Great entry-level DSLR

Having owned several point-and-shoot cameras since 2003, I wanted to take it to the next level and I found this camera ensured a smooth transition.
Guide mode is a good starting point, it begins by asking you about the shoot type you want to do and then sets the camera and gives you tips for making it. Another cool feature is that every menu has explanatory pictures so they are very intuitive.
After some time playing with the Guide mode, I moved into the more advanced P, S, A modes which are common to all DSLRs and again, the transition was smooth.
Missing points? Maybe live-view for some compromised shots.
Overall the D3000 is a great camera, takes fantastic pictures and it's excellent value for money.

Very good first impressions

This camera looks to be a winner so far. Excellent RAW picture quality. Good amount of settings (Although some may be tricky for first time users). A camera to experience rather than just point and click, would recommend sitting down with it regulary to get to grips with it. On the other hand, its the kind of camera that makes"most" photos look good anyway.

One negative would be that there was no memory card in a camera of this quality and price.

I love my camera

I recently bought a Nikon D90. Compared to my previous camera, this is a space ship.
I am surprised of the quality of pictures at night.

Great DSLR for intermediate user

I got this Nikon D5000 yesterday and I have to say I'm impressed. I used a 35mm SLR for black and white stuff up until now, with the occasional use of a digital compact (Panasonic Lumix). I wasn't overly impressed with the quality from the panasonic but it was small so I forgave it..!

The Nikon D5000 though is a very good camera, the contrals are fairly intuitive, though do read the good manual if you're stuck on something, it helps! The quality of the images is good so far, only done night stuff but it handles very well and portraits are looking very good so far!

It's controls are good, I even managed to use it with gloves (in the cold Scottish weather!).

I'll update this in a few days I think, bit of a honeymoon stage at the moment...!

Cannon 500D

This camera is a typical cannon, easy to operate with very good performance, very pleased with results to date.

However, be careful with non cannon lenses some do not have chips which operate the lens mechanism.

sony alpha

This is my first purchase for a dslr, the build quality is excellent, the controls are well laid out, extremely user friendly, picture quality is great.
If I had to rate this dslr It would 5 out of 5.

Canon 1000D - Great camera!

I treated myself to the Canon 1000D kit complete with the EF-S 18-55 kit lens for Christmas (my 'To Me, From Me' present) and I'm not disappointed. I wouldn't describe myself as a photography buff at all and prior to buying this camera used a neat little Canon Powershot compact. So why change? Having initially pooh poohed the idea of a Digital SLR as far too complicated and too much of a 'serious' camera for me, I was persuaded otherwise by someone who had the Canon 500D and having been persuaded that it was just as easy to use as my point and shoot with full auto settings (and it was when I tried it) I was won over by the difference in quality of the photos. I did some research via 'Which' and the Canon 1000D came out tops as a 'best buy' in terms of picture quality and ease of use. In fact most of the digital SLR's came out with top ratings for ease of use so don't be put off as I was by the fact that it looks a 'serious' camera. Picture quality is excellent, the kit lens supplied takes great shots and there is a full auto set-up which makes it as easy to use straight out of the box as your compact digital 'point and shoot' camera, but the possibilities are endless and I can guarantee you will end up taking some really professional shots. Another tip - buy the 'Dummies' guide specifically for this make/model by Julie Adair King - if shutter speed, exposure and ISO all sound FAR too technical this great book will help to make sense of it all in a very easy to follow, no-nonsense kind of way. Yes you can keep it on the 'auto' setting and take great pictures with it but as Julie says with this camera, that's like having a Porsche but never actually taking it on a road! Go for it, you'll be glad you did!

Perfect step up from a D60

I got a D90 as an upgrade to my D60.

Wow!

Amazing performance at high ISO, I shot a non league football match under floodlights and mist the other night and although not perfect, I got very usable shots at ISO 2500 and 3200 and that was using the very limited f/4.5 maximum aperture of the 55-200mm. I got the 18-135mm out on the D60 which has a larger max aperture of f/3.5 and got barely visible shots at 400 ISO, anything above that it was a case of forget it.

The D90 when couple with a grip feels like a real camera, although it's anything but a pro body it certainly does look and feel the part. The last reviewer said you can go a few days without a charger but if you have two Nikon batteries in the grip you could go a whole week as it takes up to 5,000 shots between charges.

Another pro is the fact you can af with normal AF-D and G lenses and don't have to have AF-S as with the D60. My nifty fifty on the D90 is so much better as you can af with it and aren't limited like with the D60, it's become my favourite lens overnight.

I thought the D60 was a fantastic camera and it is, but the D90 simply blows it out of the water.

Excellent Quality for a Smaller Camera

This is a great quality camera. Attractive and small, easy to use for first time photographers, this camera produces very high quality images. It has a nice feel, and isn't too big. I was very impressed with it, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

I bought this camera in July 2009 and i can say...

... that i am very pleased with it. It is a great camera for starting with SLR cameras, very funtional and user friendly but reading the manual and getting some tips from another ownners is essenctial. The battery is great and lasts for days and the only fault i have found so far is that the whites are not very faithfull, but nothing too serious because profeesionals have models above this one and this still takes amazing pictures. Easy to use, will bring you to another level of knowing functions better like iso, shutter speed, balances and other. How did i got to Canon? I think that theres is no standard choosing and you will be lost in comparing models from another brands like i did because that are millions of cameras and choosing can be impossible, so do like i did. Before buying, listen to persons that allready bought SLRs and take notes, you will be learning as they talk about their cameras and be familiar with the meanings, search a camera that fits you and choose what you want in it, listenning to others can be great, but don t let them influence you too much, choose yourself your own camera. I have come to Canon 1000D and 450D and chose 1000D only because of the value, 450D is better, and took me 2 months to decide but it was wise of me i can say it now. Then establish a budget and go to a large store near you for checking every camera that suits your choice so you can feel the camera and take doubts, read the reviews (very important) on amazon and on professional sites and compare. If you follow this easy steps you will not be sorry as i and make a great buy. In my case, amazon as been so far a good dealer and have no remarks about them. If you like photo and want to improve your work you ll like SLRs.

Ideal for travelling

This is a truly marvellous camera from Panasonic. It has most of the functions of a SLR but none of the bulk or weight. With the 20mm lens fitted it is ideal as a"take it anywhere" camera but it has a larger sensor than most compacts and, therefore, handles low-light scenes much better. Most of the common functions are available without delving into menus and Panasonic's"intelligent" setting is useful if you're not too experienced. The zoom lenses that fit it are not large and a whole outfit could be easily carried in a small photo bag. Highly recommended if you want high quality images without the hassle of a large SLR.

You don't get a memory card

Page 31 of the Instruction Manual (the page headed 'Installing and removing the Card') begins"The captured image is recorded onto the card (sold separately)."

So, the memory card is not missing from the camera.

Superb DLSR for all levels of competence.

I recently bought this camera to replace my EOS 350D which had served me well for the past 4 years.
There are a number a great improvements since the 350D. The ISO range has been extended to 128000 which is great for extremely low light applications (although a lot of digital noise is not surprisingly apparent). The viewing screen on the back of the camera is much larger and clearer and the menus easier to read and understand. It can also be used to view the image being taken as an alternative to using the SLR viewfinder (just like on a compact). It has an HD movie mode too although I haven't personally found a use for it yet.

For novices it can be used in fully automatic or a range of preselected creative modes for landscape, portraiture etc. or be used in a range of semi automatic modes such as aperture or shutter priority or full manual control.

I usually shoot in RAW format (only available in semi automatic modes) which requires post processing with the software supplied in order to creat jpeg or tiff images but for users in more of a hurry or who want to use pic bridge or direct from card printing it can also shoot in jpeg mode or both simultaneously.

The buffer for continuous shooting is huge and will run at over 3 frames per second for over 300 shots in jpeg mode or 9 in RAW.
Resolution is also fine at over 15 megapix.

The lenses are Canon EF type which has an enormous range and are readily available both new and second hand, giving full autofocus or manual focus at the flick of a switch. Many lenses are also available with image stabilisation (have the letters IS in their model description).

An all round great performer which is light and easy to carry about and simple to use. I am delighted with this camera and would recommend it to anyone looking for a first DSLR or an upgrade.

Versatile and feature packed...

After selling my 40D last year, I was left with a brilliant but aged 1Ds. Stunning image quality, great build but ancient screen, rubbish battery, slow processor and tiny buffer. For some of the stuff I shoot, it just can't cut it so the 7D has come to the rescue :)

The 7D complements a full frame camera superbly and is without doubt the best camera I've owned. It's completely customisable - buttons, dials, autofocus - which helps make it a joy to use. Wireless flash control is extremely useful and I'm loving the ability to shoot video (which is stunning quality btw) and am using the camera for this increasingly. Image quality is decent but the noise-obsessed may complain about low ISO images as there is definitely a hint of noise at even 100iso. 6400iso cleans up better than 1600 did on my 40D with noise reduction working very well on 7D images thanks to the massive 18mp resolution.

The camera boasts a ridiculous amount of AF modes and tweakability. It certainly takes time to work your way through modes and settings to be able to pick the best for a given situation. One thing to note is that the 7D is pretty demanding of both lenses and technique thanks to the resolution of the sensor. Stick cheap glass on it or use lenses wide open and you'll start to see a drop off in image quality. It will also highlight the slightest bit of camera shake. Neither of these issues are the fault of the body, just something to be aware of. Other than that a superb camera - highly recommended!

a little to early to tell - but first impressions are very favourable

It really is too early to tell yet - but first impressions are very favourable. It was a choice between the G11 and this - and this won out - probably because I always found my G9 difficult to do close up work with and the additional lenses never quite worked well.

It was immaculately packaged, arrived on time and is a high quality object. I seldom read a manual - so it's good that the controls are intuitive. Working out what some of the settings do can be a little challenging, so the manual is a godsend. Pity it's not really written in English. It's a good approximation - but some of the explanations do take some fathoming out. This affects understanding quite a lot really and for a camera of this price is inexcusable. I am hoping that someone somewhere now writes up a real handbook that explains all the functions in a way that makes more sense.

Initial images are crisp and sharp - better than my G9 - but it will take a while before I can tell how much better it is. One snag so far - and it may be solvable somewhere - is that the control for bracketed exposures (I am playing with HDR) is also the control that sets the timer. This appears to mean that you cannot set the timer to control bracketed shots and thus have to keep your finger on the big shiny button! I hope I can solve this one without going to the expense of buying a remote release, otherwise camera shake is going to be an issue.

Nothing that I read in pre-release reviews picked this up.

More anon perhaps.

Canon 50D

Like several other user reviews I upgraded from the 400D to the 50D. Fully agree with all the previous reviews and I have added a 17-55mm IS USM 2.8 to the camera which I use 90% of the time also added a polarising filter which I find helps in certain situations.
For me the fact you can program in a number of your own settings and then just turn the dial to C1 or C2 and your settings are ready to go. For example I do a lot of HDR photography so I have one lot of settings to take 3 photographs, 1 two stops under exposed, 1 two stops over exposed, 1 normal setting, along with a timer setting. In comparing this with the 400D (which I know is unfair) I would have to scroll through the menu and set it each time. In defence of the 400D it did have a small IR remote control and I wish the 50D had the same. A remote can be used on the 50D but I do a lot of fell walking and do not wish to muck about pluging stuff in and carrying more items about.
Had the camera for approx 6 months and am well pleased with it, the prints using a Canon MP 610 are excellent but other printers may also be able to equal this.
In short if you have no intention of going full frame I guess this is the best set up for your money and if you consider it expensive look at it as an investment... the lens mentioned above has risen in price by several hundred pounds since it was launched and with the state of the pound is likely to increase further !

Lumix G1 Camera

what a fantastic camera. Great viewfinder,all controls in easy reach.
Good colour for a camera different from black or silver.
Great delivery service. Pity the larger lens is so pricey.

Great camera but expensive

Pros: HI ISO, big viewfinder, fast, weather protected, FULL FRAME, reilable, build quality, picture quality
Cons: there's no infra flash transmitter integrated, too expensive, old interface (contra much cheaper 7D), few focus points, limited video functionality

Lumix G1

Great little camera, with all the features of the larger DSLR cameras. I love the coloured body - mine is blue. Shame the lens shade causes a shadow when using the flash.