Camera help please!

My insurance claim for my stolen Pentax K100D super came through, so I have £370 (willing to spend up to about £420) with which to buy a new DSLR. I considered buying an aerospoke instead, but unfortunately they cannot take photographs.

The insurance company recommended the Olympus E-510, which I can buy here for within my budget.

On that site they also have older models (the 410 and 420) with various lens kits, so I could get more for my money (in terms of lenses). Just curious - does anyone know if the older olympus models are actually much better/worse than the E-510?

Also, The Times reccommend the Nikon D60, which I have found for a similar sort of price (about 360ish) using froogle and the internets.

I know little to nothing about photography in terms of cameras, so can some of youse clever people who do it for a living please advise? Remember, I have about £420 to spend, not £420,000,000,000.

Any help much appreciated; any jokes laughed at.

Canon EOS 450D

Scratch that. Way too expensive for your budget. Get the one below and buy a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8.

Canon EOS 400D

Canon EOS-10D

Never seen a lens cap like that..

Canon EOS-10D

They look like the staff in Abercrombie & Fitch

Is the canon really good? I've used them before... never really considered getting one this time. I've just found the D-60 on ebuy for £410 including shipping, with a 4gb card, stupid little tripod, cleaning kit, usb thing and camera case.

Link
Good deal?

no...they are the workers at the milkway magic stars factory.that photo is from a recent demonstration for the abolishment of tabards.

420 might be able to get u a nikon d80 with cheapo 18-55 lens

Gotta love completely impenetrable in-jokes :)

brian: is the D80 worth the lack of decent lens etc? The VR lens with the D60 is sposed to be really good.

have you tried this site?....its not gay porn

brian: is the D80 worth the lack of decent lens etc? The VR lens with the D60 is sposed to be really good.

upgrade later
i'd rather go for a d40 / d40x than a d60 (im using d40x now)

upgrade later
i'd rather go for a d40 / d40x than a d60 (im using d40x now)

How come?

How come?

there are only 2 things which a d60 is better than d40x
vr kit lens, but for 18-55, u dont really need a vr if u have stable hands
the auto dust cleaning thing, useless, even the top model don't have it

Depends on your usage
All you money goes on the lenses! i'd put together a list of lenses you are after, price them up. check the fits then go for the camera.

Check out dpreview -
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_eos400d%2Cnikon_d40x%2Cnikon_d60%2Ccanon_eos450d&show=all

You'll see there is sweet FA in it
Cannon have better of the camera flash suppport and remote triggers. Nikon is cheaper.

there are only 2 things which a d60 is better than d40x
vr kit lens, but for 18-55, u dont really need a vr if u have stable hands
the auto dust cleaning thing, useless, even the top model don't have it

+1

to be honest, I don't really think i'm going to need a range beyond the 14-42 (olympus) or 18-55, as what I will primarily be photographing is my own art work/friends, and my friends generally like me, so I don't have to photograph them from a distance.

At least at the moment.

The things that annoyed me with the K100D were the white balance, which tended to be hard to get right, and the fact that you were severely limited to the lenses you could use.

I'm guessing that it's easier to get lenses/3rd party lenses for Nikon and canon?

Also I'm lazy and I want my camera to autofocus for me. I noticed the D60 (and I'm guessing the D40) don;t have autofocus built into the body and rely on the lens to do it. I'm also guessing the VR lens has an autofocus motor built in?

the in camera image stabilisation in the olympus slr's is very good dunno if the 510 has it though?
their lenses are good too.

Canon G9 alex, G9!

to be honest, I don't really think i'm going to need a range beyond the 14-42 (olympus) or 18-55, as what I will primarily be photographing is my own art work/friends, and my friends generally like me, so I don't have to photograph them from a distance.

At least at the moment.

The things that annoyed me with the K100D were the white balance, which tended to be hard to get right, and the fact that you were severely limited to the lenses you could use.

I'm guessing that it's easier to get lenses/3rd party lenses for Nikon and canon?

Also I'm lazy and I want my camera to autofocus for me. I noticed the D60 (and I'm guessing the D40) don;t have autofocus built into the body and rely on the lens to do it. I'm also guessing the VR lens has an autofocus motor built in?

The Sony A10 has VR built into the body, so you don't have to buy (expensive) VR lenses.

http://www.cameralabs.com/features/10Megapixel_DSLR_test/page4.shtml

"*I'm guessing that it's easier to get lenses/3rd party lenses for Nikon and canon?
*:

Yes, you have decades of lenses to choose from.

MrSmith, I think the 510 has it, according to dpreview anyway. I can get that for £405 with a 2gb card, case, stupid pointless tripod, lens cleaning kit. And zuiko 14-42 lens. Dunno how much shipping is though.

Alternatively I could get the Nikon D60 from ebuy above, for probably about the same incl shipping... I can't fid the D40x for any less than the D60 deal above (I can find the D40 for considerably less money).

Is it true that 6MP is enough for a decent A3 print? Or do I want 10MP? The photos from my K100D looked ok in A3... I think that was about 6MP.

Canon 400D or G9. Done.

I do a bit of live band photography, and the canon's i have used have been great, currently EOS20D, close up stuff kind of negate's need for any image stabilizing, unless you'r quite shaky. Good thing about going canon as loads of cheap second hand lenses. I use a 50mm lense with massive aperture/f stop for doing dark stuff without a flash (most gigs wont allow flash) and get really sexy arty stuff without trying. You should try lookin at some recondition sites, you can pick up older pro-level stuff at good prices. The eos 300 is really good if your blowing things up really big cos it has a full size sensor, so you get less distortion on the edges of pics, even in comparison to cameras with larger pixel rating. Only reason i go for Canon is cheaper second hand stuff is available cos of the massive amount of it.

Canon and Nikon are both top notch brand cameras, you pay for what you get so do research via the internet into what model your budget allows for and then go into a shop and have a hold of them, find what you like the most such aspects as weight, close reach buttons such as aperture, shutter, iso etc, the main ones you may need to change quick and generally what feels comfortable in your hand.

dont listen to people in Jessops and the like, their knowledge is probably less than the average man.

its honestly the best thing to do try-buy unless you just want a point and shoot.