Buying a digital SLR

shopbot

I want to buy a Nikon SLR in the most money saving way possible. Ideally I would like a D50 however there doesn't seem to be much variation in price.

A serious amateur photographer suggested to me that it might be wise to try and buy an older model and take advantage of a price drop caused by newer models coming onto the market. I am not a pro so I don't need the really advanced features so maybe a previously top of the range older model might be worth looking at.

I have been searching the internet without much success. Please can anybody recommend a site which specialises in slightly older models?

Any suggestions on how to get a cheap D50 also welcome! (The best I can find is £380 inc lens).

Thanks
SB

mclaren_2

shopbot wrote:

Any suggestions on how to get a cheap D50 also welcome! (The best I can find is £380 inc lens).

thats a fairly good price. i got mine just over £450 in april. D50 is an ace camera!

is it kit lens or an extra? if its kit then its stillg ood price.

Would recommend you buy a 70-300 aswell as the D50, sigma apo or the 70-200 VR nikkor - both good lenses.

Remember - when you make a commitment to buy a camera, your buying in to that family - ie, you buy a nikon today, your next camera will have to be nikon aswell...... no point in paying £5,000 on lenses for your next cam to be a canon and you have to spend another £5,000 on more lenses.

Nikon D50 imho is a good camera, i use one myself, and if i was to put side by side the D50, D70, D100 and D200, putting price, lens (kit) and weight - D50 would win.

Paying £400 for a camera is cheap - but remember, this is the cheap part - lenses are next

oh yeh, and i would reccmend a SB-600 or SB-800 aswell - works on the hotshoe. filters and hoods are handy aswell as a good bag.

When you go to the shop, ask them to throw in a bag and hood aswell

shopbot

Thanks - it's a kit lens.

mclaren_2

shopbot wrote:

Thanks - it's a kit lens.

if its a kit lens then youve still got a good deal. if your buying from a shop, haggle in the price a bag and hood - if your buying online then just buy it and also get the 70-300 sigma apo, ive got one and its brilliant for a teleporto and its cheap.

Sigma 70-300 APO £139.99
http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?pName=sigma-70300mm-f456-apo-macro-super-ii-lens-nikon&cName=lenses-sigma

Nikkor 18-200 VR £599.99 (sell the kit lens if you get this)
http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?pName=nikon-18200mm-f3556-g-edif-afs-vr-dx

SB-800 £199.99
http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?pName=nikon-su800-su800-wireless-speedlight-commander&osCsid=715632bc7b12c91e7cf538e53ed3cb71

Remember - each lens is for a differnet application - ie if you are doing portraits then you need a 50mm lens - or wildlife you need a 300 - 800mm lens

CAT-THE-FIFTH

The Nikon 18-200mm is a very good lense considering the range it covers - however it is in very short supply.

o_t_e

Hi shopbot - it looks like the D70s is going to be replaced in a couple of weeks by a 10 megapixel D80 so there may be bargains to be had there. This is a good site to check for prices:

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/

shopbot

o_t_e wrote:

Hi shopbot - it looks like the D70s is going to be replaced in a couple of weeks by a 10 megapixel D80 so there may be bargains to be had there. This is a good site to check for prices:

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/

Thanks for the heads up - I hadn't heard that:beer:

o_t_e

It's fairly new internet buzz:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0607/06072001nikondslrteaser.asp

mclaren_2

o_t_e wrote:

Hi shopbot - it looks like the D70s is going to be replaced in a couple of weeks by a 10 megapixel D80 so there may be bargains to be had there. This is a good site to check for prices:

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/

might not be a D80 - nobody knows yet what it will be called. Some roumers are that it is D90, some D210 etc... we do not know what "family" this will be in, if it will be in the D50/70/70s or the D100, D200, D2x, D2xs.

I would put my money on it being a high number and in the D100, 200 D2x family. 10.2MP with a new lens - this camera when its launched will be £1k+ at minimum.

Also, i do know the D50 is in short supply as alot of shops in US have been asking nikon to hurry the supply up. There has been talk of Nikon saying that they have had to halt production of the D50.

Personally, even if the new camera comes out - it will not push the price of the soon to be discontinued D70 down and the D70s wont come down that much either and as the D50 only came out last year, that wont go down till next year anyway.

There is always a new model coming out - look at TV's, if we waited till the newest model, we would still be on black and white portables by now.

That website though, is expensive as the D2x they have for £2699, i can get the D2x for £1999

What im saying is, when it comes to the camera, there is no point in waiting. Glass is what is important with photography, not so much the body as you will replace your body at some point, but your glass will never be replaced.

o_t_e

Hi Shopbot - I think Mclaren is right - although the D70s has seen a significant price drop over the last few months (I guess they want to shift stock before the new camera comes out), in terms of your original question I don't think you're going to get an older model thats a better deal than the D50 - it's basically only predated by two cameras, the D100 and D70/70s which have simmilar functionality and will still be more expensive new. If you can stretch to it I'd go for the D50 kit and as Mclaren suggests go for a better lens when you want to / can afford to upgrade. Have a look at these reviews:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/1855.htm

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d50.htm

In terms of getting the price down below £380 have a look around for vouchers that will give you a disocunt eg at http://www.hotukdeals.com/vouchers then see if you can get the price down further by going through Quidco - this is the route I went to buy a D200 body - used Quidco to go to the Dixons site then used a voucher to knock £30 off the listed price.

(Just noticed on that camera pricebuster website site there is a code for Currys to bring the price down to 363.80)

sevlow

I purchased a Nikon D70 and then the 18-55(kit lens from D50) slso from ebay for £500 with extras like spare battery and card etc.

For me this provided an econimical way to get the best camera I coulds and start shooting straight away. In reality I think any mainstream Nikon/canon will be a great buy.

I opted for the 18-55 kit lense becuase its low cost, good quality and light making a great take anyware keep on camera lense. Once you start using the camera you can decide what - if anything you may need in the way of lenses.

The bottom line is that the camera is only a tool. The rest is down to you.