How to best spend £1500....??

orange_fox · Jul 3, 2012

gsgary said:
the body you need D700 maybe possible but would leave you no money for lenses

Thanks for the advice. Well yes I'd prefer to spend the money on a cood body at the moment, then save for lenses in the near future. Better to do it that way then having to upgrade in the future I guess. Although I do have a quaetion about that camera ....

Why is there such a large price difference between the D700 and the D7000? They both have 1/8000 shutter speeds and ISO 200 - 6400, and the D7000 has 16.2MP as opposed to the D700 which only has 12.1MP ..... but it's it a lot cheaper.

Gorgeous part of the world St Ives. I live at the top end of the county

orange_fox · Jul 3, 2012

jaomul said:
You will more than likely get a frosty response asking what type of lenses you require for a wedding. When your good enough to do one you will have a good idea what's required so

Practice a while and you will soon know the next required step

Oh I must sound like a naive idiot! No I'm not under the illusion that wedding photography is 'easy'. I want to get into it long term, but understand that I have a lot of practising and learning to do before then!

I just don't want to fork out for a camera and lenses now, then have to upgrade it all down the line .... which will end up being more costly in the long run.

Cheers for the info

orange_fox · Jul 3, 2012

Thank you so much for all of the info. Very very much appreciated!!

gsgary · Jul 3, 2012

Film is the big thing for weddings my friend has gone back to film and his bookings have gone up, you could get a nice 645 camera and lens and have loads of change
But if that is not for you lenses are more important than body, top quality lenses will last you a life time a body about 4 years

gsgary · Jul 3, 2012

Just had a quick look on ebay Mamiya 645 with 80mmf2.8 compatible with digital backs
£649

Solarflare · Jul 3, 2012

orange_fox said:
[...] Why is there such a large price difference between the D700 and the D7000? They both have 1/8000 shutter speeds and ISO 200 - 6400, and the D7000 has 16.2MP as opposed to the D700 which only has 12.1MP ..... but it's it a lot cheaper. [...]

...

First of all, the D700 isnt that much more expensive than the D7000. The D700 now about $1200 used. Soon the D600, the new "entry level full frame", will be released and the prices for the D700 will fall even lower. Dont know the prices for the D7000 but they shouldnt be much below that.

Also, the D700 is the previous professional camera, before the D800(E), the new 36 megapixel beast. That means for example the D700 is FX / full frame - more than twice as large sensor than a DX / APS-C camera like the D7000. And more knobs and special features for the professionals. And better build (not much better build, mind - the D7000 is already build very well).

Also please remember nobody of the professionals cares THAT much about Megapixels. There is a ton of other variables of the foto sensor that are often more important, such as a high ISO tolerance.

ALL cameras can manage 1/4000 to 30 sec shutter speeds. Some cameras may also offer 1/8000, but thats about all the difference you get in that respect.

sovietdoc · Jul 3, 2012

Considering the questions you are asking, I would suggest holing onto your cash. Play around with that D90, shoot, ask things on this forum. Read a lot of technical photography info online and watch youtube videos. Once you understand most of the things, you can always go and spend your cash, except that time you will know exactly what you want because you'll understand most things. Don't rush in and buy the gear until you're ready to start using it. Otherwise it'll just be a slow and painful process while by the time you're ready to go do some damage, your gear will be even cheaper to buy if you bought it right before then.

Like if you have to ask why there is a price difference between D700 and D7000, or why is full frame so expensive, or wtf is the point of full frame and etc you probably shouldn't go and buy a full frame camera.

Reefman · Jul 10, 2012

gsgary said:
What about spending it on loose women and beer

and squander anything left over

orange_fox · Jul 18, 2012

OK cheers peeps. I know I sound like a tool asking stupid questions, but the fact is that I know where to stand when I take a photograph .... how to angle the camera and when to shoot. I can cope with the creative side, but I'm very aware that I now need to get to grasps with the technical side. I want to learn through a mixture of theory and practice, and really want to do this with a decent camera so that I can learn my specific tool at the same time. I don't have very frequent access to my mum's camera, so really need my own at this stage. I appreciate that going on my previous comments it sounds like I need a basic, cheap camera at this stage, but I feel that it's going to be false economy in the long run, so would prefer to spend my money on the camera that I intend to use for years to come.

It must be very frustrating for experts to hear me prattling on with stupid questions .... but give me 12 months and hopefully I'll be a lot more experienced

Anyway, I've just purchased a D700 body *gulp* and hopefully it's going to arrive in a couple of days. I can use my mum's lenses in the short term, but was hoping for some advice on the first lens I should buy.
I shadowed a wedding photographer a couple of years ago and he used just one lens all day(!). Being even more of a novice them than I am now, I didn't ask him any questions about it, but I wonder if you could suggest what type of lens it may have been? Basically my initial thoughts are to buy a good quality all-rounder... or as close to an 'all rounder' that you can get ;-) Obviously I'd like to spend as little as possible, but am hoping to get between £600-£800 pounds if necessary. Also, should I spend this all on one good lens, or would you recommend getting two or more cheaper ones to suit my needs?

Thank you for your advice and patience!

orange_fox · Jul 18, 2012

OK, I've been using a 70-200mm lens on my mum's camera, and it's been perfect for photographing sports such as football, and also OK for portraits. What does everyone think about Sigma as a make? They seem to be far more reasonably priced than Nikon lenses.

Specifically this one: Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Lens for Nikon Digital: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

???

.... along with a Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S??? (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-50-1-...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1342628084&sr=1-2)

Based on the little information I have told you (weddings, portraits, and some sprts events) do you think this may be a good starting place?

Thanks!!

sovietdoc · Jul 18, 2012

orange_fox said:
It must be very frustrating for experts to hear me prattling on with stupid questions .... but give me 12 months and hopefully I'll be a lot more experienced

When people who had no prior experience with photography or had very limited knowledge ask questions, it isn't frustrating at all. What IS frustrating is when people with ample experience and knowledge reply with "stupid" answers.

orange_fox said:
OK, I've been using a 70-200mm lens on my mum's camera, and it's been perfect for photographing sports such as football, and also OK for portraits. What does everyone think about Sigma as a make? They seem to be far more reasonably priced than Nikon lenses.

Specifically this one: Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Lens for Nikon Digital: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

???

.... along with a Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S??? (Nikon 50 mm f/1.4G AF-S Nikkor: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics)

Based on the little information I have told you (weddings, portraits, and some sprts events) do you think this may be a good starting place?

Thanks!!

In a nutshell the difference between Nikon and Sigma is in two things. IQ and resale value. Nikon lens will have better IQ than sigma, some may not have that much better IQ for the price, but I've never seen a most expensive top-of-the-line nikkor lens that had worse IQ than cheap sigma.

Also, because Sigma is an "off" brand, their lenses have lower resale value. So if you buy a new nikon lens, 3 years down the road you can still sell it for around the same price as you bought it for. With sigma, 3 years down the road you'll be selling it at 50% of the price you paid for it new, if even that.

Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 is a solid performer but Nikon is sharper and has better contrast. So it's really simple actually. If you can afford Nikon's 70-200 VR, get it or maybe even older 80-200 f/2.8 If you can't, get the sigma, it's still a good lens just not "the best"
If you can find 70-200 sigma used in very good condition, it could be very cheap to get in comparison to nikon's, maybe you could get that and use remaining cash for other lenses.

For weddings you'll need some sort of wide-normal zoom like 24-70 f/2.8, 50mm prime and 70-200 f/2.8, I'd suggest getting 50mm f1.8 and sigma used, and using the remaining cash for 24-70 f/2.8

3bayjunkie · Jul 18, 2012

orange_fox said:
Hi,

I'm planning on spending a few months trialling and learning my camera, and then potentially getting in to wedding photography. I really want to buy equipment that's capable of producing highly professional looking shots ..... and that's where I need your advice please!!

Like I said, I have around £1500 to spend, although there's a chance I may be able to save a bit more if necessary.

Could you please give me advice on what camera to buy? It's going to be for weddings and also sports. I'd also like to know which lenses to get at first (I know I'll prob have to add to these over time).

Thank you in advance!

Perfect! I love shooting weddings and i can give you some great advice on equipment! Here is what i would use for shooting a wedding. Think the less equipment you have to fumble around with the better...

canon eos 1v (two bodies)
50mm f/1.2
16-35mm f/2.8
70-200mm f/2.8
100mm f/2.8
45mm f/2.8 tilt shift

Contax 645
80mm f/2.0

Ok so all of that equipment would cost you nearly 10,000 if you bought it all used. So here is my suggestion.

Canon eos 3 $200 - $250 uses
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 (non IS) $900 - $1000 used
Canon 50mm f/1.8 $110.00 new

There you go buddy, that should set you off real good.

I had the same budget, $1500 starting out, but instead bought two camera bodies Canon eos 1v ($650 used) Canon eos 3 ($200 used) and 50mm f/1.8 then spent the rest on film!!!