This is my first digital SLR and the first SLR I've picked up since my arty days at school 11 years ago...

I ordered the camera from Amazon for £253, the price seemed to fluctuate throughout the week I was planning my purchase going up to £290 at one point. I used www.camerapricebuster.co.uk to check prices across various retailers, but this site doesn't always have the latest deals.

In the box is......

1 x Camera body + cover
1 x lens + covers
1 x usb cable
1 x video cable
1 x strap
1 x view finder cover
1x software cd
1 x manual
1 x battery
1 x battery charger

Note no small capacity memory card is included like most standard digital cameras.

I also purchased a crumpler pretty boy XL bag to carry all the bits and bobs. I purchased this from Jessops for £27, which was a bargain considering it's usually around £50.

Setting up the camera was so easy; the manual has a pullout quick start guide which advised how long to initially charge the battery. It's rare to find the first words in a manual telling you the first bits you need to know....how long to charge the battery, it's usually how to dispose of a battery, then some safety information about not eating it as well.... Once the battery was charged, I fitted the memory card (8gb Sandisk extreme 3 £40 from Amazon), lens and strap. I set the mode to auto, turned it on and started snapping... The zoom is easy to use as are all the features in general.

After 40 or so photos using the auto mode, I switched to Manual where I started to discover the accessibility of all the settings. Setting the exposure, aperture and ISO is very easy, all options are within one button press as you'd expect. Manual focus is an easy to find switch which gives you that quick control when required.

The pictures to me are superb, it may not match a £1000 camera, but for a quarter of the price I believe the performance is amazing. Having read a large number of reviews before making my purchase it seems my opinion isn't on its own...

If you're looking for a starter camera which will give you a large amount of room to develop before upgrading, this is the best option around at the moment. I've only had it two weeks and I'm already looking for a second lens.

On the down side I was disappointed with the lack of being able to view the shot on the LCD screen when taking a photo. Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure it just can't do it. The second down side is the lack of a black and white option when using the macro setting.