College Kid Starting a Hobby

[Ramones]

I'm a freshman in college, and every time I get my hands on one of my friend's dSLR I can't put it down. I've been looking into getting into photography as a little hobby, without investing too much in it(college budget) I don't really want anything extremely elaborate, I'm looking to buy a body with a starter lens, then going from there.

Any recommendations on what cameras I should look at? I've been surfing these forums and adorama.com and there's so much stuff to sift through and check if it's outdated, etc. I figured I would just post and ask.

I know there's a million of these here, thanks in advance for the help

 

[patrickt]

First, I want to reminisce. I was in the service when I started. That was 1962 and film, of course, and my first camera was a twin-lens reflex. I used that for two years and then sold it and got a 35mm SLR with a 50mm. I used that for four years. Then I got married, started a family, sold my camera and darkroom equipment. Years later, I bought another SLR and then six years ago I moved to a DSLR.

Camera. I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. They all take nice photos. One decision will be in-camera image stabilization versus in-lens. Canon and Nikon are stablized in the lens so is you want IS you have to buy the right lens. Pentax, Sony, and all the others have IS in the camera so every lens has IS available. My opinion is that if I wanted to shoot long telephotos, 500mm and up, I'd go with in-lens. Otherwise, in-camera is better for me.

When I got my first camera I joined a camera club. My experience, with two groups, was great. There were a lot of people who knew more than I did and it didn't take me long to figure out who was helpful and who wasn't. I also had a chance to see a lot of other cameras. The groups also organized outtings to places I couldn't have done alone. I enjoy the photography forums but they're not the same as real people.

Once you decide on a camera body, get a mid-range zoom and live with that while you learn to take photos and do reasonable editing. My walk-around lens is a 17-70 and that works well for me. I had a 24-90 and I liked that, too. Eventually, what you like to take photos of will determine what lenses you need.

Once you've learned about photography and processing two things will have happened. One, you'll have a better idea of what you need and want in the way of a camera and if you haven't bought a load of lenses switching to a different brand of camera to meet your needs won't be big problem. I run on a 3 to 4 year cycle for buying newer, and better, cameras but I stick with my same brand because of the lenses I've acquired.

Enjoy taking pictures. For me, it's a hoot.

 

[Ramones]

I found out my university offers an amazing photography class, along with a photography club that I'm probably going to join next semester.

I've been looking at a Nikon D40, D40X or D60. My mom still has some old(from her canon T50) canon lenses lying around, would these work on a canon DSLR? Should access to these make me lean towards getting a canon?

in particular right now I'm looking at something like:
http://www.adorama.com/INKD40KRA.html?searchinfo=d40

 

[Derrel]

NO, your mom's old Canon T50 lenses are obsolete and totally unusable on any currently produced Canon digital camera. Canon developed the FD mount lenses for quite a while, then one day after my college PJ buddy Ross bought two brand new Canon T90 cameras to go with his complete 17mm to 300mm heavily L-glass sprnkled system, Canon dropped the EF lens bomb and discontinued its manual focus lenses, abandoning all its users overnight,with basically no warning at all that autofocus and a new lens mount was coming. That was in 1987...your Mom's T50 is now a Model-T Ford...

Canon d-slrs require you to use Canon EF or EF-S lenses. The little Nikon D40 will mount any Nikon lens made since 1959, except for like the 8mm fisheye and the ancient 21mm f/4 mirror-lockup. 50 million lenses will fit onto a D40.
The D40 has a huge Flickr following. The D40 has become the world's largest-selling slr or d-slr model ever made.

 

[Ramones]

Canon d-slrs require you to use Canon EF or EF-S lenses. The little Nikon D40 will mount any Nikon lens made since 1959, except for like the 8mm fisheye and the ancient 21mm f/4 mirror-lockup. 50 million lenses will fit onto a D40.
The D40 has a huge Flickr following. The D40 has become the world's largest-selling slr or d-slr model ever made.

thanks a lot

a new question:
does the increased MP in the D40x make it worth it?

 

[DRB022]

Canon d-slrs require you to use Canon EF or EF-S lenses. The little Nikon D40 will mount any Nikon lens made since 1959, except for like the 8mm fisheye and the ancient 21mm f/4 mirror-lockup. 50 million lenses will fit onto a D40.
The D40 has a huge Flickr following. The D40 has become the world's largest-selling slr or d-slr model ever made.

thanks a lot

a new question:
does the increased MP in the D40x make it worth it?

First of all, no. Second of all, Nikon doesn't make the D40X anymore, so you can't buy it unless you get it used, which I don't recommend. Your best bet is the D40. Set the image quality to fine and the image size to large and you can easily make 11 X 14 prints even with a little cropping.

 

[DRB022]

D40 w/ 18-55mm general purpose lens: $470 shipped from Costco. Prob the best deal you'll find.

Costco - Nikon D40 2.5 Frames Per Second Red-Eye Correction Rechargeable Battery

 

[Ramones]

D40 w/ 18-55mm general purpose lens: $470 shipped from Costco. Prob the best deal you'll find.

Costco - Nikon D40 2.5 Frames Per Second Red-Eye Correction Rechargeable Battery

25420B Nikon D40 6.1 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera 3X Zoom Kit Outfit, with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor Lens - Refurbished by Nikon U.S.A.