Which dslr please help

KenCo

KenCo

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Ken
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Can I just start by saying, I have been viewing posts from this forum for the last couple of weeks and I am well impressed with everyone’s photo’s, this has inspired me to join. I am very new to photography and until last summer 04 had never used a camera. I purchased an Olympus c-450 zoom and I am very pleased with the quality of pictures it produces. However, I would like to gain more control over the camera and would like to attempt dslr. Baring in mind I know nothing at all about photography nor understand the cameras functions and how to use them, I would still very much like to become more in control with what I shoot. I am quick to learn and have already learned so much from your forum, I find photography very therapeutic and rewarding but somewhat expensive, as my wife keeps pointing out. So my dilemma. I am interested in purchasing a camera to suit my needs and my wife’s strict budget, having a quick search I have compiled the following cameras and wondered what your opinions are on the following.
Olympus C-8080 at £404
Fujifilm Finepix S7000 at £263
Canon EOS300D at £499
Fuji S5500 at £220
All of the above cameras are kits with lenses and my max budget would be £500 with some sweet talking. I don’t want to buy cheap only to wish I spent that little extra again. So please can you give your advise on these or any other camera.
Many thanks in advance,
Ken.
 
Well of the four you have listed, only one is actualy a dslr. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex which basically means it has one lens which you look through and take the picture through so what you see is what you get kind of thing, the D is just for digital.
Of the others the Olympus is the nearest to an slr in that it has one lens but it is not detacheable as an slr lens would be and when you look through the viewfinder you seen a small lcd picture of what the camera sees. As far as I know the two Fujis are standard compact type cameras where you have a small viewing lens seperate from the picture taking lens.

Of the 4 I would choose (actually I did choose, I bought one) the Canon since it's streets ahead of the others in quality and upgradeability but, the 300D is due to be replaced in 3 months or so and you could pick up a bargain then, for now the going price is about £495 for the kit. Remember that no matter which one you go for you will have to buy a memory card to go with it.

The others will all have their good points and will have longer zoom ranges on their built in lenses but you can buy extra lenses over time for the Canon to suit yourself.
 
i have owned a Fuji S7000 and its a mighty fine bit of kit and worth every penny, i had mine a year b4 someone inherited it on ebay for a fair price ( and he was well chuffed at £350 in mint condition ) , but as mentioned its not a tru DSLR , it is a DSLR lookalike and it does a fine job with fantastic pictures,

i have however upgraded to a tru DSLR format as i have bought a Nikon D70 which used interchangable lenses ( as all DSLR's do ) and a single reflex mirror which direct the image you see up to the viewfinder , but pops up out the way to let the sensor see the image to take the picture,

this is an imporstant point, as you dont get a preview or live image on a DSLR b4 you take the pic, only the vewfinder can be used , where as the S7000 has a live preview on screen all the time,and also has a digital veiwfinder, DSLR's wont do video burst either,
the canon 300d is also a fine bit of kit,

however the DSLR requires a certain amount of ' extras ' once purchased to expand its abilaties , mainly lenses and flashes, however this gives you almost endless variations to taking your pictures,

i would recomend you go with something like the S7000 to start and see if that is enough or you make the big leap to tru DSLR,

the other thing is price difference ,

go to a camera shop and get hands on and ask lots of questions,
i hope this hasnt overloaded you with info,
happy hunting
 
So that shows my ignorance and infact I have answered my own question, I would like to buy a camera that can be upgraded rather than having to buy a whole new camera, I would also like remote control operation and the ability to add flashes, lenses etc. the main feature must be manual control over the operation of the camera
 
well in that case there are only two real choices,

as you havnt got any kit at all the canon 300d ( around £499 atm ) is prolly the best deal out there at the moment,
taking nothing away from the fine 300D ( almost bought one myself ) the Nikon D70 ( around £699 atm ) is a better camera for a little more money

however, taking into consideration your newness to the sport i would recomend the Canon 300D,
it lacks a few features of the Nikon, but its not something you will miss for the moment, if at all .

a remote , flash and loads of lenses are available for either model,
but try and spend as much money as possible on better quality lenses ( OEM or other , sigma, tamron etc ) , as the better the lens the brighter and sharper the pictures will be

another point to look out for is the megapixels , these DSLR's are all lower power then the just as expensive 10,12, or more megapixel DSLR lookalikes,
however , the DSLR will return better pictures and flexability in the longrun

MyPix
 
Having just upgraded from a Fuji S7000, I'd say stay away from unless you want to do plenty of editing as it produces pretty noisy images. You can of course clean it up, and it is a good camera, but you may find it frustrating after a while especially if you take lots of pics, as I did. My S7k is going to be kept for my kids use, as I'm not that concerned with it any more.

Fuji S5500, I suspect you will quickly outgrow this, bearing in mind what you want from a camera.

The Olympus C-8080 has got very good reviews and the image quality is about as good as it gets for non-DSLR cameras.

The Canon EOS300D would probably be your best bet as it'll get you started on a real path to "proper" photography and lens system which you could then use on camera upgrades in the future :)
 
If you don't absolutely need it now I'd say hang on a couple of months as the price will drop enormously once the 350D comes out. The 350D will retail around £700.
 
Also some good deals from http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/page393.htm

They also have a shop and their prices are the same as online except for camera bodies which cost £5 extra. I was going to buy my camera from there, but my local Jessops matched their prices which saved me 6+ hours of driving etc :)
 
A few words of warning... Last Tuesday I phoned Bristol Cameras to ask if they had a Canon G6 in stock. They did. I then asked if all their stock was brand new (not returns or refurbished) and also if it was genuine UK equipment, rather than grey imports. I was assured that it was all new and they did not sell grey imports. On that basis I ordered the camera.

It arrived on Wednesday. It was, in fact, a US import, with the US-model charger plus shaver adapter, instructions in English and Spanish only, the bottom half of the warranty card which had been cut off to remove reference to the fact that the warranty applies to the USA and Canada only, and PowershotUSA.com and Canon Inc on the box. I did, however, test the camera and found that there were five hot pixels.

I e-mailed them on Wednesday evening to say that I would be returning the camera. On Thursday morning I e-mailed them again., before sending it back by Royal Mail Special Delivery at a cost of £18.50. According to the tracking info, they received it on Friday morning. On Friday afternoon I wrote to them with copies of the e-mails to which I had received no reply. The letter should have arrived on Saturday.

Today (Monday) I have still not heard from them, and therefore do not know if they have issued a refund to my credit card. Tomorrow I will write to them again by recorded delivery, and I will send copies of correspondence to Trading Standards.

No, I would not recommend them. :wink:
 
Thanks very much for the feedback, no I’m not in a great hurry as we are currently renovating our house which we recently purchased, so the wife has a tight grip on the cash at the moment. Although my little Olympus is not quite a year old and the 4 mp provides a decent photo, it’s frustrating because of the lack of interaction or control I have over the camera. The photography bug has taken a hold in a big way and only being able to point and click well I crave more involvement. Not knowing anything at all about photography let alone slr is very tricky for me and I appreciate all the advice. I know I would like a camera I can add too, rather than just replace like my Olympus as this is an expensive hobby and one I can hardly afford to do, then there’s the health reasons as the wife would kill me.
Thanks very much for the help and advice and if there are more suggestions I’d be pleased to hear them. In the meantime I’ll put some pics from my baby camera up in the members area and would like for you to help and advise me on taking better photo’s…..apart from getting a better camera or packing photography in as a bad job.
Thanks Ken.
 
Well that's good to know about them, and from that I'm certainly glad I didn't give them any of my money :)
 
Received refund from Bristol Cameras this morning, with letter saying:-

"We did not realise this was not UK stock, and any US cameras have now been returned to our supplier. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused."

Their remorse did not, however, extend to reimbursing the £18.50 it cost me to return the camera.
 
silkstone said:
Received refund from Bristol Cameras this morning, with letter saying:-

"We did not realise this was not UK stock, and any US cameras have now been returned to our supplier. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused."

Their remorse did not, however, extend to reimbursing the £18.50 it cost me to return the camera.
Click to expand...

Thats a bad episode, luckily it is obvious that you knew what steps to take to recover your refund but I suspect that many others may have fallen fowl of this. Do you intend to push for a refund of your postage costs as well?
 
I suspect that the hassle of trying to prise the postage out of them wouldn't be worth the time and effort, so I'll write it off. In a funny sort of way, the episode did me a favour by causing me to look at a different camera which, I think, suits my needs rather better, so all's well in the end. :)
 
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