Recommend some equipment?

[Ingsy]

I was at the World Series by Renault at the weekend and took my camera (bog standard average Joe Kodak 5MP camera). I really enjoyed taking loads of pictures - until I got home to look at them on the screen. I knew they wouldn't be as good as the shots I see on here, but I was still disappointed.

Thing is, I don't really want to take the plunge and spend out huge amounts on camera equipment initially, I just want to dip my toe in the water, as it were. Can anyone recommend some entry level gear, or even just makes / models / featrues to look out for when chosing a camera?

Many thanks.

[badgerbaiter]

i would say a good way to start off is a canon 300d or maybe a 350d if you want to splash out

you can buy refurbished ones from canon on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet-D...QQcmdZViewItem

then a used 75-300mm lens to start off with

or if you have a little more money, look out for a used EOS 10d with some lenses.

i also think sony are introducing a digital SLR, but i dont know much about that one. i'm sure some people will recommend Nikon too, but i've never used one so i cant comment

[924nut]

To follow on from Badgerbaiters comment about the introduction of a DSLR by Sony (formerly Knoica minolta)- - As an old Minolta user I have stayed faithful to the brand and had a look at the new Sony alpha 100 and compared it to my Konica Minolta 7D - personally I think the 7D is the better camera and you will be able to pick up body and zoom lenses quite cheaply.

[badgerbaiter]

sony bought konica minolta? blimey, is nothing sacred?

[Ingsy]

Thanks for the info. I need to do some in depth research before I take the plunge I think.

[Gadget-Guy]

Can pick up Canon 20D for half the original retail price now days and as said before the 350D is a bargain now they have released the 400D only thing is i believe from what i have read in other forums the auto focus on the 20D is slightly better than the 350 but i have no experience of this as i started out with a 20D and then upgraded to a 1D so have never used the 350.As for lenses i think most people will agree you get what you pay for regardless of make but the Sigma lenses are great value for money and the picture quality is good aswell.

Had a Minolta 7D as my first SLR digital camera and was well chuffed with it and also had a Vivitar Series 1 70-200mm f2.8 lens which was the same as the Sigma version but re-badged and about £150 cheaper and the great thing with the 7D is the image stabilizer is built into the camera rather than the lens as on Canons so no matter what lens you buy it will have image stabilisation.

There are loads of lenses available costing up to thousands of pounds but i had good results when i first started out with the Sigma 50-500 also known as the Bigma but it needs a lot of light to be good i sold mine for £500 also another favourite is the Canon 100-400 but i think these hold there price a bit.

[Tim the Grey]

Go check dpreview for kit reviews.
Canon stuff is often dirt cheap because it's updated so often.
I have no personal experience, but have read of Quality Control issues with the cheaper stuff...

I use Olympus E1s, and Zuiko lenses, which aren't perhaps ideal for MSport, but they fit everything else I do... So I just get on with it!

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by Ingsy

I knew they wouldn't be as good as the shots I see on here, but I was still disappointed.

I've got a half decent camera (Nikon D70) and my shots are still nowhere near as good as even a competent amateur.

[James North]

If you're wanting to just dip you're toe in the water so to speak. Then in my view, you might simply be better off Digital compact camera. It seems to me that you would just be an ocassional motorsport viewer (trackside) therefore splashing out big money on DSLR equipment for mimimal use would be a large waste of money.

Have a look at the compact range such as Canon Powershot, Nikon coolpix, Fuji finepix, etc. You could probably pick up a very reasonable model for under £150. And whilst this is not going to enable to instantly become Paul Herni Cahier, you can learn the basics with it. It also has the added advantage of versatility, most have movie capture, they are much smaller.. so they are much more suitable for a wider range of use.