Most suitable DSLR camera for a student

kickstart

kickstart

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Hi - My daughter is studying Documentary photography and I'm looking to buy her a starter DSLR kit.

Although she currently has a Pentax SLR I think I would prefer to get her either Canon or Nikon kit because she has access to these lenses through her college.

In terms of specifications I would guess she needs the options of Auto, shutter and aperture priority and manual settings.

I was looking at the spending between £450 and £800, would I be better to buy a new camera/lens package or start trawling the secondhand shops and ebay to buy an older camera and lens(es) that are higher specification?

Looking at other threads on here the EOS 1000D and 400D seem to be about the right price point, The Nikon D40, D5000 or D90 are other options, but I'm confused as to what would give the right mix of:
Price - Quality - Ease of Use - Range of worthwhile Functions/Features - Futureproofing

Any advice would be very welcome!
 
my uncle brought my cousin a DSLR for his a-lvel photography course which he has now dropped

so consider the true use
 
Nikon D90 would be my choice...You have access to all Nikon F mount lenses and full autofocus. Not as good as a D300, but if you could pick one of those, she would be set up for years!
 
personally if it's for use by her or yourself for future i would buy something with focus motor in the body which makes it more expnsive but the d90 comes into that bracket but top end of your budget

you mention access to lenses, but if you picked up sony you can use sony and minolta lenses which is a bonus if buying yourself
 
Does the course include any film at all?

Something with access to all the normal controls would be ideal D300/D200/D90 or Canon/Sony/Olympus equivalents.
 
Possibly a canon 30D / 400D ? Older camera's but this would save you budget for a few lens.
 
The 400D is an older model and discontinued.
The 450D, 500D or 50D would be a much better option.
As a Canon user I can't give any advice on Nikon.
The best thing to do would be to take her to a shop and let her hold some bodies as each one will feel different.
You can then decide which model to buy.
Either way you wont go wrong with either a Canon or Nikon.
Find out what lenses she has access to at her college as this might be a good cost saving idea for the time being.
Any DSLR can be easy to use in auto mode but learning to use the camera correctly will result in much better photos.
There is no such thing as futureproofing with a DSLR bodies but investing in good lenses is a good thing to do.
Like all technology it quickly improves but older DSLR camera with a decent lens can still take an amazing photo.
It sounds to me like she might be serious about photography so you might as well buy the best kit you can afford.
 
The course she is on uses film as well - she has had a Pentax MZ5N plus a standard, wide angle and telephoto autofocus lenses. This is what she is using at the moment and used for her A level.

I would rather stick with Canon or Nikon as it's future proofed, however a suitable Pentax body would allow her to use the existing lenses. I still have a feeling that she would probably switch to Canon or Nikon at some point in the future if she does make a career of photography.
 
Nikon D200 (400s/h), 18-70mm 3.5-4.5 (£120 s/h), 50mm 1.8 (£80 s/h), sb600 flash (£150 s/h)..
total £750 ...is a great startup kit, professional level body (can take some serious abuse), some great glass for low light and walkaround, and a flash.

and then all of what hashcake just said.
 
kickstart said:
The course she is on uses film as well - she has had a Pentax MZ5N plus a standard, wide angle and telephoto autofocus lenses. This is what she is using at the moment and used for her A level.

I would rather stick with Canon or Nikon as it's future proofed, however a suitable Pentax body would allow her to use the existing lenses. I still have a feeling that she would probably switch to Canon or Nikon at some point in the future if she does make a career of photography.
Click to expand...

The seconhand route for lenses is also worth exploring.
Lots of people here (including myself) have bought and sold via the classified section and been very happy.
 
I am currently doing a degree in photography, i used to have a canon 400D but upgraded to a Canon 40D.

Im glad i went for the 40D as it does have better control and i found it a lot better to hold and better made.

I would go for a second hand body say a 40D then spend the savings on a extra lens, the Canon 50mm 1.8 can be had for £70 and is a fantastic lens to go with the standard zoom, it will teach about aperture in a more noticeable way.

Hope that helps you
 
kickstart said:
The course she is on uses film as well - she has had a Pentax MZ5N plus a standard, wide angle and telephoto autofocus lenses. This is what she is using at the moment and used for her A level.

I would rather stick with Canon or Nikon as it's future proofed, however a suitable Pentax body would allow her to use the existing lenses. I still have a feeling that she would probably switch to Canon or Nikon at some point in the future if she does make a career of photography.
Click to expand...

As a Pentax DSLR user who really enjoys using their kit I have to say that I agree with you here. The Pentax digital system is a lot better than it used to be and with the release of the K-7 and coming K-x I would say that their new owners Hoya are starting to pump some real cash in to hopefully get them back to where they were years ago. If however she is going to do photography professionally then I don't think the brand is geared up to that and so it would probably be wise to go with Canon or Nikon from the start as she will most certainly make the jump in the future.

Can I have her lenses as she has no use for them now :LOL:
 
Im not really the best one to comment as im new to this and still learning myself, if i were doing a college course and i was looking for kit, i would go for some kit that was very popular and something that most people had got on my course.

The reason being if you have the same kit as someone else i would find it easier to understand the controls etc and you could ask and learn off each other as well as the lecturer.

If you have kit that no one else has got you might find it more difficult to understand setting etc. i hope this makes sense.
 
incapete said:
What's wrong with a discontinued model? The 400D is a fine camera for what they're looking for, although for the money mentioned I'd look for a 40D instead.
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Absolutley nothing, I bought my 40D secondhand after they were discontinued.
The OP has a budget up to £800 and I just felt he could perhaps buy something new.
There is also the fact the in his daughters case, as she will need is for college work, a new camera might be a better idea for the purpose of warranty.
As I pointed out, an older body can produce and amazing photo with a good lens.
 
i have only just started out with dslr myself this is what i have got so far
canon 500D 580-00 PC worl of all places
55-250 ef-s lens 150-00
50mm f1.8 with uv filter 80-00 from kerso on here
lowepro bag from cameraworld 46-00
the first three items come out at 810-00 so not far from your budget
i had a couple of uv and cp filters left from my last camera
 
kickstart said:
Looking at other threads on here the EOS 1000D and 400D seem to be about the right price point, The Nikon D40, D5000 or D90 are other options, but I'm confused as to what would give the right mix of:
Price - Quality - Ease of Use - Range of worthwhile Functions/Features - Futureproofing

Any advice would be very welcome!
Click to expand...

In the Canon camp, I think you can't go far wrong with the 400D. I have one as my second camera (upgraded from 350D which was upgraded from a 300D) and I haven't bothered upgrading since because it is still a very good camera and arguably better than the 1000D. The only reason I would consider upgrading to the 500D is to get the video capability.

Also remember that camera bodies depreciate quickly and keep on depreciating whereas lenses keep their value and over the longer term some may actually go up in value.
 
I've been to have a look at some cameras - I've seen a NikonD200 - nice camera but heavy (£420)

I also went to chat to a Pro-shop contact that a good photographer pal of mine suggested. He suggested a Canon D40 or D50, he said I should be able to pick up a S/H D40 for around £350 - £500 and team it up with a 17-85mm zoom. He didn't have one in stock but he had a 50D which is almost the same, lighter than the Nikon and the layout seemed more intuitive. A 50D will cost between £500 - £750 depending on how new it was.

I'm off to put a notice in the WANTED section.
 
Hmm, I've just discovered that I can't post in that section until I've been a member for 30 days and 100 posts, which seems a little odd, but the rules are the rules I suppose.

I guess I'll have to go and look on ebay instead, or post more of my drivel...:)
 
Even though you can't post in the wanted or for sales section yet, you can still buy from the forums. So it's still worth keeping a eye open on here to see if anything suitable comes up for sale.
 
I speak as the proud owner of a D40X: do not buy any Nikon that lacks a focusing motor as it means that pretty much every lens that Nikon have ever produced will not work properly.

Start at the D80/90 level if you're going down that route.
 
hashcake said:
The best thing to do would be to take her to a shop and let her hold some bodies as each one will feel different.
You can then decide which model to buy.
Click to expand...
:agree:

This is probably the best bit of advice in the thread so far. Every model will feel different to hold. Make sure you get one she's comfortable with, especially if it's likely to get a lot of use.
 
Hopefully going to do this at the weekend as she's come home - If I can prise her out of bed!
 
We couldn't find a 40D locally but we tried the 50D out (vs 500D and 450D) and also the Nikon equivalent.

The 50D got the vote....
 
What Pentax is she using at the minute? They make a better camera than a lot of people give them credit for, if shes comfortable with the camera you can pick up some good lenses for it at a fairly reasonable price on SRSMicrosystems.
 
Another advocate of letting her hold the camera first.

I have a Canon 1DsII which is a brute of a camera but it fits my hands not too badly, I tried the Nikon D3 which has similar dimensions but the grip is much larger and I could not control it at all.

Ergonomics and how the menus work are very personal and most people have a preference for one or the other if given a choice.

I'd also vote for a 50mm f1.8, plastic as heck but great depth of field and a brilliant way of learning to control that depth of field without costing a fortune. Has loads of great applications that she can explore.
 
Odysseus said:
What Pentax is she using at the minute? They make a better camera than a lot of people give them credit for, if shes comfortable with the camera you can pick up some good lenses for it at a fairly reasonable price on SRSMicrosystems.
Click to expand...

Agreed, plus you can continue to use your current lens collection.

Pentax don't support pro use? Has anyone seen the new pentax 645D?

Anyway, im not going to try and sway you towards pentax, but you can use your old lenses and get a K-7 body for around £800, which many professionals use as their main body.
 
as has been said many times above, on Nikon I would seriously recommend a body with the AF motor inside - D90 would be optimal, if you can find it within your price range.
 
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