An Amateur's Quest

tooomahs

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I have loved photography because I gain a sense of fulfillment—beyond the aesthetic satisfaction derived from a picture; it leaves a story I can tell, something representative of the human condition, something I can bequeath my audience and myself forever.

I’ve been an amateur photographer all my life and I was wondering if the photography community could help me out here. I’ve been taking pictures with my noobie Canon Powershot SD 750. I have never done postprocessing/photshopping any of my photographs either.

I decided that I want to move up a step—moving into DSLR/high-end camera territory. I have absolutely no idea on what cameras to buy, what filters to get and most importantly, what lens to buy. I have no idea on choosing what is the best exposure time and all that jargon for taking quality photos (although I know it may depend on the photograph itself).

Here is the quality of some photos I want to take in the future (these are not mine, but I want to take pics like these)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/toomahs/Lens Flair/070608224559_by_EntrezSansFrapper.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/toomahs/Lens Flair/BMW_335___FIRE_IT_UP_by_dejz0r.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/toomahs/Lens Flair/551fff28f840ffe0.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/toomahs/Lens Flair/Tunnle_of_thoughts_by_kobyharati.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/toomahs/Lens Flair/Three_Maserati__s_by_TVRfan.jpg

If someone can take some time, if anyone, may you please advise me on me transcendence?
 
IHere are some photos I hope to take in the future though

Hiya toomahs, welcome to ThePhotoForum.

While I cannot help you in the field of choosing the right camera, lenses and filters for you (others might, though the decision is always one's own in the end, I think), I can explain to you why I changed the photos you had put out on display into links only. It is the sentence you put up right above the series of photos, the one I quoted, in particular the part that I highlighted. These photos are stored on your own Photobucket-account, by the look of things, but your phrase suggests you haven't taken them yourself. In that case we prefer members to only put up links, so no one can mistakenly believe this is your own work, OK.

I must admit that :)oops: ) I messed up the first link, I didn't copy enough of it, so it no longer works ... maybe you can edit your own thread again and put the link to the first photo back?
 
Hehe. Sorry for the confusion. I hope my rephrase sounds better now o_o
 
The first was with a Canon 5D, 15mm fisheye lens, and a 30s exposure on a tripod or other flat surface at iso50 and f/16.

The second of the BMW says a Nikon D80 with a 12mm lens (wide angle) and a 5 second exposure. I have no idea how the heck you'd handhold that for 5 seconds and keep the car perfectly clear, so I suspect it was a double exposure or photoshopped. Normally photos like that are in the 1/5 or 1/10th second range and you just take a ton of pictures and then pick the one where you actually managed to get the car sharp. :lol: A lens with stabilization (IS or VR) will help too.

The third one of the Scion tC (sweet car!) says a Nikon D80 with a 10mm lens at f/8, 1/125s, and ISO at 320. This was probably handheld. The only 10mm lens I know of for Nikon is the Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6, which is around $400-500.

The fourth in the subway tunnel says a Canon 5D with the 15mm fisheye lens and a 1/2s exposure at iso50 and f/6.3. Again on this one, they probably took a bunch of photos and picked the one that they actually managed to get pretty sharp and blur free. If you look close, you can see a little bit of passenger movement.

There's no EXIF data on the last one, but you probably could have taken that with the cheap 18-55 kit lenses.


As far as what to buy, it really doesn't matter, but depends a lot on what your budget is. If you like the fisheye photos, a big benefit of going with Nikon is that they actually have a fisheye lens for their consumer/prosumer "DX" level bodies, the 10.5mm fisheye. I have this lens and it's great. Canon doesn't have a fisheye for their 30/40D XT/XTi bodies. The 15mm fisheye is for their full frame sensors cameras (5D) which are significantly more expensive, and that lens won't have the same effect on the lower end bodies due to the smaller sensor size. Just go try the cameras out in stores and see what fits your hand the best and which ones' controls and menus make the most sense to you and go from there.
 
As far as what to buy, it really doesn't matter, but depends a lot on what your budget is. If you like the fisheye photos, a big benefit of going with Nikon is that they actually have a fisheye lens for their consumer/prosumer "DX" level bodies, the 10.5mm fisheye. I have this lens and it's great. Canon doesn't have a fisheye for their 30/40D XT/XTi bodies. The 15mm fisheye is for their full frame sensors cameras (5D) which are significantly more expensive, and that lens won't have the same effect on the lower end bodies due to the smaller sensor size. Just go try the cameras out in stores and see what fits your hand the best and which ones' controls and menus make the most sense to you and go from there.

Nikkor 10.5mmm f2.8 DX fisheye = $599 (imported $599)
Canon EF 15mm f2.8 fisheye = $579 (imported $559)

Not only is the Canon cheaper but it also is compatible with full and cropped sensors. On a full sensor you get a true 15mm focal length. The Nikkor can only be used on their x1.5 cropped sensor cameras which means a viewing of a 15.75mm lens. In my opinion, if wide-angles are what you want you really need to go full frame... either Canon (5d or 1ds) or the new Nikon (D3).

I personally would rather spend money on a ultra wide angle lens rather than a fisheye. Fisheyes nice and all but their uses are extremely limited.

Prices are from BHphoto.com
 
Uhm, no. :mrgreen:

The Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye gives a 180 degree diagonal field of view on their 1.5x/DX sensor cameras, and 160 degree horizontally. You don't get much wider than that. Any wider and the lens would start to look behind you, lol. And with the various software out there, you can pretty much make them look whatever way you want. You can leave them as full fish, do a full rectilinear converion, or almost any combo in between. Modern software has made fisheye lenses far more useful than they used to be. The equations you use to calculate the field of view for rectilinear lenses don't apply to fisheye lenses. A 10mm rectilinear lens will give a whopping 100 degree horizontal view in comparison on a 1.5x sensor. Nikon also makes a 16mm fisheye for their 35mm film cameras that will also work just fine on their full-frame DSLRs.

The Canon 15mm fisheye won't give anywhere close to the full fisheye effect on the 1.6x crop bodies, and they don't make a fisheye lens for the crop bodies either, although I think Sigma is coming out with one to fill the gap.
 
Um.. yes.. I knew that..... you missed my point (i'm sorry)

"In my opinion, if wide-angles are what you want you really need to go full frame... either Canon (5d or 1ds) or the new Nikon (D3)."

^^ that was my point ^^

I was disagreeing with your statement that placed Nikon is the clear choice and only choice for the OP. No way you can convince me that a 10mm fisheye on a cropped body is better than a 15mm fisheye on a full frame.
 
Yeah, but do you think the OP is going to jump straight from a p&s to a full-frame digital? Probably not. I never said Nikon was the clear choice - just that it has an advantage for various wide options at a reasonable price since the OP posted some fisheye shots. :) If they want fisheye style shots and have $2200 to drop on a 5D and almost $600 on a Canon full-frame fisheye, then more power to em.
 
Uhm, no. :mrgreen:

The Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye gives a 180 degree diagonal field of view on their 1.5x/DX sensor cameras, and 160 degree horizontally. You don't get much wider than that. Any wider and the lens would start to look behind you, lol. And with the various software out there, you can pretty much make them look whatever way you want. You can leave them as full fish, do a full rectilinear converion, or almost any combo in between. Modern software has made fisheye lenses far more useful than they used to be. The equations you use to calculate the field of view for rectilinear lenses don't apply to fisheye lenses. A 10mm rectilinear lens will give a whopping 100 degree horizontal view in comparison on a 1.5x sensor. Nikon also makes a 16mm fisheye for their 35mm film cameras that will also work just fine on their full-frame DSLRs.

The Canon 15mm fisheye won't give anywhere close to the full fisheye effect on the 1.6x crop bodies, and they don't make a fisheye lens for the crop bodies either, although I think Sigma is coming out with one to fill the gap.


So i have this straight. I am not able to buy a canon fisheye lense for my 30D?
 
Tokina actually makes a zoom-fisheye with a focal range of 10-17mm which would give you a little more versatility. It's not an f2.8, but you can handhold a 10mm lens at 1/10th of a sec, and at ISO 400 or 800 that'll be pretty low light. I've seen these go for pretty cheap on ebay(~$300), you'll just have to wait it out. The optics are also made by pentax if that's of any importance, but apparently it is a pretty well known lens in the pentax world.

I would use that on a d80 (I got one for $850 with a mb-d80 battery grip and 18-55) and you can shoot pictures like the ones above all day. I haven't had experience correcting a fisheye to look like a normal wide-angle, but judging from peoples opinions, it works.

Probably the cheapest set-up you could get that could take similar quality pictures.

Edit: link to the review: http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/tokina_1017_3545_nikon/index.htm
 
Yeah, but do you think the OP is going to jump straight from a p&s to a full-frame digital?

Well......... we won't know until the OP tells us...... right?

The original posters exact words:
"I’ve been an amateur photographer all my life"
..
"I decided that I want to move up a step—moving into DSLR/high-end camera territory."

Those words + the samples the OP posted lead me to believe that a FULL FRAME camera would best serve him/her. What camera is one of the most AFFORDABLE full frame cameras on the market?. why yes.. the CANON 5D....

It would ~not~ be the first time someone on this board jumped right into a 5D or 1 series body. The 5D isn't out of reach of as many as you think.... a whole lot of people have the 5D.... and I BET that not all of them are experienced.

As you said... all the more power to them... (5D isn't all that out of reach of reach for many consumers).
 
The second of the BMW says a Nikon D80 with a 12mm lens (wide angle) and a 5 second exposure. I have no idea how the heck you'd handhold that for 5 seconds and keep the car perfectly clear, so I suspect it was a double exposure or photoshopped. Normally photos like that are in the 1/5 or 1/10th second range and you just take a ton of pictures and then pick the one where you actually managed to get the car sharp. :lol: A lens with stabilization (IS or VR) will help too.

I'm pretty sure if he was using a flash, or better yet off camera lighting, he could easily make this picture happen. The flash would freeze the car and then he could leave the background blurry as hell. I'm pretty sure this is what happened here. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong. I think a double exposure would be tough, if not impossible, hand held because the images would not line up. Maybe there is a plugin that could rectify this problem, but I do not know.
 
Thank you so much for your input guys. I really appreciate it.

I also posted this topic on another forums and you guys, as well as them, have recommended the following cameras: Nikon D80 , Canon EOS 5D, or the Canon Digital Rebel XI and the Nikon D40X.

I have considered getting the Nikon D80 but I still have not figured out which lens I should get. I didn't choose the EOS 5D because that is out of my price range.

I know I want fisheye lens for sure and people have recommended me this one:
Nikkor 10.55mm Fisheye

I still don't know what lens I need for basic point and shoot pictures and a lens for wide angles.
 

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