Looking for first DSLR for under


Recommended Posts

Dad wants his first DSLR. We don't know what any of the lens terminology means.

The lowest price DSLRs from each manufacturer are:

?230 - Sony Alpha SLT-A37 (unknown lens type) (mid-2012)

?300 - Canon EOS 1100D (DC lens) (early 2011)

?300 - Nikon D3100 (VR lens) (mid-2010)

All of the above have 18-55mm lens, whatever that means.

Any suggestions? Recommendations? Comments? Alternatives?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1115207-looking-for-first-dslr-for-under/
Share on other sites

I would avoid a Sony Alpha - their ultra low cost entices a lot of people but the actual picture quality is not too great.

Is ?300 the top end of your budget? If you added an extra ?100 you could go for a Nikon D5100, which is a great DSLR for a beginner.

I would avoid a Sony Alpha - their ultra low cost entices a lot of people but the actual picture quality is not too great.

Is ?300 the top end of your budget? If you added an extra ?100 you could go for a Nikon D5100, which is a great DSLR for a beginner.

?400 for a camera is mad to us.

?325 is the top limit :)

Either the Canon or Nikon will be great for you. Go and hold them both, or get your dad to and buy whichever feels the nicest in your hands.

18-55mm is the focal range (zoom range), at 18mm the photo will be very wide, at 55mm it will be more zoomed in, you twist the lens to select through the range.

Also if u get the Canon get their cheap 50mm Fixed Lens afterwards sometime it will be great for indoor closeups and such. it has a wide aperture so will allow the sensor to capture more light in less time resulting on good photos in low light.

Go for the Canon 1100d it's a great camera and if you don't mind manufacturer refurbs which come with 1 years warranty the Canon eBay store has some great offers. I would also recommend grey imports from DigitalRev.

I would avoid a Sony Alpha - their ultra low cost entices a lot of people but the actual picture quality is not too great.

Is ?300 the top end of your budget? If you added an extra ?100 you could go for a Nikon D5100, which is a great DSLR for a beginner.

As someone who regularly uses an Alpha camera and have used other brands quite extensively: You are mistaken, IQ-wise the differences between equivalent cameras (same genration, target segment, etc) of different brands are usually minimal. And I'd definitely say the A37 is better than the 1100D or D3100.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Carol, Windows XP is still being used today only in a small capacity. It is still the best OS there is due to its backwards compatibility with other older software, the customization features, and friendly UI, and people often feel that upgrading to newer OSes is cost prohibitive in specialized Industries or developing countries, so the market share as of now is around 0.2%-0.3%
    • If I could, I would commemorate it the best way possible: Replacing old machines that are still running Windows XP with something more modern, stable and better.     Noone and nothing should be running Windows XP in 2026.
    • Google's new hand-wave reCAPTCHA can be bypassed with a stock photo by Ivan Jenic Image: Screenshot Google is testing a new reCAPTCHA method that asks you to wave at your camera to prove you're human. So, besides solving puzzles and reading distorted text, you can now use your computer’s camera to pass the verification test. When the hand gesture verification is triggered, your browser asks for camera access and prompts you to perform a simple gesture, like a wave or an open palm. Google says it records a short video of the movement and uses AI to extract 21 hand-knuckle coordinates to complete the verification process. The video is then immediately deleted, and Google swears it doesn't keep it. The process alone can be uncomfortable for people who wouldn’t want their biometric data, which hand scans technically qualify as, recorded. But it gets even more nuanced, as early testers discovered that the new hand-waving reCAPTCHA can be passed with a simple stock image. A user on X tested the new challenge using a stock image of a hand fed through OBS Virtual Camera, and it passed. I wanted to verify it, so I tried the same thing. It took me a few tries and a few stock images, but in the end, I was also able to pass the test. I simply had to readjust the stock image of a generic person waving inside OBS, and Google’s mechanism registered it as a legitimate hand gesture. Once again, it didn’t even have to be a video or an AI-generated hand animation. Given the simplicity of the process, the entire action can be automated in minutes. All it takes is a simple Python script to render the new reCAPTCHA method obsolete. And it doesn’t even have to be an AI bot, which is usually used for solving puzzles and other verification methods. The new reCAPTCHA method is still in its early phase, and Google will, hopefully, update its AI to at least reject still images. However, this incident, combined with users’ initial skepticism about Google’s practices regarding user data, likely won’t make too many people wave at the camera anytime soon.
    • 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 "to fund healthcare and tuition" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Who do you think you are talking about, some COMMUNIST? We are better than them, doG bless Murica!!! p.s. I'm from a country where government does exactly that, i.e. not form US.
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      carols23 earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Month Later
      Tom Willson earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Apprentice
      Asgardi went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • One Month Later
      sunrisea2milk earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      sunrisea2milk earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      262
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      151
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      92
    5. 5
      macoman
      67
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!