£300 budget

[medius]

What would you get if you had a budget of £300?

I'm looking at the Canon 350D, nothing too special as it'd be my first DSLR but picking one up for the £180-200 mark and then a 200mm or 300mm lense for another £100 seems achieveable. Its for trackside photography and pitlane/paddock shots, not going to turn pro (I'll never match them ) but I'd like to hear the options/preffered choices.

Edit - This is what I'm looking at in particular.

[BertMk2]

I've had my 350D for 6 years now and it's been pretty good, the only thing that has been a problem is dirt getting on the sensor (later models (450D etc) have self cleaning sensors). The quality of the lense is probably the limiting factor on the cameras performance, the 18-55 lense that comes with the 350D isn't that great and I'd go for 300mm over 200mm if you're looking at getting shots of stuff on circuit.

The 'long' lense I've got is a Canon 75-300 IS, to be honest the image stabiliser is more of a hinderance than a help at a circuit so I switch it off so a 'normal' 75-300 would be fine. Again, it's not top of the range stuff but like you I'm not going to threaten the pros anytime soon and simply can't justify the expense of an 'L' series lense for my snaps.

[andrewc]

What lenses will you have?

350D is now an old camera, but quite competent.

EF-S 18-55 lens is OK, nothing special. Often they come with one. The longer lens will require some thought.

Sigma 70-300 DG Macro - pretty poor
Tamron 70-300 - better
Sigma 70-300 APO version - better still
Canon 55-250 IS - about the same.

I bought my wife the latter secondhand for £ 120 and its pretty good (considering the price point)

[JAMRacing]

For a £300 budget, I wouldn't recommend a dslr since getting a decent zoom lens for motorsport can take up most that budget, I would STRONGLY recomment fujifilms bigger bridge cameras. For example, the HS10, HS20exr,... They are superb! The hs10 can take brilliant quality photos, has loads of pre-set settings ready to use, or can be manually set up, and has a huge zoom distance which is crutial for most race circuit photography (thats if you are looking to get the car to fill a shot!), and they can be easily found for sale under £300! And since its a bridge camera, its pretty much an all in one lens, so covers wide angle to super zoom in one twist, unlike a dslr which has loads of lenses which each specialise in a specific zoom banding. (I would know, I have a canon 600D and its alot of money for a good zoom lens!)

Hope this helps!

[JAMRacing]

If it helps, check out this photo album of mine on my facebook. The first half of the album is shot with a fujifilm s1500 (which can be brought for penies now!), then from the superbikes onwards, I am using a fujifilm s200exr which is pretty damn good! But not quite as good a a hs10 or hs20exr so you could imagine!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...7002052&type=1

[GORDON STREETER]

Although a bridge camera is a brilliant thing for it's size ultimately it won't perform as good as a decent SLR,
Of course any camera is better than nothing so the choice is up to the individual on how far they want to go and how much money they can afford.
I have a lot of "inside" information on various camera's problems and the Finepix HS 20 does suffer from a software malfunction that can be difficult to cure, a pity because it can be a good performer.

[SFurness]

Hello,


I have a Canon 400D, 18-55 lens and a 90-300 lens which I'm thinking of selling.

I bought them about 18 months ago from a shop in Sheffield, the camera and 90-300 were second hand and the 18-55 was new.

I used to (30 years ago) do a bit of motrosport photography and decided to get back into it but I've hardly used them this summer.

Drop me a line if you are interested.


Steve

[NelisB]

I would look at buying a 20D with the 55-250 lens. The 20D will give you a better body to shoot with. I looked it up on ebay and second hand they are going for about 170. The quality form the 20D would be a step up from the 350 if you ask me.

Camera here

[Tim the Grey]

Or, whisper it, Nikon, or Pentax, or Olympus are all a step up from a 350D!

There's plenty of choice out there now.

I've seen GREAT shots taken with budget kit from all the above.

I certainly wouldn't touch a bridge camera because of the delay that occurs before they fire. Some are better than others, but none will match a DSLR because of the limitations of their focus systems.

[medius]

I casually mentioned to my mate at work that I was looking at a new camera and he said ''Yeah? I have a camera I got given for Christmas and never used, you can have it if you want?''

Turns out its a Canon 1000D, box standard with no extra lenses. I'll probably use the money on a Tamron or Sigma lense but I'm sorted for now! Thanks for all the advise so far, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

Or, whisper it, Nikon, or Pentax, or Olympus are all a step up from a 350D!

I've been using an Olympus E-500 for several years and am generally quite happy with it. I got by with a 40-150 zoom but recently picked up 70-300 off ebay which I'm slowly getting used to. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alansart/

I know several people who use Pentax equipment with very good results.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by medius

I casually mentioned to my mate at work that I was looking at a new camera and he said ''Yeah? I have a camera I got given for Christmas and never used, you can have it if you want?''

Turns out its a Canon 1000D, box standard with no extra lenses. I'll probably use the money on a Tamron or Sigma lense but I'm sorted for now! Thanks for all the advise so far, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

That's a bit of a result You should be able to pick up a 300mm lense no problem now.

[Tim the Grey]

Al, I'm an Oly user too, having run pair of E-1s for about 5 years. I've sold one, but the other is going nowhere! I will not be parted from the 11-22, and my old nail 50-200 just keeps working thank you...

My younger son Ben has a D50 Nikon, with the std 18-55 that set me back £250 used, about 2 years back. Add in the £100 70-210 Nikkor I landed for his big brother (Who's now moved on and up!), and he's set up for near enough that budget. You really do not need massive money these days!

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

Al, I'm an Oly user too, having run pair of E-1s for about 5 years. I've sold one, but the other is going nowhere! I will not be parted from the 11-22, and my old nail 50-200 just keeps working thank you...

I'm looking to pick up another Olympus body from somewhere (Ebay?) Having got the bigger lens I found swapping between lenses was confusing. The Auto-focus on the 40-150 is quite good but seems iffy on the 70-300, which is probably why it's got the Auto/Manual switch on the lens although it was quite good going back to the old days of Manual Focus

Hopefully I'll soon be heading off to a Mallory Wednesday to get some more practice.

[lemansfan]

Originally Posted by medius

I casually mentioned to my mate at work that I was looking at a new camera and he said ''Yeah? I have a camera I got given for Christmas and never used, you can have it if you want?''

Turns out its a Canon 1000D, box standard with no extra lenses. I'll probably use the money on a Tamron or Sigma lense but I'm sorted for now! Thanks for all the advise so far, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

A good Decision . I also started in March with a 1000 D . Simple to handle and perfect to start the DSLR Adventure . Buy before Le Mans the Canon 70 - 300 Lense and the Resuts are not to bad .