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DSLR for 11 year old

jimbob75

pfm Member
My eldest has been happily snapping away on his camera phone but now wants to move up a step into DSLR territory. I used to shoot with Nikon gear (D90 plus a few primes etc) but sold a few years ago in favour of a Fuji X100s, and don't keep up with the latest tech. From his own research he is swaying towards Canon, a brand I know 'nowt about. Body wise I'd envisage the Canon equivalent of a Nikon D40, ie something small enough to handle easily, good enough to take decent snaps and inexpensive. Knowing how disposable digital bodies become I'd want the money to go towards a decent prime, ideally 35mm or 50mm equivalent. Cost wise as little as possible (sub £100?) on the body. We can expand on the lenses as his interest/skill develops.
Any thoughts or suggestions welcome.
 
Buy the same brand as your friends have/use... So if you have friends that shoot Canon get Canon, likewise Nikon.
Can argue till you are blue in the face the technical merits of either of the big brands, but end of the day working on a similar system and being able to share kit is far more value than a small percent better IQ from it..


Find a second hand few year old low end Canon and get the nifty fifty (50mm f1.8).. Great starting point.
 
Sam is spot on there. Had a look at the MPB site and remembered I got my wife a couple of Canon 1100d bodies to use at her school and they have been rock solid. Might be out of budget at £129, but they have a load of 1000d bodies at £74.

Can't recommend MPB highly enough - I've bought and sold to/from them several times over the years.
 
Cheers both.

mpb has been recommended to me before. I'll look into those Canon bodies mentioned.

Not sure if any of his mates have kit, camera phones seem to do a good enough job these days. His reasons for going Canon are, I suspect, based on looks and/or whatever the cool kids are shooting on youtube...funnily enough he did mention a nifty fifty so that's a good call.

Are there any compatibility issues to be aware of? Eg I know the D40 didn't have an inbuilt motor which restricted autofocus on some older lenses.
 
50mm is a bit long on a crop body, I use a 24mm on a d300 it's effectively a 38mm.

Pete
 
Cheers both.

mpb has been recommended to me before. I'll look into those Canon bodies mentioned.

Not sure if any of his mates have kit, camera phones seem to do a good enough job these days. His reasons for going Canon are, I suspect, based on looks and/or whatever the cool kids are shooting on youtube...funnily enough he did mention a nifty fifty so that's a good call.

Are there any compatibility issues to be aware of? Eg I know the D40 didn't have an inbuilt motor which restricted autofocus on some older lenses.

Canon its pretty simply, the crop body (cheaper ones) will support ANY Canon EF or EF-S lens. Full frame bodies (expensive) ONLY support the EF lenses.

Yes, the 50mm is a bit long on a crop body, doesnt stop it being a pretty amazing starting point, the (second hand) the price is very much right (circa £100)..

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Canon/Canon-EF-lenses/Canon-EF-50mm-f1.8-STM-Lens

Great site for checking the price of lenses/bodies (new).
 
The 50mm equivalent on my Nikon was the 35mm f1.8g dx - a great little lens. Is there not a similarly priced (ie £120ish used) Canon 35mm?

The Canon 24mm f2.8 looks a good proposition for a 35mm film equivalent (similar to what he's used to looking through my X100).
 
Doesn't seem to be a similarly affordable Canon in the 35mm range to give a crop-body 50mm equivalent? Perhaps a Sigma or..?
 
I have a Sigma 24mm f2.8 a Nikon 24mm f2.8 and a Nikon 24mm f1.8 all good the f1.8 is better than the other two but the Sigma focuses closer.

So thumbs up for the Sigma from me.

Pete
 
He needs to handle them both, one system will feel 'right', the other will feel 'left-handed'. Buy the system that feels right to him.

I chose OM back in the 80's on the basis of ergonomics. These days I shoot Nikon after my plans to turn Canon back in the 90's were thwarted by freight and timing.

I was recently very kindly offered opportunity to shoot a bunch of Canon gear for a weekend at my leisure by Canon; trying to drive 5D mk III or IV or the 1DS line after running Nikon pro and semi-pro kit for nearly a decade will be quite the challenge. I mean, no thumb-wheel, and that front finger wheel on the vertical axis? Of course the reverse is true for a Canon shooter picking up any of my gear.

Handling must feel intuitive.
 
I agree about the importance of handling. He'll have small hands, so how about letting him try a Canon 100D with 18-55mm IS in the shop? (I'd buy one over a 1200D any day. Better viewfinder for a start, as I recall.)

The build quality of the 18-55mm isn't the best, but optically it's capable enough and it's excellent vfm, especially as part of a kit. It'll also give him flexibility and let him decide his favourite focal length for himself. It can focus down to a remarkable 25cm. When I was a kid, I always wished my fixed focal length film cameras could focus closer to some subject matter.*

Personally, I'd find a 50mm prime on APS-C a bit unwieldy for standard use. If a prime must be had, I I feel a wide angle prime, say the EF-S 24mm pancake, might be a better place to start. That translates to what, about 38mm in FF terms? I believe fixed focal length cameras of the past almost always had lenses in the mild to moderate wide angle range because the field of view more closely matches that of our eyes.


*I use a Nikon D90 and have been seriously considering getting an 18-55mm VR II. So light compared to my 18-105mm and less obstrusive and sufficiently flexible for my uses, and only true micro Nikkors can focus more closely without assistance, as far as I know.
 
I agree about the importance of handling. He'll have small hands, so how about letting him try a Canon 100D with 18-55mm IS in the shop? (I'd buy one over a 1200D any day. Better viewfinder for a start, as I recall.)

Great choice but likely outside the budget. Now replaced by 200D so maybe a bargain somewhere.
 
Thanks for all the good advice. The boy does like taking close-ups, and since a macro is well outside budget the 18-55mm may be a good call, and also allow him to get a feel for differing focal lengths. I certainly think it'll be good to get started on a prime so he starts thinking about composition and perspective, plus with the added benefits of better optics, low-light ability and depth of field.
In terms of bodies, size-wise comparable to a D40 I guess. Still need to get my head around all the models, but preferably one which is tactile in terms of manual operation, eg adjusting shutter, aperture, manual focus. The D40 was a bit limited in that respect.
 
The D50 has a focus motor and they are cheap second hand, I have one that still gets used every now and then.

Pete
 
*I use a Nikon D90 and have been seriously considering getting an 18-55mm VR II. So light compared to my 18-105mm and less obstrusive and sufficiently flexible for my uses, and only true micro Nikkors can focus more closely without assistance, as far as I know.
the 18-55 (any model) is vastly under-rated and overlooked, sharp as a sharp thing, and better than the 18-70, 16-whatever, 18-105, etc etc etc. you can pick em up for buttons, and they're light and compact.

People push used consumer Canon, I'm not entirely sure why. I'm no fan of the Canon 50 1.8II, it's loaded with chromatic aberration. yes you can shoot around it. With the Nikon 50 1.8 you don't need to! But I digress.

I have small hands. I shoot (mostly) a D3, or D700. I shot my D7000 recently, it was a joy to drive something compact and light. You can get D7000's for buttons now, too.

this stream of consciousness brought to you by a glass of central otago pinot noir, the letter steak, and the words wok/fry/stir/vegetables.
 
The D50 has a focus motor and they are cheap second hand, I have one that still gets used every now and then.

Pete

that would be a good place to start, IMV. Assuming the nikon way does not leave your lad feeling left handed.
 
He has used a D40 and seems comfortable with it. Perhaps wise to get a play with a Canon first then if one system may feel counter-intuitive. He did also mention using it for video, if that sways the decision either way? I had the Nikkor 18-55 kit lens (non-VR) but felt it wasn't fast enough under low light
 


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