Digital SLRs drop under £300
A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that my trusty Canon Digital Elph S500 had gone walkies. “What?” I hear you ask, “Isn’t this guy supposed to be a proper photographer? What the hell is he doing with a compact camera?”. The answer to that, really, is quite simple: I often find myself in situations where carrying a full-size camera around would be uncomfortable, unnecessary, or even downright dangerous. As such, I decided to buy the then-top-of-the-line Canon compact camera.
Interestingly enough, in this round of research, I discovered that yes, if I wanted a shit-hot digital compact, I needed to shell out some serious dosh. I ended up paying (Yes! Paying! Obviously, the camera manufacturers haven’t noticed Photocritic well enough to send me free cameras yet. The scoundrels!) £300 for what is undoubtedly the best compact camera I’ve ever used: the 10 megapixel Canon Digital Ixus 900 Ti. It’s got lots of pixels, a battery that lasts and lasts, an amazing screen, and a body of titanium, so it can take the next few years of abuse.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered on the T3 website that digital SLR packages have dropped to under £300!
Okay, okay, I shan’t keep you in suspense any longer. The camera in question is the Pentax K110D – I haven’t seen any reviews of this camera, and I haven’t had a chance to play around with it myself, yet, but Pentax has a long history of being a sturdy brand, and it would certainly be worth taking a closer look before you decide to splash the extra money for another dSLR! Check it out on Amazon UK or Amazon USA!
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Take a Canon EOS 450D. Attach a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. Hit the streets of London. See what happens.
Insights, suggestions and comments
The Pentax K100D, K110D, ist*, Olympus EVOLT E-500, Nikon D40, Canon EOS300D/350D, and several older models fall under $600 (300 GBP) here in the U.S. Shipping to the UK would probably bump the cost back up, unfortunately.
I found this camera in the US on the US amazon site at 399 for the camera and a lense 18-55mm or body only at 378, I hope this lasts, I know what I’ll be buying myself for my birthday ;)
http://www.amazon.com/Pentax-K110D-6-1MP-Digital-Camera/dp/B000G1JZIG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/102-6314461-3724143?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1178549094&sr=8-3
Upon viewing the first comment I decided to look for those cameras
Found the evolt for 419
http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Evolt-E500-Digital-Body/dp/B000BK393Y/ref=sr_1_8/102-6314461-3724143?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1178549671&sr=1-8
I wasn’t able to find the others withing $50 USD of 399, booth of these offerings are by a company called beach camera USA, I haven’t check any info about them but usually I trust companies the sell through amazon directly and not just the market place.
If this continues that would be great because they’d make good starter camera’s at least and as you see even a feature packed P&S is in around the same price level.
The concept of carrying around a compact for the situations where you don’t want a bulky SLR is awesome.
I’ve read about it in a couple places and it’s something i plan on doing when I’m slightly more liquid :P
I’m not sure I can imagine someone’s surprise at discovering something on a website they themselves edit. ;)
Ssh, Marwood, I haven’t actually started that job yet! :)
Just had a look around, the Pentax is £299 here in the UK as described, the awesome Nikon D50 is going for £299 (although as soon as companies find some stock they seem to sell out) and the Olympus E-400 is £349 via that ‘lovely’ DSG retail group (Currys, PC World etc)
A good time to want a DSLR, I would say.
I’ve been looking at some of those for a while, myself – I still adore Canon DSLRs, even though I can’t afford one right now ;) – and I feel it is possible (duh) to take great pictures on a point and shoot, which I do, but sometimes you want to “go bigger”…well, different gear for different circumstances. Thanks for re-bringing that to my attention. ;)
I bought a Canon SD230 in 2002 and it went goofy this summer after several years of trusty service. I shot Canon an email asking about it, and they sent me a pre-paid mailing envelope to let them “evaluate” the camera. I got an email about a week later saying they had identified the problem and would get back to me. Before I knew it, there was a package on my doorstep … with a brand new SD630 inside. You can be sure when I’m ready to upgrade beyond P&S, I’ll start my search with Canon.
My nephew recently purchased a Pentax K110D kit and it takes amazing pictures. He loves it and recomends it to all.
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