Quote Panda Antics="Panda Antics"Looking for some buying advice please. I want a decent camera to take travelling. I'm quite interested in photography (as in I like looking at photos) but know nothing about it. Main thing is it needs to be easily portable and fairly small, so can't be doing with big, multiple lenses. I'd like something better than the average point and shoot from Comet but only have a budget of around £350.00, could stretch it if necessary. Are there any cameras that have a one lens suits all to take decent scenic photos as well as close of ups of people etc? Any models/manufacturers you'd recommend? I've done a bit of reading about and a Compact System Camera seems to be mid way between a standard digital and a DSLR, which I think is what I'm looking for? Apologies for the lack of jargon, I did say I know nothing about this!'" Thanks for the replies so far, not been on much to ask many follow up questions. Someone has recommended the Nikon J1 to me. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005 ... lectronics I've had a look at it in Currys Digital and really like the size/portability of it. Just wondering what people's throughts are on this and also what differences I'd see between the 10mm and 10-30mm lenses? I assume the lenses are for different types of photo? I tried asking in the shop but clearly I don't have a clue and the assistant knew even less! Cheers.

Quote Panda Antics="Panda Antics"Looking for some buying advice please. I want a decent camera to take travelling. I'm quite interested in photography (as in I like looking at photos) but know nothing about it. Main thing is it needs to be easily portable and fairly small, so can't be doing with big, multiple lenses. I'd like something better than the average point and shoot from Comet but only have a budget of around £350.00, could stretch it if necessary. Are there any cameras that have a one lens suits all to take decent scenic photos as well as close of ups of people etc? Any models/manufacturers you'd recommend? I've done a bit of reading about and a Compact System Camera seems to be mid way between a standard digital and a DSLR, which I think is what I'm looking for? Apologies for the lack of jargon, I did say I know nothing about this!'" Thanks for the replies so far, not been on much to ask many follow up questions. Someone has recommended the Nikon J1 to me. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005 ... lectronics I've had a look at it in Currys Digital and really like the size/portability of it. Just wondering what people's throughts are on this and also what differences I'd see between the 10mm and 10-30mm lenses? I assume the lenses are for different types of photo? I tried asking in the shop but clearly I don't have a clue and the assistant knew even less! Cheers.

I haven't and with a bit of luck never will.

I really appreciate the 1.5x magnification factor when shooting sport on a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 and find the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 copes with most of my portrait needs (with a Sigma 15-30mm in reserve if I need anything wider). I know there are image advantages to be had with full frame but with good quality, fast glass I don't think that (for me) the increased cost of the body and the reduction in focal length will improve the image quality enough to make the transition from DX to FX viable. But never say never.

Quote Panda Antics="Panda Antics"Thanks for the replies so far, not been on much to ask many follow up questions. Someone has recommended the Nikon J1 to me. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005 ... lectronics I've had a look at it in Currys Digital and really like the size/portability of it. Just wondering what people's throughts are on this and also what differences I'd see between the 10mm and 10-30mm lenses? I assume the lenses are for different types of photo? I tried asking in the shop but clearly I don't have a clue and the assistant knew even less! Cheers.'" Simply that the 10mm lens is fixed meaning should you want to zoom in, you can't. The 10-30mm lens will give you the option to zoom, but not a lot

Quote Panda Antics="Panda Antics"Thanks for the replies so far, not been on much to ask many follow up questions. Someone has recommended the Nikon J1 to me. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005 ... lectronics I've had a look at it in Currys Digital and really like the size/portability of it. Just wondering what people's throughts are on this and also what differences I'd see between the 10mm and 10-30mm lenses? I assume the lenses are for different types of photo? I tried asking in the shop but clearly I don't have a clue and the assistant knew even less! Cheers.'" Simply that the 10mm lens is fixed meaning should you want to zoom in, you can't. The 10-30mm lens will give you the option to zoom, but not a lot

A shameless plug of a minor project I'm doing

[url=http://flic.kr/s/aHsjyCAssxA 52 week project showing the change in a wildflower meadow[/url

And a close up of a bee

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/exiledwool/7410480030/[/url
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/exiledwool/7410480030/Bee on yellow ox eye[/url by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/exiledwool/exiledwool[/url, on Flickr

If you have old Pentax lenses they should all function to some degree with the body. I have some old manual focus lenses that work fine with my K20D. The shake reduction is inside the camera which again should work with the current Pentax models but, you may have to manually input the focal length on manual focus lenses as I do on the K20D.

Pentax currently don't manufacture two thirds size sensors so, if full frame is your thing then Canon or Nikon is probably your best bet.

Perhaps the biggest downfall as you stated above, is the choice of lenses from both Pentax and third party manufacturers. The last time I looked the choice for Nikon/Canon was almost double that of Pentax.

Whereas other manufacturers have done their anti-shake stabilisation in the lens, Pentax went for doing this in the body.
This means you can use the old K mount lenses on a Pentax DSLR but the stabilisation is allegedly not as good as other manufacturers.

Also, bear in mind that the focal length changes by a factor of 1.5 and your old lenses would have a somewhat narrower angle of view when used on a DSLR.
So, you'd probably need to buy a new standard lens to replace your old 50mm.
Or use your old wide angle 28mm as your standard lens on the DSLR.

Check out Ken Rockwell's reviews, he strikes me as a no-nonsense sort of bloke.

Cheers I will check out the review. Off to take a few photos with the Nikon D5100 and 3200 tonight see how they feel. Would like to try the D700 out but that might be a bit of a streach.

With the Pentax I quite liked the sound of the weatherproof aspect of the camera.

Checked out lens site and he seems to like the D5100 and 3200. Will see how they handle tonight

Also can anyone recommend any software. If you buy at Jessops they offer free software pack that doesn't seem to have good reviews. Looked at photoshop which looks expensive.

Someone recommend gimp? Is this any good and are there other options

The D700 has a full-frame sensor, so all the old Nikon lenses (except the recent ones developed especially for the DX smaller sensor) will work fine ... and there are some very nice indeed secondhand Nikon lenses out there.
Also, the D700 has a magnesium alloy body so will be a damn sight tougher than, say the D70s which I bought as my first digital camera and promptly dropped and broke in Perpignan on my first outing with it.
Now that the D800 is out (and what a camera that is !!) I'm hoping that D700 prices will drop.

You can pick up Photoshop Elements of Paint Shop Pro for around £80 for the latest version, both will do what you need.