Another what DSLR thread

[Tant]

Hello all

Sorry for yet another thread like this but the search function seems to be off long term...

I am looking to buy a decent DSLR, probably Nikon, but I'm really not sure what sort of functions the various models have.

The main criteria are:-

Able to take very long exposures...10 minutes+ as I want to take photos of star swirls.

Mostly will be taking nature and landscape type shots, so not fussed about high FPS

Would like to experiment with wide angle, and low light type shots, mainly sunsets and sunrise.

Can justify up to about £600 for body and basic lens.

Any Nikon users on here who can recommend their camera

Much appreciated

Ant

[jon-]

d90 or d300 without fail. Personally I'd go for the d90 as it's a massively capable camera. The sigma 10-20 will give you UWA on the cropped sensor and it's fairly decent quality for not much money (~350)

[beano500]

Tant said:

Able to take very long exposures...10 minutes+ as I want to take photos of star swirls.

Mostly will be taking nature and landscape type shots, so not fussed about high FPS

Would like to experiment with wide angle, and low light type shots, mainly sunsets and sunrise.

Can justify up to about £600 for body and basic lens.

Mostly all do what you want, I should think.

You may need some money for a remote release to get the most out of a bulb setting. You'll ideally want this for use on a tripod anyway.

I'd tend towards the latest model you can for the newest sensor design (signal to noise will be a key for decent long exposures).

The "kit" lenses tend to be starters at 18mm. OK-ish for landscapes, but the 16-85mm might be even better (although you probably can't call it "basic")

Coming back to the body, I think a D3000 might be a good starting point with an ML-L3 remote release.

Yes the '90 or '300 would be that much better - but spend the money on the glass and come back for a new, better, uprated, upgraded, super-duper, body in about 2012.

Just my tuppence....

[Chicken Pox]

beano500 said:

Tant said:

Able to take very long exposures...10 minutes+ as I want to take photos of star swirls.

Mostly will be taking nature and landscape type shots, so not fussed about high FPS

Would like to experiment with wide angle, and low light type shots, mainly sunsets and sunrise.

Can justify up to about £600 for body and basic lens.

Mostly all do what you want, I should think.

You may need some money for a remote release to get the most out of a bulb setting. You'll ideally want this for use on a tripod anyway.

I'd tend towards the latest model you can for the newest sensor design (signal to noise will be a key for decent long exposures).

The "kit" lenses tend to be starters at 18mm. OK-ish for landscapes, but the 16-85mm might be even better (although you probably can't call it "basic")

Coming back to the body, I think a D3000 might be a good starting point with an ML-L3 remote release.

Yes the '90 or '300 would be that much better - but spend the money on the glass and come back for a new, better, uprated, upgraded, super-duper, body in about 2012.

Just my tuppence....

might be worth getting this months Digital Photo Issue124 got a review of entry level DLSRs and low light/stars feature (D3000 does come out top), budget for tripod too. If I was starting again I'd probably go for second hand body and spend more on glass as suggested.

[Ravell]

jon- said:

d90 or d300 without fail. Personally I'd go for the d90 as it's a massively capable camera.

While I completely agree the D90 and D300 are awesome bits of kit, I think they're both well over the budget of £600 for the body and lens. I'd say Nikon D5000, it misses a few buttons and features, but technical image quality is just as good as both the D90 and D300.

[Tant]

Great stuff, ta for all the good advice. The main one was for the ultra long exposures....I wasn't sure which of them had "bulb" setting

Much appreciated

Ant

[RobDickinson]

Tant said:

Hello all

Able to take very long exposures...10 minutes+ as I want to take photos of star swirls.

Ant

ello,

Most good star trail pics are actualy blends of many short shots as noise becomes intrusive for very long shots typicaly (and the noise reduction techniques actualy mess up the star trails.

All dSLR's have bulb mode and all will do what you want.

If you want nikon a D3000 and 10-20 sigma will be good, d90 is much better all round tho.