Bought my first DSLR

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Hi i am a long time lurker in these forums and have done a lot of thread reading. Due to the demise of my P&S panasonic i have taken the plunge and bought an entry level DSLR, namely the Sony alpha a230. I have been experimenting this weekend in Edinburgh and am very pleased so far. Can anyone suggest some good lenses for taking landscape shots? I have the 18-55 mm that came with the camera and looking around people seem to recommend the minolta 70-210 beercan and the 50mm prime. Could someone please explain what these lenses would be used for?

Many thanks

Jim
 
If you don't know what you would use them for then don't buy them... yet.

Get used to the kit lens and find its limitations, then you'll have a much better understanding of what you need:D
 
Really nice crisp shots.

Five things I'd advise.

1 - Shoot RAW files and used Adobe Photoshop to process them, this means you need to use the 'creative camera' modes so point number 2 is...

2 - Control the camera. Use Av for most purposes. Use M if subject are consistently lit but bright or dark shades.

3 - Learn what does what use this (SLRsiml)

4 - Once your sure you got this sorted buy a 50mm prime lens. This will let you work in LOW light, it will also force you to learn about composition.

5 - Know your taking good pictures further your knowladge of your camera untill you reckon you know what everything on you camera does, and this includes learning how to post process shots well.

The look at buying more lenses and tripods ect.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the camera!
 
I am happy with the results on auto at the moment i have taken some shots on manual in the snow when the camera would not focus in auto mode. Low light was one of the things that made me go SLR over a P&S. I think i will look into a tripod for lower light situations due to shaky hands.
 
I am happy with the results on auto at the moment i have taken some shots on manual in the snow when the camera would not focus in auto mode. Low light was one of the things that made me go SLR over a P&S. I think i will look into a tripod for lower light situations due to shaky hands.

I would say by all means get a tripod but a fast prime lens like I mentioned the 50mm will be the way to go for low-light. Shaky hands wont stop people from moving!!

EDIT beaten to it!!

is a brighter lens one with a lower f number?

Yeas f1.8 is faster than f22.

The f-stop would be as follows f1.4, f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8. And things inbetween such as f1.8 is 1/3 of a stop faster than f2. Each stop- lets in twice as much light as the previous stop. So f5.6 might give a shutter speed of 1/50th f4 would give us 1/100th and f2.8 would give us 1/200th.

Infact do a test now. Go into the living room max out your ISO speed and tell us what shutter speed you would get at f5.6 then calculate it for f1.8. [DO IT NOW!!]

[COME BACK]

See how important fast apertures can be to indoor and low light photographers.
 
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Really nice crisp shots.

Five things I'd advise.

1 - Shoot RAW files and used Adobe Photoshop to process them, this means you need to use the 'creative camera' modes so point number 2 is...


The look at buying more lenses and tripods ect.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the camera!


Thanks for the replies so far guys

Is photo shop elements any good compared with the full monty increadably expensive version?
 
Yeah I used Elements for ages and it's great, then I've been using lightroom too at the same time. Untill just a few months ago and then I bought CS3. TBH I'm a little gutted at how much it cost vs the improvement gianed. SO either Elements is a bargin or CS is a rip-off!!

I recommend Flickr for photo uploads. You can use it for free, but I would recommend the $10 yearly subscription for Flickr Pro.
2nd'ed oh if you use BTinternet you get pro free!!
 
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