Minolta Dynax 5

The Minolta Dynax plus lens comes in at just under £200 new - the price bracket of the 'serious amateur' (if that's not a contradiction in itself). However, I was lucky enough to pick mine up for less than £100, courtesy of a well known auction site (so it certainly pays to shop around).

The first thing that strikes you about this camera is that it looks the business. Rather than being all silver and chrome looking, this is more reminiscent of the camera that my dad used to play with 20 years ago - it looks like a serious piece of kit. But unlike the camera my dad used to own, this little baby is a fraction of the weight - meaning it's very portable and doesn't require you to have physiotherapy after having it around your neck for a whole day.

The next thing that strikes you is that, despite only having around 6 buttons or so, there are many features to get to grips with. This is thanks to a wheel that, when used in conjunction with the buttons, gives rise to an almost infinite number of automatic and manual settings for aperture, shutter speed and so on. This is quite daunting at first, especially if it's your first SLR camera, but the manual is helpful and after a bit of trial and error it's quite easy to get the hang of. And there are plenty of automatic settings to help you out if you don't want to know too much about how it takes the picture but just want it to look nice when it's developed.

So what are the photos like? Initially, I was a little disappointed, as I was expecting a higher quality of print from my first SLR camera. However, it should be borne in mind that it is relatively cheap for an SLR so the quality is not likely to rival the high-end professional cameras. Also, I found that it pays to try out a few different developers in order to get the best quality.

Overall, I'd recommend the Dynax to anyone that wants to make that step-up from a standard 35mm or APS camera to an SLR and take their pictures that little bit further.