Digital SLR Cameras

[linsey]

Hi there

Ok... everyone who has a digital SLR (or knows a bit about them)

I'm considering splashing out here and trying to get into photography a wee bit.

Been looking at all the digital SLRs on the market... but there is sooooo much choice.

At the moment I am fancying the Canon EOS 400D.... Someone else recommended a Nikon D80. They are both in my price range.

I know a lot of you have digital SLR cameras already... so I just wanted to see what your thoughts were and what cameras you all used?

Lx
_________________
Dogs are the leaders of the planet.
If you saw two living creatures, one of them does a poo and the other carries it for him, who would YOU think was in charge?
- Laurence Billi

[marcella]

I don't know an awful lot about them. But we have a Nikon D40x and it's great. Nikon and Canon are probably your best 2 choices in my opinion.

[linsey]

Forgot to add... there seems to be a lot of "stuff" to go with it... Flashes, different lenses, filters

Which ad-ons would be the most essential (apart from the more obvious 18-55mm lens and flash card!)
_________________
Dogs are the leaders of the planet.
If you saw two living creatures, one of them does a poo and the other carries it for him, who would YOU think was in charge?
- Laurence Billi

[Dan McK]

If you are only thinking about photography have you considered a bridging camera? These are a step between compact and SLR. They can be used on full auto, but all the settings can be manually altered. For instance, you can put them on a setting to auto everything except the exposure, or the focus, etc. So that you can meddle with only one setting to get used to how this works, then when you are comfortable you can set them to be fully manual. You also find the lenses are all in one type rather than seperates, so you dont need to worry about dust etc getting into the body. There are drawbacks though, you prob wont have as quick a shutter as an SLR and the ISO sensor prob wont be as good.
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Parsons Russell fanatic

[John Thomson]

I did a bit of research before buying the Nikon D40x.........

Specs between the major names price for price are very close........go to a shop.........feel what the camera is like in your hands as they can feel different.

When you start with one brand you will probably stick to that for life........once you start buying accessories it becomes too difficult ( I mean expensive) to change.

I only have the standard kit lens and standard pop up flash......perfectly adequate for what I do.

Ebay can be a cheap place to buy....especially for accessories........I got a 4gb memory card plus card reader for £17 inc delivery...from Hong Kong

I'm sure you will make the right decision when the time comes Linsey
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John Thomson
www.cumbernaulddogtraining.co.uk

[linsey]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your advice. I'm not really sure which way to go. I currently have a wee compact Canon IXUS 400 (which is getting on a bit now) and I enjoyed playing about with the manual settings when photographing water etc.

One reason I was thinking about SLR with removable lens is that I am a web designer and a lot of my smaller clients totally ruin their websites by sending me photos that they have taken themselves on a digital camera or (horror of horrors...) mobile phone, and although I am no great shakes, if I had a decent camera then perhaps I could get some marginally better shots! But there are instances where I might need a wide angle lens etc... such as hotel rooms and beauty salons etc.

(And that means I can put the cost of the camera thru my business too. So I thought I might splash out a wee bit!)

I was also planning to look for photography nightclasses in the area as I would like to get in to this a bit more.

Can you recommend a bridging camera I could check out?
_________________
Dogs are the leaders of the planet.
If you saw two living creatures, one of them does a poo and the other carries it for him, who would YOU think was in charge?
- Laurence Billi

[StuartW]

Like Marcella said, Canon and Nikon are the 2 leaders.. there are others, Sony, etc.. but whatever feature you need, they will have it covered. There are some good 'point and shoot' cameras, e.g. Canon G9.. great for situations where weight, size and cost is paramount(even then, a good P&S will cost around £200) .. but like Dan said, sensor (and lens) quality isn't on a par with a DSLR.

Think about the focal lengths you will be needing before you spend anything on lenses... e.g. birdwatchers need very long lenses, whereas indoor shots benefit from wide angle. Zooms are functional, but for top-notch image quality, buy a prime lens (i.e. not a zoom). The Canon 50mm f/1.8 is the cheapest DSLR lens around, but is optically just about the best you can get! Nikon will have a similar lens. "Zoom with your feet" as they say

TBH, the kit lenses that come with Canon and Nikon will be just fine for most things.

Get a separate flash unit if you are doing any indoor images.. so much more control over lighting.

Good tripod.

Spare batteries! Kits only come with one.

Replacement neck strap! The ones that come with even high-end DSLRs are rubbish. I'll let you feel my one if you like

I would avoid Ebay for memory cards (sorry John ) - they are cheap for a reason. I tested an Ebay 'Sandisk Extreme III 2Gb' card... as I half expected, it was a fake (looked almost identical to the real thing, but transfer speed was way below what it should have been). Genuine top-end cards cost very little anyway, but even if genuine cards cost 100x more, I would still avoid the Ebay ones.. last thing you want is to lose precious images or cause damage to the camera. I stick to 2Gb cards.. don't like putting all the eggs in one basket

[marcella]

[linsey]

[linsey]

[John Thomson]

Interesting Stuart..............I've had no trouble.......so far.

As yet I only have the standard lens.but shooting in 'fine' mode ( suitable for printing at a3 size) you can use the camera or photoshop to crop out a tiny section of a photo and still have a great quality image.
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John Thomson
www.cumbernaulddogtraining.co.uk

[Mike]

Have been reading the thread - and will add my few thoughts

I started out with film Canon SLR which had Sigma zoom lens. Then I noticed that Fuji had a 'zoom' slr camera at a considerably lower price than the Canon and Nikon SLRs and at that time price was paramount.

I now use a Canon 350D SLR camera and would make some comments.

One of the main problem with the Fuji was battery life. When we were on holiday and I was taking a number of photographs I found myself having to change batteries two or three times a day. That was not always convenient.

The Canon 350D is the budget end of the Canon range but I have found it adequate. This model relies on using the viewfinder to see what you are taking. You cannot see the potential image on the camera screen. It is purely for seeing what you have taken.

I make another comment about lenses for digital SLRs - especially Canon. Lenses that are not Canon made but adapted for Canon and work on their film slr cameras will not work on Digital slr cameras.

It is also perhaps noting that the 'standard' lens for a film SLR is 50mm. The equivalent one for a digital SLR is 35 mm

If you only take about 20 pics a day I do have Fuji Finepix 6900 that I no longer use. It is basically an SLR camera but with no interchangeable lenses.

If you want a look at it - get in touch

Mike

[linsey]

Thanks everyone,

Tons to read thru here... OK I am going to print all this out and give it my full attention later on!

Information overload

Lx

PS Thanks for bringing the camera today Stuart, tho I was a bit panicked with all them wolves, I mean dogs, rampaging about!
_________________
Dogs are the leaders of the planet.
If you saw two living creatures, one of them does a poo and the other carries it for him, who would YOU think was in charge?
- Laurence Billi

[linsey]

OK... I've got this book now: "Digital SLR for dummies" - was only £9 from amazon and is the newest edition, so will have most of the new and popular models in it...

I shall now get up to speed on lenses and zooms and filters and stuff so that I feel brave enough to venture into jessops without looking like a complete muppet.

Thanks again for all your advice troops!

Lx
_________________
Dogs are the leaders of the planet.
If you saw two living creatures, one of them does a poo and the other carries it for him, who would YOU think was in charge?
- Laurence Billi

[linsey]

hey there everyone. Thanks for all the advice!

Well I got my camera today - EOS 400D and some bits and bobs (spare battery etc)

I'm still messing about on full auto mode and trying some of the macros too, but here is one of my first snaps. With hindsight, it might have been an idea to clean to dogs face before i fired off about 100 snaps!!!

Lx


_________________
Dogs are the leaders of the planet.
If you saw two living creatures, one of them does a poo and the other carries it for him, who would YOU think was in charge?
- Laurence Billi