looking for a slr camera £250 - £400 pounds suggestions?

[ccsjay]

Hi I need to buy 1 really great slr camera for up to £400. It needs to be easy to use preferable with lense. Thanks.....

[westleya]

Look at the lower end Sony Alpha's or Olympus E420/E450. Good deals on these very good SLR's.

Queue Canikon fans...

[K.C.Leblanc]

Is this new or second hand?

£350 is about ground zero for a dSLR. A 'really great dSLR' will be easily twice your budget. That said even the entry level dSLRs are well regaurded.

Bare in mind you should be looking at a companies entire range and also the price of lenses, if you upgrade you'll either need to replace all your lenses or stick with the same make. Hense why everyone will say stick to either Canon or Nikon.

[ccsjay]

new guys school purchase so it has to be new. I mean we could stretch a little higher so let me know if there is anything slightly above budget

[westleya]

Bare in mind you should be looking at a companies entire range and also the price of lenses, if you upgrade you'll either need to replace all your lenses or stick with the same make. Hense why everyone will say stick to either Canon or Nikon.

Most camera makers have a good upgrade path as far as I can see, and lens prices are comparable. Can't see that going the Canon / Nikon route makes any difference, really.

The best thing as always is to go to Jessops, Wilkinsons, even Currys and handle the cameras. Pick the one you feel the most comfortable with. There really is no such thing as a bad DSLR these days - they'll ALL produce very good results.

[broc]

Entry level DSLRs are still streets ahead of most compact digital cameras..... so any brand would do... as a one-off purchase.

If it is to form the base of a 'system' then brand choice kicks in, with Canon and Nikon as the dominant suppliers of SLR systems in the marketplace. Both Canon & Nikon have a long pedigree & have a far greater choice of lenses and accessories, even with the latest Nikon DSLR I can still use a Nikon AF lens I bought in 1999 for a 35mm film SLR......

Your budget will buy an entry level DSLR camera and 'kit' lens. If you can/wish to stretch the budget, my advice would be skip the 'kit' lens & choose a better lens rather than buy a better DSLR body. Kit lenses are 'cheap & cheerful' but tend to be weak performers at extremes of focal length and aperture. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. That is why Nikon and Canon produce kit lenses for £80 and pro lenses for £2000 that have similar focal lengths......

[westleya]

If it is to form the base of a 'system' then brand choice kicks in, with Canon and Nikon as the dominant suppliers of SLR systems in the marketplace. Both Canon & Nikon have a long pedigree & have a far greater choice of lenses and accessories, even with the latest Nikon DSLR I can still use a Nikon AF lens I bought in 1999 for a 35mm film SLR......

But then you'll find that (unless you're a pro and need that kind of kit) all SLR's will have a full range of lenses / flashes, etc, etc available from first and third party makers.

[SteveBentley]

I'm very happy with my Sony A200, although depending on who is using it in a school it's maybe a little plasticy and less well built than some of the more expensive cameras.

As to the upgrade path on lenses, the Sonys are compatible with old Minolta AF lenses and I can't see them changing that in the future.

Flickr's camera finder can be a useful tool, so you can get hold of real world photos taken with the camera you're proposing to buy and see what it can do

Flickr: Camera Finder

[SteveBentley]

Just a thought - what type of photography are you going to be doing with the SLR? And who will be doing it?

If it's just point and shoot stuff by somebody who doesn't know how to get the best out of the camera and use it creatively, you might find a mid to top end bridge camera is a better purchase.

[theeldergeek]

Flickr's camera finder can be a useful tool, so you can get hold of real world photos taken with the camera you're proposing to buy and see what it can do

Flickr: Camera Finder

Useful tool, thanks!

[neon]

Nikon d40 if I bought mine from jessops, excellent camera and so easy to get your head round, entry level dslr for the begginner and more able photographer!

[westleya]

Just a thought - what type of photography are you going to be doing with the SLR? And who will be doing it?

If it's just point and shoot stuff by somebody who doesn't know how to get the best out of the camera and use it creatively, you might find a mid to top end bridge camera is a better purchase.

That's a good point. No removable lens, no dust, etc, etc.

Fujifim Finepix S200EXR ?

[ccsjay]

Thanks for all your help guys. I was more looking, to see if anyone had a suggestion of a particular camera that they are currently using in a school. If its a little beyond my budget thats fine. I want to hear how great your camera is???

thanks for all your help

[mattx]

You can pay what you like for the DSLR, it's the lens at the end of the day......

[westleya]

Thanks for all your help guys. I was more looking, to see if anyone had a suggestion of a particular camera that they are currently using in a school. If its a little beyond my budget thats fine. I want to hear how great your camera is???

thanks for all your help

Despite my habit of baiting Canon/Nikon users, I bought a Nikon D40 and a Fujifilm S5Pro (Nikon D200 based) for our school. Kids (particularly art students) love the D40 (the upgraded equiv these days is the Nikon D3000).