any of you recommend any makes or models that are within this price range and are decent cameras.

Many Thanks !!!

If driven by budget but want to get into having a dSLR in your mitts then your won't go far wrong with this Olympus. New at €354 its hard to beat. Well capable. A niche following as is anything that's not Canon or Nikon but I wouldn't be too put off by that - there are many happy Oly users around this forum. If you had another €100 in your budget then you'd have another few options on the entry levels but to be honest in terms of value, I think the one i've linked above looks great.

Oh and by the way, I'm a Pentax owner not Olympus

EDIT: Oh, don't forget you'll need some memory cards to get you going "Memory card compatibility: Compact Flash, xD picture card."

Stevie Dakota

Looking to buy an entry level mode with lense, max budget is €450, can any one recommend a good model and a good place to buy it, online or Dublin shop?

Many thanks.

macnab

This looks good.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5593189/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CPhotography%7C14419436/c_2/2%7Ccat_14419436%7CDigital+SLR+cameras+and+lenses%7C14419497.htm

Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm lens for €420, its not the VR lens but you wont need VR at 55mm.

Mr Spock

Right am putting a decent DSLR on my Santa list for this year and have been checking out the following two models, the Canon EOS 500D and the 550D. Both are super cameras but the 550D is the more up to date one with better features.
However the 550D is about 200 quid more expensive. So is there much of a difference between the 500 and the 550 that would justify the extra cash? I am just a beginner in the photography game and I already have a good point and shoot camera so I'd like to upgrade to a decent digital SLR.

Any advise?

Thanks!

Stevie Dakota

Didn't expect Argos to be cheaper than anyone else, you live and learn. Thanks for that recommendation, looks good.

5uspect

They'll both take excellent shots in the right hands. If I were you I would put the money into good glass. Any digital body will depreciate faster than it took me to write this post.

Jesper

Hi all,

I'm in the Philippines at the moment but I'm meeting a friend in Vietnam on the 20th Nov. I am going to get him to buy me a camera and bring it over for me. Ideally I'd like a waterproof and small one - travelling the world for a year etc. I am not an experienced photographer and don't want anything to expensive.

I was going to choose between one of these! All in argos.

Samsung PL201 14MP Camera - Black. 559/4834
Olympus FE-4040 14MP Compact Digital Camera - Indium Grey. 559/4126
Kodak M580 14MP Compact Digital Camera - Silver. 559/4724
FujiFilm JX530 14MP Compact Digital Camera - Black. 559/3756


There all 115 to 120 Euro.

Which is best?

5uspect

Jesper wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm in the Philippines at the moment but I'm meeting a friend in Vietnam on the 20th Nov. I am going to get him to buy me a camera and bring it over for me. Ideally I'd like a waterproof and small one - travelling the world for a year etc. I am not an experienced photographer and don't want anything to expensive.

I was going to choose between one of these! All in argos.

Samsung PL201 14MP Camera - Black. 559/4834
Olympus FE-4040 14MP Compact Digital Camera - Indium Grey. 559/4126
Kodak M580 14MP Compact Digital Camera - Silver. 559/4724
FujiFilm JX530 14MP Compact Digital Camera - Black. 559/3756


There all 115 to 120 Euro.

Which is best?

This is an almost impossible question to answer. There are so many P&S cameras on the market and so few here actually use them. You need to read online reviews on the likes on dpreview or Steve's Digicams to get a handle on a particular model.

Ultimately I'd imagine they'll all take decent shots, all be piss poor in the dark and all suffer from slow autofocus and shutter lag to some degree.

I would imagine that travelling around like that you would want to keep your luggage as light as possible and be relaively immume to losses from wear and tear as well as theft and the climate. I would nearly suggest using disposable cameras and post them home to be developed at a later date, but then again I'm a bit mad.

donutheadhomer

Guys any advise on the above to cameras please. Basically I want a DSLR with video recording that doesn't use AA batteries. I like the pentax K-x but it uses AA batteries. The pentax is a good price on pixmania. http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/3832538/art/pentax/k-x-black-dal-18-55mm-len.html €570

I'm new to all this and looking to make a move to DSLR but not too costly. Any advise on which to choose with cost in mind also ease of use I supose. Moving from compacts and a rubbish mimidvd handycam.

Kintarō Hattori

I wouldn't let AA batteries put you off. With 2500 mAh batteries you can easily get 600-700 shots per charge which is not too shabby.

Cook my sock

I have a d5000. you will hve to constantly manually focus the video yourself. dont know about the other options, but that may be a outoff. as a camera for photos i cant fault it.

5uspect

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I wouldn't let AA batteries put you off. With 2500 mAh batteries you can easily get 600-700 shots per charge which is not too shabby.

+1, I'd actually prefer AAs with high capacity rechargables like the Sanyo Endelopes (sp?).

dinneenp

5uspect wrote: »

+1, I'd actually prefer AAs with high capacity rechargables like the Sanyo Endelopes (sp?).

++1. I have the Pentax K-X, which takes 4 AA batteries and I have the high capacity ones (were 1/2 price in some electrickal store). My camera can go for weeks without a charge.

donutheadhomer

dinneenp wrote: »

++1. I have the Pentax K-X, which takes 4 AA batteries and I have the high capacity ones (were 1/2 price in some electrickal store). My camera can go for weeks without a charge.

what is that pentax k-x like to use?can't see any in shops