Clearly he wasn't into photography then which begs the question why did he have it. TBH you have it now and I would just get on with using it. However you may have to consider what you will do with it when you come to selling or trading in if you are not sure of it's history. Bargains are tempting but the old adage is, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. Buyer beware.

Hopefully you got yourself a legit camera, but be wary that if you send it for repair, trade in etc. potentially you could find yourself asked questions about it. On the other hand, more likely you will never hear anything about it again.

Another spanner to chuck in is that it may well not be stolen, it could be house clearance or something similar. There are a lot of people who do that.

xx

If he didn't have a clue he maybe thought he was giving you a 18-55 kit lens? and got the 17-55 and the 18-55 mixed up?

House clearance it could well be or someone bought a job lot of stuff. It happens a lot and not always a baddy involved.

I feel this thread may of spoilt hayleys delight in her new camera.

Having owned a D200 just one thing to be careful of and that is dust getting onto the sensor. This camera doesn't have a dust removal feature so if you ever change lenses do it in a "clean" environment.

Bazza

Sadly that may be so Jols and hopefully Hayley can put it aside and get on with using it. However at such a price the consideration about it being knocked off would for most people be inevitable. I've never acquired anything at such an unrealistic price, but much better to have just posted I got a new camera and left it at that, but I am sure Hayley feels happy she just got an honest deal and wanted to tell us. As I said, just get on with enjoying it...

Agree with Bazza, my D200 did tend to get dust spots on the sensor but then again my longest experience of it was two years in a dusty, sandy environment in the Middle East. I also found the matrix metering a bit unpredictable at unpredictable times! Just occasionally the metering seemed to throw a wobbly but tbh to a lesser extent I would say that about my 300 and 700. Other than that it is an excellent camera, not as battery efficient as later Nikons but has all the professional features you could ever need.

Personally Hayley I think you have an excellent starter set up and would have been a professional outfit just 3 or 4 years ago. You may well find a battery grip is useful to counterbalance the heavy lens and holds a second battery. Nikon do one, but Meike make one at half the price. I would also cherish that lens. It needs a hood (and maybe a filter) but if you are staying crop sensor you cannot get better unless you get either a Nikon 28-70 or 24-70 f2.8. Personally I would suggest looking after that kit and value it at it's real value rather than what you paid. Other than that two options may be to sell on the body quickly and get a Nikon D300 for approx £250 more (it is a better camera and sensor most of the time), or sell the whole thing and buy into a good Sony system if that is your preference. Just ideas.

Its ok, well its belongs to me now and i think its in better hands then it would be any one elses. I wont be going back to sony, good cameras but i wanna start running with the big boys i will need either a nikon or a canon to competite especially with prices.
ye i did have a look at the sensor it is grubby but have no idea how to clean it lol
what is the matrix meter? is that your focal points?

No, it's one of the options for metering in the camera, spot, centre weighted or matrix. You can download the manual from the Nikon website which explains it.

If the sensor is badly in need of a clean, seems to be an Artic Butterfly or maybe pecpads and Eclipse fluid.

In regards to the sensor, I'd say take it to a local place to get it done rather than do it yourself. I know someone who scratched theirs with a grain of sand whilst cleaning, and that was on a D3!!

Calumet in Manchester do it, and a few other local places.