I spent about that (?430 iirc) on a Canon Eos 600D, and I love it to death.

If you're spending that sort of money you're not going to go too far wrong. Canon and Nikon cameras around that price range are fairly similar in spec and features, although I've used my sister-in-law's Nikon D3200 and I *much* prefer the controls and interface on my Canon 600D.

I wouldn't hesitate to recomend the 600D to a beginner, because I am exactly that, a complete novice. But with a bit of learning how to use an SLR camera, I've taken some really nice shots.

One further recommendation, and this came from I Am Hoot off of here, is to get a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson, because that's the clearest and most accessible thing I've read to explain all about how a camera actually works, and how to use it properly. It's cheap too. I tried a few different books and guides to learn about apature settings and depth-of-field and all that, and none of it made sense until I read Understanding Exposure. He explains it really clearly with loads of pictorial examples. User Posted Link

Posted By: Arizona Bay, Apr 24, 09:35:18