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Post by Limey on Sept 7, 2006 15:36:47 GMT
Not sure if I should have taked this onto Fezz's camera bundle thread or not, but I was thinking about eventualy replacing my cheap digital which is falling apart and taped together. I'm not into photography enough to get a manual camera with all the extras you can buy for it, so I was thinking a dSLR would be a better choice. However, I have no idea of the costs and what I should be looking for. I've been doing some reading, but it's all so in-depth and very confusing to me. Anyone care to offer any help or info in easy terms?
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Post by Limey on Sept 8, 2006 2:13:28 GMT
I was hoping Sausage would have pranced in here with some brilliancy by now.
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Post by fezzarooooo on Sept 8, 2006 15:10:04 GMT
First thing to do is set yourself a budget limey babe, then consider what sort of photography you'll be wanting to do i.e. mostly standard portraits of the kitty, macro work (nice for the puddy cat too), landscapes.
If you're not into photography would you need a SLR? Some of the compact digis have half decent lenses on them for zoom & macro work and are usually cheaper.
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Post by Limey on Sept 8, 2006 15:17:19 GMT
I was thinking of it for the delay factor. I cannot seem to get my pics with my digital camera to ever snap at the right point. I realize that is takes practice and all that, but when it comes to kids and people, I've just about given up trying to take pictures.
How much are dSLR's anyway? Are we talking loads here? I'm not really into macro. It would mostly be people (kids mainly) and landscape type stuff.
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Post by fezzarooooo on Sept 8, 2006 15:27:22 GMT
Well it all depends on what you buy, I paid £450 for a Canon EOS 350D which is a brilliant camera. It's very user friendly, has a small body and is very light for a SLR which is great for travelling etc. I'm sure you'd be able to get better deals over there than what we can get here.
Another thing to think about is what size are you going to want to print your pictures at. 5.0 megapixel will take you up to A4 size with reasonible quality.
I have a sony cybershot which is reeeeeeally slow between shots but if you buy a camera that takes flash cards (type of memory card) you can put a higher speed card in which loads the image on faster so alows for quicker firing of the shutter. I put a Sandex Extreme 3 flash card in and the canon is shooting as fast as a film SLR.
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Post by Limey on Sept 8, 2006 15:32:25 GMT
Ohh I was thinking your Canon you bought was a manual SLR. Sorry. Maybe I should have put this thread in with that one.
In any case, I didn't know you could buy a memory card that would help shutter (?) speed.
I still need a new camera, regardless. I want a better megapixel and better zoom than what I have now. I hate my zoom - it's typical of a digital camera, I know. I would also like something smaller and easier to carry around. I've never been in the habit of lugging loads of stuff around.
What kind of megapixels and zoom does your Canon have?
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Post by fezzarooooo on Sept 8, 2006 15:48:59 GMT
Naaaaahhh it's ok in a thread of it's own, I knew what camera I was getting but wanted advice on the extras so it is a kinda different thread. As far as I can work out the slowness in the digital isn't down to the shutter speed, which works on the amount of light exposure you want. Shutter speed on all cameras should work the same i.e. either on light quality or manual settings (though someone may correct me here). I think what determines the speed on digital is the image loading onto the memory card. I'm not sure if you can enhance the speed on compact digis it probably depends on what type of memory card/stick it uses. The 350D has 8.0 megapixils which is more than enough, you probably wouldn't need to go above 5 tbh if you're just wanting to do nice shots for the album/wall... can you see yourself putting anything above A4 on the wall? I bought the canon with the standard lens which is 18-55mm and good for portaits, it seems to work quite well on the macro setting though wouldn't be true macro. I bought a Tamron 70-300mm F/4-5.6 LD Macro lens with it but not sure if I'll keep it or go for a sigma which I'm told are decent quality for the money. I think with lenses you get what you pay for.. they can be as difficult to choose as the camera if you're wanting crisp clear shots. I'm just beginning to learn about them myself atm. I haven't used a SLR for about 10yrs, the last one's I had were fully manual but both have seized up due to underuse
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Post by veggiesosage on Sept 8, 2006 19:25:35 GMT
Will do proper reply when I get home, am on train so paiyng stupid data charges. However, if you're anything like me Limeykins the beter camera you buy the more you will get into photography and the more you will spend etc and it will go on. Let that be a warning
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Post by veggiesosage on Sept 9, 2006 10:43:30 GMT
Limey, what do you mean by a 'manual' camera? All dslrs and a lot of compact and 'prosumer' cameras have manual or semi manual settings ie setting the aperture and shutter speed.
Speed issues are basically two things. Yes, a lot of digital cameras do for some reason have a delay between pressing the shutter release button and the shutter actually opening. I'm really not sure why but the better camera you have the less of a problem this is likely to be. Generally, dslrs are the top of the range so have had the most money spent on them in development so thats why they are normally the best in this respect.
The second speed issue is the amount of time the camera takes to process the image data from the sensor and write it to memory storage. Again, this is a quality issue but factors include how big the file is thats generated by the sensor and obviously the processing speed of the electronics in your camera. However, the 'write' speed is affected by the type of memory card you use and you can get 'fast' memory cards which are obviously more expensive. This latter speed issue won't affect whether you catch you're first shot but will seriously affect how quickly you can take your second and subsequent shots.
If its instantaneous shutter speed you're after then a dslr is def the route to take. However, if its a point and click you want you might find it a bit intimidating because there's a million other settings you can play with.
The cheapest dslr at the moment is the Nikon D50 and people rave about it. Its 6MP which is a bit down on the budget dslr race but tbh a lot of people are very cynical about the 'megapixel race' that appears to be going on right now and for most purposes that will be enough.
Equally, Fezza's Canon is generally rated as the best budget dslr right now and now is the time to get one of those because its replacement has been announced and you'll get some good deals on what is still an excellent camera.
The one I got is an Olympus E500 and I got that mainly cos its 8MP and I found a good deal on it. You may still find a load of good deals around and it also has a useful feature in that it has an anti dust mechanism for the sensor, all dslrs suffer from dust on the sensor from changing lenses and the only other thing you can do is regular cleaning.
If you don't fancy a dslr then there's a whole range of other options in the 'compact' or 'prosumer' market. These cameras often have very high megapixel counts and 'megazoom' lenses and on spec alone can seem a much better deal than dslrs. However, its obviously not that simple and these cameras tend to be slower in both the above respects and can suffer from picture noise. The other thing about having a, say, 10x zoom lens is that its quality will suffer, usually at the extreme ends of its zoom. And unlike dslrs you can't change the lens. These cameras often look very similar to dslrs so can be a bit bulky. Expect to pay nearly as much as a dslr for these, although they do go down to about £250, have no idea what the US market will be though.
Then of course there are the real compacts which often have lots of megapixels but only 3x zoom lenses and the speed problems as above. Very wide price range, up to about £300 but what you're buying here is small size and convenience, ie point and click.
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Post by Limey on Sept 9, 2006 20:00:30 GMT
Oh my. Ok that was loads of information. Very helpful, but I'm still unsure of what to get. Maybe I should be greedy and get something like dslr AND a point-and-shott kind of camera. By manual, I meant the film kind. Before digital cameras came out. I just call them manual (or film) whether it's the correct name or not.
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Post by veggiesosage on Sept 9, 2006 20:08:01 GMT
When I decided that I wanted a new camera I spent at least a month researching and deciding whether I wanted a dslr or just a better prosumer and there are pros and cons to both.
One thing I didn't mention is that with the vast majority of dslrs you can't frame your shot using the screen on the back, you have to use the viewfinder. So if you do like that method of photo taking a lot then it may be worth getting a high level prosumer camera rather than a dslr.
At the end of the day you're likely to be spending quite a lot of money so its worth thinking about for a bit about what you want to do.
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Post by Limey on Sept 9, 2006 20:24:19 GMT
I typically use the viewfinder now anyway, as opposed to the rear screen. It feels more comfortable to me. Seems like I've got a lot to look at.
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Post by fezzarooooo on Sept 9, 2006 22:20:52 GMT
Just a note on the fast memory cards I got a sandisk extreme 3 1GB which is a very fast card (makes her as fast as a film SLR) from Amazon uk for £23 but Jessops (where I bought the camera) are retailing it for a rediculous £66.99! So it really does pay to shop around for the different accessories.
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Post by Limey on Sept 10, 2006 3:46:12 GMT
You two are so helpful. Care to squish in with me and my tiny apartment and give me good advice year round? I'll pay you in pictures, smooches and vegan food. ;D
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Post by fezzarooooo on Sept 10, 2006 9:51:19 GMT
*packs bags & cancels cumbria* Well whenever you see summat you like the look of post the link here & we can give you our opinion (I know I'm speaking for veggie here but y'all know I'm a bossy biatch anyhow ).
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Post by Limey on Sept 10, 2006 16:56:25 GMT
*packs bags & cancels cumbria* Well whenever you see summat you like the look of post the link here & we can give you our opinion ( I know I'm speaking for veggie here but y'all know I'm a bossy biatch anyhow ). Well FFS if that isn't the truth. *scampers off forum*
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Post by fezzarooooo on Sept 11, 2006 20:16:53 GMT
listen sister, you may be a foot taller but I can take you *puts springs on bottom of converse & gets big bat*
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Post by veggiesosage on Sept 11, 2006 20:36:22 GMT
*Thinks about going in to separate them...naaaah!* ;D
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