photography - camera recommendation.

[joko]

I am considering get back into photography...its been a long time and my pro film cameras are now obsolete and id like a digital one.

i haven't much money to spend, but i'd like one that straddles the line between amateur and pro... but cheap but as good as possible.

anyone got any ideas?

thanks

[joko]

thanks all, how do you know a good lens trim? do you mean the zoom?

[joko]

i am no pro, and i cannot remember most of what i learnt on the course anyway ....so speak as though i am complete novice.

i am just looking at ebay...ones in the range of about £40-50

can anyone give me a basic list of what i should look for and consider in choosing...?

[saxy_jag]

Are you looking at compact or DSLR? Because the price you state isn't going to buy much of the latter.

If compact, look at Canon or Panasonic - both are decent cameras for the money. Both have a fairly wide range to suit all budgets. 10 to 12 mp would be a good rating to aim for. Some level of zoom rating is a good feature, but pay more attention to the optical, rather than digital zoom - the latter zooms electronically and you'll lose information in your pictures.

An anti-shake mechanism is a good thing to have. Modern cameras don't give you the opportunity to hold the camera in close and stabilise it against your eye. Holding it arm's length makes it more prone to camera shake.

You may want to have a look at the range of bridge cameras that are available. They look a bit like a DSLR, but usually have a single, non-interchangeable lens and are a little smaller. However, as with DSLR, you're unlikely to get one for the sort of money you want to spend.

[NOX]

My daughter started out with not much money to see if she was into photography seriously, so her step father's ex gf who is a professional photographer advised her to go for one of the Sony Alpha ranges. This is because they can be
a. Picked up very cheaply
b. Have their anti shake built into the camera and not the lenses
c. Will take a whole plethora of lenses from the old minoltas some of which can be very good, and can be had for a song on ebay.
She progressed from her old Sony A200 ( £100 ebay) through to an A900 and an A700 and all the nice Carl Zeiss lenses she had originally fit.

I know s0d all about photography but bowed to the greater knowledge of the nice professional lady who advised her and tbh she hasn't looked back, and is now producing really nice work for very little outlay intially.

[whiskeryron]

http://www.amazon.co....8&qid=1319135700&sr=8

Have recently bought this & am over the moon with it.

W Ron.

[saxy_jag]

Fuji seems to be coming to the fore again just recently where 'easy use' cameras are concerned. They're getting decent write-ups in magazines.

Nox, I forgot to mention the Sony Alphas. Very nice cameras for the money. I almost bought myself one. It was toss-up between that and Nikon and I only had the latter because they'd just launched one in my budget range.