Sorry abt that...accidentally pressed submit so please ignore the previous one ! I'm a pure beginner who's still figuring out jargon and interested in buying a SLR. Would like to stick to nikon/canon and have read thru advice. seems like nikon f55 is not a good choice and majority choose:

1)Canon EOS 500N 2)Canon EOS 300 3)NIKON FM2 4)Nikon f80

budget:$500-700 inclining towards nature +people photography is it advisable to buy body and lens seperately? Please comment. Thanks!

-- fangyi (fangyi_o@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002

Answers

Hi there

Does your budget $500-$700 includes lens or just the camera body? I personally own Nikon F80, which I bought third quarter last year at $800 (body only) plus a tamron 28-200. You can look out for special camera offers by Canon or Nikon. They add in a 70-300 G len during such offers.

If you have tbe budget, please advisable to buy another better len to replace the lens that comes with the body; if not purchase body & lens separately.

For me, I started with 28-200 lens because it gives me a good coverage (good for travelling too) and also I have no budget to buy other lens. As you progress and save up, you can buy short zoom lens like 18-35, 35-70, 80-200 etc.

For nature photography, it's good to own a macro lens (60mm, 105mm or 200mm)to get close ups of flowers, insects etc. For people photography, I heard 85 & 105mm are good ranges as the composition/cropping is just right. They call 85mm lens "portrait lens" for this reason.

Hope the above helps!

-- sanz (san2@bluemambo.com), February 25, 2002.