Equipment Canon EOS 1200D

Thanks for the help, I've bought the Jessops deal, amazon dropped the price down to £269 but I think I still got a good deal due to the extra stuff I'm getting.

A decent flash is the first thing I want to get.

I was hoping that this camera had the wireless flash option but it looks like I need top buy a rather expensive transmitter to gain that functionality, darn.

 

Flashes are annoyingly expensive. The 430EXII is the one I'd buy for a 'starter', but even for that it's incredibly expensive - but the cheaper one isn't worth the price of entry. Equally, the range topping 600EX is bonkers pricing.

Actually, saying that, I've just looked and flashgun prices have plummeted. Less than £200 for the 430EXII is amazing - I paid nearly £300 for mine, and the 600EX is £340 down from nearly £600 it cost when new (I paid £500 off the top of my head).

 

No point in buying a Canon flash as they're just grotesquely overpriced for the average consumer, especially if you want "decent". I used to use the 580EXII on all my camera bodies and it's a powerful flash but these cost me over £300 a pop.

I currently use a YongNuo 560 which I got on ebay for £30 or so and it's fantastic for the price, however it isn't very powerful. I'd recommend either the 565EX or the 568, and that's money well spent.

Also if you're going to buy a flash, also buy hybrid rechargable batteries - they don't lose charge over time and they have a much faster recycle time than standard NiMH rechargables. I've had my hybrids in the 560 since I got it and have not yet needed to recharge them, and that's close to 3 months.

 

A 16gb Sandisk extreme card is provided, any idea how many images that will store, I would like to get a spare card, does it need to be a certain minimum speed card or will any do?

Fast enough? in fact I think it's faster than what they are sending, will find out tomorrow

 

16GB in RAW (if you shoot in JPEG you deserve to be shot) will easily do a thousand. If you're wanting a spare, get a 40MB/s one minimum.

90MB/s is likely overkill - you'll be waiting on the camera's buffer/DIGIC processor a lot more.

Regarding flashes, the average consumer has no need to go buy a 600EX-RT (or the old top of the line 580EX). The 430EXII is sub £200 and is incredibly competent, with the bonus of being fully compatible with Canon's systems. Third party ones are alright if you absolutely cannot afford a proper Canon flash, but they're simply not as good.

Do agree on batteries though. AAs are fantastic in terms of cycle speed but cost a fortune to keep replacing. I use Enloops in my 600EX-RT and 430II.

 

Just looked at the card again and its 45 write and 90 read so that should be okay then.

 

It’s great to see Canon making an effort to cater for new photographers, and the 1200D is an exceptional attempt for two principal reasons. The first is the price. The second is the concurrent launch of the EOS Companion app, designed specifically to be a learning aid for 1200D owners.

Aimed at first-time DSLR users, the Canon 1200D has an 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, Digic 4 processor, 3-inch LCD screen, 3fps continuous shooting, 9-point auto focus module, 63-zone iFCL exposure metering, ISO 100-6400 sensitivity, on-screen Feature Guide, stainless steel chassis and all-aluminium exterior, 1080p HD video capture with full control over exposure, focusing and sound levels, and a new EOS Companion smartphone app.