New aspiring photographer looking for equitment help

Samanthaaa

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Hi friends!

Currently I have a SONY HX300. It is a point and shoot and has a great 50x zoom but I am looking to upgrade to a DSLR so I can change lenses. I would like a camera that has more flash options. I like to shoot a lot of landscape scenes. I'm not looking for something very expensive. It is only a hobby and something I do on the side for some family pictures.
The most important thing to me in a picture is clarity.
I do have Photoshop already. My budget is somewhere around $1,000 including camera and lends.
 
Really, any current DSLR body will do what you need. Your best bet will be to go to a real bricks and mortar camera store (NOT a big-box store that just happens to sell cameras) and "play" with the various makes & models. Find the one that feels best in your hands and whose controls make the most sense to you. While Canon and Nikon are the major players, Pentax is worth taking a long, hard look at.
 
1000$ ?

Nikon D5300 with its kit lens, this kit lens (18-55mm) is a good starter general use lens, will do well landscape.
To that add Nikon 50mm 1.8G for portrait and night photography
Also get a tripod if you plan on doing landscape at night.
 
The Nikon D5500 or D5300 are good starters DSLR's. Allthough your pics
will have a better image quality, you will never have the zoom reach of the HX300.
A 1200mm lens costs a fortune. :)
But you can always keep your bridge camera as a backup.

Keep in mind, that to shoot great pics with a DSLR, you will have to take
time to learn the advanced settings in the camera.

Rudi
 
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There are loads of good options, below is one that to me looks a bit of a bargain, its the nikon d7100, a very good camera bundled with two lenses, a bag, a hard drive and some wi-fi stuff. Normally I'd recommend staying away from kits, but this stuff isn't filler material, it actually looks like a deal

Nikon D7100 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm and 55-300mm Dual 13489 B&H
 
Yes! Get that deal. Then start saving up for a speedlight.
 
From an almost identical thread a few days earlier; Help a noob decide! | Photography Forum

Landscape and flash options?

What sort of flash are you wanting for the photo of that distant mountain?
 
Hi friends!

Currently I have a SONY HX300. It is a point and shoot and has a great 50x zoom but I am looking to upgrade to a DSLR so I can change lenses. I would like a camera that has more flash options. I like to shoot a lot of landscape scenes. I'm not looking for something very expensive. It is only a hobby and something I do on the side for some family pictures.
The most important thing to me in a picture is clarity.
I do have Photoshop already. My budget is somewhere around $1,000 including camera and lends.


You do NOT need the latest greatest DSLRS, nor even the best lens. The following pics were take recently by my son with an old Canon T2i and a Canon 55-250mm lens(these can be had very cheaply from eBay or most reputable camera shops.). He has only been shooting off and on for a year. He is a truck driver so is limited on opportunities and such. I printed out and framed to of thse in the 16x20 range one of them the lighthouse on a canvas gallery wrap. I defy anyone to tell what camera was used. Identify what you want to do with your pictures. If for print then frame and shoot the subject to fit the size and type of paper/etc take your shot.

The mfr of the camera is whatever feels good to YOU, not someone else. If after a year or so you feel that you need and can afford it then you will have a much better idea as to what camera and (s) will best suit your needs. I gave that old T2i to the son when I went to a Canon 6D full frame and some big 'L' series lens because I had a need for them for shooting birds and wildlife in bad lighting, and bad distances, and not because it was a bad camera/lens.
KellyPic-web-2375.jpg

KellyPic-web-2406.jpg

KellyPic-web-2300.jpg

KellyPic-web-2290.jpg

KellyPic-web-2284.jpg


here is a tiny copy of a panorama I did with that camera some time back.
Untitled%252520pss%252520bolivar%252520sunrise_Panorama1%252520100dpi%252520reduced%2525204x24.jpg
 
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...oh yeah, if and when you do upgrade and you happen to choose Canon my opinion of the very best all around lens is the venerable 24-105mm IS L series. Wide angle to portrait, and with a 2x on it a good mid-range telephoto. Always keep in mind that the better the LENS the better the picture. The order of influence on picture quality is
#1 the photographer
#2 the lens
#3 the camera
 
WOW! That was very helpful! Thank you so much.
The photos are awesome. I really love the stormy beach ones and the panorama. Those are the kind of images I do like to shoot too.
Thank you for your input!
 
You can think of a camera sensor is a movie screen... and the camera lens as a projector. The "screen" has very little control over the image quality (this is a bit of an oversimplification because cameras do have low-pass filters) -- mostly the sharpness of the image is (1) lens choice and (2) post processing (e.g. applying a bit of sharpening with something like Lightroom, etc.)

There is a third factor... which has more to do with you than the camera or lens. Avoid thinking of a zoom lens as giving you "reach" and instead think of it as providing an "angle of view". If I stand 10' away from someone and take their photo with a lens at "1x magnification" vs. stand 20' away and take a photo at 2x magnification or stand 50' away and take a photo with 5x magnification... I will not get the same photo in all three shots. The first image will have a wider background area. The last image will have the least background area. I prefer to use the "angle of view" I want for the shot... and then change my position relative to the intended focus subject to take the shot rather than using zoom as a way to avoid walking.

There's a rule Rayleigh Crition which limits how finely a lens can resolve detail. It also relates to "diffraction limited photography". This is based on laws of physics so it's not based on the optical quality of the lens itself (it's the best that a theoretically "perfect" lens can do... so a non-perfect lens won't even do that well.) You can read about the math and find YouTube videos that explain it... but the bottom line is that physically larger lens opens can resolve finer amounts of detail.

This is also why large sensor cameras -- especially when shooting at low focal ratios -- will give much sharper images than small sensor cameras or cameras shooting at very high focal ratios.

Now for the bad news... very large aperture / low-focal ratio lenses cost more. The very best Canon and Nikon glass generally costs north of $1000 per lens (and often north of $2000).
 
Everyone's opinions have helped me so much. A LOT of information. Thank you everyone!

That deal looks awesome!!
 
why do you need flash options for landscape photography? keep with your current camera and take a lot more photos first.
 
that D7100 deal with the 18-55mm and the 55-300mm lens is a great deal.

the D7100 or the D7200 camera bodys are excellent, cant get much better than those unless you have allot of money to spend.

that is a very good camera body and two descent lenses capable of producing very nice images. that would cover you for landscapes, photos of people, flowers and even some wild life shots or anything else you may want to shoot

for a really nice flash that is not expensive the neewer VK750II is a excellent flash, can be used on and off camera and its I-TTL so it will work perfect with nikon cameras, there about 50 bucks, i have 2 of them..


i have the d7200 right now which is allot better than the D5300 due to all the extra bells and whistles and slightly better image quality. i had a d5300 and it was a nice camera.,

here is a photo taken of my self with the D5300, the nikon 18-200mm lens which is a lens allot of people do not seem to like and 2 of those speed lights used as studio lighting with umbrellas to spread the light out a bit more..

DSC_5011.jpg
 
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