Some advice

Hyburnate

Hyburnate

Hyburnate

Soldato
Joined
29 Jul 2011
Posts
15,674
Location
Near Northants / MK
I think this is probably my first delve into this section, so hello guys!

I'm after some advice on numerous different things.

The first is: I want to get my hands into photography, well I think I want too. I want to be able to take some pleasing images I know that much, of what I'm not sure, probably landscapes or something similar.

So what should I buy to start learning? Budget is a little up in the air, I would prefer buying second hand due to better value for money that way. What do I need to ask when I'm buying? What should I be looking for? I'm thinking less than £200 for the body and lens and preferably any accessories I should need.

I assume I should go into a store and take a look at some?

The second is: I took a photo whilst I was out in London a few months back, honestly I thought "Oh, that looks good (I love the Shard)" so took a picture it wasn't until I looked at it that I realised it was a pretty good shot. What this means I have no clue, perhaps I have a good eye. I'm not sure, however the main question is, is it any good? If so, what's good about it? What could be improved?

Picture:
SHARDCopy.png

You'll have to excuse the mobile phone quality and the intrusive watermark :D


Thanks,
Josh

e; Knew I'd forget something, I've taken a look at the sticky but unsure on what bits relate to me as it were.
 
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Honestly I was meant to post in here, I made an impulse buy of a 400D in the MM, seen it at a good price so went for it.

Don't know anybody (well, I sort of do but they're only a beginner).
I did find out what you said about leaving ISO or a setting turned on or up/down. When I was in London I had changed a setting on my phone to close up mode and forgot to change it back which ruined the photo as it was full of noise. I think I'll stick with the 18-55mm lens until I need something different and then I'll come pick your brains over in here.

I'm going to read the stickied thread today and learn everything I need to know, I've done some research into fnumber however still a lot to learn!
 
Hmmm, thanks for that :D I have got a lot of reading to do but decided it would be best for me to have a play with one whilst reading so it stays in my mind.
 
Hmm, some questions.

I definitely like Macro photography more so insects and flowers etc than inanimate things. However I know I need to be using Av however when I do that (I'm indoors practising on things like coins) however I'm not sure if it's because I'm indoors or not but I'm getting long shutter speeds like 5seconds or so which because I have no tripod yet is causing shake. However when I go into Tv mode or manual mode (come back to this in a minute) and set the shutter speed to 1/40th it auto sets the aperture to f4 which gives me the direct affect I'm after (only the object in focus, blurry background), why does aperture priority give me a silly shutter speed?

Sorry if that doesn't make sense.

My second question is, I'm on a tightish budget, I don't want to be spending £500 on a lens, but I'm happy to spend perhaps £200ish second hand for a good lens. So what lens could I use for Macro images however also perhaps use for portraits and maybe sports shots? I have the opportunity to go to cricket matches often so whilst it's not fast paced it's still a lot of movement.

Also, when in M mode, I understand (hopefully corrected) this is the full manual mode (I never use auto focus, am I wrong to do this?), however I use the what I'll refer to as the scroll wheel (not sure on the technical term) to change the shutter speed, but how do I change the aperture/fnumber if at all possible?

tl;dr: Why does Av give me a 3 second shutter speed when Tv and M on the same fnumber give me a much shorter shutter speed? And what lens would be good for ~£200 second hand for Macro/Sport/Portrait. I don't mind if it can't have any of these things but would just like to know if there's anything out there worth considering. Am I wrong considering a Tamron A17 70-300 mm F/4-5.6 AF Di LD Lens?
 
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oio said:
I don't have a 400D on hand to check, but try holding down the "AV" button (middle-ish, top) on the back of the camera while you turn the wheel that you've been using for the shutter speed.
Click to expand...

You're a star! That works. Well that's one question answered :D
 
Thanks :) May have to look into getting that lens after bag + tripod etc.
Perhaps another question, what kit should I buy? I need a bag, and I'd like a tripod. But should I buy things like a lens hood and UV Filters?

I guess deciding when to use auto focus and not is a thing of case by case scenario.
 
All this help really does help, so thanks guys. Glosrfc you're absolutely right and I did actually see those things after taking it :( At the minute I've got a lens hood, tripod, bag, rocket duster and uv filter on my shopping list. I will prioritise everything but the tripod for now as I feel those are more necessary items. I've got an extra battery and both are 100% charged, I may buy another battery and compact flash card. What's a good bag for kit?

e; Playing about with aperture, this is using aperture 4. I'm a little confused on why aperture 4 gives me the desired affect however 22 doesn't. Why is this?
Coffee.jpg
 
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Thanks :) It's a shame all this awful weather has struck as I'd love to get out in the garden. I did try to take a picture of the garden however it was all very out of focusish. I used the whitebalance as cloudy and played around with the aperture and shutter speed but still the end of the garden didn't look great, I'm not too sure if that was down to my movement as I used quite a longish shutter speed or what?

e; @al4x I've been watching 'Mike Browne' on YouTube a lot. I find his videos very educational.
 
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I've been looking at this: http://lenshero.com/lenses/canon-400d-telephoto-lens-less-than-180

I quite like the sound of Canon's 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM. Is this a good lens? I wont be using auto focus, I much prefer manual focus. I've decided to change my priorities a little and want to be taking pictures of wildlife, preferably things far away, like being able to take pictures of birds far away however I'd also like to take Macro shots but if that's a no go on this budget then that's ok what budget would be able to accommodate a telephoto + macro lens?
 
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