Reinvest or keep buying Canon ?

[pcacj]

Sorry about the mix-up on "prime". Everything is still too new for it to be an automatic guarantee that I will express myself without bumbling some terms. For the record, I was trying to reference the "L" lenses. Prime means "top shelf" in my mind so that is how it came out.

 

[robertwsimpson]

post some of your pictures so we can see what you're talking about!

 

[pcacj]

will post some to webshots and link them....

 

[robertwsimpson]

The colors don't look particularly bad in this one... the water is overexposed and the subject is getting some weird lighting due to the massive reflection from the sun off of the water. I'd say for what it is, it's an ok shot. you're always going to have flatter photos with less contrast when shooting into a light source like this. Nature of the beast.

 

[pcacj]

More photos are in my webshots album...

 

[burstintoflame81]

I really think that you should start with learning more about the photography and also about post-processing. I think your pictures could be much improved with a little practice with composition, exposure, and color/saturation adjustments. If you want to spend some money, then get CS4. I think having CS4 and getting books on exposure, and CS4 from my local library is the best thing I have done since starting photography. That would be much more valuable to you then dumping more money into gear. If you want to do portaits I also agree with buying some used lighting gear. If you are shooting in Auto mode, try shooting in a different mode ( check your manual to understand the benefits of each ) and under or over exposing just slightly and see if you see an improvement.

I started with an XS recently and liked it, although I got a great deal on a T1i and went for it just for the extra resolution and the spot metering feature. ( Plus my wife wanted to start so the XS has a home ).

 

[inTempus]

Often people think you should be able to point your camera at anything in the sunlight and it should turn out great.

That's not the case. You have to carefully study your subject and look at the lighting, background, etc. before taking the shot. With the shot of the lady by the water, you would have wanted to either 1) flash the subject to equalize her against the bright reflection which would have made her look great and the water look blue (vs. white) or 2) repositioned yourself so she wasn't sitting directly in front of the massive reflection.

 

[Tulsa]

some of those photos are not bad for a newbie. Get a Polarizer, and watch where the sun is pointing, and you will do good.

 

[pcacj]

Thank you to all who have offered your experience and views. I agree with everyone in that I am rushing towards the upgrade before I know how to use what I have currently. I do not plan to skip this huge learning step. I was hoping to "learn" with the better camera. As a couple of posters mentioned, part of the struggle is if I should refrain from investing more money in the Canon setup if my goal is to obtain the larger format camera (Nikon or Canon). As I understand it, the lenses for the larger formats are not the same ones I would buy for my XTi even if I stuck with Canon. That will prevent me from buying a good lens for my XTi because I only want to buy it once. For now, I will wait and learn but I feel a purchase creeping up on me in the next few months.

 

[robertwsimpson]

If you want to buy a full frame camera eventually, just buy only EF lenses now. The EF-S lens line from Canon only fits on crop sensor cameras. The EF lenses will work on all 3 of canon's sensor sizes. If you want to get a new lens for portraiture, I recommend the 85mm f/1.8 if you're on a budget, or the 85mm f/1.2L if you're not. I would say get the 50mm, but if you switch to a full frame body in the future, you'll want the 85mm instead.

If you like shooting portraits and other stuff, get the 70-200mm f/2.8L. It will give you a wide enough aperture to shoot effective portraits, while maintaining some utility with the zoom.

Any of the lenses I mentioned will work with any canon camera including your XTi, the 1d, 5d, or 1ds.

 

[Dao]

If you have a set budget you want to spend, then lens will be a better choice. Since the camera is just a recording device, the sensor/film records the light that pass through the lens. No matter how good your camera is, if the lens is not capable to delivering good image to the camera body, you are not going to have a good image.

But of course, the person who press the button is the key since he/she control how the light enter the camera via the lens.

Please take a look a this thread. You will see a lot of examples that low end DSLR cameras CAN produce GREAT PHOTOS.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/beyond-basics/181237-official-put-up-shut-up-thread.html


But of course, if you are planning to get a pro-camera with decent lenses and start learning photography, I do not see any problem.

 

[inTempus]

If you want to buy a full frame camera eventually, just buy only EF lenses now. The EF-S lens line from Canon only fits on crop sensor cameras. The EF lenses will work on all 3 of canon's sensor sizes. If you want to get a new lens for portraiture, I recommend the 85mm f/1.8 if you're on a budget, or the 85mm f/1.2L if you're not. I would say get the 50mm, but if you switch to a full frame body in the future, you'll want the 85mm instead.

If you like shooting portraits and other stuff, get the 70-200mm f/2.8L. It will give you a wide enough aperture to shoot effective portraits, while maintaining some utility with the zoom.

Any of the lenses I mentioned will work with any canon camera including your XTi, the 1d, 5d, or 1ds.

While I agree with the 85 1.8 and 85L make great portrait lenses, you have to take into account the room you have to work with. Not everyone has a full size studio.

If you use an 85mm lens you will need 21 feet from your camera to the subject to get a 5'11 person completely in frame. For a 50mm it's around 12ft.

That's a lot of distance for the 85mm. I don't have that much space to work with in my studio so I wind up using my 24-70 more than anything else. I use my 85mm for head shots though. But the 85mm just isn't flexible enough for me to be my only lens.

If you're going to buy a single lens due to budget constraints, I wouldn't buy a prime. I would buy a good zoom. Modern zooms like the 24-70 or 24-105 are exceptionally sharp. Take a look at my work, if you see a soft portrait in my port, please point it out. Most of my port was shot with a 24-70.

Primes aren't for everyone.

 

[Village Idiot]

Thank you to all who have offered your experience and views. I agree with everyone in that I am rushing towards the upgrade before I know how to use what I have currently. I do not plan to skip this huge learning step. I was hoping to "learn" with the better camera. As a couple of posters mentioned, part of the struggle is if I should refrain from investing more money in the Canon setup if my goal is to obtain the larger format camera (Nikon or Canon). As I understand it, the lenses for the larger formats are not the same ones I would buy for my XTi even if I stuck with Canon. That will prevent me from buying a good lens for my XTi because I only want to buy it once. For now, I will wait and learn but I feel a purchase creeping up on me in the next few months.

Canon APS-C format cameras use lenses with and EF-S and an EF mount. Their FF cameras can only fit EF mount lenses.

Here's the good news; Canon has about 60 lenses in their line up right now and only 6-7 of those are EF-S mount. Chances are that if you find a lens you like, it's most likely not going to be EF-S mount.

 

[robertwsimpson]

If you want to buy a full frame camera eventually, just buy only EF lenses now. The EF-S lens line from Canon only fits on crop sensor cameras. The EF lenses will work on all 3 of canon's sensor sizes. If you want to get a new lens for portraiture, I recommend the 85mm f/1.8 if you're on a budget, or the 85mm f/1.2L if you're not. I would say get the 50mm, but if you switch to a full frame body in the future, you'll want the 85mm instead.

If you like shooting portraits and other stuff, get the 70-200mm f/2.8L. It will give you a wide enough aperture to shoot effective portraits, while maintaining some utility with the zoom.

Any of the lenses I mentioned will work with any canon camera including your XTi, the 1d, 5d, or 1ds.

While I agree with the 85 1.8 and 85L make great portrait lenses, you have to take into account the room you have to work with. Not everyone has a full size studio.

If you use an 85mm lens you will need 21 feet from your camera to the subject to get a 5'11 person completely in frame. For a 50mm it's around 12ft.

That's a lot of distance for the 85mm. I don't have that much space to work with in my studio so I wind up using my 24-70 more than anything else. I use my 85mm for head shots though. But the 85mm just isn't flexible enough for me to be my only lens.

If you're going to buy a single lens due to budget constraints, I wouldn't buy a prime. I would buy a good zoom. Modern zooms like the 24-70 or 24-105 are exceptionally sharp. Take a look at my work, if you see a soft portrait in my port, please point it out. Most of my port was shot with a 24-70.

Primes aren't for everyone.

good point. I far prefer the versatility of a zoom. Except with portraits. Granted, he says he wants to do studio work, but I haven't seen him post a studio shot yet... For outside portraits, primes are boss. The only time I will throw my 50mm f1.8 on is when I have complete control over the subject AND myself... Other than that, I prefer a good zoom.

That being said, if I had it to do over again, I'd still buy the 50mm f1.8. I got mine for $80 and it will go on a full frame camera. If I decided I wanted to get an 85mm instead, I'm sure I could get my money back.

 

[robertwsimpson]

Thank you to all who have offered your experience and views. I agree with everyone in that I am rushing towards the upgrade before I know how to use what I have currently. I do not plan to skip this huge learning step. I was hoping to "learn" with the better camera. As a couple of posters mentioned, part of the struggle is if I should refrain from investing more money in the Canon setup if my goal is to obtain the larger format camera (Nikon or Canon). As I understand it, the lenses for the larger formats are not the same ones I would buy for my XTi even if I stuck with Canon. That will prevent me from buying a good lens for my XTi because I only want to buy it once. For now, I will wait and learn but I feel a purchase creeping up on me in the next few months.

Canon APS-C format cameras use lenses with and EF-S and an EF mount. Their FF cameras can only fit EF mount lenses.

Here's the good news; Canon has about 60 lenses in their line up right now and only 6-7 of those are EF-S mount. Chances are that if you find a lens you like, it's most likely not going to be EF-S mount.

don't forget about the APS-H format, which also only takes EF mount lenses. Although I have seen tutorials on youtube where people have taken EF-S lenses and modified them to fit.