Dslr 101

[Dr. Nick Riviera]

Right, I'm fed up with reading about twenty posts a week asking about what DSLR to buy, so hopefully I'll be able to cover enough of your questions in here.

Can i just clarify; This is not a discussion thread, i have tried to be as impartial as i can in this, i hope it's informative.

Want to ask something you can't find in here or on google, check out this thread

Part 1: Genesis.

When you first look into getting a DSLR the first two brands you are likely to encounter will either be Canon or Nikon, you may also find others such as Sony, Pentax, Olympus etc...

the important thing to take into account is that whilst the other brands may appear initially cheaper, you may be restricted in the area of lens compatibility, so you need to take into account to what extent you will be using a DSLR, if it will just be for 'snaps' and stuff, you can just buy a 'cheaper one' (the other manufacturers make some very decent low end kit) and be done with it, OR as the case is now, you will get better pictures straight away with a higher end Point and shoot camera, Remember, DSLR cameras have a steep learning curve, not to dissuade anybody from buying one, but please if you do buy one, read the f**king manual! (no names mentioned Dave)

Part 2: GO AND TRY THEM IN A SHOP!

Right, assuming I've lost the folks who don't need a DSLR, or only want one for general photo duties, this is where we begin;

step one, Budget, i'm assuming here we're looking at sub £500, and again assuming you want to make this easy for yourself, I'll stick with nikon/canon, as to be honest, you'll end up back at one of the two unless you find your own niche filled by another manufacturer.

step two, as the title says, go to a bloody camera shop and try them all out, you'll probably be looking at the;

Canon 350D (if it's still available in shops, better off online)

Canon 400D (this will be everywhere)

Nikon D40 (unsure of availability, maybe online)

Nikon D40X (in the shops)

these are all discontinued, don't hold your breath for a new one. however, ebay/old stock may yield some joy.

The currently available base-line models are

Canon 450D

Nikon D60

these are the lower end models that they produce, there are others that would be considered 'better', but if you're looking at buying something higher up the spectrum and have the money to do so, you probably won't be reading this anyway .

at entry level, it really doesn't matter which one you choose, the biggest factor in getting good pictures is you, these cameras will probably all put out a very similar image. don't believe the shit on forums, don't believe the number wars, it should be based on entirely your own personal choice on how it feels and how easy you find it to use (and price, you cheapskates).

oh and megapixels don't mean shit (unless you intend to make large prints).

Part 3: But what about eBay?

it may be cheaper on eBay, but with anything on there, it's a punt. some people have good experiences, others end up with nothing, or a fake camera that breaks after a few months, that's up to you, but don't be afraid to buy online.

Part 4: Glass

lenses (plural, take note) should hopefully not need to be looked at right away so unless you know you will need something more than the kit lens straight away buying hundreds of lenses won't help you much.

assuming you buy a lens kit (camera body + kit lens) you will have a fairly limited focal range (zoom) as far as i know, both Nikon and Canon kit lenses are 18-55mm (approx 3x, but you learn this differently now) which gives you a decent wide end and a small mid range, basically the higher the number the larger the magnification, so just a word of warning before you go and pick up a camera with a 200mm lens.

but assuming that this is your first, I'll leave that for now, because your main concern should be learning to use it properly and taking lots of pictures.

Part 5: Shop around

just because it's on offer at one place doesn't mean you won't find it cheaper elsewhere, shop about just to make sure.

I believe that jessops price match from magazines, I think Tomm managed to get a price match off the net with them as well, it's worth a shot.

i think that's about it as far as a buyers guide goes.

if you really are too lazy/remedial to use google, try these links

warehouse express

Jessops

7dayshop

Hope this was useful.

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Second edition.

This is a bit I'm tacking on to cover all of the other stuff, seeing as everyone who needed this thread when it was made has moved on and wants fisheyes and radio triggers.

Flashes/flashguns/off camera flash

Yes, we've all read strobist, yes it's really cool, yes you can do it with your camera.

part of me is tempted to just tell you to go and read that, but, indolence is prevalent and I've fallen into the delusion that i never asked all of these questions and annoyed people.

Everyone has to start somewhere, but the search button is there for a reason.

I digress...

I'll do flashguns first.

what do you want it for?

if it's going on the camera's hotshoe and you want TTL metering, you'll want a dedicated flash, Canon EX / Nikon SB models will be standard fare, Sigma make dedicated flashes for a bit less. these are expensive, you're looking at £100 minimum for a new one if not more

if it's going to be strictly off camera flash, you can look at cheaper manual flashes such as sunpak or vivitar, these start at a much lower price, expect to find a decent manual flash from about £50

you can use some manual flashes on the hotshoe but if you're at the skill level to do that, you don't need to be reading this. also non dedicated flashes with funny trigger voltages. will kill your camera. so double check.

yes jessops make a £9 flashgun. yes it's shit. that's why it's £9

spend some money and get something to meet your needs, otherwise you'll be down £9 when you buy a proper flash.

Wireless/Off camera flash

Back to strobist again, we've all seen it and you want to take pretty pictures with the flash you've bought

Some combinations of nikon cameras/flashes will be able to interact via infra red in commander mode, however light don't bend round walls, you might find you want/need another option of firing your flash remotely.

you will either need a hotshoe cord which is an extension lead for your hotshoe, relatively expensive and only really any good if you can poke up with always holding your flash, or alternatively. you could use radio triggers now, these range in price from £25 from ebay, to hundreds of pounds each for pocket wizards. you'll probably want to start with ebay.

Personally I reccomend the gadget infinity shop which is the ebay store, just not on ebay and in all fairness, they all come from the same factory, so I'd rather deal with these guys than mr UK CAMRA SHOP RADIO WIRELSD FLSH guy selling them for a quid less. there are other variants such as radio poppers or skyports, but this is the easiest and cheapest starting point.

to be continued...

Edited May 16, 2008 by Dr. Nick Riviera

[Fishy]

Thats pretty useful man, could have done with this when I bought mine, but don't really matter as I got the d40x.

[Dai the Socket]

I believe that jessops price match from magazines, I think Tomm managed to get a price match off the net with them as well, it's worth a shot.

Just to clarify:

Some stores will match if they can still make a profit on the item, however they usually saw it's got to be a Mag or a UK online shop. I think that a lot of stores just don't do it because it's not company policy, however others will and put it through as 'Managers Discount'.

Also some more useful links:

Nikon D40x Review by ePhotozine

General dSLR Reviews

[Tomm]

It was a UK shop, yes. And it has to be in stock, and add on delivery costs. I'm not sure they're even doing the offer any more - they were advertising it loads when I got mine, but I haven't seen anything suggesting that they do it 'officially'.

Good idea, there are too many 'What SLR' topics about. Although what about the Nikon D50?

[Dai the Socket]

Good idea, there are too many 'What SLR' topics about. Although what about the Nikon D50?

I agree about the good idea for the topic and don't want to clog the thread up much but

The D50 has stopped being produced so you won't be able to get hold of many soon, although they are good starter cameras at good prices nowadays. They pwn the 350d.

I agree with Haz about memory cards becoming more of a problem when you're shooting at 10mpx. I'd suggest buying from Play.com and looking at the Sandisk 2gb Extreme 3 SD of Compact Flash cards. They're really cheap from there, free postage and buying more is better especially at that price.

I've got 4gb of space now, hopefully should do me for a while shooting RAW at 10mpx!

Edited September 4, 2007 by Nick Carter

[Tomm]

You might want to mention Nikon/Canon fanboys in your post, Charlie.

[Haz]

Only things I can add are.

DSLRs have no internal Memory, and at the current ~10 Megapixels, the images take up quite a lot of space.

I'd suggest 1Gb would be a miniumum, you'll need the space, and flash memory prices are dropping fast.

Canon and Nikon use different formats of memory, either Secure Digital or Compact Flash, so when buying, make sure you get the right one. The number of people I know who all asumed thier SD would work with thier 350Ds...

Also, second hand ***.

You'll either get a better camera for the price, or the same camera for less. Cameras such as Canon 350Ds and Nikon D50s are pretty easy to come by. Just be on the look out sour deals, especially on eBay.

[Dr. Nick Riviera]

just bumping this due to recent photo thread enquiry.

models may have changed, i'll update it tomorrow.

[Dr. Nick Riviera]

another bump, RE; photo thread.

post a list of annoying photography questions and they shall be answered

[Davetrials]

is this the offcial dslr question thread then>

[Dr. Nick Riviera]

more for the annoying shit that gets asked repetitively in the waffle thread.