Amateur Alert: I am getting my 400D

Gibbs-UK

Gibbs-UK

Gibbs-UK

Associate
Joined
14 Mar 2010
Posts
396
I wanted to ask is, I want to take pictures of restaurants and its interior and so on, I am getting the Canon 400D with 18-55is Lenses.

Will this be ideal or should I buy that 50mm f1.8 or I would need to change the camera completely.

Any tips guys, as I know nothing about Photography but I know where there is a shot I can take where it is needed, if you know what I mean.

Gibbs
 
50mm would probably come out too long as your on a crop body so it works at about 85mm equiv.

Stick with the 18-55 atm as the 18 should be wide enough for interior shots and perhaps a tripod as you may need long exposures if your trying to capture the 'ambience'
 
As above, 50mm will be too narrow, 18mm might work otherwise you need to get a wider lens, something like a 10-20mm would work well.


Since it will be dark you will need a tripod. A remote release is nice but you can use a timer and preferably mirror lock up or exposure delay.
 
No, don't use a flash, use a tripod. You wont be able to light the scene properly with a single flash and it will get very complicated setting up lots of lighting.


A tripod, long exposure, jobs done.
 
What I would do it put the camera in Aperture priority mode (should be A, or maybe Av on canon). Then select an aperture that is appropriate for the scene, in this case start at something like f/11 - you need a relatively small aperture to get a large depth of focus such that most of the scene is nice and sharp.

Set the ISO to 200 or 100 if your camera supports that.

The camera will then automatically meter and calculate how long a shutter speed is required, because this is going to be indoors and with a small aperture (large f numbers, f/11) the exposure will be quite long.

Choose a focus point about 1/3rd to 1/2 way into the scene.


When you take the photo review the histogram. You may need to increase or decrease the exposure a little, this is where the exposure compensation (EC) button comes in handy.



If you are having a hard time understanding some of these terms then I think it would be a good idea to buy a book, something like Understanding Exposure get a lot of votes on OCUK.
 
Thanks for that mate much appreciated.

I wish there was someone from around the West Mids I can have a quick hour tour with and can teach me some of the things they have learnt, like a crash course or something
 
Sure will do, just out of curiousity, is there such a filter I will be needing for inside photo taking as the girl in Jessops said protect your lens at all times and told me to buy UV something
 
You don't really need anything. A uv filter is sometimes used to protect the front lens element, but the front element is surprisingly tough and even if completely cracked will give surprisingly good images. I use high end uv filters on some of my expensive lenses for non critical work but remove them for commercial stuff. The price of these filters is probably not far from the cost of the 18-50mm lens so is a bit pointless on cheap lenses.

You can buy cheap filters but they badly affect image quality and can damage your lens by shattering or jamming the threads. I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.


Use the lens hood at all times and take care.

There is usually a large markup on filters so salespeople with often try to get you to buy one for each lens. Selling a customer a couple of filters, lens cloth, and a bag can net them more profit than the camera and lens!

There are filters that are used to change the image properties, the most useful being a circular polarizer which sits on my lenses most of the time.
 
Last edited:
Good luck with the 400D , ive had mine since 2006 and its good starter kit :)

And Buy the 50mm 1.8 its a lens to have for anything! best £75 to spend on any camera
 
Thanks guys much appreciated

Just one more thing, how do you make everything black and white kind of thing and one part full colour?
 
Last edited:
Usually there would be a switch on the lens to turn IS (or Image Stabilisation) off, similar to the auto or manual focus switch.

On the Canon kit lens I know there is a switch for it as described above.
 
Gibbs-UK said:
Just one more thing, how do you make everything black and white kind of thing and one part full colour?
Click to expand...

That would have to be done in post processing on your computer. Do you have image editing software such as Lightroom, Photoshop or even open source (free!) GIMP?

Search online for a selective colour tutorial in which ever program you have access to, but would most commonly be achieved using layer masks and desaturation adjustment I suppose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom