Unless you're buying second hand at a really good price I'd buy from a bricks and mortar store.

Any reputable store will give you good advice and explain what will work best for you and you'll likely find their prices are pretty competitive with what you'll find online. The little bit extra you may pay will be worth it for the advice you should get and the opportunity to go back for help and advice.

Technofreak:

 

Unless you're buying second hand at a really good price I'd buy from a bricks and mortar store.

 

Any reputable store will give you good advice and explain what will work best for you and you'll likely find their prices are pretty competitive with what you'll find online. The little bit extra you may pay will be worth it for the advice you should get and the opportunity to go back for help and advice.

 

Are there any other shops apart from Progear and AucklandCamera as recommended earlier that you would recommend ? Just so I have a few places I can go and see what they offer.

Photo Warehouse in Queen St have been helpful, but the staff at their Great North Road branch haven't been quite as helpful. The two stores you already have there have been great for discussing requirements and making suggestions, as well as being quite sharp on prices. Photo Warehouse have never ever shifted on marked prices.

My 2c would be to not think too hard at this stage about the camera, but first consider the glass and get the best you can afford.

Cameras come and go, technology improves but the lens remains. So consider (for example) the Canon EF-S lenses which will fit a range of DSLRs, from low end to high end, plus the mirrorless EOS M. I'm not sure what Nikon do in this space but go and do your research. Words like aperture, vignette, fringe and aberation are important to understand and look out for here. Some of this can be corrected in software but it's best to get it right in the camera initially.

In a camera, make sure you can shoot RAW, and have all the manual options (Tv, Av, Manual and Bulb) plus a sensor not too noisy at high ISO.

All the rest is just bells and whistles. When you first get the camera try shooting exclusively in Av for a while unless you have a need for Tv (like sports or slow water), and pick a preferred ISO (100 or 200, 400 in low light). Stay away from Full Auto unless you can't afford to lose the shot and you will quickly learn the triangular relationship between Aperture, Time and Sensitivity.

Having said this, make sure for your chosen camera you can easily change the Av (or whatever) without removing your eye from the viewfinder.

HTH

Jon

I have decided on what I want to get after looking at many cameras in store and getting advice as well as my own research and I am thinking of the Nikon D5500.

Was wondering if I should go for the cheapest option which is Expert Infotech or a camera specialty store and it's bit more expensive. Thinking of going with body and lense kit.  

madridista:

 

Was wondering if I should go for the cheapest option which is Expert Infotech or a camera specialty store and it's bit more expensive. Thinking of going with body and lense kit.  

 

If you've spent time talking to the sales guys in a specialty store and are happy with their service so far, it would be the right thing to give them your business. It will pay off for you in future as a loyal customer, and you will help ensure the survival of the store in a competitive parallel-imported market.

My extremely limited experience with this is seeing my partner buy a Canon 750 and over the course of the year taking about 100 photos. I've taken over a thousand on it. I think she would've been better spending double and getting something like a an RX100 IV. She would use it more given it's size. But that's taken a year to work out. And she doesn't want to spend the money to get a new one.

So perhaps I will. Though I've really appreciated the shutter speeds (compared to a phone) of her camera when it comes to taking pictures of my friends playing golf.