newbie help

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cragas

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Hi guys im after abit of advice. I have recently been on holiday and took a fair few good pics on my phone. I am looking into photography as a hobbie and was wondering where to get started. Do you recommend and books? Whats the best starter camera to go for? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Craig
 
Thanks for the warm welcome.

I will be honest i know absolutley nothing about cameras or how much they cost. Can you get anything half decent for around £200 - £300?
 
cragas said:
Thanks for the warm welcome.

I will be honest i know absolutley nothing about cameras or how much they cost. Can you get anything half decent for around £200 - £300?
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yes Just Dave will sell you his for 1/2 that :lol::lol::lol:

welcome to the forum fella, whatever camera you decide on


Les :wave:
 
£300 you can get the Nikon D3000 with a 18-55 vr lens which is a nice beginners dslr. You would need to add a little extra for a memory card, but these are cheap enough. A bag etc and a few other options might be a good idea.
You might want to go down the bridge/compact camera route for a cheaper and easier option, the dslr route can be tricky for complete beginners and they take a little time to get used to. Dslr's do have a habit of constantly emptying your wallet, extra lenses etc, it never ends to forewarn you :-)
 
cragas said:
Thanks les!
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Obviously not serious about Just Dave's camera :eek:

why not consider the 2nd hand route, your budget will cover a decent 2nd hand camera + Kit lens with cash to spare

Les ;)
 
if you go for the dslr, there is a magazine/book called Digital Slr skills, its about £10 in wh smiths and its rather good for beginners, I found it very helpful when i started out.
 
Thanks guys so much for your help. I have looked at the d3000 and it seems pretty good. What bridge or compact cameras would you reccomened? Whats the difference?
 
Massive difference, a compact you can shove in your bag and take pretty much anything on auto. Very user friendly.
A dslr will require more patience but you can be more creative with it, learning how to use it will be a lot harder, but rather rewarding when you get it right.
Might be worth a trip into jessops or somewhere like that, to have a play and get a feel for some of the cameras. I think the panasonic lumix range is meant to be good for compacts. Bridge cameras sort of come in between the two.
 
I bought myself a manufacturer refurbished (everything brand new when I opened the box) Canon 500D for £340 last week. It is my first DSLR and I'm slowly getting there.
 
To be honest i would rather have a camera that would take abit of getting used to. Im not a fan of cameras that do it all for you it takes away the fun a little if that makes sense.
 
I agree with you, i think with that attitude the dslr is the perfect choice :-) The secondhand route is also worth considering and you can get a good deal. Next thing is choose a brand, purchase and start having fun :-)
Also do look out for the slr skills magazine book thing, its lovely and clear for beginners and helped me produce some great results with me first few weeks of owning my first camera :-)
 
I think my mind is made up and i will visit wh smith soon to. Whats the best manufacturer then?
 
girl_with_camera said:
Welcome to the dslr club Ben :-) (shame its a canon though, hehehe- sorry) ;)
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Thank you :) Haha I was kind of silly and only tested Canon so I can't comment on Nikon cameras :p But I've jumped straight into manual mode and learning the various settings for different situtions I'm really enjoying it! Just done my first long exposure torch writting it was fun!
 
I've just started our & bought myself a nikon d3100 after some advice from here.

The best thing is to go & handle a few see what feels right for you.

Good luck with the new amazing hobby
 
A secondhand d60 is also a good beginners camera (it was my first camera) im not just peddling Nikon by the way, but because i am team Nikon i'm sticking to what i know!!
 
girl_with_camera said:
(shame its a canon though, hehehe- sorry) ;)
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well when you've tried the very best you dont waste time trying the competition :lol: :exit:

(joking aside any of the main manufacturer DSLRs will do a beginer fine - arguably nikon and canon might just have the edge at the pro end but at the beginer end theres not a lot to choose between any of them - best thing is to try a few then just pick a system and stick with it)

from the canon perspective a second hand 40D or 450D would be a good start and within budget (if money is tighter the 20D and 30D are still good cameras even though they are a few years old now) - incidentally for either nikon or canon S/H you could do a lot worse than MPB photographic (link at the top of the forum)
 
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Doh sorry i meant to paste the link for the d3100 looking on ebay the d3000 looks a safe bet
 
cragas said:
Doh sorry i meant to paste the link for the d3100 looking on ebay the d3000 looks a safe bet
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you wont go wrong with either! :-) just don't forget to order an sd card at the same time so you can use your camera right away! 7dayshop.com is a good place for memory cards and bits you might want. Also worth getting a lens filter to protect your lens. A basic 52mm uv filter will be fine and will be cheap.

Aww im thinking back to my first slr, i was so excited when it arrived :clap:
 
I was going to buy a bridge camera but instead i bought a second hand Nikon D40x with a couple of lenses.

I am so glad i did, there is a steep hill to climb with lots to learn before i get any good but in the end i feel it will be more rewarding than if i had taken the bridge route. And more expensive no doubt:)

Also come to this forum as often as you can, it is a great place to learn from and the members are great you can ask even the most basic question and someone will take the time to answer.
 
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Thanks for your help guys i will get the camera sorted then look at lenses i think
 
cragas said:
I think my mind is made up ...... Whats the best manufacturer then?
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Hi

And welcome :wave:

Manufacturer is very much a personnal choice, as you can see from the above posts and lots on here, there is a healthy banter between Canon and Ninkon users. Don't forget about Sony and Pentax though as they are doing some very decent bodies...

Best advice I can give is to pop to a local photo store and have a look / play at the different manufacturers and see which you like the look of / feel of. Althought they are all very similar, there are differences in the feel, controls layout and the menu functions.

Once you have then decided which, it makes life easier for you to choose your model, although this doesn't then help the bank balance...:lol:

Hpoe this is of some help...
 
Argos also has the sony for £274.99
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5594353.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=tsid:11527%7Ccc:%7Cprd:5594353%7Ccat:photography+%2F+digital+slr+cameras+%2F
 
MPB is a great second hand online store - linky

I've had two lenses and a flash from them and can't fault the service at all. Everything as described and arrived super fast.

You would need to buy a camera body & lens seperately but it's definately worth a look.

EDIT - forgot to say - you should go to a camera shop and look at the options in your price range. I think at entry level it's mainly personal preference rather than a big difference in quality or features.
 
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Ok guys,

I have brought my first camera. Brand new D3000 for £250 seemed a fair price after a couple of hours research. Should have it Wednesday!
 
I have a d3000 - I love it - having aquirred a fair few lenses - for budget I recommend the tamron 70-300 with macro switch - it's a fab all round lens and before mine died on me (that's just bad luck) it was my most used lens, I have 18-55 55-200 70-300 and I def used that one most.

I have spotted them for £75 on evilbay
 
Good to hear you love the camera, i can't wait to start playing around and thanks for the heads up on the lenses
 
£250 is very good, does it come with a kit lens? And of course welcome to team Nikon :-) Will look forward to seeing some pictures from you in the near future :-)
 
sure does! all i need to do is buy a memory card. Does it accept Micro SD? The advert says it does but im not so sure?

Thanks
 
Awesome, I hope it arrives very soon for you :-) Memory cards i am sure is standard SD and not micro! 7dayshop.com is cheap, but if the camera arrives before the memory card a quick visit to comet or even asda should have some cheap sd card options so you can start shooting right away!

Me impatient? :-) I just collected my new camera today- and I went straight to comet for a compact flash card (another is in the post!) hehehe!
Dont forget the lens filter too :-)
 
Not micro no - I use mymemory and you can usually google up a discount code i recommend a spare battery as well - I used a cheapy unbranded from evilbay for ages and you will need a case
 
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