Newbie - Inspired by Gord!

Makhaira

Makhaira

Makhaira

Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2007
Posts
4,994
Location
Lancashire, UK
I'll start off by saying I have looked at the sticky at the top of this forum, but there's so much information there I feel a bit overwhelmed, and not sure where to start without spending a whole afternoon reading up on it.

I'm a massive plane/technology nut, and having been to RIAT I had a look in Gord's thread to what pretty pictures were in there. I was absolutely speechless at the quality of the shots, which piqued my curiosity around how much gear and experience is needed to produce that sort of thing.

I'm a complete nonce with a camera, I'm one of the plebs with a little compact (Lumix DMC-FS6) that just blazes away and thanks the gurus for 8Gb memory cards. I have no idea what sort of kit is needed, what sort of skills, or even what sort of subjects to go after and practice on to explore if photography is something that would genuinely interest me.

In short - what's the level of investment and commitment required to get into photography, where would I practically start, and what's the best way for a newbie to scope out whether this is actually a hobby they might be interested in, or a passing fad?

My thanks in advance for all those gathered at the OcUK fountain of knowledge!
 
I think the best advice I could give is to get a good lens.

Pick up a cheap DSLR, but only the body. A 2nd hand 400D or similar would be ideal. Then spend at least £200 (Budget dependant) on a nice lens, which I'm sure many people would be happy to advice if you went down that route.

I got a 400D about 3 years ago, but stuck with the 18-55mm lens that comes with it, and to be honest, it's a pretty poor lens... The results aren't too bad, but nothing near as sharp as the results you'll get from spending a bit more on a good lens!

Regarding skill... I'd say it's more imagination... Whenever I'm out and about, I always view the world as if I were looking through a camera, thinking about how sunlight hits different things, and how it would look in a photo. Obviously getting the photo to come out as you imagine isn't as simple as that, but learning with trial-and-error is probably the easiest way.

A copy of Photoshop or similar will also be awesome for post-processing and touching up any blemishes in the photos. If you've never used Photoshop, it will take time, but I'm completely self taught and can do quite a good job on anything photo-related that I need to.
 
Thanks for the kinds words!

Camelpaw has pretty much covered it but I would go for a 2nd hand Canon 20D or 30D which could be had between £200 and £300.

On the lens front, a Canon 75-300 lens would be a good start and between £100 to £150 would get a 2nd hand or new one.

On top of that would will need some memory cards and maybe a bag.

So, about £500 would get you started. They will hold their value fairly well so you could always resell if you always resell them if you find it's not your thing.

If you didn't want to go ahead with a purchase then your only other option is to rent but that's dead money.

I don't think you can figure out if you will like it or not without giving it a go. For me, it just happened over a number of years. Starting with motorsport and then moving to aviation. Film to a compact camera to a bridge camera to a DSLR.

The skill level will take a while to achieve. I think the real trick is not to try to take on too much at once. Pick a point and work on it. Then another point and so on. I've been shooting aviation for about 4 years now. Each year I see improvement in my work and I've still got things to learn and other things I need to improve on.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the helpful responses guys. I'm going to try the cheapskate route first - I have a family member with a Minolta Dimage 7hi that doesn't charge, so I might try to scavenge that!

I might have a play this weekend with my compact to see what I can do with close work - I can adjust various settings on it so I guess that will be a zero expenditure start! I realise that the 20D/30D will be a vast jump beyond my abilities - is there any middle ground like the bridge cameras you mention? Do they also hold their value?

If it grabs me then I'll have a look around for what events are on and have a go at motorsport or whatever fast moving subjects I can grab.
 
I'm not update on bridge cameras but both Panasonic and Sony have traditionally been strong in that area. Take a look at the Panasonic FZ38 and Canon SX20 IS cameras. They should be £250 to £300 new, not sure what they retail for 2nd hand.
 
^^Gord^^ said:
I'm not update on bridge cameras but both Panasonic and Sony have traditionally been strong in that area. Take a look at the Panasonic FZ38 and Canon SX20 IS cameras. They should be £250 to £300 new, not sure what they retail for 2nd hand.
Click to expand...

Can vouch for the FZ38, just upgraded mine for a 40D, but excellent camera, and the 35mm equivalent of the zoom is something like 28-285mm (x18), and you can get them for £220 from a quick google search from a reputable retailer in the jungle! ;)

Lonz said:
Welcome to the financially crippling world of DSLR photography! :p
Click to expand...

So... so true... :( At least we can take nice photos of the alleys we're forced to live down though :D
 
A high zoom bridge camera is probably what you need, not overly expensive but usually come with manual controls to take more control over the pics your taking.

I will echo the comments above, if you do get an SLR camera then dont skimp on lenses. I went for the entry level DSLR with the 1000D as my first DSLR. I was happy with the quality of the photos depite losing 2MP from my bridge camera.

I recently did a personal photographic test with my 3 lenses. Kit 18-55mm lens at 55mm, the "nifty fifty" (50mm F/1.8) and my 55-250mm IS lens at 50mm.

The clarity of the purchased glass was remarkable compared to the cheap kit lens! The nifty is defo the best 80 quid ive spent so far since getting into this DSLR lark...



Oh, and a word of warning, using Gord as your benchmark is a bad bad idea, his photos are out of this world!!! Set your photography goals a little lower, I know I have :)
 
It's his Lancaster shot that I love the most (although the Raptor looks rather tasty too). I'm flicking through the manual for my little compact at the moment to see what I can play with. Might have to bribe my dogs with some treats to be photo models!
 
Dogs make for excellent subjects!

img1315s.jpg


Helpful having someone at the side of you to distract the dog though at times to get shots like this, otherwise they just want to play ball all the time :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom