How good a camera can you buy for just £140?

Three members of the AP team see what they can find for the money

Today’s cameras have never been more sophisticated, but let’s face it, they aren’t cheap. But don’t worry – if your budget doesn’t stretch into four figures we have some great news for you: cameras have been ‘good enough’ for most photographers’ needs for a while now. This means that you can get a perfectly usable second-hand camera for a fraction of the cost of a new one.

How little do you need to spend? We decided to commemorate our 140th anniversary by seeing what kind of cameras you could get these days for under £140. What’s more, we wanted to put them to the test. AP staffers Nigel Atherton, Geoff Harris and Isabella Ruffatti were tasked with the mission and we expected it to be challenging. But it turns out that it isn’t at all difficult to find something decent within this limited budget. In fact we were spoiled for choice with cameras that were once best-sellers, and garnered five-star reviews. Nigel and Geoff plumped for DSLRs, while Isabella went further back in time with a classic 35mm SLR. They took the cameras on a day trip around South Kensington, capturing the architecture of the museums and even popping into the V&A to take a few snaps. As the results on the following pages show, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a perfectly good camera that delivers great results.

Nigel Atherton Nikon D300 Cost: £132 From: MPB

For £140 you can get a choice of DSLRs that were ground-breaking and market leading in their day, such as the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the camera that changed the face of photography by making DSLR video a thing.

However, when I saw that I could get a Nikon D300 for £132 from MPB, along with the 18-70mm kit zoom, I was sold. I used to own a D300 so there would be no learning curve. To be honest I’m pretty gobsmacked that you can get a camera with this kind of spec for so little money.