advice for a teenager starting out?

Cocohoney

Cocohoney

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Alexandra
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Hi, my friend's daughter has saved up her pennies and wants to buy a DSLR. She hasn't used one before, only has £250 and has asked me what she should buy, being a teen she of course wants to buy it tomorrow when she goes shopping in Exeter.

Can anyone advise me as to what she should get for that price? She has no equipment at all- not even a bag. I have suggested saving for longer, but to no avail! Even if she spends it all on a camera kit, is there really anything she can get that is worth it for that sort of money?
 
It is impossible to find a new dslr for £250 particularly in the high street. She could perhaps find a used body only 20D-30D on ebay for that price. A lens would go on top, and as we know decent glass is very important, and that comes at £200++ mark.
Perhaps some job would help to cover for the shortfall?

What is it for anyway? Perhaps it is a good time to do a bit of reading first.
 
I have tried to tell her to read up, but she's not my daughter, and she's a teen!

She wants it I think for taking snapshots, again I have suggested a good compact instead, but this just doesn't tick the looks boxes for her I wondered about a superzoom- any idea on them?
 
It is a tough one, but as she is not your daughter I wouldn't get too involved.

On a different note, I would like to exchange my clio for a BMW Z4 as the looks aren't quite right, and I have nearly no spare cash. I am sure someone could help me there. Anybody....? Hello..?
 
I've seen the odd bargin - a while ago for a Sony A200 (from recolection) for that sort of money (Asda, but sometime ago now).

Trawl the camera shops and then the less likely shops (Argos, Asda, etc) for any bargins.

I notice that Exeter London Camera Exchange, don't seem to have anything DSLR in (on thier website) at present, but I guess a good place to check out, still £250 might

How about one of these ??

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5592867.htm

Tht's a lot of camera for just over £250
 
The entry level Nikon D3000 with 1 lens is about £340, the canon equivilent is £370 (based on jessops, that being a high street store) - a superzoom or compact will be her only option brand new for that money.

However just having a quick look on Jessops, I don't know the actual camera but something like http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/75243/show.html will be a nice one I think - there's plenty of those style which look more like a DSLR, have lovely zooms and probably have different modes too I think. Should give her more options than your standard P&S at a much better price.


Edit: Bar the bottom 1 which is online only for that price, all of these are in her budget, all have decent zoom and a stupidly high megapixel count she'll never make use of but can show off to her friends, I notice the Finepix S2500 has 18x optical zoom, tracking AF, can be used in A/S/P priority or manual like a dslr - http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77556/show.html

Lovely camera and leaves her £50 to get a 4gb HCSD and a case for it.



Looking at that camera I'm momentarily wondering why I spend £800 on a DSLR, it seems to have everything my D90 has :lol:
 
P.S. might need to go hunting and resever the one nearest to you tonight (as there aren't any in Exeter)
 
second handfor that money.

I can lend her canon kit to see if she gets on with the layout.

I'd advise nikon kit so you can share - ya know that fast prime or cls capable flashgun. Also it makes it easier to pick up put down each others kit.

I've found myself so indoctrinated by canon kit I have trouble doing simple stuff (that I do by feel) on a nikon, some can chop and change easily
 
D40 / D60, or 350/450D off the various ebay refurb shops or similar, and the kit lens, a UV filter, memory card and bag. Job done. She'll figure out what else she needs / wants when it comes to it.
 
Drrusty, thanks, I'll suggest that one to her. I'm only just learning myself and have only been reading up Nikon as that is what I have -no idea about Sony.

Littlemonster, that is the kind of thing I was thinking of- I think it would be a more sensible starting point for her.

David, that's a very kind offer, I couldn't take you up on it- she is only 14 and I think that would be too much of a responsibility (her Mum would certainly think so anyway :))

Daugirdas I think it's possible to get just that, but only if you stamp your feet, sulk a lot, and swear you'll never be as mean as your parents when you grow up!
 
Another vote for second-hand D40/D60, can be found for £250 with a kit lens and should be perfect!
 
daugirdas said:
as we know decent glass is very important, and that comes at £200++ mark.
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TBH I can't help but feel this is b*ll**ks for a teeniebopper getting their first ever DSLR - I just bought my first one and it'll be a while before I'm capable of outperforming the glass.
 
Cocohoney said:
David, that's a very kind offer, I couldn't take you up on it- she is only 14 and I think that would be too much of a responsibility (her Mum would certainly think so anyway :))
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I do think she'd be better off with nikon kit, also it aint that kind as I was planning on you being there to throttle/explain to the insurance if she broke it :p
 
Teenagers won't be interested in buying 2nd hand unless they've been into photography for a while - part of this is the attraction of buying shiny new toys.
Maybe if the parents can match her savings? That was the sweetener I used with my step-son and daughter when they 'wanted' something 'now' - you save up half and I'll provide the rest.

Saved so much money that way as they never managed to save anything like the amount required and had forgotten what it was they were saving-for after a week...
 
Visit the Devon Camera Centre and London Camera Exchange and see what they've got in their 2nd hand cabinets. If they can't fill the need, get her down to Mifsuds in Brixham - they'll almost certainly be able to.

Can't help feeling that £250 is rather a tight budget for a body, lens and bag (again, Mifsuds have a selection of 2nd hand bags which should help with costs).
 
Firstly, a 14yr old girl walking round waving a new camera about is an easy target for the unscrupulous mugger types. I know it's crap, but it happens, too often.

She'd be better off buying a second hand camera, look on MPB Photographic website, she could get a Canon 350D, kit lens and have enough spare to buy a bag and memory.

If she is just starting out however, and with the added bonus of being a teenager, she could lose interest in DSLR as it's not easy when chucking yourself in the deep end, and for that reason I think the best thing for her to do would be to have a look around the second hand shops like CEX and try getting an SLR style bridge, for example the Fujifilm Finepix S5700.

You can these now for less than £90, and if she does take well to it and learns how to use the manual controls she'd have a better understanding of what she wants from an SLR, rather than taking the plunge and regretting it.

£250 just isn't enough for something modern, and by the sounds of it she doesn't listen anyway.
 
Canonite said:
Firstly, a 14yr old girl walking round waving a new camera about is an easy target for the unscrupulous mugger types. I know it's crap, but it happens, too often.
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lol its exeter, I've walked home at 3AM with a body flash and lens over my shoulder with stuff in pockets of combat shorts
 
david1701 said:
lol its exeter, I've walked home at 3AM with a body flash and lens over my shoulder with stuff in pockets of combat shorts
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I can't help thinking she's less of a target than a female tog with a grand or so worth of kit on her :shrug: That said I'm guessing bar the scary big ones men are a little at risk.

Let's be honest, a lot of 14 year olds between expensive watches/jewellery/phones probably have that in value on them most of the time :shrug:


I feel there's some stereotyping of teenagers going on here though :bat:
 
david1701 said:
I do think she'd be better off with nikon kit, also it aint that kind as I was planning on you being there to throttle/explain to the insurance if she broke it :p
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Lol, oh how she would have loved her Mum's friend tagging along wittering stuff about being careful every 5 mins!

Thanks for the help and advice everyone, she has bought a Nikon coolpix p100 in the end. Don't know much about these, but it definitely seems more manageable for her and she is loving it so far.
 
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