Digital SLR

Party_Animal

Can anyone advise on a good deal for a digital SLR? I've looked at mags etc, but has anyone got one? Ideally I'd like to trade my existing SLR and lenses but not essential, I could always use E Bay.

gregh_2

I don't have a digital SLR - got a Fuji S5000. However when I got rid of my old Canon SLR for the Fuji, I asked a couple of shops about trading it in and they said that with the big move to digital, the old 35mm SLRs are dropping in price and therefore second hand stuff less attractive - result that they were not interested in trading in old SLRs.

I subsequently sold my SLR and lenses on E-bay. Worth bearing in mind your lenses (e.g. Canon AF) would be compatible with a Canon digital SLR. With the drop in price of digitial SLRs am now slightly wishing I'd hung onto the lenses.

https://www.7dayshop.com do very good prices on Canon and Nikon digitial SLRs.

for example; Canon EOS Rebel / 300D Digital Camera - Body Only - Black £429
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_4_409_40901&products_id=100021

I've used them a few times and have been very happy with the service.

Cheers

EvilMonkey

Gregh has a good point. SLR bodies come and go, but its worth sticking with your glass.

Most modern mounts (EOS, Nikon F, Sigma) all have something which fits them in the digital world. Even if its a much older mount (screw?) you'll probably be able to find an adapter to convert (although you'll almost certainly loose the advanced functions)

Another point to think about is the quality of the film SLR you have. Swiching from a £600 film SLR (pretty high end) to a £600 DSLR (rock bottom) will be a bit of a step change for you. Be sure to try some out and know what you're getting....

The 2 major players both have good entry levels, the Canon 350D and Nikon D50 and D70s. I'm not sure about second hand DSLR's, I'm not too sure that they're that much cheaper than todays new entry level ones (an old Canon D30 / D60 would have set you back £2K, not too sure if it will have dropped to a bargain level just yet?).

So P_A first 2 big questions... What have you got already and how much did you want to spend?

E.M.

GaryS

I have been using a Canon 10D for over 18mths and have been very impressed with it. 6.3 megapixels, good range of lenses.
The price has fallen a lot since I got mine, and newer models have appeared. The 350D looks good and so does the new 20D.

Small bit of advice, spend a little bit more and get one with an alloy body, not plastic. The EOS 300D is let down by its plastic body.

lipidicman

GaryS wrote:

The EOS 300D is let down by its plastic body.

...and its disabled feature set - save for the 20D

Mind you I dont know about the 350 yet, is it better than the 300D?

Party_Animal

Thanks for all your help. I have a Cannon EOS 500 SLR AF at the moment and I've got 28 - 80 and 75 - 300 lenses. I didn't realise my lenses would be ok with a digital camera. I've seen some good deals on Amazon, but not sure why they're going cheap. Thanks again.

ManAtHome

Have a check on some of the digicam sites - I think you need to multiply focal length of your existing glass by around 1.6 on some DSLRs due to the CCD being smaller than 35x24mm negative size. Prices are still dropping significantly on all types of digicams as new models seem to be released every other day - good time to start looking (for the old model) when the new one has been released.

A few links:
http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/

zacspeed_2

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/875196

Mine's on it's way

I'm no expert, but it will do everything I need it to do!
The review sites listed above are an invaluable source of information too.

EvilMonkey

It sounds like you're best off with the Canon range of DSLR's then. So your looking at the 300D (rrp around £800, but as its been replaced there's bargains to be had) and 350D (rrp around £700 with a lens, but again. search the forums for some steals!) at the entry end. The 20D in the middle (rrp £1K body only), and if you've a couple of grand to blow then the 1ds mkII (£2.5K body only).

So discounting the 1ds, you'r looking at entry level and not so entry level. Take a look at the forums on the site manathome recommended www.dpreview.com for endless threads over the positives and negatives of the 300\50D vs 20D.

MaH's also right about the multiplication factor on your lenses. Canon users need to multiply their lenses by 1.6 (nikon by 1.5) think of it as a free built in teleconvertor. It might be worth picking up the body with an extra wide lens to compensate for this effect?

Last and not least. Get yourself down to your local camera shop to try some of them out. I went into this with no glass, so was not bought into a system and so had to "try" out all the DSLR's to see which one felt good in my hands, had the features I wanted etc. They'll all take an ACE pic, it's just down to the little things IMHO.

E.M.

Party_Animal

Many thanks for some very useful stuff. No I don't have a couple of grand to spend!

Party_Animal

Just got the Canon 350 D and it seems fine. Will give it a good test on my hols. Now to try and sell the EOS 500.
Thanks again