Good luck, hope you find a nicely priced one  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

I had a Canon 450D until I left it in the back of a hire car in Italy after a friends wedding (thanks Hertz for your honest staff... ) Still, it was an excuse to upgrade to a Canon 50D

I've bought items from Wex Photographics and Park Cameras in the past - they often have deals and the service has been good

As others have said, get a better quality lens than the standard kit lens. Not necessary immediately, but as he progresses and learns, the benefits will show up in his images - the quality of the lens is far more important than the body capturing the image...

I have a fixed 50mm F1.4 Canon (circa £300 but a cheaper F1.8 version is available) for detailed work and where I want a very shallow depth of field.

My day to day lens is a Sigma 28-70mm F2.8 and I also have a Sigma 70-300mm F4.5 which I bought for going on safari (really gald I did, got some great shots!)

Photoshop Elements has all the functionality I need - only pro's need the full blown program (I found it hard to use and it aint cheap!)

Also, when buying memory cards, read the specs of your camera - its easy to kid yourself you need a really fast card, but no point buying one faster than the max speed your camera can write data to the card.... 2007 Zermatt Silver TDV8 Vogue SE - now sold but was a great car!

coincidently i was in currys as well yesterday mr C.... as it sounds like your sons first dip into photography i would probably get him a cheap bridge like the fuji s4300 which has a evf and a tempting 26x zoom, if he gets bored of the new hobby then its not a lot of money to loose...
in my quest for the best price for the fuji sl1000 i have found that apart from the online stores, tescos,john lewis,sainesburys,asda,currys/pc world,and argos all have camera sections with the supermarkets having old stock selling cheap... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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+1 for the Nikon D7000 I love mine especially since I added the battery grip. Both Canon or Nikon are the top dogs. Try them out and go with what you like the feel of. Tom

Current Drive
2011 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography - Santorini Black - Ivory Leather

Previous Drives
2004 Model Vogue Td6 (Touchscreen) - Java Black - Parchment Leather
1994 RR Classic 3.9 V8 Soft dash - Niagara Grey - Grey Leather
1972 Series III SWB Safari - Green (Hand Painted) - Black Plastic

Another camera to look at maybe the Canon 1100D.
It really is more of an entry level DSLR with only 12Mp and has a few less features than the 600D but it still good quality but for a slightly cheaper price.  

+1 for the Nikon d7000, the price of which is now even cheaper since the d7100 came out.
As others have said the quality of the glass is more important than the camera body. I use a 50mm fixed lens and a 80-200 f2.8 as my normal lenses. The kit lens only gets a look in if I need a wider shot.
Stan's point is valid as the camera is only a tool and people have photos published that are taken with bridge cameras. The point with the DSLRs is that you have more immediate control.
I don't think it matters if you go canon or nikon if you have a DSLR. The only way to decide really is to go and hold them both. See how they feel in your hand and decide which had the least baffling menu system. Pick one then stick with it. I changed from Sony DSLR to Nikon and it took me ages to get used to the Nikon menus - now I can change settings with my eyes closed

You have factored in the cost of photoshop elements and the upgrades to RAM to get it running nice and fast haven't you? I use a MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and am considering whether of not to add more RAM (assuming the machine will take it) and don't forget to shoot in RAW which will give better possibilities when editing the files but does mean that you need loads of storage as RAW files will be up to 45mb per picture.

Got the 550D since 2 years... Very pleased what it can do and still learning but like said before you will spend more on additional lenses which will increase the capabilities of the camera. The 600 is newer with even more capabilities so go for it, you will not be sorry!!  Mike.

2007 Range Rover Vogue TDV8, Black, Sand Leather Seats & Sand / Black Interior.
IID Tool from GAP Diagnostics.

Anyone else hate the megapixel arms race? It has compromised the imaging potential of modern cameras, particularly DSLR’s

The physical size of the sensor arrays used in DSLR’s has not changed, look it up if you want to get techy but they are usually either APS-C or full size on high end kit.
Adding more ‘pixels’ to a fixed area (a higher MP count) means each individual sensor has to be smaller.

The smaller the sensor, the smaller the amount of light which can fall on it. Decreasing the amount of light decreases the magnitude of the electrical signal each sensor is able to generate.

Reduced electrical potential from individual sensors translates into lower dynamic range, most noticeably seen as poor low light performance.

People would be able to take better pictures if manufacturers had kept sensor array MP counts lower (i.e. larger individual sensors) but continued to develop the electrical sensitivity to light of individual sensors (to increase MP count, you need to increase sensitivity without adding noise, otherwise sensors with a higher MP count would produce worse images. Manufacturers have successfully done this)

Given you can print a 6MP image at A3 size without a noticeable loss of quality, the vast majority of people don’t need the 20+ MP cameras that are now being produced.

It’s a shame so few people seem to understand the physics underlying photography. The marketing myth that more MP = better pictures is commonly accepted and manufacturers compete on this basis (from their point of view, at least they can continually get people to upgrade their kit ) 2007 Zermatt Silver TDV8 Vogue SE - now sold but was a great car!

Completely agree with GraemeC. Megapixels are a nonsense. I moved to the Nikon d7000 as it has better low light handling and an improved AF system. My next move will be to go full-frame for the larger sensor not any big jump in megapixels.

I have just bought a Canon 6D from this firm, who were very competitive on price and are a well established UK firm. Canon are currently doing cash back offers until the end of May, so even more savings to be had.

http://www.wexphotographic.com/

(I have no connection with them btw)

Paul.

Why is the Canon 7D £500 cheaper than the Canon 6D and appears to get better reviews?

7D is only an APS-C sensor; the reviews compare it against other APS-C models. The 6D is a full frame sensor model. The reviews for the 6D compare it with the equivalent Nikon. The Canon is better in low light, which suits my needs.

Just got this email link from Curry's as they are having a Canon Camera Sale:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/currys-camera...rcial.html

Just got the email as well.... It's got me thinking after the post about pixels..
Should I consider the 1100D with its 12.2M or spend the extra £100 on him and get the 600D with 18M? Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

CANON EOS 1100D Digital SLR Camera with 18-55 mm + 75-300 mm Zoom Lens £399

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/cameras/digit...3-pdt.html

Seems very good value. Anything bigger than 12 mp is bigger than necessary in my opinion but I am no expert!

Last edited by Gazellio @ Prestige Cars on 23rd May 2013 6:48pm. Edited 1 time in total