The daughter wants to to buy her boyfriend a Digital camera , So I advised her he would be better off with a second hand DSLR rather than a new point an shoot , (As he wants to be more creative )The budget is about £150.00 and I thought about a D30 and have been watching a few on Ebay.
Do you think this would be a good choice ? this would also give him access to the full range of Canon lens as well ,any other suggestions in that price bracket.

It's an absolutely excellent camera for the money. In fact it was a pretty bloody good one for £1800 when I bought my first one new.

You get the full capabilities of an SLR, of course, and image quality which is in a totally different league than anything you could buy new for that price. I have example pics here (http://www.cawte.nildram.co.uk/D30/) - proof that megapixels don't tell the full story when it comes to picture quality.

However, don't forget that you'll need at least one lens to go with it too, which is likely to double the budget - even second hand lenses could be relatively costly, they don't depreciate like DSLR bodies do.

Thanks for that Andy , never realised there where that much when first released,:eek: There is one on Ebay now but I have just been outbid , its now at over £160... over her budget I'm afraid , think people are buying them thinking they are a 30D !

I think £150 for a D30 is cheap. They are still very good cameras capable of producing amazing photos.

If you look at eBay completed items, they sell body only for £200+.

I think you will be very lucky to find one for £150. ffordes (https://secure.ffordes.com/index.htm) have a D30 for £250 body only and mxv (http://www.mxv.co.uk/canondigital.asp) have one for £270 body only.

The D30 is still very worth while buying, but your daughters budget will need to increase to also include a lens (a 50mm 1.8 is £80 new or about £50 SH)

Darren

You can get a 300D with the 18-55 kit lense and other bits and bobs for £250-£280 though :thumb:

Something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-300D-6MP-Digital-Camera-Bundle-Kit_W0QQitemZ180031563982QQihZ008QQcategoryZ31388Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-300D-6MP-Digital-Camera-Bundle-Kit_ (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-300D-6MP-Digital-Camera-Bundle-Kit_W0QQitemZ180031563982QQihZ008QQcategoryZ31388Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)W0QQitemZ180031563982QQihZ008Q QcategoryZ31388QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-300D-6MP-Digital-Camera-Bundle-Kit_W0QQitemZ180031563982QQihZ008QQcategoryZ31388Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)


That looks a great deal but its way over her budget, she's a poor student at Uni , and I'm not funding her boyfriends new hobby ;)

Might have to have a rethink on the D30, or keep watching Ebay , no rush she doesnt want it till Christmas.

Well, it is an auction, so whether it ends up being a great deal or not is something we'll have to wait and see :)

I think it's the need for a lens that's going to be the problem. My own D30 is likely to find itself up for sale very soon - I just don't use it enough to warrant keeping it - and since it's body, manual & charger only, £150 doesn't seem totally unreasonable. There's a small defect in the top LCD too, not that it makes any difference to how the camera works, but some people can be picky. Other than that it's immaculate and in perfect working order.

Once you've added a lens, though, it's going to be well over £200 even if you get a really cheap one. It's well worth saving for though, IMHO.

The one I got out-bid on did include a Sigma 18-50mm and some other bits an pieces .

Andy if you do decide to sell PM me , Im sure I could find a cheap lens from somewhere , saying that the bugger will want to borrow my 70-200mm F/4:D
Just as well the 17-85mm wont fit ;)