Best camera for an a beginning enthusiast?

**BrilloPad** · 24 February 2009, 10:58

What do you want it for?

For porn you need quite specialist equipment. alledgedly.

**NickNick** · 24 February 2009, 11:22

Go for the mid range Cannon EOS 450D or the mid range Nikon D40. Both are in the £300 mark I think.

My advice though would be to actually go into a shop and try them out as my hands are too fat for a cannon but fit the Nikon well.

Oh and then watch as whatever make you dont plump for comes out with an incredibly cheap camera that you should have bought.

Oh and have a look at http://www.dpreview.com/ for some more info.

**realityhack** · 24 February 2009, 11:42

Do you want a compact, or a SLR? I'm assuming digital & convenience. What's your budget?

Distance - what kind of distance, are you wanting to zoom in on a gnat's eyeball at 1000yds and have switchable lenses?

If you're trying to learn the craft seriously I'd have different advice, but you're after a point-and-shoot that you can switch to manual. Several high-end compacts do this very well, and if you want to go for a SLR it's down to budget.

Name your price.

Oh, and see here for an earlier (slightly out of date) discussion.
And here, there and all over after a search.

**Moscow Mule** · 24 February 2009, 11:44

You've got a choice between "pro-sumer", something like the Canon G10 or a DSLR, something like Canon 450D.

DSLR will give you better results and is more expandable (lens & accessory wise) but you're less likely to carry it around with you than a smaller unit.

Think what you're going to use it for and decide accordingly.

I have a DSLR (Canon 350D + 3/4 lenses) and a smaller jobbie (Panasonic LX-3, which still allows full aperture control).

The Canon is good for almost everything but only comes with me if we're going somewhere where I can use it.

The Panasonic goes most places with me and is great for point and shoot and a bit of creativity if you're so inclined...

**sasguru** · 24 February 2009, 12:15

Thanks for the input guys. To be honest I don't know anything about cameras (what's an SLR?

) but thinking about it I don't want
(1) a bulky OR (2) overly complicated unit.
I want to take slightly more sophisticated photos of people and when I'm on holiday probably landsacpes and buildings without too much hassle. I've reached the limitations of my bog standard 3 year old compact now.

Let's face it I'm not likely to become a pro photographer anytime soon.

So something like the Panasonic LX-3 sounds ideal. Been to Amazon and its got great reviews.

Any of you experts have any other recommendations along those lines?

Budget up to £500.

**Platypus** · 24 February 2009, 12:32

SLR = Self Loading Rifle IIRC

I never understood what this had to do with photography

**AlanR** · 24 February 2009, 12:34

Sony A200

Sasguru,

I used to enjoy photography (nothing smutty) but then i got married so no money and had to resort to kodak instamatics (Sp?) but recently decided to start again. After much looking round and going into a camera shops albeit Jessops, i plumped for the Sony A200 with the 70-300mm lens kit.

Very impressed, 10.2 MPixels, easy to handle, feels quite solid, good controls of lighting levels and manual focusing so can recommend it as a starter. I also heard good thing with the Nikon D40 but that was a bit out of reach of my budget.

Alan

**krytonsheep** · 24 February 2009, 12:52

I'd go for the brand new Panasonic DMC-TZ7. It has got a nice wide angle lens with a 12x zoom and it records HD video.

**Moscow Mule** · 24 February 2009, 12:57

Originally posted by Platypus View Post

SLR = Self Loading Rifle IIRC

I never understood what this had to do with photography

If you shoot it at a wall, pretty soon you'll be able to take a picture of what was behind said wall.

Single Lens Reflex - basically what you see through the viewfinder is what the image capturing gubbins will see.

Best camera for an a beginning enthusiast?