Hey guys, i was hoping somebody could recommend a digital SLR to me? I am going backpacking through Africa for a couple of months this summer and to South East Asia for a month at Christmas. I want a good digital SLR - Cannon, Nikon or Pentax - at a guess. I will also need 1 normal and one long lens - for the animals in Africa!

I do not need a professional set up but a really good quality camera for an enthusiast would work. I don’t really know much about them but was looking for something user friendly that I could learn about photography.

I also don’t want to spend thousands upon thousands on the equipment!! Ideally i wouldn't want to spend more than a grand for everything is that possible for the following:

Camera
2 lenses
card
bag etc etc!!
Thanks

Got a D70 with a low shutter count, and 18-70 lens if you want to PM me?

Camera is spotless, and has been looked after. You can pick up a new 70-300VR Nikkor lens to go with it for sub £300 now.

Alcazar

There are so many good cameras out there the best thing I can suggest to you is get yourself down your local camera shop and try a few out.
You really need to find out how different cameras feel in you hand, the last thing you need is to hump a SLR around with you that you don't like holding!

There will be plenty of SLR's within your price range, e.g Canon 350D/400D/450D and Nikon D40/D50/D60/D70/D80 are excellent to name a few, although some of them are older models but still can be bought new.

A good website to gauge cost of camera/lens is Camera Price Buster - UKs cheapest camera gear (http://www.camerapricebuster.com)

Don't forget it's not the camera that produces good pictures but the person behind the viewfinder, all the above cameras can produce stunning pictures.

Got a D70 with a low shutter count, and 18-70 lens if you want to PM me?

Camera is spotless, and has been looked after. You can pick up a new 70-300VR Nikkor lens to go with it for sub £300 now.

Alcazar

Alcazar's D70 is still an excellent camera. And buying S/H should leave you enough to get the fine Nikon 70-300mm VR mentioned above. Maybe a decent flash, too :)

Bags are a very personal choice. And the choice is vast. Choose your kit (with an eye on the future) then a big shop with a good range of bags. Have a look at the range offered at Warehouse Express - Camera Accessories and Lenses, Photography Equipment, Canon, Nikon Digital Cameras (http://www.warehouseexpress.com) to give you starting point. Should only take you a few hours :D

Richard.

Canon 450D & 18-55 IS £485 (http://www.camerapricebuster.com/Canon_EOS_450D_+_18-55mm_IS_Lens_pc.html)

or

Canon 40D £500 (http://www.camerapricebuster.com/Canon_EOS_40D_Body_pc.html) (inc £100 cashback) & 18-55 IS £115 (http://www.camerapricebuster.com/Canon_EF-S_18-55mm_f3.5-5.6_IS_pc.html)

Canon 70-300 IS £350 (http://www.camerapricebuster.com/Canon_EF_70-300mm_f4-5.6_IS_USM_pc.html)

Lowepro Slingshot 100 £38 (http://www.camerapricebuster.com/Lowepro_Slingshot_100AW_pc.html)

Sandisk Extreme III 4GB x 2 £34 (http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3439747/SanDisk-Extreme-III-4GB-SDHC-Memory-Card-With-MicroMate-Reader/Product.html)

The 40D has nicer handling and is better built, but the pixel density of the 450D might be an advantage for wildlife shots.

Sure you can do the same with Nikon etc... :)

I went to Kenya on safari/holiday last year and the one thing I'd wished I'd used was a tripod or some kind of mount especially with a zoom lens. Chances are you'll be bombing around in a mutatu (toyota hi-ace people carrier driven by racing drivers) with a removable roof/sliding windows so one of these would be great.

Joby - Gorillapod SLR-ZOOM (http://www.joby.com/products/gorillapod/slrzoom/)

make sure it's this model you get or the weight of an slr with zoom lens would be too much for it.

While on safari if you're in a mutatu you'll have room to use a tripod (I'm 6ft 6 and I could stand up no problem) but only if there's just a few of you for $55 that pod is a must I reckon !

either way take lots and lots of memory cars/hard disks even better if you have a little laptop or similar as shooting off 1000-1500 shots a day is far too easy. I took 6gb worth of cards and was deleting unwanted pictures daily and had 55 photos left available when I got back!!!

Enjoy it's an experience !!!

(First thing they said to us was "remember you're in Africa - everthing is an adventure here !!!")

Be prepared to feel very small .... Africa is vast

Jambo

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk104/PantsUK/Small3_Tsavo1hires.jpg