Newbie Looking For Advice On Purchasing New Camera & Lens

Xarcell · Jul 25, 2010

I have a few questions I wanted to ask from the experts and experienced lot.

I'm very new to photography. I'm looking at purchasing my first serious camera. Right now I'm looking at buying the Pentax K-X bundle with 18-55mm lens and 55-300mm lens kit.

After alot of studying and research, I figured this would be my biggest bang for the buck. Plus, I like some of the features it has.

Now I've recently somewhat learned the difference between a entry-level camera and a professional one. One piece of advice I read was to buy an entry level camera body, and buy a pro lens. This way I could buy a pro camera later on and not worrying about buying the lens again.

What would you recommend?

How can I tell the difference between a entry level lens and a pro lens? What sites/brand would you recommend I buy? I'm not made out of money, but have been saving for a few months. I'll save a little longer if need be.

As it stands though, I'm looking at buying the Pentax K-X bundle in 2 weeks(payday). I want all the advice I can get on this.

Buying a nice DSLR is something I'm dead set on doing. Wanting to upgrade from my expensive point & shoot cameras. Just not sure about which way I should start out...

Any Advice?

er111a · Jul 25, 2010

cant go wrong with canon my friend any of the rebels are nice and a good prime lens will do you good

IceEateer · Jul 25, 2010

Get the comparable Canon or Nikon with the Kit lens. Maybe a $100 more, but you won't regret it.

Xarcell · Jul 25, 2010

I was thinking of holding out and buying the Canon T2i with 18-55mm lens. But I wouldn't have the cash to buy anymore lens for quite some time. Not until after the holidays anyways. The way I take pictures, I need a 55-200mm or 55-300mm lens aside from the 18-55mm

Xarcell · Jul 25, 2010

er111a said:
cant go wrong with canon my friend any of the rebels are nice and a good prime lens will do you good

I just did some research on prime lens because I didn't know what they were. Wow, a prime lens may be what I need. I was looking at photos made with newer model camera's and keep wondering "I thought they are supposed to be sharp", and now I know why.

Thanks for the suggestion, a prime lens is something I'm definitely interesting in getting. Especially for my portrait shots.

Looked for a pentax prime lens, but couldn't find one in a decent price range, unless I overlooked somewhere. Although canon seems to have an older one that works just fine for around $100.

amber.martin · Jul 25, 2010

when i started out, i invested in the d3000, with an 18-55mm i loved the camera for starting out and once i too discovered primes, *sigh* i just HATED that 18-55! haha it was true love. look into the Nikons or canons, if your serious about doing this, it will be worth EVERY penny, i promise you

Morpheuss · Jul 25, 2010

I personally would suggest a canon or a nikon. There are a whole lot more lenses to choose from so when you get better and better there are more lenses out there for you to choose from.

Xarcell · Jul 25, 2010

Ya, I really want the Pentax K-X, but I can't seem to find a good selection/price for lens. Canon on the other hand, has a great selection and decently priced lens.

Vautrin · Jul 25, 2010

Xarcell said:
. One piece of advice I read was to buy an entry level camera body, and buy a pro lens. This way I could buy a pro camera later on and not worrying about buying the lens again.

So basically what this is referring to is the fact that your digital SLR is modular -- you can upgrade your body, or the lenses.

So the idea is you buy a lens today with a cheap body, then you can upgrade the body in the future and use the same lenses.

I don't think this is a good argument though and would reccomend you just go out and buy the system you want what you want though for a couple of reasons:

1. You're buying kit lenses which are actually quite cheap glass. They're great to learn on, but if you ever did take the plunge to get, say, a Nikon D3 or Sony Alpha 900, you'd want to buy new, high quality lenses. A really good body is useless with cheap lenses
2. You'll hear a lot of people on this forum say "glass before body" The lens is a big bottleneck on your camera. Even if you could somehow buy a 1000MP camera body for your pentax lens, it wouldn't create that much better pictures because your lens can't resolve that well.
3. Crop factors are your enemy. Basically a pro level body is going to have a different sensor size then your entry level DSlr. Because of that you're going to need to buy different lenses anyways.
4. Really the only way I would recommend this is if you're picking up, say, an old Nikon d40 for cheap. Then, yes, upgrading the body might be an option, but you'll be limited by the factors I just mentioned

The pentax system is nice IIRC because it's completely weatherproof so you can take it places other cameras shouldn't go. Also you're going to be able to use pentax lenses from before the advent of digitial, so it might actually be cheaper to buy some good quality glass

Thanks,

Dan

Vautrin · Jul 25, 2010

One more thing: Nikon and Canon are like BMW and Mercedes -- you'll pay more for the brand name. You'll find more features for less money from other brands like Sony, Olympus, and Pentax.

However, the brand name can also work in your favor. You'll find more resources to support your canon or Nikon habit, then you will to support your Olympus habit. Plus you'll have a wider selection of lenses available...

Xarcell · Jul 25, 2010

@Vautrin

Some good points there. At heart, I still want a Pentax. Either the k-x or k-7, I don't know.

How can I tell the difference between a good glass and poor glass lens, other than it's price?

Vautrin · Jul 25, 2010

Xarcell said:
@Vautrin

Some good points there. At heart, I still want a Pentax. Either the k-x or k-7, I don't know.

How can I tell the difference between a good glass and poor glass lens, other than it's price?

Research.

Good glass is going to create a sharper image with better colors and less distortion.

Use a bad lens and a good lens with the same camera you'll notice the difference if you know what to look for.

Most of this translates into price. The best lenses will also be the most expensive.

However, particularly with a pentax, you may be able to get a deal.

"Prime" lenses only have one focal length -- they don't zoom. Images from them tend to have higher quality because they're simpler in design, and you get more bang for your buck. You can probably get quite a few old pentax lenses for cheap.

The aperature also contributes to price. A f2.0 lens will cost more then an f 5.6 lens, all else being equal.

However, if you are just starting out I wouldn't blow a lot of money on lenses.

As you start to shoot you're going to find you like certain subjects. Maybe you like portraiture, or sports shots, or landscapes.

Each subject requires a different lens and depending on what you shoot and shooting style you'll almost certainly find you want to upgrade your equipment

Xarcell · Jul 25, 2010

Do you think I'm better off buying the lens & body seperately? instead of in the bundle? Since the bundle comes with lower quality lens?

Vautrin · Jul 25, 2010

Xarcell said:
Do you think I'm better off buying the lens & body seperately? instead of in the bundle? Since the bundle comes with lower quality lens?

You're probably better off sticking to the kit lenses and learning if this is your first SLR

A really nice lens can cost $5k+. Why would you want to spend that much money on something you may not use?

It's better, I think, to buy a basic kit. See what you shoot, and see what you like and dislike

After a year or two of shooting basic kit, you'll start to get opinions about what you like and dislike, and you'll start to learn what you might need.

If you for instance like shooting sports you'll want a really long lens with a giant aperature. If you like shooting landscapes you'll want a really short lens maybe with tilt shift feature if you can find one

It's pointless to try to invest if you haven't really used a good camera before because you won't know which one you really need.

Besides, even if you do have money to blow and get the best kit possible, that won't make you a better photographer. In fact, it might hinder your growth because to really get the best pictures out of a high end system you need to really have a good grasp of exposure and other photography concepts.

Better to learn on cheap kit for a year, then look into upgrading.