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Originally Posted by danielf
I'm thinking about the Nikon D50, which is £650 with a lovely looking 18-70 mm lens.
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Canon EOS which gets equally good reviews, but appears to be a bit more expensive
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You'll find that most tog are either in the Canon or Nikon camp - there are two forums,
Nikonians and
Photography-on-the-Net that deal with each camp. My personal preference is Canon - namely as Bifta said becuase of the Canon L lenses which are far better than even the Nikkor glass.
But in reality there is little chose between competing Canon and Nikon camera bodies. It's all about personal taste, as SMH suggested, take a trip to a camera store and try them out....one thing I didn't like about the Nikon was that the camera strap kept catching on the programme dial changing the setting.
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Originally Posted by SMHarman
And you should always buy a daylight filter for a lens to protect the first optical element from scratches, dust etc. Better to replace a £5 filter than a £500 lens.
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Good advice...you'll also see these called a Skylight filter. However I use a UV filter on my lenses, as there is less colouration that with Skylight which have a slight warm tint to them - but I'm being anal. If you also want to be anal about your UV filters, pick B+W filters - they're more like 30 quid for a UV Haze, but they're much much better than the Hoya or Jessops' own brand.
Whether you pick the Canon or Nikon will dictate your own-brand lens choice - both have good ranges, personally speaking the range of Canons is much better and wider - with something for everyone. If you want the bargain of the decade buy a Canon 50mm f/1.8 - it's plasticy and will break if you drop it, but the glass is stunning, the quality of the shots are wonderful and the minute depth of field you can get out of 1.8 is trouser-wettingly cool! And the best bit....buy it from 7dayshop and it's 55 quid - but produces shots almost as good as the f/1.4 50mm at five times the price. This lens is really good for portraits BTW.
Outside of the own-brand lenses, some of the Sigma lenses are top notch. Most 3rd party manufacturers offer their wares in all the major fittings such as Canon, Olympus and Nikon.
If you're looking at Sigmas, try and go for the APO and EX lenses - which are their equivalent of the Canon L lenses. If you're feeling flush then pick the Sigma 50-500mm (yes that's half a metre!!) lens. For outdoor shots with lots of light you will not get a better lens under £1,000 (and you can pick these up for about £600).
But the thing about lenses is that buying a brand does not denote a quality standard. Many years ago I bought the Canon 75-300 USM lens for the extra focal length. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad lens (well Ok it is actually), but when you compare it to my new 70-200mm L you would never believe that they came from the same camera! So there's one to avoid. Also avoid any lenses for sale in Dixons/Currys. Period.
Check out those forums linked above, search on what lenses people are raving about, generally they'll shove up some comparison shots to help you - but without it buying lenses is a minefield, so never be afraid to ask for their help.
Phew...I'll stop now, my fingertips are starting the bleed
If you need any more advice, just holler....