can you link me to those UK shops? also, do they sell with batteries n other stuff, or is it the body only?
Yes I can but are we buying new or used?
(I personally recommend not buying new. You'll spend a ton on accessories, that are likely to come free with a used kit.
Also first equipment purchases and ownerships are learning curves, better to make mistakes with used gear.)
Are you buying Canon because college has Canon lenses? Is there any reason, or is it that either Canon or Nikon will do ok?
As for lenses, I suspect some alternative EF or EFS lenses won't give you full features, or need to be
checked that they do. I'm not sure if the focal length rules work the same for stills and video, but if they do then you don't want less than 50 and don't want more than 100, even 85mm will require bigger rooms for shooting people. 85mm is a shedload more flattering and makes people look good though. Depends what you are lighting but 50mm 1.8 should be ok, I'd rather have a second lens than spend all that money for an extra stop, but if low light is an issue, then probably a used 1.4 would be easy to find.
Zoom lenses generally won't give you equal quality, use a lens for each shot required. If that means hiring, it still works better than using some shitty Tamron lens that doesn't give full features anyway. Here's one topic on the 600D and lenses:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=799570 £350 for body only -
http://slrhut.co.uk/product/ID540C5/google about another 200 shops do it for between £350-400.
Here is a site which picks the best of e-bay:
http://www.slr-lens.co.uk/canon-600d?gc ... fAod7VCUqAThe cheaper used deals seem to be trying to sell you the 18-55mm lens, which surely can't be as good as the 50mm in quality.
But with lens they seem to be around $700 dollars on e-bay, this one is $678:
http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Canon-EOS-Rebel ... ras&_clu=2So you have to ask yourself, is it worth paying an extra $150-200 for a lens which you may not want anyway. I suspect you can probably pick up a decent 50mm 1.8 for definitely less than $100, around £60-70 in the UK probably if not less. Having said this, plenty of people seem to recommend the 18-55, but I know it can not have equal quality of a fixed lens.
Kits with many accessories - haven't seen many so far. But I would recommend tripod is one area you don't go cheap. It's got to be able to withstand an idiot walking into it, the wind, cable pulling etc, so basically heavy and quality, like Manfrotto. This can cost you more than the lens. Alternatively, possibly some ancient film/video tripod is for sale on e-bay.
For bags, if security is no issue, I recommend Billingham, they're just indestructible. I've stopped using them though and use £5 sports bags, much less hassle from authorities and opportunists.
