Which Digital Camera

[n5gooner]

OK, so went to the local shop last night and this is what he has: -

Nikon D80 with Nikon 18-70 lense (glass optics) £799
Nikon 70-300 Lense with image stabilizer £499
Filters for the above - throw in free
2 x 2Gb cards (FujiFilm) £49.00 each
Nikon Battery - Can do a good price - not sure what it is !!

He said not to go for the sigma Lense, what do people think, as the Sigma is £149 without the image stabilizer.......

thanks !!

[realityhack]

OK, so went to the local shop last night and this is what he has: -

Nikon D80 with Nikon 18-70 lense (glass optics) £799
Nikon 70-300 Lense with image stabilizer £499
Filters for the above - throw in free
2 x 2Gb cards (FujiFilm) £49.00 each
Nikon Battery - Can do a good price - not sure what it is !!

He said not to go for the sigma Lense, what do people think, as the Sigma is £149 without the image stabilizer.......

thanks !!

You get what you pay for!!! The lens is the most important part of the camera. Sigma and Tamron lenses will 'do the job' but I've no doubt you'll be dissapointed if you're half serious about quality, and want to upgrade to a Nikon lens later.
Sockpuppet's suggestion to buy a uv filter (sometimes known as a skylight) is spot on - it protects the front of the lens. Accidents happen.
Ask him about an add-on battery pack that takes normal AAs as you'll be away from leccy supplies.

[realityhack]

thanks, I was considering going to a night class to learn some more.....don't know how much I'd benefit from it.

Not really sure how much value you'll get out of these as they tend not to start from first principles.
Photography = capturing light. Learn about light, light sources, light temperatures and colour, contrast, white balances, optics & density first. Get the theory in your head (It's not that complex, taught a mate in 2 hours) and proceed onto exposure, sensitivity etc. Understand the relationship between aperture, shutter and film emulsion/CCD.
Most camera courses tend to start from composition and lead into style (i.e. editorial, reportage, still-life, portrait etc). Composition is IMHO the last thing to learn, after basic principles - and you either have an eye for a photo or not - only so much can be taught here - the rest is down to your outlook on life.

[realityhack]

Do these photography classes have neked wimmin to take photos of?

And do you need film in the camera?

! I went on a life-painting course recently that did

[realityhack]

Nubile or old & wrinkly?

Young & fit. Quite distracting really.

[bogeyman]

OK, so went to the local shop last night and this is what he has: -

Nikon D80 with Nikon 18-70 lense (glass optics) £799
Nikon 70-300 Lense with image stabilizer £499
Filters for the above - throw in free
2 x 2Gb cards (FujiFilm) £49.00 each
Nikon Battery - Can do a good price - not sure what it is !!

He said not to go for the sigma Lense, what do people think, as the Sigma is £149 without the image stabilizer.......

thanks !!

Recently decided to bite the bullet and buy a good DSLR after mucking around with 'prosumer' nearly-DSLRs for a couple of years and finding them too fiddly.

Being a long-time Nikon (film) user, with a bunch of old but very good manual focus lenses, I got the D200. If it handn't of been for the D80's inability to meter with older Nikkor lenses, and the fact that it doesn't take CF cards (just the smaller even fiddlier SD? cards), I might have gone for that.

Sigma lenses are pretty decent. Don't own any but have borrowed some of their wide and long lenses from a mate. The construction is a bit cheap compared to Nikon's high-end lenses, but what the hell. If you don't abuse them I'm sure they'll be fine.

Check it all out on www.dpreview.com.

[n5gooner]

Well I got it last night,


The nikon D80 with a Nikon 18-70 lense
Nikon 70-300 lense
3 x 2Gb cards
2 x filters
Lense case
Camera case
spare Nikon battery
for just over £1500, which is what I made in overtime last week I could have got it cheaper over the net but I wanted to a. buy from a shop where I can take it to if I have problems, and b. support my local community.

Just need to get used to it now.

[Euro-commuter]

The nikon D80 with a Nikon 18-70 lense
Nikon 70-300 lense

lens. Plural, lenses.

In mem.

[realityhack]

Nice one - good wide-telephoto range there. Personally I wouldn't use an obvious camera case in the Far East - too nickable. Stick it in a scruffy rucksack instead.
I can give you a lesson over a pint in Richmond/Twickenham if you like - standard rates apply

[n5gooner]

Nice one - good wide-telephoto range there. Personally I wouldn't use an obvious camera case in the Far East - too nickable. Stick it in a scruffy rucksack instead.
I can give you a lesson over a pint in Richmond/Twickenham if you like - standard rates apply

well, I may well take you up with that !!! What is your hourly pint rate ?