Best Budget DSLR For College for Daughter, please?

Lizbetty

Hello everyone!

My daughter is doing photography A level and needs a DSLR camera for the course in September. Birthday is June so we're buying it for that.

We're on a tight budget (!) but I want to make sure she has a decent one with Wifi/Bluetooth connectivity. I've googled but seem to be going round in circles Bit scared of getting it wrong with it being so much money.

Any recommendations would be really welcomed, any online retailer suggestions (Currys/Amazon aside) would be great too as I noticed such as Wex but not sure about service etc. 

Many thanks!

Lucy

Sandtree

Are you sure she needs a DSLR? 

Certainly if I were buying now I would be looking at mirrorless cameras, almost all canon releases in the last couple of years recently have been for their new R series mirrorless range rather than the DSLR but unfortunately there is no budget models in that range. There is the slightly older M series of mirrorless that sit below. 

Why does she need wifi/bluetooth? 

Farway

Sandtree said:

Are you sure she needs a DSLR? 

Certainly if I were buying now I would be looking at mirrorless cameras, almost all canon releases in the last couple of years recently have been for their new R series mirrorless range rather than the DSLR but unfortunately there is no budget models in that range. There is the slightly older M series of mirrorless that sit below. 

Why does she need wifi/bluetooth? 

I was about to say the same, Must it be DSLR when mirror less is the way ahead for manufacturers now?

There is also the plus on mirror-less she will not be restricted in lens choices, with a suitable [and cheapish] adaptor she can use any lens anytime

I'd really check before you rush in, and partly due to the mirror-less growth there are lots of  very good second hand DSLRs about at hundreds less than they were bought for only a few years back

daveyjp

Used DSLR body.  I've a Nikon d200 which was used when I bought it over ten years ago.  They are now from £44!

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equipment/used-photo-and-video/used-digital-slr-cameras/

wongataa

Lucyeff said:

My daughter is doing photography A level and needs a DSLR camera for the course in September. Birthday is June so we're buying it for that.

We're on a tight budget (!) but I want to make sure she has a decent one with Wifi/Bluetooth connectivity. I've googled but seem to be going round in circles Bit scared of getting it wrong with it being so much money.

Any recommendations would be really welcomed, any online retailer suggestions (Currys/Amazon aside) would be great too as I noticed such as Wex but not sure about service etc. 

Wex is a reputable photographic dealer, much better than Currys or Amazon.

You can't really buy a bad camera.  What is a good idea is trying out several cameras to see which your daughter prefers holding.  They all different sizes and shapes and people tend to prefer certain ones over others based on how they feel in their hands.

Why would you need Wi-Fi or Bluetooth functionality?  Using a card reader or just plugging the camera into a computer is a much more reliable and faster way of copying the pictures from the camera to a computer.

Don't rule out second hand equipment if your budget is tight.

photodgm

I would suggest your daughter contacts the college and finds out if there are any requirements for the camera she needs as well as any preferred features. This site is good for price comparison https://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk
Used cameras as stated above can be good options.
If you have a shop nearby taking the opportunity to handle any camera you are thinking of buying is helpful.
Remember with any inter changeable lens camera, DSLR or mirrorless the cost of lenses can exceed the cost of the camera. 

Sandtree

photodgm said:

Remember with any inter changeable lens camera, DSLR or mirrorless the cost of lenses can exceed the cost of the camera. 

And there is reasonable argument that they should be where you invest. Lens technology moves much slower than camera bodies and so as long as you stay within a system lenses can continue to be used with each body upgrade. Half my lenses have been used with my Canon 350D, 40D and 5D (and an EOS 3 for film photos - actually the most recent camera I've bought)

MattMattMattUK

Use Wex, under no circumstances use Currys and even Amazon will probably not be a better offer. Have a look on Wex at their used section, you will save a considerable amount and they offer a warranty.

Also in concurrence with the above, lenses are the biggest expense, I have a friend who is a professional photographer. She probably has £20-30k worth of camera bodies, but could easily have £100k of lenses. As an amateur your daughter will only need one camera body, but would easily need 2-5 lenses just to get her started. I also agree on the mirrorless vs DLSR options, a lot of pros are now moving over to mirrorless, although there are more used DLSRs around so they can be picked up much cheaper. 

I would also add that it is worth asking for the course guidance and speaking to the tutor of her course, an A-Level course will not be expecting people to have a pro body or multiple L lenses, it might even specify what lenses are going to be used on the course. 

Lizbetty

Thanks so much for all the replies, apologies for the delay in responding.

The college have specified DSLR as a minimum and have said £300/£400 is around the price range. 
I'm not sure why I feel wifi/Bluetooth would be better, possibly because I've just had to go through a huge box of cables! We don't have a decent laptop/pc either, just a chromebook so I'm hoping that won't hamper her. 

Thanks again I'll have another read through, I'm quite happy to buy second hand and it's great to hear that Wex are a good option.

Lucy

Hopefully she'll get a job over summer if she needs any lenses! This could be a dear do by the sound of it. 

Farway

The wi fi / blue tooth could be handy for say wildlife & remotely trigger the shutter.

However a Chrome book may not suit because it's often a propriety camera manufacturers  app to be installed, but Android or Iphone should do it

wongataa

Your daughter will need a standard laptop.  Editing photos on a Chromebook will not be easy.