Just ordered...

J1234

J1234

J1234

Soldato
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16 Oct 2005
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A shiny new canon 400d with lens kit for a reasonable £450 with special delivery :D Can't wait to get it! Decided to go for it over others after reading what people have said about them on here, so thanks for the help guys. It is my first DSLR so will be a bit different to my current point and shoot camera! I've read online lessons and books for beginners and have a good under standing of what to do to get started.
What sort of upgrades do you lot recommend I get next, lenses? Filters? I've read quite a lot of threads about the 50mm lens and I will be looking at getting one in the future and a UV filter and definatly a tripod.
 
Good choice! I bought mine in December and absolutely love it.:D
It's quite addictive. The day after mine arrived, I went out and bought a UV and Circular polariser for the kit lens as well as a tripod. I've since bought the Canon 50mm f1.8 and on Monday my new kit should be arriving, namely a Canon 17-40mm f4 L, Canon 70-200mm f4 L, filters to suit and a battery grip. I never anticipated getting so involved but the 400D is a great mix of quality, features and value for money, I've been sucked right in!

In the ~2 months that I've had it I must have taken well over 500 shots, trying to improve my techniques. That's the beauty of digital though, no developing costs :D

It's a great camera and I wish you all the best with it. Make sure you post your snaps here once you get it :)

You can see a few of mine here:
http://scuzi.deviantart.com/
They're nothing special but hopefully it'll give you some idea of what can be produced in the hands of a novice.
 
I'm sure you won't be disappointed, and thats a pretty good price for it. :)

Most people tend to use UV filters mainly to protect the lens if it gets knocked or something. Personally I've never bothered with one for the kit lens, although it is definitely worth while for more expensive lenses.

What lenses to buy will depend on what you are shooting, although if you will be using the kit lens initially, you will probably get an idea of it's limitations and get a good idea of what to buy next :)

Something I've seen recommended quite often is the battery grip for the camera, which can make the camera easier to hold, and will give you more shooting time.
 
Yeah I'll defiantly get battery grip, makes the camera look better too, also need to get a decent photo printer.
Scuzi those pics are good I really like the look of your black and white ones. I'm looking forward to getting into doing some photography.
 
Jotun said:
What lenses to buy will depend on what you are shooting, although if you will be using the kit lens initially, you will probably get an idea of it's limitations and get a good idea of what to buy next :)
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I agree. Play about with the kit lens for a few weeks to see where its limitations lie. If you find yourself wanting more length for a lot of the shots you want to take it would be a god idea to buy a longer lens than if you found yourself at the wide end for most of your shots. It know it's stating the obvious but after a few weeks with the kit lens you'll have a good idea of what your next lens should be.

Regardless of that, I really highly recommend the Canon 50mm f1.8. For £60 you can't go wrong.
 
Scuzi said:
Regardless of that, I really highly recommend the Canon 50mm f1.8. For £60 you can't go wrong.
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Yeah i've been looking at that lens looks good and has good reviews, will have a play around with the kit lens as you said to see what shots I mostly take to decide what type of lens to get as an upgrade.
 
Justin said:
What sort of upgrades do you lot recommend I get next
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Op-Tech Pro neckstrap to replace the Canon sandpaper one!

I just have this thing about the Canon OEM strap, it's absolutely awful. It transfers every bounce of the camera straight to your neck or shoulder, it'll scrape the back of your neck red raw etc etc etc.
 
rpstewart said:
Op-Tech Pro neckstrap to replace the Canon sandpaper one!

I just have this thing about the Canon OEM strap, it's absolutely awful. It transfers every bounce of the camera straight to your neck or shoulder, it'll scrape the back of your neck red raw etc etc etc.
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I can vouch for that. The strap that comes with the 400D is like sandpaper on the back of your neck. After a day with it around you, your neck will be red raw. It's just a bit cheap and plastickey, definitely worth a few quid extra for a nicer strap.

Also, although I can't vouch for it yet, when my battery grip arrives I'll be getting a hand strap as recommended by a few members here. I've heard good things about it, especially the added flexibility it gives you.
 
Justin said:
A shiny new canon 400d with lens kit for a reasonable £450 with special delivery :D Can't wait to get it! Decided to go for it over others after reading what people have said about them on here, so thanks for the help guys. It is my first DSLR so will be a bit different to my current point and shoot camera! I've read online lessons and books for beginners and have a good under standing of what to do to get started.
What sort of upgrades do you lot recommend I get next, lenses? Filters? I've read quite a lot of threads about the 50mm lens and I will be looking at getting one in the future and a UV filter and definatly a tripod.
Click to expand...

Nice purchase!

Unless you're either planning on spending a lot of time down at the beach or shooting in pretty adverse weather conditions a lot I'd skip the UV filter for now.

Personally, I've tried the battery grip but couldn't justify the price of it as it didn't really do much for me.

The 50mm is a fun lens and you can get a pretty mental DOF with it e.g like these ones I took when messing about recently:

248569123_1e5e07eb41.jpg


371019713_9c4350a06c.jpg


Anyways, back to your question if you're looking for lenses/accessories I'd personally go for:

1. CF cards
2. 50mm F/1.8
3. Carry bag e.g. Lowepro Mini Trekker
4. A sturdy, quality tripod
 
Can anyone recommend me a link in a online UK store where I can get one of these hand wrist straps? I dont have a huge problem with the OEM neck strap but being chinese, i dont like to give the typical stereotype of a japanese tourist. :p with my canon 350d around my neck all the time.
 
Schizophonic said:
Can anyone recommend me a link in a online UK store where I can get one of these hand wrist straps? I dont have a huge problem with the OEM neck strap but being chinese, i dont like to give the typical stereotype of a japanese tourist. :p with my canon 350d around my neck all the time.
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Pretty much anyone we suggest will be a competitor to OcUK so we can't mention on here. However, there are plenty of them available on a certain auction site.
 
Justin said:
I will get a different strap because I can't stand rubbing on my neck!
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nothing worse on a hot summers day then a chaffing camera strap on your neck!!
 
good kit... hopefully I'll be getting one soon.

As for the Canon neckstrap's... awful.

I don't know who made mine, but it's a neoprene affair. Lovely, and take's a lot of thee hassle of carrying the EOS1 (35mm)+PBE1+Sigma170-500 around with me. just need some way to comfortably carry the Benbo Trekker now!
 
I've also ordered a Sandisk 4GB Ultra II CF Card to get me started, is there any particular make of memory card I should use in the future?
 
To my knowledge the speed of the CF card wont matter too much because your camera wont be reading and writing anything than a normal SLR. Unless you buy the professional range then your not goign to see a huge different between the stock CF and Ultra Range.
 
There is a huge difference in speed between a "normal" card and even an Ultra II. Just because the 400D isn't a pro camera doesn't mean that quick cards are overkill - quite the opposite in fact. The buffer isn't huge - 10 frames in RAW (at 10Mb a pop) so with a slow card this will take an age to flush whereas an Ultra II will clear that in about 20s.

The price difference isn't that great either (£8 at 4Gb) so there's no benefit in not gong for at least Ultra IIs.
 
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