Hey guys... I'm new here

[WesVFX]

and looking to get into photography. My background is that I just graduated college last week, and while there I had to take a couple photography classes. So I'm familiar with the basics for the most part. But have never had a NICE camera of my own to REALLY get a familiar hold on photography.

I've been looking at some of canon's SLR's lately and have pretty much decided on their new Rebel T1i as that's what's in my budget as of right now and I like the whole video recording in high def. option that it has.

I was hoping to get a few of your guy's opinions on this kit... (I will be calling to customize the kit below, basically adding a 50mm Prime Lens and small camera hip case)

CANON EOS Digital Rebel T1i 500D NEW SLR Body 2 IS lens - eBay (item 160341987910 end time Jul-14-09 05:47:08 PDT)

I'm a major car enthusiast and will probably be taking a lot of footage and photos at local car shows, drag strips, etc... I'm also a big fan of night photography.

This kit is really at about my max price range right now, and I just wanna make sure I'm not purchasing a complete piece of crap for the current level that i'm at and it being my first camera.

as a side note, I learned to use the 20D's at school... just FYI

Thanks for any and all comments guys/gals!

 

[mikes2994]

Soul, I would like to know also, somebody will answer in a bit hopefully.

 

[Dylan-Fishman]

Did you check out the Nikon D40/D60? If you haven't already I would.

 

[Dylan-Fishman]

Oh and everything besides the body and the canon lenses are going to be garbage.

 

[musicaleCA]

Looks like you get quite a bit with that kit (at first; its mostly garbage, as noted above). The "58mm Wide angle" isn't wide...that's normal. I've survived without the need for those converters and I'm a little scared to know what they do to image quality; just use your feet instead. The two IS lenses would be a great starting point. Those tripods are probably complete crap given the price of the whole kit; I wouldn't be surprised if they fall apart in a day. (Can anybody tell what make/model those tripods are?) The flash looks like junk too; if you're going to use a flash seriously for anything other than fill (and even then), you need plenty of power and a head that tilts and swivels so you can bounce it. I doubt that flash has a guide number much greater than the internal pop-up flash, and functioning as a slave you need to fire the pop-up flash to get it to fire anyway; sticking to Canon's gear will let you trigger flashes with IR, so that you don't effect the image.

Oh, and same thing goes for the UV filters. Probably junk single-coated too. If the cards aren't SanDisk, Lexar, or Kingston, or similar top brand for memory, you're going to run into problems with them, fast.

 

[Nicholas James Photo]

I think that the problem with "kits" from sellers on ebay is that its a package of items that they want to get rid of. You dont need loads of kit straight away. Buy a piece (the stuff you really want) at a time. Find a local dealer who knows their stuff and have a good chin wag first. Give him the details of price etc and they may be able to match it??? PS. I have nothing against ebay if you know exactly what you're buying.

 

[WesVFX]

yea... below is basically the stuff I'm really looking to buy the kit for... The stuff with red x's on it, are things that I realize already might or might not be crap...

so with that said, do you guys think all this below for around $1200 is a good deal, and a decent setup for a beginner/intermediate SLR camera user?

 

[WesVFX]

ok... for some reason I can't figure out how to post a picture... it doesn't seem to be like other forums I'm on where you can just type in the whole code....

here's the picture link instead...

[url=http://img191.imageshack.us/i/camerakit.jpg/]Imageshack - camerakit.jpg[/url]

 

[WesVFX]

wow... I just called "GetItDigital" (The Ebay Seller) to customize the order and he was completely rude... forget it. I wouldn't by from him no matter the price.

conversation:

Me: Hi I was calling to setup a custom order for your T1i camera kit on ebay.
Him: When do you want it?
Me: I'm shopping for one right now... so I'd say in the next day or so I could order it. Where are you located?
Him: In New York (as he said with his arabic accent) What do you want?
Me: (told him about the above mentioned kit, with the added lens and case) could you do it for $1200?
Him: No I cannot
Me: ok...?
Him: Are you buying it now?
Me: no, from the ebay listing it says you will make a new listing and I purchase it through there.
Him: No we do it over the phone right now. I can do it for $1250 we have 3 left.
Me: Umm... ok, let me give you a call right back (just so I didn't impluse buy as this guy was really giving me a bad vibe)
Him: Don't bother, these are selling like hot cakes... and hung up...

WTF?!?!

I'll go somewhere else... glad I didn't hit the buy it now button and called first to see what kind of people I'm dealing with.

Anybody recommend a good place to get that same setup (camera/lenses) for a good price like what I'm looking at?

this bums me out...

 

[WesVFX]

bump...

 

[benlonghair]

I got a Nikon D60 kit from Cameta Camera. Very nice people, sale went well, very happy with the camera and it's a real store if I have a problem, I can drive there and knock heads. It was the body and an 18-55mm f/5.6 VR kit lens (which, amazingly, is pretty sharp.) I also picked up a Nikon 70-300mm f/5.6 VR off ebay. Whole kit cost me (minus extra battery and card) a little over $900.

The new Nikon D5000 has the HD movie capacity, but I don't know how set you are on Canon. Worth a look anyhow.

 

[Classic_Obsession]

If you're not so set on Canon, I'd say Nikon is a good place to look.

I just purchased a NEW Nikon D40 for way less than the retail and this little thing is amazing. My friend who has a Canon 20D (and working semi-professionally) was quite impressed by it.

The kit 18-55mm AF-S lens is super sharp and I'm looking to add a macro (micro in Nikon terms) and a fast prime to my gear and I'll be set for a while...All that for less than $700!