New DSLR Ideas Please!

Hello All,

Just wondered if anyone could give me a bit of advice. I'd like to get a DSLR camera but I'm a bit clueless! I currently have a Kodak point-and-shoot, but unless the light is brilliant and the subject is stationary, pictures are far from great.

I'm really interested in doing some nature photography and taking action shots of dogs and birds working. I also wondered whether some of these cameras had a feature that allows you to take multiple pictures in quick succession, so you can take a picture of a horse, for example, and can pick the best shot of it in gait, like when all its legs are off the ground?

Anyway, my budget is around £350, but I've seen this and wondered what you thought: http://www.camerasstore.co.uk/cgi-bi...word=nikon+d40

Thanks for any help in advance!

Charlotte

I have a D40 and cant fault it for the price. I have had it a few months and am still learning(thought that might be my laziness )
I am really pleased with the quality of some of the photos of my dogs.

I thought that sounded pretty reasonable, and I really like your shots.. Pretty sure the majority of my snaps will be of the dogs! Do you know if it can take like a few snaps really quickly? I don't know what it's called, but thought it might be a useful feature if it exists!

I know what you mean and it can, I have used it a couple of times when the dogs are being loons.

The D40 is an excellent first DSLR Charlotte - I love mine!

You can get it for £272 with the kit lens from Dixons online, just use the code: AW5 to get £5 off.

The D40 (and I think all DSLRs) also have a burst mode so you can take pics quickly one after the other by keeping the shutter button pressed in, although it is very fast compared to a compact camera anyway so you may find you don't even use that mode

If you can spend a little more you can get the D60 +Kit lens for £389 minus £10 and then minus £60 cashback from Nikon! So total is £319 or, add a tenner to get the VR version of the kit lens.

You also get a free upgrade to a two year warranty! See http://www.nikon.co.uk/sites/cashbac...8_default.html for more details. The main thing you have to watch out for is that the retailer is selling official UK stock - I'd email them beforehand just to make sure.

The kit lens is an ok zoom, but if you want to take pics of things quite far by zooming in you will prob want to get another lens... but that can come later. The image quality of the kit lens is very very good!

I'm not sure if Canon are doing any cashbacks on their cameras at present but hopefully a Canon owner can add their input too.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Thanks so much for the advice both.. I may go for the D60 if it's only about £40 more, is it still the same discount code for the tenner off and are the cashbacks easy to get back? The warranty sounds brilliant too.. So do some retaillers sell stock that isn't compatible, or is the non-UK stock just poorer quality? I'll send them an email and hopefully get it this week! Thanky-Yoo!!

Some retailers import stock, as its cheaper and they make more money so definitely worth ringing up first, esp for the 2yr warranty and £60 cashback!

As the cashback is from Nikon direct you should be ok - so long as it's official UK stock

Just a little tip, a camera can take so many pictures in a burst but if the card you use (cf/sd) isn't that fast it will take a time for the pictures to download onto the memory card. Always check the card speed, popular is Sandisk Extreme 111 range which has a fast write capability. Using a slow card can cause the camera to pause during the burst to allow the card to catch up.

There are numerous companies on the internet who sell them and the storage can range from 1 gb to 16gb depending on your camera. Around 4gb would be the ideal. Sandick also supply a recovery cd .

Memory cards generally are not included with the camera, they are an extra purchase

Bazza

I would always by a camera from a good UK stockist with a camera made for the UK. You may find that imported cameras would not be serviced/repaired in this country.

Bazza

Have just looked at them, but the one on Play seems to say that the cashback is only £40, the £60 hasn't run out has it? Oh and also, on the cashback thing, it says that you need to include a photocopy of the till receipt - if you bought it online, can it just be a photocopy of the printed receipt page thing? Sorry for all the Qs!