Equipment 1st DSLR Advice

Hey all,

I want to get a DSLR + lens. My budget is £400, this needs to get me:

- Camera Body
- Additional Lens (200mm, but preferable 300mm)
- Carry Case
- (Already have CF card)

My uses / requirements are:

- Motorsports photography. BTCC to be exact. I go to the touring cars approx 5 times a year, mostly at Brands, but also Thruxton and Silverstone. (will also be going to DTM & BSB this year, both at Brands)
- Landmarks / scenary - The occasional city break to barcalona, madrid and rome.

That’s about it!! - Im after an all rounder, that will take good shots of the cars, and that I can use on short breaks / holidays to take nice pictures.

Could really do with some advice

 

start here.

 

TBH, since your budget isn't huge and you need to get quite a lot of kit with it, I would recommend buying used to start with. You should be able to get a decent used body with a kit lens for general stuff and travel for around £250-£300, then spend the rest on a telephoto lens (probably from a third party manufacturer like Tamron or Sigma). If you don't want to buy from ebay I would recommend looking somewhere like the Talk Photography forums or AVForums as there's always a load of people looking to sell their kit there.

Oh, and FYI you'll most likely need an SD card rather than a CF card, unless you buy a camera more than a few years old (which I wouldn't recommend doing).

 

To add to what smc has said, your budget is enough for a second hand enthusiast body, or a new entry level body with an 18-55 kit lens at most.

 

I got a canon 1000d on ebay one monday morning for £250 with an 18-55 lens(what kind of idiot starts an aution thats ending at 11AM monday ill never know others at the weekend went for £290+)

8gig card £11

currently waiting for my next cc bill to buy a canon 55-250 lense from amazon £150-160 or a tamron lense is closer to £100

 

budget is your main issue there...

7D is a very good camera for action... but that alone is over your budget...
and for your activities, even a 200 prime or 300mm f/4 IS will be over budget there...

i'd strongly suggest you get a good starter and build up to it... there are lens rental places... how often will you shoot motorsports?

btw, CF cards are used in most pro and semi pro bodies, not SD cards... so i really don't think it's an indication of age of camera...

i also recall reading that data transfer is quicker on CF vs SD...

T1i, T2i, 50D or 60D used...
maybe even XSi... but the older models does not handle high ISO shots as well as the new ones... and you may not get the shutter speed you need...

as for lens... 70-200 f/4 L IS is under a grand... but very sharp... i don't think you'll need f/2.8 if you plan to use zoom outdoors...

primes may be cheaper...

join the Photography on the Net forums...
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

as for lenses... research and buy the lens that'll do it's job nicely... don't buy without doing fair amount of research...

 

No, but it is in consumer bodies. Hardly anyone gets a pro/semi pro body for their first DSLR, and the OP's certainly not going to with his budget.

I think you must be way overestimating the exchange rate - he's not going to get a 50D/60D used for £400 body only, let alone with all the extra stuff he needs to start off with. Even a 550D would be too expensive. I'd say a used 450D/500D or D5000 is the most you'd be looking at from the big two with a budget of £400, and that would leave around £100-150 or so for a tele.

 

What would you guys say to a 2nd hand Cannon 350 D? Would that be a decent starter camera for motorsport?

Will be shooting motorsport minimum of 5 times a year, maximum of 9

 

You would be better off with a 2nd hand 40D. I saw some in the LCE for 299, in fact they had three in one shop (Chester branch). You could start with the 50mm F 1.8 lens, it is cheap, you could get both well under your budget.

Then budget for some kind of 70-300mm or similar. The advantage of the 40D over the XXXD range (of the same era) is more robust, faster sequential shooting and a few other bits and bobs. They were sem pro bodies whereas the XXXD stuff is just consumer level, the burst rate is pitiful in comparison to the XXD models.

 

Cool thanks for that info carpet.

I have also found a friend selling an Olympus E-450 compact DSLR camera with 14-42mm Lens kit. Its circa £200

Would that be much kop?

 

I wouldn't get that, unless you just want a small dslr. That also doesn't have in body stabilisation, although the Canon's don't you can get IS lenses, whereas for Olympus (4/3 fitment) you can't.
Also the lenses are limited in number compared to other systems and they aren't cheap. You could use adapters and manual legacy lenses (manual focus) but they would be useless for motorsport.

For the money, used, I think a 40D is the best for you. If you specifically want new, a D3100 is good, very good high ISO performance if you want to shoot in low light, you might be able to get it and the Tamron DI 70-300mm for 500 notes, but you would have to spend more if you wanted the Nikon or Tamron 70-300's with image stabilisation (Nikon call it VR, but it is similar).

If you wanted video though a D3100 does HD vid, but it isn't as good as the Canon 550D and unlike that doesn't have an external mic socket amongst other things.

 

Get something with decent af performance tbh. Even if you get a used D200, for shooting in good light it all depends what you need, better af for use in good light with fast glass eventually, or average af, and high iso.

 

Just be forewarned - whichever branding you go with, you'll likely stick to on future cameras. Although its not the case with everyone of course. Ive mainly stuck to a brand because its expensive to change over - and there is a new learning curve that you have with a new brand (let alone the nomenclature terminology)

Im a Canon user and highly recommend them - I would look at a Rebel XT (350D), its a decent camera and you can get one for pretty cheap now. You cant really touch a 300mm cheapy for less than $170ish though.

Shop around though, you can find deals if you dont mind waiting.

 

and also be warned... you see outlawaol's sig? you gonna be totin one of thems gear list sigs soon as it is very addicting...

7D
60D
35L
24-105L
70-200 2.8L Mk2
100-400L
400L
12-24 uwa
gizto tripod, monopod
feisol tripod
wimberly
RSS plates
RSS L Brackets

and on and on and on...

 

http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/ I recommend this shop for damn good service. They have some good second hand stuff in.

 

A freind of mine got a 450d off ebay for £247 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280635255905)

I thought it would have been extremely well used at that price, but in fact it was like new, and no more the 3000 shutter activations.

So why not hold out until something pops up

 

I bought a Canon FD 28mm F/2.8 off them today at their Chester branch. They still have two 40D's left for 299. Both look clean, not sure of shutter count.

Unless I wanted video capability from a newer unit, i'd go with this and I think the OP should. To chose a 350D or 450D over a 40D is not a good idea.

 

That still only leaves £100 for a telephoto lens, which from my ebay wanderings doesn't seem enough.

I'd look out on ebay for people selling second hand cameras with a zoom lens - its normally a decent bit cheaper than getting the camera and the lens separately. Heres and example, and the 500D is a nice camera, although I'm not sure how it compares to the 40D.

Edit: bidding just ended on that ebay auction... looks like quite a good deal.

 

I'd take the 500D over the 40D.

 

500D, 550D they are likely to be more money than the already mentioned 350 and 450 though.

I'd take the 5D mk2 over the 500D.