New SLR options

manisinghb · 15 Mar 2012 at 13:41

Hi guys,
My fiancé and I are beginners-intermediates in photography and would like to venture into the world of SLR photography. Don't have a budget at the moment but what would be a good place/brand/spec/price to look for?

We mainly capture images around locations, of people (family and friends), and of other interesting architecture etc. we are also space fanatics and would look at something to hook onto the telescope on the future perhaps...

Thanks in advance =)

PS. What are your thoughts on the new Sony A57 DSLR?

Tysonator · 16 Mar 2012 at 22:26

Sony's are having a good range of bodies at the moment. Hoever they can not match Canon or Nikon for range of flashes and lens. Plus most of the after market gear and accessories are mainly for the big 2 camera makers.

Hooking up to a telescope is done via an adapter which again should be easy to buy doe the big 2 main manufactuers.

Columbo · 17 Mar 2012 at 09:28

The A57 is a very decent body. Decent glass is widely available as well as a lot of accessories. I certainly didn't feel like there was a shortage of available lenses when I owned a Sony.

However for the telescope requirements you may be better going with a Canon / Nikon as its a very niche market and it may be difficult to find the fitments needed for the Sony.

Demon · 17 Mar 2012 at 11:45

The A57 sounds like a good camera, but it's only £50 cheaper then the A65, which is 24MP and has the even better OLED electronic viewfinder, all it's sacrifices is a small amount of high ISO capability (larger MP = slightly more noise at High ISO, it's still good though).

As for lens/accessories choice, that's not an issue with Sony, they bought out Minolta years ago, so you have all that 'heritage' of secondhand kit, not to mention Sony have a very wide range of lenses, easily on par with Nikon and Canon. There are plenty of cheap VFM lenses that give you an easy upgrade path..
e.g. Minolta 70-210 f/4 for £100 secondhand for a mint example.. and then there are some mid-range bargains like the 16-50 f/2.8 for around £500, not to mention all lenses are automatically image stabilised since it's done in-body.

For astro-photography, a T-Ring Sony Alpha Mount adapter is £11.75, http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Sony_Alpha_T_Ring__2498.html Lots of people use the Axx Sony's for this purpose.

The only astro-photography consideration for really serious use is that some people like to do IR shots of galaxies/constellations etc and you need to buy specific camera's that you can remove the IR filter, but obviously that then makes it more dedicated to that one task so I doubt you'd want to do that..

I don't think you can go wrong with Canon/Nikon or Sony, the three popular models would be the Nikon D5100, Canon EOS 600/60D or Sony A57/65

The Sony has the different slant on things with it's Electronic viewfinder to allow faster AF in video, faster burst FPS for photography and a more usable live view mode using the rear screen (Just as fast as looking through the viewfinder).. Whether that appeals or not might help you make a decision, pop over to www.dpreview.com and read the various reviews!

manisinghb · 5 Apr 2012 at 14:28

What are your thoughts on the

Canon T3i

Or

Nikon D5100

pecnarf · 5 Apr 2012 at 15:08

ok firstly as for hooking up to a telescope their camera t ring adapter for canon, nikon and sony you then buy a t adapter. (camera>t-ring>T-adapter>barlow len>telescope) you may need a spacer too (camera>t-ring>T-adapter>barlow len>spacer>telescope). their are also t-adapter design attach directly to the camera body so that you don't need the t-ring. as for camera if you looking at telescope use the canon 600d(t3i) is good for the flip lcd screen as you can use that to look through when the telescope at a angle that you can bend down to look thought the viewfinder. now i've got a 550d and my dad got a 600d i've used both and think they a really good camera to use for novice's to advance users, easy to use and to learn on. if you do get a canon i would recommend the following items.

canon 550d/600d/60d (body)
canon 18 -55mm is lens
canon 50mm f1.8 lens
canon/tameron/sigma 75-300mm lens
Celestron C90 Mak good for both Terrestrial and Astronomical viewing has a build in t-adapter so you only need a t-ring plus it light weight, very portible and has shoe/feet so that it can be mount on any standard camera tripod.
t-ring
t-adapter
if you get a 2" telescope then Max DSLR 2 inch camera adaptor as it cut the t-adapter out completly to allow direct connection to the 2" telescope.
a good tripod (motto or redsnapper as they do tripod that support 8kg to 12kg load) and remote shutter cable a must have for any sort of long exposure.

above will cover nearly all manner from general photography to astrophotography only thing possible missing from the list is a good marco lens, marco flash ring and a flash gun

ps i've done some post in this thread astrophotography EOS 60a on astrophotography their youtube with some basic info and tips on astrography plus if you look on youtube to find loads of video on the subject. but for exposure longer than 15s you will need either a computerize telescope that has a motorize mount for tracking or motorize tracking mount system like heq5,eq5 or above. their is also the astrotrac system which is design for non computerzise telescope or camera that will track planet/moons and stars for upto 2hours so could do a 2 hour long exposure on deep sky so get star field, galaxys etc