I am not much into photography, except the moments of family tours. A point-and-shoot works well but then it was just a thought of having a DSLR and the search started!
Having no information about the terminology, comparing different products was a complex task. So first collected information about the terms and then started the comparison between Canon and Nikon, the popular players.
Earlier confined myself to entry-level DSLRs at around 30, 000/- but moved on to 50, 000/- as buying DSLR is like an investment and I have no plans to change it frequently.
After comparing at Amazon and Flipkart, I almost settled for a Canon - good specs at low price and wide range of lens. But then the local sellers suggested Nikon as they have better quality. So the Nikon D5300 it is.
The choice of lenses
It was decided to get 3 lenses: 18-55mm, 55-200mm and a 50mm lens
18-55mm lens for nearby objects;
55-220mm lens for distance objects;
50mm lens for close-ups.
But soon I realised a mistake, mounting and unmounting the lenses. There was another option: 18-140 mm lens. A quite versatile one to capture close ones as well as focus the far landscape. So, replaced the 18-55mm and 55-200mm with a single 18-140mm to be the’kit’ lens and bought the 50mm as an add-on. The total was little around 70, 000/-
The 1.5 year of experience
The camera has been used not more than on 10 occasions(excluding the testing and exploration phases). More than half of the battery is exhausted in learning the features. And still I use it in the default settings and there is nothing much to do to get an excellent picture. All you have to’zoom on’ the subject and rest is finalised by the camera.
As most of the photos are from outdoors, all I need is to mount the 18-140mm lens and you get a crisp image whatever be the distance, offcourse you shouldn’t try framing the moon with it, you would be disappointed.
In my indoor trials, the 50mm lens was brilliant, a perfect accessory for low light close-ups. As I am a novice here, nothing much about settings; but the helpful features I found was taking a selfie with it as screen can be rotated at various angles and can be quite helpful when you can just lower the camera to take a shot instead of kneeling. Then there is the "colour select" which picks up a particular color and rest of the picture is black n white. Apart from that, there is the inbuilt WiFi for wireless connects with your mobile.
The button and dial placement is superb with ample space to put your thumb while holding it in hand. Grip is great but feels a bit heavy; maybe others are of the same weight, I don’t know! However its comfortable to take pics.
For the beginners
Those who are thinking to change from point-and-shoot to DSLR can surely go for it. You can save approx 9000/- by not buying that 50mm lens in the beginning as the 18-140mm lens is sufficient for general uses and saves you from hassle of changing lens for different conditions. You aren’t a professional, remember!
Its a price-y affair but a entry-level DSLR would bore you soon, so better give a thought about it if you are not thinking about changing cameras often.