On a student budget...

Hamiltonion

Hi guys I'm recently getting into slr photography and have been using cameras borrowed off my unis photosoc,now looking to buy my 1st slr. Ona student budget I'm between a Cannon 100d or nikon d60 on the highstreet. However I'v heard negative comments bout the cannons standard lens and also that the d60 is uncompatible with most Nikon lenses and the d80 is a better bet.
Would i be better off going for the 1000d or D60 on the highstreet or would i find a good value D80 or 400/450D online?
All advice/comments much appreciated.Mainly plan to be taking pictures at local gigs and the like but also some still shots, trip to Paris in June

Zillah

You could probably get a D50 or D70s dirt cheap if you look around. They're getting on in years but are still great cameras. I'm still using my D70s.

Where did you hear about the D60 being incompatible? I'd be extremely surprised if that's the case, the D60 is a fairly new Entry-Level design, it should be fully compatible.

Hamiltonion

How would a D50 or D70 compare to a newer D60 or D80? Thanx a million, A friend with a D80 said it, according to her D60s only compatible with a limited amount of lenses? Could be wrong tho

xshayx

I think what she might mean with a number of lens, the AF wont work on the D60, but manual focus is fine....

Hamiltonion

Okay, would lack of auto focus be much of a problem?

Zillah

It would certainly be quite annoying. I'm quite suprised, but apparently the D60 autofocus is incompatible with AF and AF-D lenses. This link explains it a little bit better. Just make sure you don't buy the wrong lens type and you should be ok.

As for the D70s (the "s" is actually part of the model name, a mini upgrade from the plain D70), it's the generation before the D80. Pretty much the same deal but older and less snazzy. Mega pixel count is smaller, LCD screen is smaller, no auto-cleaning system for the sensor, but it's still a great camera and you can print up to A4 size at top quality and much bigger with a little jiggery pokery. All the same lens types too so no problems there if you want to upgrade later. Problem is though, I doubt anyone is selling them new so you'd have to go digging around to find one second hand.

When considering the D60, think about this: I used a crappy film camera kit lens with my dlsr for months, bought one lens and used that for two years and only last week did I get around to buying a second lens. It's not like you'll be buying lenses every week and constantly going "Damn! I am so sick of having to avoid AF-D lenses!"

Hamiltonion

Thats great thanx a million for the advice, I'll have a poke around ebay and adverts.ie and see what i come up with!

Overblood

Whats the max you can spend?

CabanSail

The Nikons have very good compatibiity across the years with the F mount. The issue you are referring to is that the D40 & D60 do not have an AF motor in the body, so rely on the lens having a motor. This is not a problem with the newer lenses & only becomes an issue if you buy older lenses & they will still work but you will have to focus manually. I learned on a camera with no auto anything & it really wasn't that much of a problem. Having all the bells & whistles is nice enough but it is good to turn them off & learn how to control things yourself too.

Have you considered getting a Film SLR? They can be picked up very cheap now. The earlier models are also a good way to get an affordable camera. I too first had a D70S & still use it.

Overblood

Would a film SLR be student-budget friendly? Buying all that film and getting them processed etc? Especially since he'll be taking gig shots, where digital comes in handy for messing around in PP with whatever light setup might be at the gig.

I'd say go with digital.

Canon digital :pac:

Atomic Pineapple

Bought a D60 myself just the other day, got it for €385 in Argo's in Newry, I'm also a student so budget was a big thing.

The camera is a great little camera, lots of features and great quality.

Some lenses wont allow you to use auto focus is right but as far as I know there is a new range of nikkor lenses that will work with the auto focus on the D40 and the D60 as well as some cheaper alternatives, I certainly dont think your choice in lenses is severly limited by choosing a D60 anyway.

You can see my first pictures ever taken with a DSLR here - http://pix.ie/draffodx/album/336024

Keep in mind i barely ever took a picture with a normal camera before and just decided to get into photography very lately, I think the D60 is quite a good choice

Zillah

CabanSail wrote: »

The Nikons have very good compatibiity across the years with the F mount. The issue you are referring to is that the D40 & D60 do not have an AF motor in the body, so rely on the lens having a motor.

Is that the only issue? Is it only the older motorless lenses that are AF and AF-D?

Have you considered getting a Film SLR? They can be picked up very cheap now. The earlier models are also a good way to get an affordable camera.

No no no. Film is horrible, expensive and time consuming. I shudder to remember arsing around with developing. Then you have to scan them to post process. Blech.

Stephen

Any Nikon lens that is not AF-S won't autofocus on the D40/40x/60. The majority will mount and meter just fine though.
As far as I'm aware their current range is all available in AF-S, with the exception of some exotic stuff like fisheyes and very high end zooms.

I started off on a D50 so I have a few lenses that won't AF on these cameras (50 1.8, 80-200 2.8, supercheapo Sigma 70-300), but since you haven't got any lenses already you should be fine.

Hamiltonion

Yeah i wouldnt be bothered with film tbh, my dad actually has an old film Cannon eos (not quite sure what modal)
Looks like I'll go for the D60 seems to be best going for a decent price

Rb

The 450d is going for E580 on Dabs and Komplett at the mo, which is cheap compared to b&m shops which seem to be close to E700 for the body & 18-55mm kit lens.

Found the 28-90mm lens on amazon for $94, a 50mm f1.8 for $84.

Sleepy

If your dad has an old Canon EOS film camera you would be able to use any lenses he has on a Canon digital SLR. The entry-level models have what's called a crop sensor which means the lens range will be multiplied by 1.6 so a 50mm lens becomes the equivalent of an 80mm etc but they'll work perfectly on the camera unless they're older third-party lenses (e.g. Sigma, Tamron etc) and even then some of them will work too.

Could be worth considering in choosing between Nikon/Canon if there'd be some telephotos / cheap primes available for you to borrow from your Dad.