Help on camera DSLR for wife

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Gigabyte

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Tony
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Well, i am looking for a camera for my wife now!!!

Anyway, budget is a max of £330 ish. 2 that i like are:

Sony A290

Nikon D3000

Only going to buy new. Not interested in 2nd hand.

Which one guys, and why? She will be taking pics of our daughter, landscapes. She also would like a 50mm sometime in the future. I know Nikon does not come with in body AF motor so maybe she could get a 35mm AFS?
Any idea which would be the best bet and why? Thanks
 
You could go for the same brand as you have in order to use the same lenses etc unless of course you don't want her borrowing your stuff :D
 
cowasaki said:
You could go for the same brand as you have in order to use the same lenses etc unless of course you don't want her borrowing your stuff :D
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:agree:

I know it may be anoying at times if you are sharing lenses but it will probably save you a lot over time - and give you an excuse to get better, faster lenses (y)
 
My OH bought me my Nikon D3000 last Xmas in similar circumstances and I absolutely love it. Its simply & intuitive to use (& if you forget what something does you press a button and it reminds you - perfect if you are numpty like me), the IQ is pretty good tbh and its small enough & light enough that I can carry it everywhere with me.

Before that we shared a Canon 40D but it is so big & heavy that I would never take it anywhere, not to mention I was terrified it would get damaged & I would get the blame.

I've also got the 35mm AFS lens which is a really nice versatile lens and doesn't cost too much. I'm now looking for a good zoom to complete the set as I have the 18-55mm kit lens to cover wide angle landscapes.

I've learnt more in the last 10 months than I did in the several years of sharing a camera with my OH before that. I've also taken loads more pics. I think your wife would love it too ;)
 
What camera are you using - time to upgrade ??

The new D3100 is well spec'd but definately go for same brand as your kit.
 
DrRusty said:
What camera are you using - time to upgrade ??

The new D3100 is well spec'd but definately go for same brand as your kit.
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Not got a DSLR at the moment as i sold it all as was fed up!!! :thinking:

D3100 is over the budget.
 
Gillybaby said:
My OH bought me my Nikon D3000 last Xmas in similar circumstances and I absolutely love it. Its simply & intuitive to use (& if you forget what something does you press a button and it reminds you - perfect if you are numpty like me), the IQ is pretty good tbh and its small enough & light enough that I can carry it everywhere with me.

Before that we shared a Canon 40D but it is so big & heavy that I would never take it anywhere, not to mention I was terrified it would get damaged & I would get the blame.

I've also got the 35mm AFS lens which is a really nice versatile lens and doesn't cost too much. I'm now looking for a good zoom to complete the set as I have the 18-55mm kit lens to cover wide angle landscapes.

I've learnt more in the last 10 months than I did in the several years of sharing a camera with my OH before that. I've also taken loads more pics. I think your wife would love it too ;)
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Thanks for info.

What about the settings on the D3000? Doesn't one have to delve into them to change things like the ISO? Making it annoyingly slow?
 
Gigabyte said:
Thanks for info.

What about the settings on the D3000? Doesn't one have to delve into them to change things like the ISO? Making it annoyingly slow?
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I think that the only 'annoyingly slow' thing to change is the ISO, but i may be wrong as i don't own one.
 
When i had my canon that was an easy setting to change. What about the A290? That a good choice? She is not interested in video as i know both these cameras don't have it.
 
Gigabyte said:
When i had my canon that was an easy setting to change. What about the A290? That a good choice? She is not interested in video as i know both these cameras don't have it.
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I'd say either are a good choice to be honest. I recently asked for advice for similar camera's, and people always say the same thing; go and feel it.
So unless its for a birthday or some kind of surprise gift, i'd go and get her to feel them; just keep her away from the Canon 1D's! haha if she got the feel for that i think you'd shoot yourself :p
 
Fn Self-timer / Fn Button on D3000

In its default mode this button enables or disables the self-timer, via custom setting f1 however you can re-program this button to allow you to set; self-timer, shooting mode (drive), image quality / size, ISO sensitivity, white balance, Active D-Lighting, RAW shooting or Auto Bracketing
 
If you really need to compare only between Sony A290 and D3000..
Go for D3000 for simple two reasons

Sync speed and fps is better.
 
In your budget is the A450 with kit lens from Comet, more features than the A290 and will do 5fps.
 
Looked at the 450 some time ago and found it quite 'bulky'
 
Gigabyte said:
Looked at the 450 some time ago and found it quite 'bulky'
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I would certainly recommend Sony (slightly biased, and probably going to kick off a torrent from the non-Sony users but hey-ho...) mainly because of the inbuilt optical stabilisation in the camera body. No other makes to my knowledge have this and instead you have to pay extra for lenses with it.

I would check the grip on the A290, I know the A330 and A350 had weird small grips that I really didn't like.
 
Pentax and Olympus have inbody stabilisation. Grip on A290 is like the older A200 now.

She is edging towards the D3000 and then get a 35mm AFS lens in a few months.
 
The wife has a D3000 which was given to me last Christmas. Given that she can't take a photo to save her life she has managed to master the basics and come up with some erm interesting results. The operating system is great for beginnners and makes settings easy to use and understand.
 
D3000. Had a play, very simple to use, great 'guide mode', the 35mm AF-S lens is a gem (and I preferred it to my current 50mm AF), changing the ISO (if its anything like the D40) will be simple - you can either assign the Fn button or you can change it with a couple of presses on the LCD info screen - I used to have my Fn button assigned to timer mode on my D40 so changing the ISO was done with the info screen and I never got annoyed with its slowness - Nikons menu system and controls are very intuitive - I once owned a Canon 40D and was always frustrated by its handling.
 
Gigabite

Take a tip from an old, many years married, man, let your wife choose. That way you won't get into trouble or be told you have chosen a camera she doesn't like. My hot tip is to tell her how much you are willing to spend -take her to a camera shop -let her decide while you enjoy making your next camera gear selection.

She might even decide to buy a new pair of shoes instead and save you a bundle ;);)

Realspeed
 
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