buying a new camera

[Senior]

Originally Posted by Revolver

im a die hard canon guy so i cant say about the nikons. i did play around with one entry nikon. felt clinky and cheap to me.

its ALL about the glass anyway.great glass along with a good working knowledge of ISO,basic metering and shutter speeds is what matters most.

IMO canon produces better glass.

senior whatever kit you decide to go for priority purchase afterwards would be to get high quality polarizing filter to protect your lense and to help saturate nice colour tones when shooting outside.

great advice everyone, I still haven't decided but thanks for all the input. leaning towards saving more money and getting the Xti. either way I'm going to wait until I can buy a couple lenses right off the bat. I love outdoor/nature photography so I was thinking of getting a wide angle and maybe a zoom lens. any other suggestions? I'm going to buy a tripod can you really fuck that up or is it as straight forward as it would seem?

[b0ld]

well I wouldn't by a 180 degree / fish eye lens yet. Until your comfortable with various zoom lens's. As for a tripod... get a good quality one... You'll regret buying a cheap tripod.. Either the levels are not aligned on it on the plastic breaks easily. So a good tripod will run any where from 150-250 . Another handy thing is having a monopod.

[wishbone]

Originally Posted by b0ld

Get the 70 mm f/2.4 . A friend of mine has it for his canon D40... What an amazing lens. It does wonders at capturing light. Its an expensive lens but its well worth it.

sorry i guess i didn't make it clear that i can't afford a $600 lens right off the bat.

the 50mm f1.8 is like $100-$130 and has the canon L series glass in it from what I've read. The body w/ kit lens package is about $150 more than body only, and with the shit reviews on the kit lens i think i' rather get the 50mm f1.8 for roughly the same price.


Senior, I'm keeping my eyes peeled for boxing day deals on the xti, although I dont know how much further it's going to coem down. It's priced around $630-650 right now for the body ($509 US is the cheapest I've seen it but I want a Canadian warranty just in case). Canon's supposed to be announcing their new line to replace the xt/xti in january, so we *might* see prices fall on boxing day, might not.

(new ones are supposed to feature, amoung other things, live view a-la p&s digicams).

Also for sme reason, I'd rather grab my camera stuff from an actual camera shop over a futureshop or bestbuy, but if boxing day sales do drop the price i'll grab it wherever.

[Mr Ektion]

Some people don't have the money to buy lens upon lens. There are lots of amateur photographers who rent lenses for a weekend ($15-20?) and may not ever use that lense again due to style or need. Renting a $450 lens is often the most economic and practical idea.

And i totally agree. knowing your shutter speeds, isos, and lenses for each specific purpose is the most important. that's why it's good to pick up a book or spend a weekend with a photographer friend to practice with and compare your results later.

As for tripods, there are HUGE differences. Of course you need to consider size and material (in regard to mobility, what is the most practical for you), the type of telescoping legs, and how easily the head portion adjusts on the fly. Older ones tighten with a knob, some new ones have squeeze triggers for quick release. You'll basically get what you pay for though.

[Revolver]

senior to keep things simple i suggest the xti kit thats bundled with the canon 75-300 tele lense.

that way you have focal lengths of 18-55 and 75-300. that gives you excellent coverage whith outdoor photography.

[narc]

don't buy nikon












(period)

[Revolver]

Originally Posted by narc

don't buy nikon












(period)

agreed completely.

i own canon everything aside from my camcorder wich is a 3ccd panasonic with leica lense for obvious reasons.

[wishbone]

^
what, there's something wrong with the d3? :p

[narc]

also don't forget that if you aren't spending more than $2-3G for a full frame sensor DSLR body you will be getting a cropped one. when i mean cropped I mean you will have to deal with the
Focal Length Multiplier

Looking at what most professionals out there using as a backup camera, the Canon Rebel XTi is top notch and DOES NOT fail.

I would recomment the Canon Rebel XTi to start, skip the kit lens and pickup the
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Lens = under $500
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens = under $100

[thebobman]

you're gonna want to get the Rebel with the 18-55mm stock lens. If you get a fixed lens then, well, its just going to be a point and shoot... with no zoom... it'll annoy the shit out of you. Best Buy has a ridiculously good deal on a Rebel XT 8.0MP w/18-55mm Lens, an 8GB CF SanDisk card and a camera bag for freakin' $600. I paid $80 for my 2GB CF SanDisk card and $650 for my camera, so that deal is pretty spectacular.

[Revolver]

i love all the canon love.

but im surprsied that narc whould recomend a sigma lense. in my opinion they are just awful decent for the money but like what a beringer product is to pro aduio....its just....cheap.

keep things simple simple simple,

xti
18-55 mmstock canon
75-300mm entry canon
some filters,some cards.

under a grand and your SET.

[b0ld]

Lens and Shutter has a few deals going on.
may want to look into it


Lens & Shutter

[narc]

I recommend the Sigma lens for the entry level user and those on a budget. Nothing wrong with a Sigma, especially for a backup lens.

[Onizuka]

I remember looking into the nikon d40. I recall the one limitation is it isn't compatible with all nikon lenses. Something to some series of nikon lenses and autofocus drive(i think it can only use af-s lenses). Look into that and see if it will make a difference to you. It is very important to choose your nikon or canon path correctly as it becomes ever more costly to switch brands once you have built up a lens collection.

I took a basic dslr course at a place called focal point close to ubc, it is pretty good.

[Onizuka]

Originally Posted by Revolver

i love all the canon love.

but im surprsied that narc whould recomend a sigma lense. in my opinion they are just awful decent for the money but like what a beringer product is to pro aduio....its just....cheap.

I don't think this statement is very accurate. Sigma lenses often have better mtf resolution, chromatic aberrations, and distortion test results than many canon ef or ef-s lenses. Ef and ef-s lenses are already around 50-100% more retail which makes the some sigma and tamron lenses a steal comparatively. Obviously when comparing to the L series lenses secondary lens manufactures lose out but with the L price tag not many can afford it!

I too like canon because of the high iso performance (less noise).
I have a 30d with a sigma 10-24mm, tamron 17-50 f:2.8 and both a canon 75-300 and sigma 75-300 macro. I would suggest a similar lens setup for a good mm range and somewhat decent price.

[narc]

my insurance company replaced all my stolen lenses. I am happy now. Now waiting to pick up the new updated version of the 5D

[frogprincess]

what did you end up getting?

[decypher]

hey narc do you have the 5D Mark II now?

[jenai]

i luv my Kodak C763, but want to upgrade to 813.

however, i am waiting for my camera to bite the dust before i do that.

the 813 has to drop below $80 for me to buy it.

and when i graduate to a 10 MP Kodak circa 2010-11, it'd have to be under $70.


by then £200 12MP will be the fad.

[ebbomega]

Ugh. Kodaks are utter shite.

[jenai]

i agree, but they're so easy to hide.

plus, they take better pictures than the 1.3MP camera in my WM5 MOTO Q.

[ebbomega]

Funny that a camera would take better pictures than a phone.

For small concealable point-and-shoots I like Olympus.

[bebu*funfun]

if anyone is interested my friend is selling his Canon 5D for 1300. pm me if you are interested

[thebobman]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

Funny that a camera would take better pictures than a phone.

For small concealable point-and-shoots I like Olympus.

I got my brother a water/shock proof Olympus point 'n shoot. I've heard no complaints. I bought my mom a Sony Cybershot (the one you just slide the dust cover down to turn on, the model # escapes me) and the shots my parents have been taking with it have been stellar too. Casio stuff is usually decent, although I have dealt with the craptacular EX-V7 (do NOT buy that camera, the image stabilizer is a flawed design).

[narc]

Originally Posted by decypher

hey narc do you have the 5D Mark II now?

Yes, got it last week.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR - $3,099.00
UPS Next Day Delivery - $45.00
GST - $156.45

= $3300.45