Young Photographer looking for help, possibly a mentor

[Rogan]

Canon Rebel XSI is a great entry level camera. 12.1 MP

your canon obsessed posts are really starting to get annoying, please stop and read what he wants before going ahead

compared to the A350 the xsi has many disadvantages inluding price.

as for the OP question, i say go into a camera store and try and canon and a nikon body (even if your not planning on buying there, try and D300 (a D200 might be in ur price range with the rght lenses) as well as a canon 40D as that is also an excellent choice if u can stretch your budget, else a 30D which has the same feel as a 40D

 

[motorshooter]

Canon. Stay with a top rated name brand and you'll be happy. I have used Canon equipment since 1983 and the company and it's gear has never let me down. Great tech support and problem solving team up in NY. Rugged, and able to keep up with my demands, Canon....it takes a lickin and keeps on clickin

If you have the time, try renting several types of cameras over the summer and see what you like, to each his own.

 

[nynfortoo]

I see... actually I'll most often be shrinking the pics down on the computer and posting them online in no larger than a 2000x1000 format... I just know that the more pixels there are the easiest it is to edit and cut from... then you scale it down and it looks perfect =]

I wouldn't base your purchases on MegaPixels just so you can crop photos at larger sizes.

After shooting and cropping in post for a while, you'll soon understand what works and what doesn't; you'll get a feel for how to frame a shot, and learn how to get that crop in-camera right off the bat.

 

[IllegalDamage]

Thanks for all the help guys

I'm going into bestbuy and circuit city (and whatever else I can find) and I'm just going to try out all of their DSLRs in my budget... find out which ones feel the best to me, and then go from there... not having any previous experience in picking a body (and from what you all are telling me) its more or less that the body picks the owner... I'll post back here once I've tried out some of the body's and report back!


Now that I'm thinking...I know the questions may be getting annoying, but what is a good starting lens for portraits? Everyone keeps talking about what glass to get and I dont know ANYTHING about lenses besides that the smaller the mm the closer you are and the higher the mm the more zoomed you are...

thanks!

 

[tomhooper]

Illegal, go to my website and you can find my private e-mail address there. If you want to message me. I don't know why the PM doesn't work on this board.

 

[Overread]

Tom - there is a limiter on PMs - you have to have 10 or 15 posts (I forget which) and be a member for about a week before the PMs are allowed - its to stop spammers signing up and then block pming ads and worse at people

 

[Doug]

Hello Rhett and Welcome to the forum.

I would suggest going to a camera shop instead of CC and BB. You will be able to get your hands on a wide variety of cameras and talk with people that know cameras. Choose a camera that you feel comfortable with and is easy to operate (buttons, dials and menus). A good camera shop should let you try the camera outside and you might be able to try different lenses. Good luck.

 

[tomhooper]

Thanks Overread. I went ahead and took a paid subscription and either I went over the minimum post number or the money did the trick. I can now PM. WOOHOO.

 

[IllegalDamage]

Hello Rhett and Welcome to the forum.

I would suggest going to a camera shop instead of CC and BB. You will be able to get your hands on a wide variety of cameras and talk with people that know cameras. Choose a camera that you feel comfortable with and is easy to operate (buttons, dials and menus). A good camera shop should let you try the camera outside and you might be able to try different lenses. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip(s)... I'll try and find some place in my area that offers something like that =]

@tomhooper
I'm emailing you now =]