Haha. Lift must look pretty good right now!


Ive always been Nikon. I found cheap starter Canons way too toy-like (the 350D at the time) compared to the cheaper more substantial Nikons (D70).


In reality I dont think there is an difference at all.

I think Mongoose got it about right (bar the Pentax bit of course )

People generally buy into a system when they start off for some reason that's sound at the time, I got a Nikon camera because I'd used a Nikon D2H in my last job and they had a couple of lenses I could borrow.  Similarly I bet a lot of people buy into Canon or Nikon because of people they know already having gear they can borrow and learn from, a friend of mine did that, he bought a Nikon D3000 for £200 and has borrowed my 18-55mm kit lens and my 70-300mm.  Its enough to get him going until he can buy his own lenses.  The other major factor is probably cost, I haven't looked into it but I seem to remember people saying that Canon were slightly cheaper especially for lenses.

There's no denying that each system has its positives and negatives, Nikon have the better ISO range at the mo, Canon have higher MP and a larger lens range (especially a good range of F4 lenses) although Nikon are starting to wise up to it and hopefully we'll see a good range from them too.

But really there's not that much in it, I bet you can't look at a picture and say it was taken with a canon or a nikon (or a pentax for that matter) without looking at the EXIF.

Dragging this back from the depths (for giggles)

New glasses today back to Carl Zeiss lenses and everything looks much better now

LEICA M9 perhaps they have good lenses or perhaps a hasselblad digital back for yer old camera. ( I cannot afford any of them ).

Rather than start a new thread I'd like to ask the people in this place. Any opinions for a starting SLR camera? The missus has said for ages that she wants one and her birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks.

I want something that will last but I have no clue and no desire to learn about photography. So basically I need to be led to a product that'll be good quality and maybe have a decent option with lenses.

As for budget, I always like to go for the best bang for my buck, but I cant spend loads. I have no allegiance to any brands either.

What *is* your budget? Are you wanting to buy new or second hand?

What Addictweb said about what friends have, is probably the most important thing. It's soo useful if you just have a "brand x" body and one lens, but your friend has more. It's free lens-rental

Sony NEX 5 / 6 /7 are a range of smaller 3/4 size cameras with detachable lenses. Their performance is much the same as other lower end DSLRs but they're much more compact. A good friend of mine has sold his top end DSLR recently because it became so unused since he bought a NEX 7.

http://www.dabs.com/products/sony-a-nex-3nl---digital-camera---mirrorless-system---16-1-mpix---16-50mm-lens---black-8MQ6.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc