Beginner First (proper) camera - can't choose?!

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ConorB

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Conor
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I'll get straight to it - I've been taking decent pictures on my phone/compact camera but want to step it up and get a real camera - I have a budget of about £500 and just want the best for what I get. I'll be shooting mostly wildlife and sports.

I'm looking at the Canon 700D and Nikon D5300, which are both around the £400 mark which allows some money for other gear. Anyone have any other suggestions?
 
I was in a similar situation a couple of months ago, and opted for the Sony A5100 and am very happy with it. It's light and compact, but seems to be a very capable camera - some of my friends with more experience than me were quite impressed by it to, particularly the low noise levels with high ISO settings.

One downside is that there are few lenses available compared to Nikon and Canon, which means there are fewer used lenses available.

George
 
Go to a shop and hold both the Canon and Nikon, see which feels the most comfortable to hold, ergonomics can play an important part if you intend on using the camera a lot.
Have a play with the menus on both as they differ somewhat.
 
For wildlife and sports you'll most likely want a zoom lens and something with good auto-focus and a decent frame rate for continuous shooting, which could blow your budget.

For example, my first DSLR was a Nikon D3300 (a bit below the D5300) and came bundled with a Sigma 70-300 zoom, for just under £500. I could and did use it for motorsports, but I was never happy with the results, the lens is poor and the camera is slow for sports. Wildlife was also a bit of a non-starter but I was never really interested in that.

I now have a hugely better camera, but it cost me nearly £3k!

My advice, if you only have £500 to spend, is forget new and buy used. A 2nd hand Nikon D300, for example, would probably out-perform a D5300 in most respects and cost half the price, albeit with half the mega-pixels (which almost certainly doesn't matter). A 2nd hand D3 would blow the D5300 out of the water for sports / wildlife and could probably be had for the same money etc.

2nd hand lens are also a good investment, cheaper than new and they hold their re-sale value as well, generally.
 
Nikon bodies are generally better for a given price point, but try both Canon and Nikon and see which feels best to you as this is far more important than the slight variances in spec and performance.
 
Personally I would buy from a grey dealer instead so to avoid the older models you are interested in.

A d5600 + 18-55 kit lens is £419 with 12 months warranty from e-infinity website.

Or £455 for a canon 800d + kit lens.

Not everyone likes to buy from grey dealers and it is a personal choice.

I just wanted to make you aware that it exists just incase you were not aware that's all.
 
For wildlife and sport you're going to need a long-ish lens. If you really need to stay within your budget then a used Canon 750D (mpb.com have a few starting at £364) with a new 55-250 IS STM (£151 from Amazon, £122 used from Camera Jungle) might keep you happy for a while. You could use that kit in conjunction with a Kenko 1.4x converter although that combo is only really usable in good light, IME.
 
Just another thought, and I know that this is slightly over budget, but you could get a used Nikon D7100 and used Tamron 70-300mm USD VC for £600. The D7xxx is a considerably better body than the equivalent D5xxx body in that you're getting a body with more high end features and autofocus system, as well as a better viewfinder and weather sealing. A d7xxx will give you more room to 'grow' and should last longer in terms of not wanting to upgrade as quickly.
 
As you have quite a specific requirement, your best bet is a higher range 2nd hand body, you’re also gonna need a decent telephoto lens soon, they don’t come cheap.
A Canon 7d or Nikon D700 seems a good plan. It’s a lot of camera for the same price as an entry level ‘toy’
 
mark.roper said:
My advice, if you only have £500 to spend, is forget new and buy used. A 2nd hand Nikon D300, for example, would probably out-perform a D5300 in most respects and cost half the price, albeit with half the mega-pixels (which almost certainly doesn't matter). A 2nd hand D3 would blow the D5300 out of the water for sports / wildlife and could probably be had for the same money etc.

2nd hand lens are also a good investment, cheaper than new and they hold their re-sale value as well, generally.
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I haven't looked hugely into buying used, but I think that might end up being a better option for my budget.

GTG said:
Personally I would buy from a grey dealer instead so to avoid the older models you are interested in.

A d5600 + 18-55 kit lens is £419 with 12 months warranty from e-infinity website.

Or £455 for a canon 800d + kit lens.

Not everyone likes to buy from grey dealers and it is a personal choice.

I just wanted to make you aware that it exists just incase you were not aware that's all.
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A grey dealer.. can someone educate me? :rolleyes: I'll certainly take a look at that though. Thank you!

snerkler said:
Just another thought, and I know that this is slightly over budget, but you could get a used Nikon D7100 and used Tamron 70-300mm USD VC for £600. The D7xxx is a considerably better body than the equivalent D5xxx body in that you're getting a body with more high end features and autofocus system, as well as a better viewfinder and weather sealing. A d7xxx will give you more room to 'grow' and should last longer in terms of not wanting to upgrade as quickly.
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I'm quite happy to save for longer and go over the inital budget if it gets me a significantly better camera, and in that case I think it does!

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated! I'll definitely research more into buying used to get something better. Does this kind of thing apply for all kind of price points, i.e. super expensive gear/cameras?
 
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ConorB said:
I haven't looked hugely into buying used, but I think that might end up being a better option for my budget.
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buying used or grey (see next bit) definitely gets you more for your money



A grey dealer.. can someone educate me? :rolleyes: I'll certainly take a look at that though. Thank you!
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Grey dealers are sites that sell cameras from abroad, usually place like Hong Kong. If you buy from the well known ones (Panamoz, HDEW, Digital Rev, E-Infinity) the equipment is the real deal coming straight off the same manufacturing line as any other genuine camera. The only difference is that they are made for other markets (non EU) but are then shipped over by these companies who don't apparently pay all the proper taxes and import duties. It is then down to the individual whether they would be happy with this. It's no different really to buying a camera on holiday and then coming back through nothing to declare at customs from an ethics point of view.

As they have been bought from overseas you do not get Nikon/Canon etc warranty, but these companies usually offer 3 years warranty (better than the manufacturer) and are very good at sorting any warranty issues. They usually just ask you to send it in to the UK Nikon/Canon etc service centre and pick up the bill for you.

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated! I'll definitely research more into buying used to get something better. Does this kind of thing apply for all kind of price points, i.e. super expensive gear/cameras?
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Do you mean that if you buy used/grey at any level you get more for your money? Generally speaking yes. As with anything, the older the gear the more saving you will get from when it was new. Used retailers will rate the gear and give a description of the condition. The better the condition, the more you pay.
 
I'd definitely second the idea of buying used and I'd allocate most of your budget to a lens or two. A tamron 70-300 VC (make sure it's the VC one!) is less than £200 used and would be a great lens for wildlife and sport. Another £100 on a shorter zoom (18-105 maybe) for day to day stuff and then £200 on a used D7000 or even D90 would be a great set up. It might not shoot 4k video or have the ability to stick images on instagram 11 seconds after you've taken them but the fundamental hardware will be great and they're cameras that you won't immediately feel limited by. I don't know Canon but I'm sure there is a broadly similar alternative option there.
 
I am going to offer an alternate suggestion, take a look at the Sony A68, it has a superb fast focus system for sports at a very good price. Added to which some Minolta glass goes very cheap for the quality of it, 100-300 APO should be available for about £100. Read the review on http://www.dyxum.com/ to make sure you get the right version of the lens you are after.

Downside is that the buffer if shooting in raw can be slow and some question the future of A Mount.
 
Bearair said:
I am going to offer an alternate suggestion, take a look at the Sony A68, it has a superb fast focus system for sports at a very good price. Added to which some Minolta glass goes very cheap for the quality of it, 100-300 APO should be available for about £100. Read the review on http://www.dyxum.com/ to make sure you get the right version of the lens you are after.

Downside is that the buffer if shooting in raw can be slow and some question the future of A Mount.
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The Sony SLT is a great system, I had the A77 and then A77-II. The biggest downside for me was the noise handling.
 
Some great offers on the EM10 Mk ii at the moment - although the best deal of £299 seems to have ended I paid £347 for a body only and then applied for £65 cash back
 
justa1972 said:
Some great offers on the EM10 Mk ii at the moment - although the best deal of £299 seems to have ended I paid £347 for a body only and then applied for £65 cash back
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The £509 twin lens kit on Hdew is belting value. Though not sure M4/3 is ideal for wildlife or certainly not wildlife that moves fast.
 
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snerkler said:
The Sony SLT is a great system, I had the A77 and then A77-II. The biggest downside for me was the noise handling.
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The a68 has the same focusing system as the A77ii which is pretty dam good for sports and wildlife. It seams to be a beginners camera aimed more at the sports photographer than the offerings from Nikon and Canon. Not really had a problem with noise to be honest.
 
Bearair said:
The a68 has the same focusing system as the A77ii which is pretty dam good for sports and wildlife. It seams to be a beginners camera aimed more at the sports photographer than the offerings from Nikon and Canon. Not really had a problem with noise to be honest.
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Over 3200 ISO it got a bit too much for me (y)
 
You need to get a short list of cameras. Then go and try them. Find the one that is suitable for you look at the menu systems too. Don't settle for I will get used to it. You are going to buy into a system so make sure its the right one
 
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