digital slr recommendations

DamoKen

Hi All, I posted this earlier in under gadgets so if any have already read it apologies. Anyway I'm heading off into the great wide yonder for a few months after Christmas and as I'm going to be passing through some pretty stunning areas i.e. New Zealand etc, I'm thinking I'll be needing a camera to do it justice. Thing is I know next to f*ck all about cameras, especially digital, so I have come here to ask the wise and experienced members of boards.ie for advice . I want to really keep the budget as low as possible, anything above 500 is starting to really stretch it (even 500 is a bit much ). So looking for something that will give good quality, fast shutter speed would be good for action pics, any video capture feature would also be good. I'm also wondering if there would be a big price difference between here and the states as my brother lives there and will be home at Christmas so that's one possible way of cutting costs, another would be picking one up in duty free in L.A when I pass through there, only a 2 hour window between flights there though so that would be more than tight, would maybe have enough time to buy and stick in my bag so would really need to know what I wanted first. Anyway, longer than I intended so apologies for rambling, any ideas on what to look for, good sites for research etc, price differences between here and elsewhere much appreciated.

Cheers

Damo

kasintahan

SLR means single lens reflex, and you won't get a new digital one for €500.
You will get a very nice film one for that money (or a good bit less).

It may be possible to pick up a second hand (3 years old) digital Canon D60 with a kit lens for that money but I'd not really recommend it as they are not as durable as their film counterparts.

Check out www.dpreview.com for reviews of all digital cameras (look in the fora too).

For film cameras there are dozens of magazines in the likes of Easons.

Streamload

You might get a second hand EOS 300D on ebay at around your price range, might be little more than €500

DamoKen

kasintahan wrote:

SLR means single lens reflex, and you won't get a new digital one for €500.
You will get a very nice film one for that money (or a good bit less).

It may be possible to pick up a second hand (3 years old) digital Canon D60 with a kit lens for that money but I'd not really recommend it as they are not as durable as their film counterparts.

Check out www.dpreview.com for reviews of all digital cameras (look in the fora too).

For film cameras there are dozens of magazines in the likes of Easons.

yeah I know they're expensive, the second hand market is more what I was thinking of, that or the states if there's a big price difference. The main reason I'd be thinking of an slr is for interchangable lenses, also I've heard the digital ones are now extremely good (shutter speed improvements etc), as I'd not be developing my own pics and would prefer not to be carrying around a ton of used film I'd like to go with digital, plus all the added benifits of having a medium stored on digital such as photo manipulation etc. Also as photography is something I'd like to get into a bit more, I'd like to start out with a fairly decent camera. Any recommendations for a cheaper non slr digital that would be sufficient to take quality landscape shots, action photos i.e bungy jumping, white water rafter (not while I'm in the raft obviously :rolleyes: ) would be more than welcome, the main reason I said slr is because I've been told these would be the best digital cameras to look at, as I've said, photography is not an area I'm too familiar with .

Cheers for the link, I'll check it out properly after work when I've a bit more time.

bambam

maybe instead of a SLR you could go for a prosumer camera. Something like a Coolpix 5700, or a fujifilm S5500. The advantage of these cameras is the integrated lens offering up to 10X zoom in some cases, coupled with the option to manually set most options (aperature, shutter speed etc) makes them a tiny compact package for travelling.

OF couse they are slower and eat batteries compared to digital SLRs, but you don't have to carry seperate lenses around with you.

DamoKen

cheers Bambam, I'll check them out

JackKelly

If you get a DSLR , as far as i know (which isn't far) but there will be a fairly steep learning curve. Although they do take far better pictures. The 300D is the only canon dslr i can imagine you getting for <500E. Apparently a great camera though. Same model i'm looking at.

This is a great canon forum. You'll find out everything you'd ever want to know there. You could look at a G-series canon, which are just below DSLR's.

I really need to broaden my view on brands!

alb

With that tight budget and the fact you'll be travelling a lot I'd go for a pro-sumer all in one camera rather than an interchangable lense SLR.