Canon 450D or Nikon D3100? - Help my newbie self please.

[Shocker_33]

Hi,


I'm interested in getting in to photogrpahy. The only camera's i have at the moment are either in my mobile phone or a small out of date compact. Not only do i want to get in to photography but i'd like some good quality photos regardless of the lighting situation with proper zoom and what i have just doesn't cut it.


So i've been looking at the budget dslr's and set my budget to around £300. Looking at what is available at this price range i've spotted the Nikon D3100 at £330. I don't really know why it's caught my eye but it has. Whilst talking to a couple of friends about this, i found that a friend wants to sell his dslr camera at £400; this is what he's offering:


Canon EOS 450D body
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (with internal stabilizer) + HOYA 58mm protective filter
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.5-5.6 IS (with internal stabilizer) + HOYA 58mm protective filter + hood
4 batteries + charger
8 or 16Gb high speed memory card.
Wired shutter remote control.
Shoulder bag.


Now i know such things like lens' cost a lot of money, so i can see that this isn't a bad price at all; which is why i'm willing to extend my budget for this.


Doing a little googling i've found that the Nikon is about 2.5 years younger than the Canon. How much would technology have progressed between when these two were designed? I don't think the mega pixel difference would make much of a difference, if any at all. (Canon at 12.2 MP and Nikon 14.2 MP)


My concern is, what is the product support like for dslr's? Would i find my self in a situation sometime in the near future, where the camera (thinking of the Canon specifically) would break and i would struggle/expensive to get it repaired/find replacement parts? Same with lens', would lens' continue to be around for a good while?


Another concern is what are the reliability like on budget dslr's? Are they prone to breaking/dying? I'm thinking that if i go for the Canon, i obviously wouldn't have any warranty. To me this purchase is a lot of money.




What do you think about these two cameras? And if you were given the choice between these two purchases which would you go for?


Any help is much much appreciated.
Rob