L33 BYT

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/stor...&category_oid=

Would this be suitable for a pending British Grand Prix visit. This would be my first ever SLR Camera. But my normal Digital Olympus would not be able to offer good pictures which I was hoping to get.

Any advice you boffs would be able to offer on my search.

Cheers Guys
Lee

L33 BYT

Another important thing. From this spec below.
Exposure mode • Digital Vari-program
- Auto
- Flash off *
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Child
- Sports
- Close up
- Night portrait
• Programmed auto (P) with flexible program
• Shutter-priority auto (S)
• Aperture priority auto (A)
• Manual (M)

Would this allow me to keep the shutter open for aslong as I want for those "Arty Farty" Pics.

L33 BYT

UP UP for the Friday crew. Whoop Whoop

frog

This is a very good entry level camera It doesn't have some of the more advanced features of the other nikons like RAW capabilities, but as a starting point, it won't be worse than your current olympus and will give you greater flexibility.

For the british grand prix though, you will need something like a 70-210 or 70-300mm lens so you can get close to the action from the grandstands.

The supplied 18-55mm lens won't be up to the job, you'll only get wide shots with the cars being a small part of the picture.

I am sure you can get this sort of lens bundled with the camera as a deal. Depending on budget, you might want to invest in a better lens than included in a bundle, but that can easily cost between £200 and £1200 (depending on lens model) in it's own right. Obviously, the more expensive, the better quality, etc...

Have a look at this for inspiration: https://passionford.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=262702

Shop around though, curry's aren't renowed for being the cheapest

HTH

L33 BYT

Fantastic info Frog. Thankyou

The currys Bundle actually came with a 55-200mm lense also. Is that similar to the lense you mentioned?

frog

55-200 will be great for GP

but bear in mind that what you get in a bundle is the cheap end of lenses (good quality but not the greatest), if your budget can stretch, you might to buy a better lens...

L33 BYT

To be frankly honest the money side of things is not an issue. I am more concerned about what pictures I will be able to take.
Whilst I admire still scenary shots. Most of mine would be action shots. With my Olympus it takes around 2 seconds for the camera to do its business by which time its too late.
I have had a look on jessops website and they do bundles on the Nikon D40 but again its only the 55mm-200mm lense.
Another I have noticed on the site is the following Bundle
Pentax K100D + 18-55mm lens + Sandisk 1GB Extreme III SD Memory Card+ Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD (Pentax AF)+ Jessops UV Filter 52mm+ Lowepro Rezo 140 AW (Black)+ Energizer Ultra Compact Charger + 4 x AA Batteries
http://www.jessops.com/Store/s35905/...s/details.aspx

The 2 things that worry me is firstly the camera uses AA Batteries, and secondly it does seem a very cheap camera.

frog

Photography can be a money pit

Know exactly what you mean, you won't have that problem with a dSLR

Pentax K100D has had good reviews and tbh, it's cheaper than nikon because you don't pay for the label.
However, I would be more inclined to buy into Nikon or Canon and pay a little more.
AA batteries have pros and cons... they are readily available which is a bonus if you are out and about without power to recharge your batteries (say a safari trek for days). But they're not very cost effective

I would be surprised if you couldn't get a rechargeable battery pack for it though
Best thing to do is go to an actual shop and see for yourself, you might prefer one camera over another just by the way it feels, something you won't get online.
Try an independent shop first, rather than jessops, they are usually run by people who know what they are talking about (e.g. photographers), rather than spotty teenagers who don't know the difference between a flash unit and a flash card

foreigneRS

if the money is not an issue, then either go for a better bundle deal where you will get a better lense with a good camera, or buy them separately if such a deal does not exist.

i am not in a position to advise what is good or not i'm afraid as i still haven't fully researched this before i buy.

thanks to frog, i know roughly what distance lenses i want, but don't know what is good quality vs. value for money

frog

Best place to go is www.dpreview.com they host in-depth reviews of cameras.

For lenses, look for forums that are dedicated to the camera make in question, they are more than likely to have lens reviews there which will help you make a decision.

http://www.dyxum.com/ for sony/minolta
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/ for canon
http://www.nikonians.org/ for nikon

google for any other make you can think of

There's soo many different models, and, capabilities that one make has and another hasn't that I can't advise, let alone keep track of them all

Come to think of it, unless you are really keen and have a very critical eye for pictures, detail, etc... you are unlikely to be seriously disappointed by any kit lens.
If you've got more money than sense you could easily spend £3K on lenses alone and not make the best use of them.

Just like a racing driver could talk for hours about the pros and cons of one or two clicks on adjustable konis, I probably would be hard pressed to find a real difference between the two