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Hi
I would like to buy my first Slr camera,but dont know where to start and looking for advice. any brands that are best? different lenses etc
Anybooks or website that explain the basics?

thanks
 
It all depends on what you can get on with... Many will suggest you to pop in to your local camera shop and have a play with the different brands as menus and feel is completely different to one another.

The other top tip for newcomers is that if you have a friend into photography - see if you can by the same brand as them because you can always interchange kit while you test the waters, allowing you not to spend to much to get you off the ground.
 
thanks for the links. I was in a shop today and they mentioned the bridge cameras with high zooms.
im a it confused with lenses and the zoom?
 
Best advice is go to the shops and have a good look at DSLRs and bridge cameras and read up on any that take your fancy or ask on here about your choice someone will help you
Bob
 
Hi, there's loads of information out there..

It took me a while and I finally settled on a D3000 kit. It's all I could afford at the time and I'm happy with it (for the moment..shhh or my wife will hear!)

Shortly after I bought a 55-200 lens.

In retrospect, I wish I'd bought the body only and then an 18-200...

Good luck and let us know what you settled for.

Oh, and don't rush out any by any old camera!
 
Welcome to TP :)

What kind of things do you want to photograph, and what's your budget?
 
Most of my pictures are from outside scenery etc.
I dont want to go for something that I will have to change soon, decent but not extremely expensive lol
 
Most of my pictures are from outside scenery etc.
I dont want to go for something that I will have to change soon, decent but not extremely expensive lol

"Not extremely expensive" is a relative term! Most folks on here end up spending between £500 and £1k, on a DSLR and a couple of lenses. Some less, plenty far more.

If you want to shoot action, or have any real creative control of depth of field, and learn about photography in a semi-serious way, then you need a DSLR. Compacts and bridge-cameras are not so good at that. Something like a used Canon 350D or 400D is around £200. Plenty of other choices. It's a commitment to a system, that will grow with you for ever.

Generally speaking, you get what you pay for and all the major brands are much of a muchness pound for pound. Nikon and Canon are the biggest brands by far, and there's much more secondhand choice (see for sale section) then Olympus and Sony. All have their strong followers.

Set your budget, then go play with a few :)
 
i have seen a sony one with two lenses around £900.
not really thought about second hand ones.

Nothing 'wrong' with Sony, but they are not nearly so popular as Nikon or Canon. Loads of choice for £900.

These two brands have a much bigger range, many more lens options, and third party accessories are easy to get. If you want to buy used, you won't find nearly so much Sony stuff around.
 
i have seen a sony one with two lenses around £900.
not really thought about second hand ones.

All of the DSLR makes will provide you with cameras and lenses capable of taking excellent photos. All of them have a wide enough range of lenses for the needs of the majority of amateur photographers, however Canon and Nikon do have more exotic (read "very, very expensive") lenses that are needed by people like professional sports photograhers than Sony or Pentax.

I use Sony and acknowledge the relative scarcity of s/h kit, on ebay there's probably half as many Sony fit lenses for sale as Nikon fit lenses at any one time. Looking in the classifieds on this site as a measure of popularity is no use as most people selling Sony fit equipment tend not to sell here. That said, about half of my lenses were bought second hand (not here).
 
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