How to best spend £1500....??

[orange_fox]

Hi,

I've been an amature photographer for several years now, and am very familar with Photoshop. I've been using my mum's Nikon D90, but now want to get my own camera. I've been saving for two years, and now that I've just finished my degree, think it's time to take the plunge and get my own!

The problem is, although I'm creatively capable, I'm not very clued up on the technical side of things, and would really appreciate some advice.

I'm planning on spending a few months trialling and learning my camera, and then potentially getting in to wedding photography. I really want to buy equipment that's capable of producing highly professional looking shots ..... and that's where I need your advice please!! :-)

Like I said, I have around £1500 to spend, although there's a chance I may be able to save a bit more if necessary.

Could you please give me advice on what camera to buy? It's going to be for weddings and also sports. I'd also like to know which lenses to get at first (I know I'll prob have to add to these over time).

A good telephoto lens, a macro lens, a wide angle lens, and then a basic lens is what I'm thinking .... but I'm happy to be corrected.

What do I need to look for when looking to achieve very high quality photos? I LOVE the shots that capture moving crisp detail (eg water splashes). Does that require a fast shutter speed, and if so what do I need to look for?

I hope I've given enough info for you to get an idea of what I'm after. Please feel free to ask questions if I haven't made sense!

(Also, do you think I need to increase my budget to get what I'm after?)

Thank you in advance! :-)

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[gsgary]

What about spending it on loose women and beer

[Joshonator]

I'd say your budget is sufficient but you will probably not be able to buy a macro lens at first. Get good 70-200 (2.8 aperture is best) and your covered form portraits to telephoto and very good for sports, then get a camera with a kit lens and your covered from wide angle to mid range focal lengths you may want to replace this later but to start off it will be fine. I don't know if you want to go nikon or canon, maybe nikon to share lenses with mom. Pretty much any modern dslr has a shutter speed of 1/4000 or better which is more than capable of what you need for fast action. Low light performance and autofocus is probably a more critical aspect of the camera for you.

Fast glass is going to be very important for sports/weddings and possibly a flash as well.

[orange_fox]

Hi Joshinator, Thanks for the reply! :-)

Yes I would certainly say that low light erformance needs to be a consideration. I often want to shoot football game under floodlights, but can't because of the blur. What specifically do I need to look for in camera/lens that functions well in low conditions?

Yes I will prob stick with Nikon .... seems to make sense.

What is Fast glass?? (Sorry I'm being such a noob!)

Cheers

Kate

[Solarflare]

Fast lenses are those with large maximal apertures / low minimal f-numbers.

Like a f/2.8 zoom.

Or a f/1.4 prime.

You really should learn a bit basics about photography.

Wedding photography is not an easy field because you need to learn a lot about lighting and using flash, including off camera flash, and preplanning. Wedding photographers typically need an assistant and thats a good place to start learning this field.

Sports photography is the most demanding field of photography when it comes to equipment. You need high shutter speeds, and often sports happen in low light conditions, which means you need to run your camera at high ISO and get the fastest lenses and on top of that you need a lot of focal length to shoot at a distance. And glass like that is extremely expensive.

[Joshonator]

I've heard very good things about this lens, you may want to consider it as it will fit into your budget.

Amazon.com: Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS FLD Large Aperture Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital DSLR Camera: Camera & Photo

In order to get clear shots in low light, you need a lens that lets in a lot of light. A lens that lets in a lot of light is called fast glass because the glass lets in a lot of light, allowing you to have a fast shutter speed, while still allowing you to get a correct exposure. In cheaper lenses usually they don't let in that much light, so you need a slower shutter speed for the correct exposure. Longer shutter speed means that shake and movement will blur the image.

The next important thing for low light is a camera with good ISO performance. You will need to have high ISO set to get those fast shutter speeds you want, and if the camera doesn't perform well the images will end up grainy and underexposed or blurry.

I would really recommend you learn the exposure triangle, it doesn't take long and well help you make sense of all of this.

I shoot canon so I'm no expert on nikon bodies, but you should probably be considering the nikon D5000, D5100 or D90 (with an 18-55mm kit lens) which should all be able to meet your needs.

[gsgary]

£1500 is no where near enough for what you want, for weddings you will want to look at the 24-70F2.8L and 70-200F2.8L, for sport i use a 300mmF2.8L, the body you need D700 maybe possible but would leave you no money for lenses, I'm in St Ives where i used to live every summer shooting surf and landscapes

[Joshonator]

£1500 is no where near enough for what you want, for weddings you will want to look at the 24-70F2.8L and 70-200F2.8L, for sport i use a 300mmF2.8L, the body you need D700 maybe possible but would leave you no money for lenses, I'm in St Ives where i used to live every summer shooting surf and landscapes

L lenses for a nikon?

I do agree that a 24-70 would be a good idea in the long run, but I don't think it's necessary to start off. And wedding photographers existed long before the D700.

[gsgary]

£1500 is no where near enough for what you want, for weddings you will want to look at the 24-70F2.8L and 70-200F2.8L, for sport i use a 300mmF2.8L, the body you need D700 maybe possible but would leave you no money for lenses, I'm in St Ives where i used to live every summer shooting surf and landscapes

L lenses for a nikon?

I do agree that a 24-70 would be a good idea in the long run, but I don't think it's necessary to start off. And wedding photographers existed long before the D700.

Sorry i'm a Canon shooter, yes i know they did i'm shooting a wedding for a friend film only with my C330+ 80mm and C220+ 135mm

[sovietdoc]

I'm planning on spending a few months trialling and learning my camera, and then potentially getting in to wedding photography. I really want to buy equipment that's capable of producing highly professional looking shots
A good telephoto lens, a macro lens, a wide angle lens, and then a basic lens is what I'm thinking ....
I have around £1500 ($2353.43) to spend, although there's a chance I may be able to save a bit more if necessary.

Okay, for highly professional looking shots and for things you want to shoot you'd need a Full Frame camera. D700 is your cheapest option and used one runs for about $1200 on Amazon.

Then for wedding photography and for your WA, Normal Zoom and Tele lenses you'll need 3 things.

1. Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 AF-S used one ~ $1700
2. Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 AF-S used one ~ $870
3. Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR used one ~ $880

Then the only thing left is a macro lens:

Nikon 105 Micro f/2.8 VR used one ~ $864

If you're going to seriously shoot, don't forget about some flashes. At least one to start-off like a SB910 which is like another $500.

Obviously all this stuff is way over your budget but in the end, this is what you'll need to have razor sharp, professionally looking photos capable of being printed into wedding albums and such.

If you can afford it, I'd start with a D700 and 24-70+70-200 f/2.8's, if you can't but you want to jump into weddings right away D700+70-200+SB910. This combo should fit within your budget.

[jaomul]

You will be better off going secondhand. You will more than likely get a frosty response asking what type of lenses you require for a wedding. When your good enough to do one you will have a good idea what's required so will only need to ask is a certain lens as good or nearly as good as another. I recommend for the moment commit to a make which should probably be nikon as your using a d90. Pay a few hundred for a good condition body. As an example a d90 with a second hand tamron 17-50 and a second hand longer such as a sigma or tamron 70-200. A tripod plus flash will bring you over your budget. Practice a while and you will soon know the next required step

[tirediron]

All the top-end gear in the world won't help you a bit if you don't know how to wring every bit of use out of it. Learn how to shoot weddings, learn how the business works, what you need to do, what you shouldn't do... in short, learn how to be a photographer before you worry about buying a bunch of gear. A few months is NO WHERE near enough time to branch out on your own UNLESS you are a genunine prodigy in the craft.

The best thing you can do right now is sit down, right out the best possible resume, and slog your butt to every photographer in the area. Chances are better than not that you'll probably (if you're lucky) get taken on as an unpaid "asssistant" meaning you run here, run there, get coffee, haul gear, etc. In short, do almost everything but take pictures. This is called an [informal] apprenticeship. This is where you really learn!

[Solarflare]

Just for the record, a good photographer can make great pictures out of a cheap camera, while a clueless person will make awful pictures with the best camera.

See for example this thread: Have you seen this?? Thoughts??

[billyboybad]

Just for the record, a good photographer can make great pictures out of a cheap camera, while a clueless person will make awful pictures with the best camera.

See for example this thread: Have you seen this?? Thoughts??

I totally agree, photography is not about camera.


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[ZapoTeX]

I suggest you get hands dirty on the technical side too with the D90 you borrow from your mum before buying a new body and a whole bunch of lenses.

Also, for "professional-looking" (as long as this expression makes sense) wedding photos you'll need at least one powerful speedlight. I'd say speedlight is higher priority than a fast walk-around zoom (speedlight helps more than a bright lens at a party, while in a church even 2.8 is not enough and you'll use an ultra-fast prime).

Ciao!