Nikon D60 is well worth the cash over the D40 IMO.

I like the Canon EOS-400, only reason i went for the Nikon D60 was the fact i had many lenses' for Nikon's anyway and i liked the mechanical feel of it when you took a picture. It like.. clicks like a standard SLR.

Tell him to ebay it mate, itt'l be the best for the money.

should be fine as long as you got good common sense.

for that sort of money your friend will be hard pressed to get anything close to an SLR unless it is second hand. I suggest saving another £100 at least..

i am looking at getting one of these
does anyone know if that wil take nice biking shots? it has a shutter speed of 1/2000th so i thought it might be good.

hi  can you people tell me what to look for please im looking for a high megapixal camera thats up to about £200, has optical zoom and has a good sports mode thanks PS can you message or comment me instead of replying

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i started with a 350d 2 years ago, just upgraded to a 450d

its not a real slr unless you can change the lenses, as its the lens that makes the shots, not the body.

you can get 300/350d's on ebay for not much money really, used of course.

If you want killer shots, get a 300/350d 2nd hand on ebay, but the body only, then get a 50mm f1.8 lens (about £50) or a f1.4 would be better but costs more (£180ish)

a 50mm lens f1.8 or f1.4 would be great for most biking shots, of course its a fixed focal length so you'll have to physically move about instead of zooming, but its worth the compromise to get a fast lens for small money, which means you'll get good pictures with a fast shutter speed without having to use the flash, especially in the woods.

If you are serious about your photography, this is a good place to start.  If you want a zoom lens cheap, get the standard 18-55mm, you can pick one up on ebay for about £30 but they are crap lenses.  Ok to start, but you'll soon want a new lens and I promise you'll never use it again when you do.

Canon all the way for slr, in my opinion, if I had the cash I would have a 1D, but i'm plenty happy with my 450d.  And learn to use it properly, I hate it when I see people with expensive slr's on holiday and they have it set on fully automatic.  I could cry

Hope this helps

I use the 400D and sigmas F2.8 lenses for biking shots a 24-70 and a 70-200mm great lenses. I agree about the 50mm lens but you have to get fairkly close for some shots which could be a problem at any races if they are the other side of the track IE. Redhill Extreme which is a wide track. you can pick up a 70-300mm lens on  ebay for about £50-70 also a flash would be handy just for the fill in to see the faces, if your shooting in woods there will be a lot of shadows on the face especially if the have a full face on. I will be upgrading in a few months to an Eos 1D MK3 but the 400D will still come with me every race as it is an excellent camera. Hope this helps

Steve