Spec me some essential accessories.

G-Dubs

G-Dubs

G-Dubs

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Joined
2 Jan 2009
Posts
1,737
Location
Lincolnshire coast
New to the art, and since receiving the 60D as a gift I have been enjoying learning all about my camera.

I have a bit of money left from the gift and I'm now looking to get together some accessories that will enhance my images and give me some creative options and would appreciate help in deciding what to get and why, as in what benefit I would gain.

I got the Camera originally for taking picures of my PC modding projects and for the reviews I do of hardware. However I've since found myself taking lots of wildlfe shots and closeups in the garden.

I currently have the following lenses, both of which i'm delighted with.
EF-S 17-85 1:4-5.6 (67mm)
Tamron AF 70-300 1:4-5.6 (62mm).
I also have a tripod and bag.

I'm thinking along the lines of
filters,
macro rings,
range extenders,
flash guns
Remote shutter release with interval timer thing
Those tenty things you put objects in to photograph.
etc.

I know already that the use of such extenders etc is not as good as getting a dedicated lens, but I just don't have the money or the income to save up so can we take it as read that my choice is not the best that can be made please.

I've spent ages looking around but don't really know what's good to get and what's not.

I'm putting some pics up to give an idea of the sort of stuff i'm doing rather than for comment but please feel free to comment on the pics if you like. Be gentle with me as i've only had the camera a few months.

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All advice appreciated
 
DiCe! said:
canon ef 50mm f 1.8 II Lens. Do it. Do it now.
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This is a must. Anyone with a Canon needs this lense.

Also, Sigma 18-200mm 1:4-5.6 APO is another good lens. Good for all ranges.

Give yourself a lot of time to learn. Spend hours looking at photos you enjoy then try to replicate them with your own touches. Practice endlessly.
 
G-Dubs said:
I know already that the use of such extenders etc is not as good as getting a dedicated lens, but I just don't have the money or the income to save up so can we take it as read that my choice is not the best that can be made please.
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Your current lenses aren't good enough to work remotely well with extenders; and in any case, decent extenders cost upwards of £100.

A 50mm f/1.8 will cover basic portraiture nicely, give you a good low-light lens to play with, and also give you a nice sharp lens to use a Raynox DCR 250 with to get into macro work :)
 
Ksanti said:
Your current lenses aren't good enough to work remotely well with extenders; and in any case, decent extenders cost upwards of £100.

A 50mm f/1.8 will cover basic portraiture nicely, give you a good low-light lens to play with, and also give you a nice sharp lens to use a Raynox DCR 250 with to get into macro work :)
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Thats a shame as an extender was one of the things I was really after. Referring to my original post though, I appreciate I'm not going to get a great result, but as i can't afford a great result what could I go for in the extender market to get the best bang for my buck?
 
sort of things we're talking about here really.

I've seen digital rev and a few others but never used any so would apreciate a pointer or two
 
Purchase the following

1) Rocket Blower
2) "Understanding" Exposure by Bryan Peterson
3) Couple of extra SD memory cards (you can never have too many)
4) Extra battery.
 
before you go charging in an buying a load of stuff that other people say you should have, where do you want your photography to go? is there anything in your current photography that makes you think "hmm i wish i could do this" or "i wish that was better"?

there isnt really "essential" kit that people can tell you what to get, you either know you need something or you dont if you get my drift :)
 
G-Dubs said:
Thats a shame as an extender was one of the things I was really after. Referring to my original post though, I appreciate I'm not going to get a great result, but as i can't afford a great result what could I go for in the extender market to get the best bang for my buck?
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The best bang for buck is simply up-scaling your photos, you can do this for free in photoshop or the Gimp. I have seen many examples of a 1.4TC on various 70-300 lenses, every time the results are awful and much better results are achieved simply with a bicubic re-sample.
 
neil_g said:
before you go charging in an buying a load of stuff that other people say you should have, where do you want your photography to go? is there anything in your current photography that makes you think "hmm i wish i could do this" or "i wish that was better"?

there isnt really "essential" kit that people can tell you what to get, you either know you need something or you dont if you get my drift :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, perhaps the title is misleading. I'd hoped in my OP that i'd given a flavour for what sort of areas i'm interrested in. At present I don't know what I don't know, and that's half the problem. I was hoping by posting some images and outling the sort of photography I enjoy that it would stimulate a discussion along the lines of

"I see the sort of work you're doing and think you'd find product x would make for better images/add to your enjoyment/give you greater flexability/make things easier/better for you", delete as required.

I do of course understand that money = quality, but as I don't have lots of £££ I was hoping there'd be people who could say "you know what, I had one of these converters/filters/wireless shutter release/extenders" delete etc and I found It added to ....well you get the idea.

So we're dealing with sub optimal here but we're looking at bang for buck

So far narrowed it down to

Wireless shutter release with interval timer. Hahnell GigaT pro
The "nifty 50"
The raynox 250 (quite like ome of the opther raynox stuff)
A light tent
perhaps a flash


D.P. said:
The best bang for buck is simply up-scaling your photos, you can do this for free in photoshop or the Gimp. I have seen many examples of a 1.4TC on various 70-300 lenses, every time the results are awful and much better results are achieved simply with a bicubic re-sample.
Click to expand...



I'd love to know what you're talking about here, can someone tranlate to English for this Noob please.
 
Can anyone tell me what DP is suggesting I do?

I'm guessing it's some sort of post processing but I really don't know

Cheers
 
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