Still no clear winner as yet.

And I don't think you'll find one , either.

There doesn't seem to a single camera in the sub-£400 range that doesn't have some drawbacks , and some advantages over the competition.

Not all of them have Live View , some don't have image stabilisation , some have a higher number of pixels and so on and so forth.

Best bet is to list all of these and more and then compare your choices to the list and see if that helps.

And I don't think you'll find one , either.

There doesn't seem to a single camera in the sub-£400 range that doesn't have some drawbacks , and some advantages over the competition.

Not all of them have Live View , some don't have image stabilisation , some have a higher number of pixels and so on and so forth.

Best bet is to list all of these and more and then compare your choices to the list and see if that helps.

Yeah, I want to pay Sony money, take proper batteries (Pentax) as I travel a lot, have top notch pix (Canon) & widest choice of future upgrade lenses (Nikon). Am I asking too much?

Most importantly, try each of them out and see how they fit your hands. The ergonomics are far more important than all the other differences at the price level you are looking at.

Chris

Most importantly, try each of them out and see how they fit your hands. The ergonomics are far more important than all the other differences at the price level you are looking at.

Chris

...............and picture quality

...............and picture quality

Problem is that none of the available entry level DSLRs are bad. All of them make good image quality and when one factors in the cost of a few rolls of film, all of them work out very cheap.

Chris

In terms of batteries, with my D70s I certainly haven't run out of juice so to speak having shot all day every day in australia for a month and at weddings (obviously charging up appropriately). Probably get around 2000 shots without flash and 300-400 with flash. Basically end of worrying about running out of batteries as I always did with compact camera. Not all DSLRs are the same though so it's worth checking out as I've heard the Canon 350 can "only" do 400-600.

If it's image quality you want to check out then flickr is a good place to start. There is a camera finder function so you can look at what others have shot with the camera you are thinking of. As you'll soon discover there isn't a rubbish dslr out there anymore, just some camera/lens combinations are more suited to different conditions

Have fun choosing.

Well, I've been to another indie shop, used to buy film from there 20 years ago, same owner.

He's had 2 Sony Alphas returned to shop in the last 3 years, 1 had been dropped & the other had a software glitch in a settings menu.

He reckons that the a200 (had a decent play with one in the shop) is top notch for the £££s

I don't need live view as I like to use the viewfinder & he was equally re-assuring about li-ion batteries

So just as I've nearly made my mind up....

A guy at work has offered me either his canon 300d or 30d as he was about to part-ex them both for a top spec canon. (Price checks out against 2nd hand on the net)

The Sony A200 is mid-way between them.

(it's so much easier buying a car, I''ve got 3 Octavias... )

Well in the end ......

I bought a Sony Alpha A200 (in England) whilst the better half went shopping in Germany & bought an A300, as she liked the tilting screen.

However, by the time I'd charged the battery, it was getting dark &

I had to go a friend's 40th birthday party, so I photo'd the bands there.

The results aren't pro-standard (due to f3.5 -f5.6 18-70mm lens indoors)

but they're a reasonable record of events for my needs.

So far so good....

(I'm got a lead on some secondhand Minolta lens that would be handy for gig shots)

Aaaaaarrrgggghhhh why is Photobucket so slow?

Mum's dog,almost dark, hand held indoors, flash turned off ...

Same image hosted on flickr .. just to see if there's any difference

Dunno why but the flickr one seems smaller

Some shots from the gig ...

"Wob"

"Eastfield"

I've got a Canon and bought it nearly 6 months ago. The price has actually gone up in that time, so even in a few years if you come to sell it - it'll have some value.

I had a look at Sony when I bought it and although they look nice and have good features, I think they suffer from the fact that Sony aren't "dedicated" camera manufacturers.

Really can't say what their or any other brand is like in reality, because I only have a Canon. Just at the minute I'm finding it very easy to get bits which will work with it and like I can grow with it.

Yeah I noticed prices rising whilst I looked around.

I've added to 2nd hand Minolta 50mm f1.7 lens to my kit now.

Sony bought Carl Zeiss & Konica Minolta, so there's plenty of experience there,

but Canon & Nikon still dominate.

However, that does mean that Sony are pricing to gain market share.

There's very little difference in terms of image quality, so it's quite a personal, try them in the shop type purchase, rather than mail order IMHO.

This was today's best shot on an A350 with the kit lens.

This was today's best shot on an A350 with the kit lens.

Wow!!!!!!

I took some pix at Mansfield the other evening with my new (2nd hand) 50mm f1.7 lens

East Midlands meet, Tuesday 31st March, M1 J28 - Page 2 - BRISKODA - The Skoda Forums

Wow!!!!!!

Thanks.

It's the British Museum in London - well worth a visit for the exhibits alone , but the architecture is pretty special too

My Sony A300 (9 months old) when back to Jessops last week to be returned to Sony. Two marks on all pics - not dust on the sensor. 400+ pics from recent hol affected!

My Sony A300 (9 months old) when back to Jessops last week to be returned to Sony. Two marks on all pics - not dust on the sensor. 400+ pics from recent hol affected!

That's a nightmare. Is it dead pixels on the sensor?

If you don't already have it, paint.net uses layers so if there is a layer that can be used to fix it it might be able to be applied to lots of pictures rather than having to them all by hand.

Hope you get it sorted

Photoshopped the ones I needed. Awaiting Jessops/Sonys call to tell me what the problem is & what they will do about it.

My Sony A300 (9 months old) when back to Jessops last week to be returned to Sony. Two marks on all pics - not dust on the sensor. 400+ pics from recent hol affected!

Blimey .... that must be pretty annoying ... hope you get it sorted

Took some more pix that are in ....

the north west meet 05/04/09 thread

also some in Octavia II section bye bye mkI hello mkII thread