Time to buy a good camera! HELP!!!

[coolhandluke]

Hi Guys

I am totally new to this. All I know about photography is you slide your mobile phone open and press a button so as you can tell I may need a little guidance.

I love looking at good photographs, to me a good photographer is as talented as a master painter. I have been lucky to visit some nice places and have always regretted not having a good snapper.

So what I need to know is what equipment people would recommend. I would like to take some long distance wildlife shots and close-ups of insects etc. I would also like to do portraits. At the moment I am either thinking of getting a 40d with a couple of recommended lenses or a 50d with one lens and adding more lenses to it later.

What lenses will I need and will I get much better pictures with the 50d than the 40d?

One thing I do not want to do is upgrade equipment. I would rather take my time saving for kit than just buying rubbish and having to constantly upgrading.

What are Sigma lenses like? They seem quite good value for money.

What are the best beginner books.

Thanks for reading!

Luke

 

[JamesMason]

Lenes are far more important than the body. Especaily in this case. For insects you will want a decent macro lens and telphoto for the wildlife. You will have to wait for someone to give you advice on canon lenses as im a nikon guy. As far as sigma goes, they do make some good glass but they also make some awful ones too.

As far as improving your photos is concerned, listen to the advice of others, dont be afraid to take risks and most importantly, shoot shoot shoot.

 

[coolhandluke]

Thanks James

What does everyone think to this....

CANON EOS 40D PRO KIT WITH LENSES, TRIPOD, CASE, FLASH on eBay (end time 13-Sep-09 20:39:58 BST)

Its at the top of my budget plus some but might be able to stretch if its good. Im just worried about the lens quality as I know so little about them. Also is the price any good?

 

[Jedo_03]

Hi Luke...
If you have money to burn then go ahead and buy your dream camera and lens...
BUT...
Know that owning a 40D or a 50D with decent lenses will NOT magically produce "good" photographs...
You 'may' get better quality pictures with a 40D/50D - but not until you have put in many hard miles of learning how to USE your new "snapper"...

Going from a mobile phone camera to a 50D with an 85mm f1.4 is like being able to fly a kite and thinking about purchasing a Boeing 737...

I'm all for supporting new entrants to photography - but you will be disappointed if you think that "better gear" = "better photography"
Also - see here: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/177215-i-need-rant.html

Jedo

 

[Village Idiot]

Hi Luke...
If you have money to burn then go ahead and buy your dream camera and lens...
BUT...
Know that owning a 40D or a 50D with decent lenses will NOT magically produce "good" photographs...
You 'may' get better quality pictures with a 40D/50D - but not until you have put in many hard miles of learning how to USE your new "snapper"...

Going from a mobile phone camera to a 50D with an 85mm f1.4 is like being able to fly a kite and thinking about purchasing a Boeing 737...

I'm all for supporting new entrants to photography - but you will be disappointed if you think that "better gear" = "better photography"
Also - see here: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/177215-i-need-rant.html

Jedo

In this case, better gear does equal better quality.

And I'm pretty sure I figured out my first DSLR after using a 35mm P&S without too much problem. I still don't think I know how to fly a commercial airliner but I can get a kite up in the air fairly well...

:er:

 

[mariusz]

canon is introducing 7d, I think it may be worth to look at!

 

[Plato]

I have seen far too many SLRs gathering dust in the closet. My thinking is that you should first buy a half-way decent P&S camera and play with that for a while. Most of them do have manual controls so you can get a feel as to whether or not it's your bag. Don't think of it as a loss if you eventually do buy an SLR system. There will constantly be occasions when the SLR is neither convenient nor appropriate. I've been shooting SLRs since 1963 but I've never been without a P&S.

By the way, lenses last indefinitely, especially if you buy Nikon, but you will regularly replace SLR bodies and flash heads.

 

[Village Idiot]

I have seen far too many SLRs gathering dust in the closet. My thinking is that you should first buy a half-way decent P&S camera and play with that for a while. Most of them do have manual controls so you can get a feel as to whether or not it's your bag. Don't think of it as a loss if you eventually do buy an SLR system. There will constantly be occasions when the SLR is neither convenient nor appropriate. I've been shooting SLRs since 1963 but I've never been without a P&S.

By the way, lenses last indefinitely, especially if you buy Nikon, but you will regularly replace SLR bodies and flash heads.

Especially if you buy Nikon? Hasn't Pentax, Konika/Minolta, and other brands that are used by current DSLR manufactures been around for ages as well and can still be used on their current bodies?

 

[Goontz]

Especially if you buy Nikon? Hasn't Pentax, Konika/Minolta, and other brands that are used by current DSLR manufactures been around for ages as well and can still be used on their current bodies?

Didn't you see the press release? All companies except Nikon were just started a few weeks ago. Their gear isn't proven yet.

 

[PhotoXopher]

It was his opinion, does it have to turn into yet another brand 'N' vs brand 'C' war?

Good grief.

(Edited since I admittedly know nothing about Canon systems.)

 

[Village Idiot]

It was his opinion, does it have to turn into yet another brand 'N' vs brand 'C' war?

Good grief.

Get the 50D and a nice lens... you have the rest of your life to acquire more glass

Better yet, get a Nikon D90 (Sorry, just had to.)

No, but it's like saying buy this because you won't miss out, but neglecting to inform a person that the other thisses that they could be purchasing also has that same option.

 

[Samanax]

So what I need to know is what equipment people would recommend. I would like to take some long distance wildlife shots and close-ups of insects etc. I would also like to do portraits. At the moment I am either thinking of getting a 40d with a couple of recommended lenses or a 50d with one lens and adding more lenses to it later.

The price difference between a 40D body and 50D body isn't that much...maybe $250? And there aren't too many "good" $250 lenses out there. You could get the 50D with a "okay" lens or get the 40D with a "good" lens. Depends on your budget.

What lenses will I need

Depends on the type of photography you're interested in. For wildlife photography you'll want a good telephoto/telephoto zoom (like the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM). For close-ups of insects you'll want a good macro lens (EF 100mm f/2.8L USM Macro or the just released EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro).

and will I get much better pictures with the 50d than the 40d?

No. In fact, depending who you talk to, some feel the 40D produces better images than the 50D.

One thing I do not want to do is upgrade equipment. I would rather take my time saving for kit than just buying rubbish and having to constantly upgrading.

That's smart...but you will eventually upgrade in the future...we all do. But if you do buy good kit now then you won't have to upgrade for awhile.

What are Sigma lenses like? They seem quite good value for money.

Depends on the particular lens. Like any other brand, some lenses stand out and some don't...and some are just blah. Do your research.

What are the best beginner books.

"Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson is a good book to get. He also has a few other beginner type books that you might want to look at.

The Digital Photography Books (volumes 1, 2 and 3) by Scott Kelby are popular.

There are a few by Tom Ang that are popular...like "Fundamentals Of Photography", "Digital Photographers Handbook", "How To Photography Absolutely Everything".

"The Photographer's Eye" by Michael Freeman is a good book on photo composition.

"Light: Science & Magic - An Introduction To Photographic Lighting" by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua is very good, highly recommended book on lighting.

 

[Plato]

I have seen far too many SLRs gathering dust in the closet. My thinking is that you should first buy a half-way decent P&S camera and play with that for a while. Most of them do have manual controls so you can get a feel as to whether or not it's your bag. Don't think of it as a loss if you eventually do buy an SLR system. There will constantly be occasions when the SLR is neither convenient nor appropriate. I've been shooting SLRs since 1963 but I've never been without a P&S.

By the way, lenses last indefinitely, especially if you buy Nikon, but you will regularly replace SLR bodies and flash heads.

Especially if you buy Nikon? Hasn't Pentax, Konika/Minolta, and other brands that are used by current DSLR manufactures been around for ages as well and can still be used on their current bodies?

Well, let's see...
I started out with Pentax but changed to Canon when Pentax changed their mount. Then, I switched to Nikon when Canon changed their mount.

 

[Derrel]

The Nikon D40 and D60 will mount over 99 percent of Nikkor lenses ever made. Nikon has had one lens mount since 1959--the F mount. Because they do not have a minimum aperture sensing tab, located at the 7 o'clock position around the lens mount, D40, D40x,and D60 bodies will accept totally unmodified, stock-condition, very OLD pre-AI Nikkor lenses made from 1959 to 1977, AI- lenses made from 1977 to 1981, Ai-S lenses made from 1981 to 2006, AF-i and AF-S and AF-S G series Nikkors made from the early 1990's until the present day. ALL Nikon 35mm lenses are F-mount, with the variations referring to light metering and or focusing protocol.

Most modern consumer Nikons as well as professional Nikons, will accept UN-modified Nikkor lenses and 3rd party F-mount lenses made since 1977, so you only have 32 years' worth of lenses to use on the higher-end Nikons. But the D40 and D60 will use 50 years' worth of F-mount lenses. Nikon just announced the producttion of their 50 millionth lens.

So, yeah Village Idiot, "lenses last indefinitely, especially if you buy Nikon."

eBay Guides - The History of the Canon SLR Lens Mount

The Canon R lens mount lasted from 1959 to 1964.The Canon FL mount lasted from 1964 to 1971.The Canon FD mount lasted from 1976 to 1987, and was discontinued without warning, effectively dead-ending all FD mount lenses and camera bodies.

The EF lens mount was introduced in 1987,and continues to this day. The EF-S mount was introduced in the early 2000's. Canon dead-ended its users' lens and body and accessory investments TWICE within the manual focus era, and three times if one considers abandoning their manual focus clients a third time when manual focus gave way to autofocus.

The Leica M-mount premiered in 1953,and remains unchanged to this day; a 1953 vintage Summicron will fit on today's brand new Leica M9 full-frame digital. A 1959 Nikkor will fit and shoot on today's D40 or D60--that's a fifty-year span of lens/body interoperability. Modifying a pre-1977 lens to make it work on all of today's Nikon's is about a 1-hour operation that can be done with a small mill bastard file, if needed, right in the field.

 

[Dao]

Here we go again ...