What's a good digital SLR camera?

[DiscoStu]

My girlfriend fancies a digital SLR as she has a few decent lenses from her art school days that she'd like to use again. We've got a standard digital camera and are totally into the 'new' way of doing things but she misses using her old gear, so can anyone suggest a decent place to start? I've heard great things about the Nikon D50, is it as good as they say? I'm ideally looking to buy something 2nd hand but if it ends up being a brand new purchase then I don't want to bust the bank, so I'd say �300-400.

[Machecoul]

So what will her lenses fit?

I have Canon SLR autofocus lenses which work on a digital Canon SLR

[pingu748]

Canon have just started selling the EOS 400D ... so the EOS 350D will drop in price (new&s/hand) ... and so to will the EOS 300D ... a very good 6.1 meg pixel camera that I use on a semi pro basis ... she doesnt need the latest state of the art, a good eye is the best thing to have ... and if she has been to art college she may well have one of those !!

[fo3nix]

I'd look at the Canon 350D for that price range, or the Nikon D70s which is a little better-built.

Crucially though, check what mount your current lenses have to see if they're compatible with current DSLRs. Also note that the range of the lenses will be slighly different.

[DiscoStu]

Ouch, I hadn't thought of that. I thought that was the whole point of DSLR, so that you could use your old lenses! I've never used SLR so am going in to this a bit blind. Here's the thing- I was planning buying her the camera as a present, so am researching this with no prior knowledge and without being able to ask her about it. I'll have a rummage and see what lenses I can find and/or what her old camera was. Would any of you be able to help from that?

[vehelpfulguy]

I would not spend that much as a present without her getting the chance to hold the camera first to make sure she likes the feel of it.

Also being female she may have smaller hands and find that some of the buttons are not easy to access on a certain make of cemera.

By all means buy her the camera, but take her with you when you choose it.

[DiscoStu]

Right, I've had a snoop and her old 35mm camera is a Pentax ME Super. I found a Vivitar lens as well but as I don't know what information you're looking for to help me, that's all I've got.
Would the lenses she's got for this camera fit the Nikon or Canon options?

[fo3nix]

From doing a search for that camera online, it seems it uses the Pentax K-Bayonet mount. From the Pentax website, it says they're usable "with restrictions" on the Pentax DSLRs. They won't be compatible with the Canon or Nikon DSLRs, at least not without some sort of adapter if one's available.

Unless she's got a load of expensive lenses that she doesn't want to part with, my suggestion would be to eBay the old stuff and go for a Canon or Nikon DSLR.