Be Excellent To Each Other

There seem to be a number of competent photographers and camera enthusiasts amongst the membership, so I post now in the hope of scrumping some delicious advice-fruit from your fecund foliage.

I am looking to purchase a digital SLR. I currently have a Canon EOS 300 (film) SLR, and a digital compact. My SLR has stayed very much on 'Auto' mode until very recently, but I have begun to enjoy learning the technical aspects of photography to the point where I'd like to make a purchase that sits somewhere above amateur level, but in no way could justify paying more than, say, £600 all in.

Any suggestions, tree men?

I'm a Nikon whore personally, but if you have Canon lenses and there are no issues with them fitting on a digital body, then I'd save the aggro of having to buy all new lenses and go with them.

If you were going to go Nikon, then also think of some of their less recent prosumer kit - the D300 has just come out to rave reviews but it costs about £900, however, the D200, which it replaced is only a couple of years old and still an excellent piece of kit and you can pick that up new for <£600 and second hand for less still.

Other than that, get your posterior over to dpreview.com for mind bogglingly comprehensive reviews of most recent cameras.

I had the opportunity to play with a D200 a few days ago. I was surprised at the weight of the thing. Though it felt like a quality piece of kit, which is assuring. Currently scanning Ebay for rough idea on price of the body, though may be some months off actually making a purchase.

I would need to get a lens with it. Can anyone make a recommendation for a good, all purpose lens?

I have a D80 and it's bloody brilliant. Should be just under your budget including the kit lens, or slightly over (and I mean very slightly).

My "all-purpose" lens is a 18-200mm f3.5/5.6 lens by Sigma. I think I paid about £250 for it.

I'd say get a Nikon D40(usually packaged with the excellent 18-55mm lens) and save the rest of the money for something else. Unless you attain semi pro levels of involvement the features of higher spec cameras will be of no use and the increased mega pxiels mean very little unless you intend to print poster size prints.

Also if you drop it you won't cry anywhere near as much!

This chap has lots of info on it and a nice user guide:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide/index.htm

No, don't get a D40. It doesn't have an auto-focus motor in the camera body so you're restricted to lenses that have their own autofocus motors. While this may not be an issue, it does mean that you can't take advantage of the cheaper lenses.

Although I think the D40x does have the motor, can't remember.

The lens it comes with is excellent, if you do really get into it you can upgrade the body at a later date.
I'm just saying that jumping and spending half a grand plus is a bit extreme, you'll learn all the important stuff about photography on any camera, the extra money won't make you take better photos.

True enough. Is the 18-55mm kit lens considered good? I think mine is awful (came with my D50) and not a patch on the 18-70mm that came with the earlier D70.

It was getting good reviews when I was shopping around (~18 months ago), general opinion seemed to be it punched a fair way above its weight/price. Certainly better lens out there, I'd like some more zoom and/or a true wide angle lens, but to be honest I'd not get the use of it to justify the outlay...must buy more lottery tickets