The best advise I can give is,IF THERE IS A LOCAL CAMERA CLUB GO THERE AND ASK .

GO to as many shops as you can ,
handle as many different types as you can,
see what "fits your hand"
(hold, switch on the camera and check for feel)

ie plastic ,nice metal , light, heavy ect

then THE PRICE...

BEST OF LUCK Wales
Were the mud is thicker, and the ruts are deeper.
(And we have the water to wash it off, and more on the way..! )
Sd4 and chrome Ar*e piece, Auto box for best fun
09 Xs Gone
12 xs Gone
HSE with Leather seats and 4 years warrenty.. staying for now !

I'll have a look about, just considering it at the moment, I want one to get better pictures of life, the kids and out and about on excursions

Havent a clue about F~ ISO exposure and what's the difference between a stubby lense or a longer one, though I know really long one are zoom lenses as I've seen them at the footy

The Nikon is a nice camera the VR on the lens is Vibration Reduction called image stabilisation by canon. Its a shame on that package that the long lens is the non VR one as its the lens you are more likely to need i on. you wont find a huge difference between Canon and Nikon but to get the best camera for you you must hold the camera before buying it. (even if you buy the same one on line afterwards) if the camera feels awkward in your hand you will struggle to take a good picture with it.

in the Canon range the 550d and 600d are plastic bodied light weight and not weather proof. The 60d is slightly better than the 600d and is weather proof.

Is the Nikon weather proof? Is that important, in real life senerios ?

Found on the Nikon website the 2 lense kit are both VR lenses
And found that kit cheaper than my previous link
http://digidealsdirect.com/uk/nikon-d3100-...enses.html

Pinky, the Nikon is not weatherproof, you won't get that until you move up the range. The 3100 has just been replaced by the 3200 which is why you can get some good deals. However, the 3100 is extremely well reviewed in the photo press and digital camera magazin rated it as the best at that end of the market so you won't be disappointed with its pictures. Weatherproofing not essential unless you like photography in the rain, just get a good case / bag such as Lowepro or kata. Check out wex photographic prices as they are normally not bad. Mojo.

cheers

Been looking and I think i would want VR lens, especially on the longer lens, strange how they are selling it without, cheap skates

As an example they all seem to offer variations on this setup, though costs do vary quite a lot depending on shop and knowing me i'll end up getting talked into something i dont need

Nikon D3100 + 18-55mm VR Lens £360
Nikon D3100 + 18-105mm VR Lens £480
Nikon D3100 + 18-200mm VR II £960
Nikon D3100 Twin Kit DSLR Digital Camera - 18-55mm VR & 55-200mm VR Lenses £465
Nikon D3100 + 18-55mm VR Lens + 55-200mm Non VR Lens £499 (jesspos)

I'm sort of tempted to go straight for a standard camera, with 18-55 lens and buy an upgraded zoom lens later, what am i going to be stipulated shooting with a 18-55 lens, up close portraits, or will it be suitable for catching those moments when the kids are at the other side of the garden


There is a choices of the of memory card too, 8gb seems to be what they offer in packages, how many will that hold?

What waterproof bag, if the cameras not, and im out in the woods in the rain then i need it to be safe and dry, easy accessible though

Theres a site called cameraprucebuster co uk that will show you the best deals currently available.

i found that earlier

going to go out and get a few in my hand, email my sister in law and see if her family can sort any deals out from japan

Is there any good Panasonic DSLR in my price range?

Pinky - you could buy the cheaper 18-55 kit only and then buy a good quality super zoom later which will cut down on your weight to carry, tamron do an 18-200 for example which will cover all bases. The stock 18-55 will be good enough for most things though and will give you time to work out what you really want. Weatherproof bags, lowepro AW range are pretty good. Panasonic, someone correct me if I'm wrong, think they are all four thirds system so smaller sensor, personally would stick with Nikon / canon, I've owned both and never been let down by either, plus much bigger range of lenses and accessories to fit. In the end though, if you are going to try a few, go with what you are comfortable with. Check out tesco's, brother in law bought a Nikon 3100 there a few weeks ago and he used his tesco's points and doubled them up. 8gb card in my 8mp sensor camera will hold about 1200 photos so a bit less in the Nikon as it probably produces larger image files due to the increased pixel count. I would personally by a few smaller cards than 1 big card for redundancy, if one goes wrong or gets nicked, you haven't lost all your photos. 2 8gb cards would do for starters and don't forget a uv filter to protec the front of your lens.

You could buy the body only and the tamron 18 - 270 that's just one lens that will cover just about everything you need and it produces good quality images. It doesn't produce pro quality images and some of the review sites knock it but if you are not selling the images or printing them bigger than a4 you won't notice the difference

I have found a second hand one for sale on a forum i go on, 7 month old, looks to come with the 18-55 VR, a tamoron 70-300AF, fish eye lens, 6x UV filters

Looking at about £415 posted, it doesn't have VR lenses for 70-300 but that can always be upgraded

deal done, DSLR on its way (when he gets to post office)

thinking Lowepro Slingshot 102AW

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77277/show.html

Has anyone had experiance with it, though i have read a 300mm lens might be very tight, so need to try it out first and the 202AW is quite a bit larger

Have a look at MPB photographic, used them before, very good and accurate description of goods.

well its arrived

surprised how much a 8gb card will take, counters saying 309 photos in raw+jpeg, so my 32gb will see a holiday though all been well

main thing is its all here and looks to be working, and the Lowepro Nova 160 AW bag is a bonus as i won't be needing to buy one soon, but the bags of filters will be getting put to one side with the fisheye lens till i know what im doing..... guess that will be never then