Begineer Dslr Advice

Nuclearbaggins

Nuclearbaggins

Nuclearbaggins

Associate
Joined
13 Sep 2005
Posts
677
Location
Crewe,Cheshire
I decided a while ago to take up photography but have never really got much further than my Sony cybershot HX5.

Ive played with the manual setting but never with much luck, it being a small compact I did'nt expect to much and mostly find myself taking pictures using the auto settings.

So ive now decided to take the jump into having a DSLR my budget is around £500 but i could spend a little (£100-150) more for a really good deal etc. If im going to make use of any extras that might be included. I plan to take lots of pictures of my boys now 6yrs old and the other one who is 2 days old.

But i also enjoy taking picture of landscapes and urban area's, so would I be best with a twin lens deal or is that not needed (im pretty clueless). Ive pretty much exhausted everything I can think of information wise and just keep confusing myself even more with all the wonderful settings and shiny lens on show all over the internet.

Also i noticed that most cameras seem to quote 500-700 picture on one charge is that fairly true? or would an extra battery be needed within my budget.

Most of the cameras ive been looking at were on hdewcameras or Jessops, im greatful of any advice.
 
Last edited:
People tend to fall in to either the Canon or Nikon camp so it's worth trying both out in a shop to see which feels most comfortable. They're isn't a lot between them in terms of features and price etc. The lenses and accessories are largely similar too. Sony seem to be gaining some ground though.

I only really know Canon stuff but they have a pretty good selection on the market at the moment in the 700D and 100D.

Yes a battery will last that long. I recently went to silverstone for the F1 with a friend and we took a Canon 550D and a 5D mark3 and shot nearly 1700 photos between us with plenty of charge still left in both. Depending on what you shoot you should be able to get a day of use out of one battery but a back up is always worth considering in the future if you really get in to it.
 
If you're learning the 550D, 600D, 650D and now 700D cameras are amazing to learn on. Remember that you as a photographer are way more important than any camera you buy right now when it comes to the quality of photos you produce.

DSLR photography has a fairly big learning curve when it comes to lenses, camera settings, lighting, etc... Never buy a DSLR intending to stick the camera on Automatic and point and shoot, don't waste your time and money, just buy a powershot or similar.

I personally dislike the 18-55mm kit lens that comes with the DSLRs as standard. It's okay optically but the focus is slow, but I guess it can be pretty good for landscapes.

Buy a nifty fifty (Canon 50mm f1.8) which can be had brand new for ~£80, this lens doesn't zoom, but the big aperture will make you feel like a photographic god compared to a point and shoot camera.

Buy a flashgun. A yongnao YN560-II is about £40 and you can learn about bouncing the flash from different places and not throwing it straight at your subject.

With canon try and get ultrasonic lenses. Focus is way quieter and faster and you won't lose shots..
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. Im going to take a trip to my local camera shop tomorrow. Solaris that is very much the sort of advice and guidance I was after, the shear amount of reading that can be done regarding DSLRs has had my head spinning.

I am very much planning on avoiding the automatic setting at all costs, if I were to look at the 50mm lens as a primary lens to start off with what would make an overall good lens as a second zoom lens. Most of my time would be spent doing relatively close up shotting or landscapes I wouldnt be planning on photographing any low flying planes or the like. The reason I ask is it seems a lot of sellers include lens at a cheaper price when bought with the body, so it might be something to keep in mind when i make my purchase.
 
Yeah the 50mm on a crop body like the 600d is effectively a 80mm lens, so you'll struggle to take pictures of a whole person unless you're a good distance away. It's amazing for getting right in on the action though. And the f/1.8 aperture means you can get really good DOF (Depth of Field) on your shots making the subject in focus and the surrounding area out of focus. You can still set the aperture smaller to make more of the shot in focus and when it's fully open around f/22 the pictures can be really pin sharp.

Another benefit of f/1.8 and the wider aperture means it lets more light into the camera, and you can shoot in darker conditions with less light and no flash. The second you start closing the aperture down to make things sharper you will need to compensate for the change in lighting conditions by either slowing the shutter, boosting the ISO, or adding a light source.


IMG_3867.CR2 by solarisfireball, on Flickr

If you want the whole body of a person in frame then you want to be something like 7ft away with with a 24mm lens on a crop body, which will be about 38mm realistically...

I guess the 18-55mm is a cheap solution when you want that sort of distance, but the photos don't really looks special or professional coming out of that lens... And when I started learning photography I almost packed it all in because the 18-55mm just didn't feel like it was giving me anything really special.

Also, if you want really good looking photos you need to be shooting in RAW format, and need to process them afterwards.
 
Thanks for the explanation regarding the aperture, i had been trying to do a shot that had even a little DOF for so long with my compact with no joy at all. Im guessing the 50mm would actually be quiet good for a new born baby then if not for whole person shots, so i would certainly get a lot of use from that right now.

Am i right in thinking the bottom line is if I want to be taking full person pictures and landscapes they pretty much require two differing lens and anything else would be a compromise. Does the software for the processing come with the camera body?
 
Yeah it's pretty much impossible to do with a compact. Good for newborns, this is my little nephew at 6 months:
IMG_3332.CR2 by solarisfireball, on Flickr

Yeah the 50mm is usually regarded as a portrait lens, perfect for head and shoulders on someone. Wider angle would be good for landscape work. Landscape is usually better with the aperture closed down a little to get sharper focus (unless you have a specific part of the landscape you want to keep in focus).

Thing is I got sick of compromising and went for what is regarded as one of the two best walkabout lenses (Lenses where you can walk around a scenario getting a range of shots) that canon make: http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon24105mmL/page6.shtml
 
If UK price is the issue look for well regarded Hong Kong vendors (one in particular) for a big saving. Watch out for guarantee though.
 
Just to add I get well over 1000 shots from a single battery on my 40D. The 50D gets about half that. Read up on your prospective purchase as the later models with better image processors tend to demand more from the battery. Having said that, swapping batteries takes seconds, and battery grips aren't expensive and bring other benefits if you don't mind the bulk.

50mm f1.8 is a must-have, especially for the price. I miss mine, which currently resides at the bottom of the Grand Canal in Venice :(
 
Well I have an order in now its still taken me two days to talk myself out of the 650D as i could not justify it in the end and have ordered the 600D, with the extra money being spent on a 50mm f/1.8. The 600 comes with the standard 18-55mm lens, I can not wait to get my hands on it now :cool:
 
So ive been taking a few pictures trying to play with different settings and really enjoying the results although mostly on auto portrait if im honest, im taking baby steps into the other more manual settings trying to understand how not to take a picture that is completely black (I believe the setting was a very fast shutter speed indoors with no flash :p).

Anyways I seem to have spotted a small something inside the 50mm lens, on closer inspetion there seems to be two. They showed up better with the lens cap on for the picture with my camera phone :eek:

I dont believe it effecting my pictures but I dont really see how i would not be, should i seek a replacement because of it while I have only had it a few days?


Managed to take a better picture using the camera just above in the clickable thumbnail, the two foreign bodies are positioned just before 9 on the clock face and also just before 11. They seem to be transparent to a certain degree, fleck's of glass spring to mind when i look at them.
 
Last edited:
That does look a bit odd. If you can take a photo of a white sheet and upload the RAW. We can check with Lightroom if this is leaving any dark spots on the image.
 
Being honest im only playing at the moment, been building a new pc for the last few days all done now though and the new baby is keeping me busy too. But I got out on a little walk yesterday family in toe and what I have decided Is i need zoom more zoom, or maybe its wider angle zoom. I have yet to decide for sure.

Got to say im really happy with the pictures that both lens are giving me so far, especially the nifty fifty(in my head this lens makes me a pro ;)). But I expected that after having come from a fairly run of the mill compact. I do have to admit im still very much using the preset options portrait, sport, landscape etc at the moment. But when I have had time I have sat and taken the same picture in the house while playing with M setting :o , I think best to call that a work in progress right now but I will get the hang of it with practice.

*update* Genoma your post has reminded me to download the lightroom trial.
 
Nuclearbaggins said:
Anyways I seem to have spotted a small something inside the 50mm lens, on closer inspetion there seems to be two. They showed up better with the lens cap on for the picture with my camera phone :eek:

I dont believe it effecting my pictures but I dont really see how i would not be, should i seek a replacement because of it while I have only had it a few days?


Managed to take a better picture using the camera just above in the clickable thumbnail, the two foreign bodies are positioned just before 9 on the clock face and also just before 11. They seem to be transparent to a certain degree, fleck's of glass spring to mind when i look at them.
Click to expand...

Are they specs of dust?
While the 50mm f/1.8 ii is a very sharp lens for the price, its not very well made and there are lots of examples of it falling to pieces and dust getting into the lens body.

So its highly likely its something like that, but I wouldn't worry too much about it, as its unlikely to effect image quality. Not unless the entire inside was completely full of dust.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom