Looking to buy a DSLR camera.

[jambo]

Originally Posted by 600+

We are still your mates even though you can't ride

Thank you, that just goes to show how generous and lovely you all are.

Perhaps.

Jambo

I think I'm only going to know what I want to shoot when I get into it. But right now I love the idea of long exposure night time shots. Then hopefully buy a nice Macro lens and get into that side of things. But mainly it's to get me out and about while I save up to get the bike sorted.

[Littlepeahead]

Good advice from Jambo. I own an F2.8 70-200 IS L series and 2 x converter. Cost me a fortune. Weighs a ton. But for photographing cricket for work it's the minimum I can get away with. Other than a bit of wildlife and a couple of trackdays I hardly use it for personal stuff. I also have the 10 -22mm wide angle. Love this on holidays for fantastic landscapes. And very occasionally I pop it on for the prettiest cricket grounds. But I rely most on my 24 -70mm F2.8 L series which is an amazing lens. A flash is also as Jambo says a good investment.

LPH you have some amazing lenses there!!! What is the 24 - 70 mm L series like? It's next on my want list for my 5D Mk2. I'm actually shooting using a 50mm 1.8 standard lens at the moment as my old zoom I used with my 350D isn't doing the camera justice. Is yours the one with IS or without?

[Littlepeahead]

It's without. The Mark I version. Cost about £900 new but I picked mine up 4 months old for £600 from a student. Absolute bargain. There's one for sale on the GSer forum at the moment. He wants £850 plus postage so this may be the IS version.

I would love one (budget has been restrained by forthcoming bairn). It's on my wish list though. The 50mm 1,8 is very nice for the pennies I paid. But i'm missing the wide angle of my old zoom (24-200).

The EOS 1100D is certainly a good price new at the moment. Having said that, I saw one in my local second hand store the other week for just £130! (Not there when I looked today!) The first DSLR I bought was a Canon EOS 350D. I bought the body only for about £100 and grabbed my father-in-law's old film SLR for the lens. I later bought a telephoto lens second hand on the market for £35 so managed to kit myself out for less than £150. If cash is tight, an older model and a bit of patience may reward you!
I now have a Nikon D5100 but if I'm brutally honest, I still prefer Canon. The deal I got was too good to pass up though.

I'd buy all your kit second hand, you will get more for money.

Try here;

http://www.apertureuk.com/ or London Camera Exchange you know or something similar.

My mate is a DOP told me about this shop, its a good one otherwise he wouldn't buy kit from there.

Buy the best lens you can afford too, they hold the value more than camera bodies. I'm not a fan of kit lens they are too slow, dislike the feel of them but you can still get good results of them. It won't matter that much for you just work on the basic, you need to get those right before worrying about what camera you have.
I'd also buy descent memory cards, I have had £800 cards fail on me before I'd hate to think what the cheap stuff is like.

Enjoy

[NTECUK]

As your all quite clued up on this thread ,Id like to ask a question.
Its about bridge cameras.( easy shoot,Less complex types).

[Mark_h]

I had a previous generation bridge camera (Fuji S5000) and to be honest I thought it was the worse of both worlds. None of the quality or speed of a real SLR and bulkier than a point and shoot. I got some decent shots but I never use it now.

One thing it does do though is test whether or not you are prepared to lug something bigger around with you all the time. I suspect there will be quite a few bridge cameras available second hand as people either give up with bulky cameras or quickly upgrade to SLR.

If on the other-hand you are still looking for a bridge camera we may be able to do a deal on a Fuji S5000.