Reddit mentions of Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens

Thanks :3

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, aka 500d

Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8

The lens is mostly what gives this "depth of field" effect

This is the same model camera. T1i = 500D. In the US it retails for $649 = £416. That's the base price in the US, not even a sale price.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you if it's a good deal. It's a lot more than I'd pay for that camera as a "sale" price, but I don't know what sort of prices you're looking at generally in the UK.

From doing a quick search of Amazon.co.uk... I can say that all of their cameras seem to be similarly over-priced. Perhaps Amazon.co.uk is just a bad place to buy camera gear. Hopefully a UK-based person pops in with some advice on a better place to buy your kit.

I found two used DSLRs on amazon for around my price range. Which would you recommend?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001XURPQS/sr=1-2/qid=1325174068/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1325174068&sr=1-2&seller=
or
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JCSV5I/sr=8-1/qid=1325174309/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1325174309&sr=8-1&seller=

Would you disagree with these reviews?

DWTC(Didnt want to click): Pictures come out fuzzy?

Here's the kit I was looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001XURPQS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Comes with a EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. Read a review of it online that stated: “If you need a general purpose lens, and the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens reaches the limits of your budget, it is a good choice. I think this lens is going to help sell more Canon Digital SLR cameras. It is certainly a great upgrade over the 18-55 II for the money. It is a nice addition to Canon's lineup.”

I'll check out those modes.

I posted an article a few days ago that actually talked about how important that back button focus is for shooting moving things/sports. I didn't understand the concept at first, but after doing some research into it, it sounds like it's actually really useful. Prevents you from having to hold the action button halfway down while waiting to take a shot in order to keep the autofocus going (or something like that).

The easiest answer: Canon T1i. It includes an 18-55mm kit lens which is a decent all purpose lens (outdoors), indoors with reasonable lighting. In low-light, or non-flash situations pick up a 50mm f1.8 portrait lens (it's very fast, and pretty sharp, which translates into a good baby/kid set-up. Last, it's CHEAP. $100.

T1i + 18-55mm kit lens
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-T1i-Digital-18-55mm-3-5-5-6/dp/B001XURPQS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1289446917&sr=8-2

T1i body only
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-T1i-Digital-Body-Only/dp/B001XURPQI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1289446917&sr=8-3

50mm f1.8 lens
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-8-Camera-Lens/dp/B00007E7JU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1289446980&sr=1-1

Any preferences, like Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc...? I'm a Canon person and I recommend their Rebel lines, especially t1i to begin. It's so cheap now but it's a solid entry level DSLR. I think you should start with the kit lens, regular 18-55mm, and play with it for while until you know which lens to buy next. I found an used only for $299 with the lens from Amazon seller: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-T1i-Digital-18-55mm-3-5-5-6/dp/B001XURPQS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377301675&sr=8-1&keywords=t1i

I'd go ahead and get the 600D. If you wanted to save some money, I've got the 500D which works just fine for a starter, then you could probably grab the 50mm 1.8 which once you outgrow the kit lens, is generally the next step.

If you're willing to spend about $600, this is a damned good deal.....

First tip. Skip the P&S, get a DSLR ESPECIALLY for birds. $300 is a lot of money in high school, in photography, it's half-a-flash. There's a lot of budget photographers on here and I'm sort of one myself, that being said, $300 isn't going to carry you very far. Best bet? Buy a used Rebel T1i or newer or even better, a 30D or newer if you can. You're looking at about $260-$360 for a body, which isn't bad at all. Modern bodies start at about 600-700 and go as high as 6700 or more. I'm at this less than a year and I already need to upgrade from a 50D to a 6D (1700-1800) for what I want to do. Lenses are freaking expensive. My first car out of high school cost me $2200, my next lens (which I'm settling for) is half that. Birding lenses are expensive, because they need to be fast focusing, fast aperture, and long. Really long. My focal length in my bag tops out at 300mm (480mm equivalent), you'll need longer. That being said, you can pick up a 75-300 f/4-f/5.6 with an ultrasonic motor for 230 brand new or the 55-250 with the same aperture with image stabilization for 300 which has a much cleaner MTF chart. If you want fast autofocus, you'd want the cheaper one, but for better contrast quality and IS, go a little more. The 75-300, however, will carry forward to much nicer cameras.


The advantage to saving and buying better is that you'll have nicer pictures, a better experience, more room to grow as a photographer, as well as equipment that will last. P&S's are disposable cameras. They get old and become irrelavent, so do SLR's to an extent, but people still buy old ones for a reason. Old SLR's still outperform P&S's and the lenses give you flexibility. Work, save, strive and then invest. One day, you'll be saving up for a 1D with 100-400mm L-series while sporting a Manfrotto tripod. Give it time.