Beginner Which are the sweet spot DSLR's under £100 s/hand?

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Martin
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I'm just looking to buy something cheap to play about with, nothing amazing but nothing too primitive either.

Not too bothered about megapixels, 8MP or more would be fine unless someone tells me otherwise.

Looking for a larger sensor size like APS-C I guess.

Colour LCD panel and general purpose lens.

Optical image stabilisation either in the body or lens.

Not bothered about brand so much.

Want full manual focusing as well as AF.

Is there a lens mount system that has the best choice and cheapest lenses?

Looking for good macro performance and low light capabilities if possible.

Would love 1080p video recording but of course realise there is probably nothing that would come into that price point and have a bridge camera with that already.

Really though I just fancy trying a DSLR and seeing what they are about and how the differ, bit of a gadget freak.

Any advice on what models to aim for or which to avoid would be appreciated. Maybe there are boundary models that I shouldn't go below because they are too primitive before that model. Are there any models overlooked that don't get much love on the s/hand market and can be a bargain. Should I also consider some of the mirrorless cameras that go sub £100 with lens.

Lastly would like something that looks reasonably modern when I'm out using it. I've seen some with simple b/w LCD panels and looking to avoid such models if possible.

My current main bridge camera is a Sony DSC-H400. My point and click camera is a Fujifilm Real 3D W3. The Fujifilm camera is looking totally battered now as has had so much use but sadly there is nothing out there to replace it.
 
My recommendation would be a Canon 350D. Outstanding camera and can be had with a kit lens within your budget. No video though. It's my experience that all the XXXD bodies struggled to live up to the same quality for a while after that camera released. EF and EF-S lenses all work well with it.

Easily enough megapickles. I make A3 prints today from my old 350D files which look "acceptably sharp" to me.
 
My recommendation would be a Canon 350D. Outstanding camera and can be had with a kit lens within your budget. No video though. It's my experience that all the XXXD bodies struggled to live up to the same quality for a while after that camera released. EF and EF-S lenses all work well with it.

Easily enough megapickles. I make A3 prints today from my old 350D files which look "acceptably sharp" to me.

That seems a very good shout, only 2 things I'm not keen on is the lack of video and use of compact flash really.
 
I’d push for a Canon 40D, the last of the properly engineered xxD series and quite a step up from the 350D - live view as well

I'll probably set the 350D as the bottom boundary seems pretty good. Live view definitely is an important feature though.
 
So much better off spending a little more to get a Nikon D7000 rather than trying to go under £100.

The D7000 even today is a very good DSLR

Looks great but definitely over budget for me. Maybe if I really get into DSLR's then it will be an option, just testing the water at the moment.
 
Nikon D300s - currently can go for peanuts and give superb results.

The D300 ones I used to get because I don't need video or two memory slots. They are a fair bit cheaper again for anyone who wants photos only
 
Have to agree with gramps. The D300 is vastly superior to the 350D and built like a professional camera. I'm always astounded by how little they (and the D300S) go for.
 
Have to agree with gramps. The D300 is vastly superior to the 350D and built like a professional camera. I'm always astounded by how little they (and the D300S) go for.

Ok that's another camera in the mix then. Well 2 with the D300S.

Seems to be Canon's and Nikons are the favoured brands with not much love for the other brands.
 
Ok that's another camera in the mix then. Well 2 with the D300S.

Seems to be Canon's and Nikons are the favoured brands with not much love for the other brands.

I don't think it's necessarily lack of love but more based on what most people have expereince of and what might fit your (somewhat unrealistic) requirements.
 
About a month ago I sold a very nice Canon 50D body on Ebay in the US. That one went for a little less than your budget, and about the average for that model. Adding a kit lens, say an 18-55mm, would probably put you over the top, but not by much.

Cameras these days are computers, and they hold their value about like computers - that is, not very well. That 10-year-old camera sold for less than 10% of what it sold for new. But it's still very much a modern camera as defined in the original post. 15 megapixel APS-C sensor, good autofocus, good screen. (No video, though. That started with the 60D.)

And if you're pursuing the used market, Canon and Nikon are probably where you want to be. Not that they're any better than any of the others, it's just that there is way more used inventory from those manufacturers. Gives you a better chance at finding a bargain.

Lenses, on the other hand, do hold their value. You can buy a one- or two-generation-old lens with the confidence that you'll be able to sell it for what you paid for it if you decide to go a different way.
 
Under £100 your best bet is to pick up a used Canon or Nikon DSLR if photography is your main focus.

From the Canon camp my choice would be a Canon 40D or 50D - both within budget. These are semipro cameras with better build quality than the XXD series.

If you must have video, have a look at the Panasonic GH1 (in budget) or GH2 (slightly over budget). These bodies take m4/3 lenses of which there is a vast selection at very reasonable 2nd hand prices. I had a GH2 which was a good camera, but also an excellent video camera with some very advanced video features at the time.
 
I'm just looking to buy something cheap to play about with, nothing amazing but nothing too primitive either...

My answer to almost everything is a Sony A7 and manual film era lenses.

The A7 is a mirrorless camera so not a DSLR, the main difference being it has an EVF rather than an OVF. It's relatively cheap and more so on the used market, an adapter that'll enable you to use old film era lenses will cost £10-15 and film era lenses can be found for under £30. Maybe under £20 if you shop around and have a bit of luck.

If you want you can even buy modern auto focus lenses for it :D
 
My answer to almost everything is a Sony A7 and manual film era lenses.

The A7 is a mirrorless camera so not a DSLR, the main difference being it has an EVF rather than an OVF. It's relatively cheap and more so on the used market, an adapter that'll enable you to use old film era lenses will cost £10-15 and film era lenses can be found for under £30. Maybe under £20 if you shop around and have a bit of luck.

If you want you can even buy modern auto focus lenses for it :D

Had a quick look for Sony A7 but that is well over my budget unless I'm getting a different model to what you intended.

Looks like Canon and Nikon will be the main cameras to consider for my budget with an outside chance of a Panasonic/Lumix model. When I do get one I'll come back to the thread so people can comment on what I've purchased.

Anyway thanks to all those who responded.
 
Your budget really is in the realms of I’m going to be disappointed quickly , the best so far suggested is the Nikon d300s built like a tank ,and fast to focus even beside modern cameras .
But whatever you finally decide on be it nikon or canon your really really going to struggle with lenses at that budget at best in that price range you will struggle to keep up with a mobile phone quality ., and you don’t mention how you intend to process the photos you take .
My suggestion is sit back and have a good think about what you want to do ,visit a camera shop or two handle a few cameras and then think it through again
 
Had a quick look for Sony A7 but that is well over my budget unless I'm getting a different model to what you intended.

Looks like Canon and Nikon will be the main cameras to consider for my budget with an outside chance of a Panasonic/Lumix model. When I do get one I'll come back to the thread so people can comment on what I've purchased.

Anyway thanks to all those who responded.

A used A7 can be had for under £500. That's a lot more than £100 though.
 
an adapter that'll enable you to use old film era lenses will cost £10-15 and film era lenses can be found for under £30. Maybe under £20 if you shop around and have a bit of luck.

It has been possible to do that with any Canon camera with an EF/EFS mount since it was introduced, so it is far from unique to the Sony A7. One of the few limitations is Pentax K mount lenses which protrude too far into the Canon full frame models as it obstructs the mirror, fine with all APS-C models though.
 
I've used manual - mainly Nikkor - lenses on my 30D and they work well, but I'd caution the OP about getting too carried away with this. The older SLRs were built for manual focus. They had big/bright viewfinders and optimised focus screens designed to work with manual lenses that generally had long, smooth, focus throws.

Crop cameras, in my experience anyway, aren't well suited to MF. The viewfinders are too small and dim, and most modern lenses aren't designed for it.

It's fun experimenting with various combinations of bodies and lenses, although there are very few that can hold a candle to Nikon's wonderful F2 and the old Nikkor lenses, in my biased opinion of course...:D
 
Have a look here :

Cash Converters

I got my first DSLR from them, a Canon EOS 400d, kit lens, battery and charger, a couple of filters and a camera bag all for less than £50.00. I sold it a year later and upgraded to the Canon EOS 600d.
 
Whole point of interchangeable lens cameras is they have interchangeable lenses.
Means you have two issues/targets.
1/ Camera Body
2/ Lens.
Of the two, the lens tends to be the more crucial, and you're in a world where if you have Interchangeable Lenses, they tend to be the expensive bit that holds value. This either means that to get it all inside budget, you are probably going to have to skimp on one or t'other.
Incumbents in the market are Nikon and Canon. This means that a) that's what there's most of about, also that's what there's most interchangeable lenses available for.
Oh-Kay... NIKON, have been using the F-Mount for its lenses since some-time in the late 1950's, and it was one of their marketing tags that 'any' Nikon F-mount lens would fit any F-Mount camera, throughout that time. It's not 'quite' true, but close enough. Means that you can fit film-only era, manual focus lenses on a modern auto-focus DSLR without an adaptor or issue. (give or take).
Means that there is a plethora of F-Mount compatible lenses out there to choose from, and many of them great lenses and not exorbitantly priced. Which makes it the bench-mark system to look at.
B~U~T you need to think lenses NOT 'Camera'.
And work from there.
In the world of legacy lenses there are some fantastic offerings at amazing prices out there. Rather denting the merits of the Nikon F-Mount, I have a rather good Ziess 50, that is the 'normal angle' lens on my old M42 film camera. It's worth about £10 on e-bay! A genuine Nikkor F-mount 50 might still only cost £50 or so, but gives you an idea of the quality of legacy lenses you can get for so little money. But they tend not to be auto-focus, and there can be some fun and games with legacy lenses not letting a camera meter through them.
This brings up the entire world of issues with legacy lenses and adaptors, starting with old lens fungus, and sticky aparture blades etc... but..
Point is, if just ONE half decent lens is likely to consume half or more of your budget.... it wont leave a lot for the camera to plonk it on... or whole point of interchangeable lens cameras, getting other lenses you can plonk on the thing!
Hence even more reason to think LENS not CAMERA.
How important is being able to use the camera 'Point and Press' and having all the functions like auto-focus there, on demand every time How likely are you to want other lenses? (I'll say now, that as soon as you get an interchangeable lens camera, and can fit alternative lenses the compunction to try will be high?!! beware GAS, you have been warned!), and what sort of lens range is going to be the more useful/important to you?
On that, the 'normal' angle of view provided by a 50 on film or a 35 on DX is a pretty good start point. And another GAS warning the 'wow' factor of telephotos leads lot of folk to chase more of that, when going wider is often the more beneficial and more challenging, even before you find that wider lenses tend to be in shorter supply and more expensive...
But you already have a mega-zoom bridge..... which offers some ho-hum and more thunk, and suspicion that using an ICY camera you will find the wide-side the more wowing, and when using more telephoto be wowed by what they can do, and chasing longer focal lengths the f-no doesn't drop as much and they will seem to actually 'work'....
Which brings us back around; think LENS not CAMERA.
If you buy in-to say, Micro-Four-Thirds, from Sony or Panasonic ect, there are some great looking VFM outfits on offer, BUT there aren't so many lens options for the format, and the ones you will most likely want to try will by sods likely be the more expensive ones.
If you but into say, Nikon F... there are thousands of lenses available, and the prices of them can be brilliant.. but more if's.... most wont Auto-Focus, and depending on lens/camera compatibility, some still wot AF even though they may say on the lens they are an AF lens, others wont let the camera meter etc et etc....
So you need to work out what LENSes would be most useful first THEN work out from that what camera body and or system would be most helpful.
A few years ago, for daughter doing GCSE photo, and aghast at what she was doing with MY camers, we budgeted £200 to kit her up for Christmas., Out of that we got her a 2nd hand D3100 body and a 2nd hand DX35, as her main lens, and had change.. a little.. for a triupod. She could then use my lenses, AF and legacy Manual and adaptors on it... so £100 is maybe a bit on the skinny side... but.... If I was at it again, I would be strongly pulled towards the Nikon F-System, especially now they have finally introduced a 'new' ICY lens system and F-Mount lenses are likely to start popping up ar more reasonable prices 2nd hand... though 'more reasonable' is still very relative!
The D3100 we got for daughter was echoes with another we for for the O/H, with the kit 18-55 for about £150, maybe eight year ago. That is an 'entry level' DSLR and you might just eek something like that, or later D32oo or D333oo in your budget... And is as good a place to start as any. Its all for the learning after all, and if it proves the wrong choice, you should be able to flip it 2nd hand for little loss.... you have to start 'some-where' after all.... but.... its all somewhat speculative and a bit of a gamble.. and at a mere £100 budget... well, what have you got to loose really?
But think lens not camera..... and just what is the more important, stop thinking video resolution and mega pixies, start thinking angle of view and apertures, and nail it down as 'close' to right first time as you can.
On your budget, its going to pretty much be hobsons choce anyway, and its a case of getting as few compromises in the deal as you can, ad much as as many of your wish list... so pays your money and take your chances..
But think lenses first, pick a stem to build on, and dont expect it all at once.
As said, I would likely go the Nikon F-Route again, and still plugging away with my D32oo after a decade in digital, I wouldn't be too unhappy to go that way again, and again, priorarise getting the LENES I wanted obver how many mega-pixies or how flip-out-able the screen was on the camera body.... in fact, the D32oo, an entry level camera, probably just on your £100 budget threhold 2nd hand, lives in a bag with close oi £2K's worth of AF lenses for it,m to get the sort of 'wide' I had with my film cameras! It would be one to look out for.. B~U~T its just the beginning, not the be-all-and-end-all of the game... LENSES is what will make or break the deal here, and there the costs, even 2nd hand wail tend to make the price of the camera body tend to insignificance in the grander scheme... you have been warned and avoid GAS, all too easy to develop when you have a camera body you CAN fit alternative lenses and accessories to.
 
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