Its time for DSLR

tinytomlogan

tinytomlogan

The Guvnor
Staff member
Been looking about at DSLR packages for a while, I had my heart set on a Nikon D40 untill I found out that you cant get macro lenses for them.

My main use for the camera will be pictures of cases in my light tent and in the carpark (sunny days for the paint)

But I do have a fetish for sunsets/rises aswell.

MAX budget is £500ish, at the moment Ive been looking at the Sony a300 packages at Jessops.

Anyone got any recomendations?
 
Think Im going to go new purely for the sake of if I break it jessops is local and will repair/replace and the cover for 2 extra years including acidents is £44.

Being able to shoot a good close up macro is a definate need (mobos parts ect) and the D40 cant do this. The a300 package Ive looked at comes with an extra macro AF lense other that that, the normal lense and an 8gb card all Id want is a good polarising/UV filter for the sunsets.
 
Jessops aint too bad and with the state the economy is in, you should be able to get a good deal. When I got mine however, Jessops were around £100 more expensive. I ended up importing from Japan, a company called Digital Rev. They had some pretty sweet deals. Check 'em out.
 
I'd go with a Canon mate, I have one with a few lenses, one is macro, all work well. But do shop around, Jessops aint the cheapest, but I think they will price match some online sites.
 
I got a 1000D for christmas at jessops.

And can really recommend them.

They are really up for bartering aswell, they easily move on price, and cant get a cheap deal on virtually any bundle you want!

I got about £150 off in the end
 
I don't own one myself, but my father does and I've shot some user review photos with it.

It's a sony a350 with a lens of which I do not know the name. 10x optical zoom, 40cm min distance. I usually use a tripod to steady her and a screwon +1, +2, +4 or even +10 macro lens. Quite a lot of options etc. on it of which I do not even know half and use about a tenth.
 
I want to get back into it, I need to bring my photos for the website up to scratch, all my new stuff I really want to be as best as I can do.

Ive got a light tent and some studio lights now, and macro is a concern for me.

Really not sure now, wavering between the D40 and the a300....

Need some one to give me an idiots guide tbh.
 
Do you want a glorified point and shoot (i.e. full auto) or do you want to really get into it and tell the camera how you want to take the photos?

I've got a D40 at work (and personally own a Canon 40D) and the D40 feels like a toy in comparison :p

If you do want to do more than just full auto, the D40 is pretty fiddly to change most of the settings.

Have you considered the Canon 1000D?

It's a bit more than your budget (especially if you get it from Jessops) but a Canon EOS 1000D and Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 Macro Lens will be a great combo for you, and it will have room to grow if you ever decide to get into photography a bit more in depth.

Out of interest, what studio lights have you gone for? Lighting makes the biggest impact on photos, so you'll have to learn how to use these well :cool:

Dan
 
name='DeMoB' said:
Do you want a glorified point and shoot (i.e. full auto) or do you want to really get into it and tell the camera how you want to take the photos?

I've got a D40 at work (and personally own a Canon 40D) and the D40 feels like a toy in comparison :p

If you do want to do more than just full auto, the D40 is pretty fiddly to change most of the settings.

Have you considered the Canon 1000D?

It's a bit more than your budget (especially if you get it from Jessops) but a Canon EOS 1000D and Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 Macro Lens will be a great combo for you, and it will have room to grow if you ever decide to get into photography a bit more in depth.

Out of interest, what studio lights have you gone for? Lighting makes the biggest impact on photos, so you'll have to learn how to use these well :cool:

Dan
Click to expand...

Appreciate this advice, particularly the bit about Jessops. It's like when you first get in to PC's and folk under quote you but you write it off because you don't know any better...same game, same rules.
 
name='DeMoB' said:
Do you want a glorified point and shoot (i.e. full auto) or do you want to really get into it and tell the camera how you want to take the photos?

I've got a D40 at work (and personally own a Canon 40D) and the D40 feels like a toy in comparison :p

If you do want to do more than just full auto, the D40 is pretty fiddly to change most of the settings.

Have you considered the Canon 1000D?

It's a bit more than your budget (especially if you get it from Jessops) but a Canon EOS 1000D and Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 Macro Lens will be a great combo for you, and it will have room to grow if you ever decide to get into photography a bit more in depth.

Out of interest, what studio lights have you gone for? Lighting makes the biggest impact on photos, so you'll have to learn how to use these well :cool:

Dan
Click to expand...

Appreciate this advice, particularly the bit about Jessops. It's like when you first get in to PC's and folk under quote you but you write it off because you don't know any better...same game, same rules.
 
You're best best is to ring up Jessops and get them to charge up a few cameras that you like the sound of / they recommend. Take a morning off and test them out in store.

After shortlisting a few by how they shoot, feel, and work, go read some decent reviews and find any problems each camera has. Choose one and barter them done to a reasonable amount.
 
At the moment the Sony sounds like the best for me tbh, but I will shop about abit.

The only reason why I was going to go Jessops was the repair/replace insurance and where they are local.

The lights were off fleabay, tipod ect with reflective backs to the umbrellas, did have some 150w 6400k bulbs but they arrived smashed, tucked them up for a tidy refund tho ;)
 
Right Im going into town this avo all being well to have a play but I am really liking the a350 :HERE:

Its either that or the Canon 1000D
 
IMO the 1000D is the better of the two cameras for the quality of images, but the Sony has more features.

Of course another thing you need to think about is the cost and availability of any lenses you might want to use in the future.
 
Dont just have to get sony lenses, Tamron make them for the sony too.

The draw for me atmwith the Sony is the image stabalisation and the fast focus feature.

The canon is theres more of them about so more likely to get advice and cheaper lenses.
 
Do you really need fast focus and stabilisation? If you also use the camera for capturing moving objects / people they will certainly help. If you are mainly buying it for photographing stationary objects (cases) you will most probably be using a tripod anyway, so then I'd go for the canon.
 
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