newbie camera advice

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dionbee93

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Dion Bee
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im new to d-slr, been using compacts and some of my uncles older film slr's.
Im after a budget camera, under £340 preferably.
Ive been on this forum as a guest for quite a long time, and seen that the 400d can be had some okaces for £200? where is it avalible?

Been looking at the Sony a200, Nikon D40 & D40x, Nikon D60.

im going to be mostly taking pictures of motorsport.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!
 
is it a good camera?
which one of those would you guys use/recomend?

Ive seen in some other posts on here that the 400d is avalibe for around the £200 mark, where is this?

Dion!
 
The 400D is a good camera for a newbie but not necessarily any better or worse than the other major brands. There have been any number of "which DSLR" threads here, and by reading some of them you can get a feel for the pros and cons of the different brands.

There was a rumour recently that Sainsburys had a job lot of them and were selling them off for £199, but I've not heard of anyone actually finding one at that price. If I were you I wouldn't waste time trying to find it for that sort of price.
 
what is the general feedback on the sony alpha 200?

And is there any major difference between the nikon D40 and D60?
 
Hi Dionbee93

A first time DSLR is really down to the preferance of the individual. Everone has their own taste, comfort and feel for a camera. Also, if you are buying a DSLR you also have to consider the glass you are going to need! With motorsport the lenses required are expensive,so try and budget for that. When starting out, as I've found, any DSLR will far out perform the new owners capabilities, so look at the bigger picture and spend wisely.

When I purchased my 1st DSLR, I was advised to go into a shop and 'feel' each camera within you budget. See what it feels like and hows it balances in your own hand.

Try http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/ for some prices, it should give you a good idea of what you should expect to pay.

Hope this helps and good luck.
 
thanks johnnyflash
will go to some photography stores this week then!

Dion
 
I've got the D40 it was my first DSLR. I've learnt loads with it and got some great results!

Only problem is that only Nikon AFS lenses or other brands such as Sigmas HSM with the AF motor built into the lens will autofocus on the D40 D40x or D60 and they tend to be more expensive than the non AFS lenses.

You can use other Nikon fit lenses but you will have to use manual focus which might not be the best thing for motorsport when you're just starting out.

Most of my lenses are manual focus only because i was on a tight budget when i started out and there's loads of old Nikon film lenses available cheaply.

I reckon it's done me a favour as i've learnt more about my camera and photography through having to use manual rather than getting stuck in the rut of using auto and scene modes!

Might be worth considering buying a 2nd hand camera there's loads of entry level & mid level cameras around as people upgrade or decide photographys not for them! That way you can put the extra cash towards a better lens for shooting motorsport!
 
im a newbie and started a thread exactly the same as this a few weeks ago, the same cameras were mentioned and i am now swaying more towards the sony a200.

If you are unable to get out and look at cameras for the time being go to youtube and type in the name of the camera you are looking at and look at the reviews, they are very interesting and give you a slight insight to what the camera is like. obviously as people will suggest you will have to got and try them out...something i have not done yet. And i dont really intend on posting much on here until i get my camera otherwise all the info people give me will just be forgotten by the time i do get a camera!!

at the moment i come on here nearly everyday and just read all the info which is very interesting!!
 
thanks guys, one step closer to getting there!

One question i do have:
If i buy a Nikon D40 or D60, will other make lenses fit?
if not, what others will fit?

As i have a source of a lot of old Film camera lenses that were used on an old Slr Pentax (Semi-Digital)

Thanks Again

Dion!
 
dionbee93 said:
If i buy a Nikon D40 or D60, will other make lenses fit?
if not, what others will fit?

As i have a source of a lot of old Film camera lenses that were used on an old Slr Pentax (Semi-Digital)
Click to expand...
If you buy a Nikon D40 or D60, you need to be careful about lenses.

All Nikon lenses will fit, but if they aren't AF-S (Nikon's newest autoficus technology) then they will only work in Manual Focus mode.

You can use lenses from the independent manurfacturers (Sigma, Tamron, Tokina), as long as you get the versions for the Nikon mount system, but check their web sites for compatibility issues.

You can't use lenses from the other camera manufacturers (canon, pentax, Olympus, Minolta, Sony, etc.). They use completely different mounts.
 
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