the new DSLR advice thread (around £500 budget)

[Blagsta]

I slightly confused about this - i spoke to a guy in a shop this week and he told me that the D40 does autofocus, as well as manual - i notice you mention the lack of an AF motor though - what is the difference between what he said, and what you're saying is a problem? (new to all this so words of one syllable appreciated )

It does autofocus, yes, but it relies on lenses with an autofocus motor (AF-S). There is a much more limited range of these. Other lenses (such as the f1.8 50mm prime, which is excellent value at around £80) will be manual focus only.

I currently have the 18 - 55mm AF-S kit lens and the 55 - 200mm VR AF-S lens. This covers a good range of focal lengths, but I'd like a prime (i.e. a non-zoom, these are sharper and have wider apertures) that I can autofocus without having to pay through the nose for it - not possible at the moment with the D40. The cheapest one I know about is the Sigma 30mm HSM (Sigma's version of AF-S) at around £300.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

see, now you're getting all techno and not in a luke slater way

cheers matey, i think i'll give a D40 a spin cos this is all a bit new to me (me dad used to have a slr and i enjoyed mucking about) and I think i understand a bit more about what am getting into now

 

[Blagsta]

Have a look at dpreview.com, there's reviews and good info and the bulletin boards can be helpful as long as you ignore the plethora of dull as fuck wildlife photos

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

i looked and that's when i got scared and wanted to be amongst friends. i actually want to take wildlife photos (or ornithological ones to be precise)

omg, i've come out as a twitcher....

 

[Blagsta]

You've always looked a bit twitchy to me...

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

:d

 

[Bernie Gunther]

i looked and that's when i got scared and wanted to be amongst friends. i actually want to take wildlife photos (or ornithological ones to be precise)

omg, i've come out as a twitcher....

If you want to do that, then I'd seriously consider getting one of the Nikons that has a motor, not a D40.

Reason is, you need fairly long (ie expensive) lenses for birds and hence you'll probably want to be looking at the many excellent second-hand bargain Nikkors. These don't have motors in the lens and you probably don't want to be manually focusing them.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

If you want to do that, then I'd seriously consider getting one of the Nikons that has a motor, not a D40.

Reason is, you need fairly long (ie expensive) lenses for birds and hence you'll probably want to be looking at the many excellent second-hand bargain Nikkors. These don't have motors in the lens and you probably don't want to be manually focusing them.

i must admit that i blanched when i saw the price of some a/f motorised lenses on the weekend. thing is, i'd need to learn some basic techniques and so on, and this feels like a good unit to do it on.

what scope does a 18-55mm motorised a/f lens give you? my son took this from a fairly distant position. and something that could give me that sort of return would be good.