Beginner Advice/Books etc

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

Caporegime
Joined
9 May 2005
Posts
32,120
Location
Cambridge
Since the recent birth of my son I've become pretty dissapointed in both my skills with a camera and the abilities of my point and click digi cam (Canon Ixus 800IS) especially in indoor lower light levels.

I've been looking at buying myself a digi SLR and from looking about have found a Canon 1000D which if I'm correct looks a pretty decent starter point?

I've found it for £342 with the IS lens and the non IS lens is also £342. The IS lens is currently out of stock, would you recommend waiting or just get the one without?

Lastly anyone have good beginner book recommendations. I see posts on here asking is that F1.4? Posts on aperture and exposure and I have little idea.

All I have done in the past is Red eye and flash on and off on my compact ;)

Thanks :)
 
Finally after a long wait to get a 1000D with the IS lens it arrived today out of the blue :) Really happy with the feel of it in my small hands, very comfortable to use.

I've ordered the exposure book and I'm currently working my way through the features in the manual. Very daunting at the moment, just been taking still pictures in full auto and seeing what I dont like about them and then looking for settings to improve the photo.
 
Thanks for that link. I'm amazed already at the quality difference in the pictures I have compared to what I was using. Just messing about taking pictures of my sons toys in varying light levels, altering the depth and focus points.

Normally taking pictures is just something I do, a function but I'm actually having fun :o
 
Just been browsing though the podcasts on the itunes store page and found in the video poscasts / visual arts / The Art of Photography by Ted Forbes.

Free to download and theres a series of 26 covering most aspects of photography.

As of yet not downloaded any but I'm sure i will :) Hope thats of some use to you.
 
Had a few weeks of playing around with the 1000d now and working my way through a book as I get spare time. 99% of my pictures so far are of my son which most of the time are pretty still shots.

A small issue I'm getting is when taking indoor shots of him playing I get his face in good focus but he moves his hand which is slightly in the foreground and it blurs. This is shooting with the largest aperture I can and without a flash.

The AF is set to single shot. Any tips? I wont bore you with a picture of my son I hope you can understand my issue from the description?
 
Dont be afraid that not his entire body is in focus, you are used to seeing photos from compact where due to the small sensor = small aperture = everything in focus. Bokeh is GOOD, embrace it, work it, and use it to your advantage.

Sooner or later you'll be dying for more blur ! Trust me.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Dont be afraid that not his entire body is in focus, you are used to seeing photos from compact where due to the small sensor = small aperture = everything in focus. Bokeh is GOOD, embrace it, work it, and use it to your advantage.

Sooner or later you'll be dying for more blur ! Trust me.
Click to expand...

Yes thats probably why I'm used to it. I've been deleting the ones with motion blur on them. These are the only examples I can find where I'm not happy with the hand blurring, just snaphots but they show what I'm not happy with when it ruins one of my better shots....







I was unable to go faster with the shutter due to the amount of light and being at the widest aperture. I was wondering if it would help to use the other auto focusing types instead of single shot?

Maybe as you say I should just embrace the movement in the shots :D
 
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focusing is not your problem, your problem is amount of light reaching the sensor needed for correct exposure and the shutterspeed used.

wack up the ISO or new faster lens really. Unless you want to start bouncing flash off the ceiling.
 
Thanks food for thought, the Mrs would buy me a new lens for xmas. What would you suggest for this type of photography. I would consider using a better flash. A mate has one I'm sure he would lend me. I will try that to see how I get on :)

The top one was taken at ISO 800 and I doubt I could go higher and handhold.

Oh well back to the practice :)
 
Raymond Lin said:
wack up the ISO or new faster lens really. Unless you want to start bouncing flash off the ceiling.
Click to expand...

A mate a poster from here has lent me his speedlite 430ex and I've been having a play with that, nothing to detailed right now but I'm amazed at the difference just bouncing the light about off the ceiling.

Thats just cost my Mrs £200 this xmas :D

I have just come back from a short holiday break and at times I needed a bigger telephoto lens to the stock 18-55IS that came with my camera.

I have a budget of about £250-£300 and have been considering a Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS for £279 or whether to go for something in the range of 70mm to 250mm or even 300mm?

Is that sigma a decent buy?

I'm just starting to realise how expensive this hobby is :D
 
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