a little info please

[matt-j]

hello all fisrt post so please be gentle. ive recently become very interested in photography i want to start it up as a hobbie, my first question is, is there any point in purchasing an slr as i no very little at the moment but may aswell invest??? also can someone list a few decent beginner slr's or compact if you think that they will be more suitable for around the 300 pound mark. i was looking at the pentax 100d is this any good???


thanks in advance matt

[Canis Vulpes]

Firstly welcome to our Forum, Matt.

I believe you are referring to film SLR's but there is much interest in Digital SLR (DSLR) cameras. Prices are always coming down and newer more cost effective models being produced. I am sure you could pick up a new or nearly new DSLR with £300. However the body is only half the battle .

What sort of photographic subject are you interested in?

[matt-j]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fox

What sort of photographic subject are you interested in?

thanks, to be honest i dont know at the moment, i suspose i will edge towards a subject as i start shooting and get a better understanding of photography and its equiptment

[Canis Vulpes]

Equipment and understanding varies greatly with the type/subject you are interested in.

I shoot at airshows in the summer and still life with flash come winter. I have long telephoto lenses and some standard zoom but little in the middle which satisfied my requirement. Others are interested in macro or portraits which necessitate a different set of equipment and understanding.

[matt-j]

ok thanks, i think i need to do a little reading before i go and purchase

If you look through the galleries here, you will get an idea of the sort of cameras that usually go with a certain type of picture. You can also select by camera on pbase. On here you can ask individual members advice if you feel you are getting warm.

If you do go DSLR, you need to study the lens scene seriously as it is your choice of lens that determines how much cash you spend and how much stuff you have to lug around with you. Being pretty mean/broke I think I spent about £670 including essential accessories and buying camera, kit lens and main lens second hand. Happens to be another Canon 350D for sale here at present, but with no lens and no cover so you would be straight into sensor cleaning. But I haven't regretted going up from a compact zoom for one second.

Don't get frightened by some of the lens prices you see as if you start with a modest camera, modest lenses will be adequate, in fact well up to 1st class A4 prints.

[Don Hoey]

Essentially digital cameras come in 3 flavours each with advantages and disadvantages.

Compact - Major advantage is that they are small and you could easily put one in your pocket. Disadvantge is that they have small sensors ( more prone to noise ) and not as versatile as Bridge cameras or DSLR.

Bridge cameras - All in one jobs that look similar to an SLR but the lens is not interchangeable but they do generally have a large zoom range. May well have a slower ' start up ' time than an SLR. Larger and more versatile than a compact but with smaller sensors than most DSLRs so more prone to noise at higher ISO's.

SLR. The most versatile as the lens choice is huge.

At this stage probably the best I can say is to spend time in the gallery looking at images that interest you and you may like to take yourself. With a lot of images there is some info of the camera used to give an idea of which of the 3 above catagories it fits. For the purposes of this ignore the camera brand, just the catagory.

Which ever of those catagories fits your bill then the absolute best bet is to visit a camera store and try them out in your hand. Some cameras have very small buttons that you may find hard to operate, or ergonomics that do not suit, and that may direct you towards a particular model. At this point you could canvass opinions on your options on the forum. A word to the wise is to check out the Megapixels thread that is currently running before you get caught up in the crazy world of high mp counts.

As to your question on the Pentax 100D then check this review http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk100d/

Don

[Don Hoey]

Kind of missed out one critical bit of info. To see which catagory a camera falls into go to this link http://www.dpreview.com/ and select Camera Database from the left hand menu.

Don

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by matt-j

also can someone list a few decent beginner slr's or compact if you think that they will be more suitable for around the 300 pound mark. i was looking at the pentax 100d is this any good???


thanks in advance matt

matt,

Firstly, a very warm welcome to WPF, glad you found us.

The Pentax K100D is an excellent starter camera and can be obtained for a steal of a price (£290) here:
http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewPro...3.5-5.6%20Zoom

As others have mentioned, a lot depends on what kind of use you are going to give the camera. The K100D is a DSLR that has interchangeable lenses. Which lenses you buy will vary depending on which kind of subjects you are going to photograph. The 18-55 lens supplied with the camera (often referred to as the "kit" lens) is a good starting point for general photography. As your experience grows, and you start to learn what kind of subject you are going to photograph, you will start to understand which other lenses will suit your style. But don't think this is all a bit daunting, the kit lens will get you off to a good start.

The down side of the Pentax range is that there aren't the same scope of lenses available for Pentax cameras as there are for the more popular brands of Canon or Nikon. However, there's still plenty of choice for all but the heaviest Lens Buying Addicts.

Most of the pictures in my gallery were taken with the Pentax *ist DS, the forerunner of the K100D. The K100D is superior to the *ist DS and should serve you well for a starter camera. At the price they go for, it should certainly be considered.

Regards,

Duncan

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

The down side of the Pentax range is that there aren't the same scope of lenses available for Pentax cameras as there are for the more popular brands of Canon or Nikon. However, there's still plenty of choice for all but the heaviest Lens Buying Addicts.

Duncan

Although the range of lenses for the Pentax may not be as wide as for Canon or Nikon this camera is compatable with Pentax KAF2, KAF, KA mount lenses. Although some functions may be limited with the KA range there are some good used bargains out there. For example not long ago I came across a pristine bellows set including fine focussing stage for £100. That may sound a lot, but the current Nikon equivalent of what I saw is in the region of £600 if you can find one.

Don