Budget of $1,000 for a new SLR Camera and Lens

We get lots of questions after our seminars - here is a good one posted recently by Edward, about choosing a Camera body and Lens with an overall budget of $1,000

Hello Ross

I recently attended your 2 hour session.  It was of immense help. Let me know when you decide on the 1 fully day course.

In the meantime I am planning to buy a SLR Camera; I am willing to spend up to $ 1000.  I have come across the following website and their prices seem to be reasonable. However, quite confused to decide the correct camera. Here is the website details:

http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/category/dslr-cameras/

Please suggest which camera to buy from the above website.

Thank you for the help.

Kind regards

Edward

ANSWER FROM ROSS

You are right Edward, the Kogan site has excellent pricing.

Depending on what you want to photograph, the lens choice can be quite bewildering.  However, if you want to photograph people, then please bear in mind that having a larger aperture (such as f3.5 or f4 through the whole lens range will be more useful than a zoom lens).  If however you like to photograph animals, then a zoom will be more useful to you.

For a budget of $1,000 I recommend the EOS 550D (was a current model until recently) body-only http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/canon-eos-550d-body/

and then look to buy a second-hand lens with the remainder of the budget.  Alternatively, if you would like to get a twin lens kit all brand new, then this could be a good bet for you as you start out, and I would suggest considering http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/canon-eos-550d-kit-twin-is-lens-kit/

Please let us know how you get on.  We’ll be confirming the day-course shortly.

Cheers

Ross