About to start out, recommend me a pro grade camera, lens, and advice! thanks

[SCraig]

... I figured I would spend 600-1200 on my first camera and use it to practice and learn with. And that amount I mean for everything I need including lenses.

You need to go back and take the word "Pro" out of the title of your post. $600 to $1200 will get you a good consumer-grade body and a lens, or a used consumer-grade body and a couple of used lenses. New pro-grade bodies START at about $3k without a lens.

 

[Solarflare]

Nikon D800E as maximum resolution camera
Nikon D600 as backup/lowlight/lightweight camera
Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4 VR
Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/4 VR (no review for this yet, so its blind trust into Nikons lens skills with this one)
Nikkor AF-S 35mm f/1.4 for lowlight situations
Nikkor AF-S 105mm f/2.8 micro (or Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS) for macro
Nikon SB910
Gitzo GT1542T Carbon 6X Traveller
Manfrotto 468MG RC0 Hydrostat head
B+W 0.9 ND Filter
Tiffen 0.6 ND Grad
Nikon (if you can still get them) or Hoya Polarizer
Lowepro Flipside 500 AW
Plenty of 8 or 16 Megabyte Memorycards
Notebook
Portable RAID 1 Backup drive

I'm talking about the Leica M9 and the 50mm f/.95! I should have been more specific in my original post.

Hmm. I would want: Leica M Type 240, 50mm f/2 APO Summicron, and 90mm f/2 APO Summicron.

1. Cameras don't work like your eyes do, can only record 2 dimensions - not the 3 dimensions that we see, so "as I see it" won't happen regardless the cost.

Thats not at all the problem why our eyes see much differently than cameras. Our eyes themselves already have an extreme amount of computation power, and they have things like variable ISO, too.

Kmh- I found out in my engineering class that actually eyes see everything upside down and in 2d, [...]

So do cameras, where is the problem ?

So I want to start doing this has a hobby and learning the trade as I go. I figured I would spend 600-1200 on my first camera and use it to practice and learn with. And that amount I mean for everything I need including lenses.

Get a used camera then, like a Nikon D90, and a kit lens like a 18-105mm ?

 

[EIngerson]

5DMK III with the 24-105 kit lens.

 

[Overread19 7]

I've taken the liberty to edit the first post with the price details you added later, since people are being crazy with the suggestions at present

 

[Solarflare]

Haha but its fun !

 

[Mike_E]

Guy went trolling and look what he caught.

 

[Designer]

I don't want some cheap one I cam afford a good one thank you

I'm looking to spend $ 600-1200 total for camera and lens

Congratulations! Your budget puts you right in the range of a beginner DSLR. You're in luck! There are several models in two or three brands from which to choose.

You can check these out online by visiting the websites of Nikon, Canon, Sony, and Pentax, and probably a few more.

 

[KmH]

Kmh- I found out in my engineering class that actually eyes see everything upside down and in 2d, then your mind interprets angles, shading, and various other elements to create a 3d world.

Yep! But if you check the engineering, the camera doesn't have a mind.

 

[Derrel]

Kmh- I found out in my engineering class that actually eyes see everything upside down and in 2d, then your mind interprets angles, shading, and various other elements to create a 3d world.

Yep! But if you check the engineering, the camera doesn't have a mind.

KmH, DO you remember Minolta Corp.'s old slogan? "Only from the mind of Minolta." At that time, they were probably the best autofocus camera maker, in terms of performance, adaptability, and elegant design.

But then just a few years later,Minolta 'borrowed' (cough,cough) a bunch iof patent ideas, and bet the farm on the viability of the APS-C self-contained film cartridge and cameras JUST BEFORE digital cameras were to be hitting the scene, and then lost huge patent infringement lawsuits, and basically, nearly ruined the company financially...it never did recover...

 

[KmH]

Yep, and then it became Konica Minolta, and now it's Sony.

 

[GrantH]

Trolololol?

 

[Village Idiot]

Kmh- I found out in my engineering class that actually eyes see everything upside down and in 2d, then your mind interprets angles, shading, and various other elements to create a 3d world. Optical illusions take advantage of the eyes go to interpretation skills. But yeah I get what your saying. I'm just saying if I see a nice full moon on a starry night and snap a picture I want to see the same thing or as close to possible.I have a garbage digital camera and if I snap a picture of said scene I would see just a small white dot against a black canvas.

Sorry for not going into more detail in post I was pressed for time but on my lunch now.

So I want to start doing this has a hobby and learning the trade as I go. I figured I would spend 600-1200 on my first camera and use it to practice and learn with. And that amount I mean for everything I need including lenses.

Your bottom of the barrel entry level DSLRs are going to runn you about $500 for a body with no lens. Cheap decent primes will run you about $300 each. Cheap OK zooms will run you about 300-600 depending on the model. There are bargains in each, but you have to know what to look for. If you're not opposed to the used market, you can get better cameras for the money. A used 7D will run you about $1000, IIRC. On the other hand, used lenses don't really sell for much less than they do new. A Canon 70-200 f/4L and a 17-40 f/4L would run you about $1000 for the pair and would give you a good set of zoom lenses to play with. My camera and three zoom lenses were about $5500 new. That's not including flashes, memory cards, bags, and all the other accessories I've collected over the years.

 

[jake337]

You can get a D600 with a free 24-85mm Vr for $1,999.95. You could sell the 24-85 and have yourself a FF nikon for under $1,500 bucks! Then maybe get yourself a used nikkor 20mm f2.8 af-d and have fun.

For tonight: $200 price drop on the D800, free 24-85mm lens with the purchase of the D600 | Nikon Rumors