Which Cameras

[Roy Smith]

Help, i want a new camera, but not knowing anything about SLR cameras
could some one steer me in the right direction.
I want some thing that will take photos of the kids wake boarding and not look like they are miles away also my son surfs. I have a budget of £750
that being what our insurance will give us due to BA losing our cases at christmas. our local shop keeps pushing Nikon ?

[jwalker]

Roy, you've started it now! It's like buying RIBS. You don't know what you need until you've got one.

Personally, as a long term Olympus SLR owner, I changed to Canon about a year ago and I don't regret it. I have the 350D but there is a new Canon 400D, which supercedes it, with some extra worthwhile features.

I also bought a Sony R1 which is not an SLR and, in many respects, better for it. I use it the most. The Zeiss lens in just outstanding and the camera has features which I've not seen on any other camera. The lens has a zoom range of 24-120mm in old 35mm terms. However, if you need a long lens or you feel you'd like to explore, say, photographing flowers or insects, you need an SLR.

Remember though, the lens quality is all important. If there is loss in the lens, no amount of megapixels and camera features are going to get the image back. A medium camera with a crackin' lens will give a far better picture than a whizz bang camera with a budget lens.

However, it's like buying RIBS, you don't know what lens you need until you've got one.




There are good lens tests on this site and good camera and lens tests here.

Good luck.

[Brambles]

Roy,

You can't go wrong with either Nikon or Canon. Technology moves on so fast that it it is sometimes difficult to keep up with the new models, but I would say don't get caught up in the more pixels equals better pictures debate.

My Nikon D70 is now obsolete, yet takes fantastic pictures which I have had enlarged to 30" x 20" with superb results. With your budget I would suggest that you try to get a DSLR with kit lens (17mm - 70mm) & a 70mm - 200mm zoom. This should cover all your requirements well.

Cheers

Ian

[BogMonster]

I looked at SLRs and ended up buying a Fuji S9500 which does most things an SLR will except get dust on the sensor, has a cracking lens with manual zoom ring, 9MP resolution and an excellent video mode too. And was a lot cheaper. Very pleased with it and taken some excellent photos. I would rather have this with a 28-300mm lens than mess around with separate lenses like I used to with my old 35mm SLR, it was a pain in the butt.

[Andy Moore]

I have finally upgraded to a Nikon. I have a D70.

I would suggest you look at a D70s or a D50 with the bundled lens.

[brucehawsker]

I have a Canon 10D which I love - but on the rib I use a pentax optio waterproof unit that is really good and very cheap - and you do not worry about getting it wet!!!

[andy d]

I know a lot of serious photographers who use Nikon cameras but they are very expensive. I would say Canons are probably more user friendly but Nikons may have the professional edge.

I currently have a Compact SLR - a Canon Powershot S2 - the budget would not stretch to a fully fludged SLR but it takes fantastic pictures and is extremely easy to use. It also has a very good video feature at extremely good quality, probably better than my analogue camcorder but only 8 mins to a 1GB SD card.

I will post some pics from my Canon if you want although they might not be up to SLR standard I'd like to think you won't notice the difference.

[mikesyam]

Why not consider one of these. cracking kit and waterproof down to 4 or 5 feet as well so you can take pics underwater, give it a thought at least.
http://www.pentax.co.uk/_uk/photo/pr...&id=uebersicht

cheapest I can find is here
http://www.rankhour.com/details.php?...cbid=9&ccid=62

[wavecrosschris]

I'm a bit of a keen photographer, two members of my close family have 350Ds and I have an FZ30 Lumix Panasonic. The 350D (400D latest model with a higher MP than the 350), as any review, or anyone will tell you, is a wonderful camera. I have found when using them (as recently as yesterday) the low noise levels in low light to be astonishing. However, it is not the 350D I would recommend - it is the FZ30 or FZ50 (The latest model, again 10MP) The FZ50 is a bridge camera which means it is the closest thing in operation and quality to an SLR without the SLR!

For £399 you get a Leica lens which offers an equivalent mega zoom of 430mm and comes with image stabalisation. (You try finding a decent SLR lens with this sort of range and with a stabilisation system that works well - it will cost a fortune - probably 3 times what the FZ30 costs). It also won a Platinum award (the FZ30) at the DIWA Awards. You won't have the problems that SLRs get such as dust on the mirrors from changing lenses as the FZ's does it all in one and as it is not an SLR can record movies - great quality ones too.

Heres the review on the FZ50, It's worth a read if you have made up your mind for going for an SLR as with me, it changed my mind:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec...ic_dmcfz50.asp

[codprawn]

I wouldn't bother with an SLR - the main advantage of a digi camera is it's sheer ease of use and convenience - start messing around with a bag full of lenses etc and you are back to the good old days of 35mm!!!

Obviously the most important feature of a camera is it's lens and they don't come much more useful than the Leica 12x image stabilised fitted to the panasonic Lumix FZ50. It is an awesome lens - equiv to a 35 to 420mm zoom!!! I don't have the FZ50 yet but I have the earlier model. The image stabilisation works really well letting you handhold down to low speeds - essential with such a huge zoom.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz50/

Seriously I am more into my photography than most - medium and large format as well and yet the Lecia 12x lens still amazes me.

At £350 it is way under your budget!!!