Digital SLR - what have you got??

[Chris220220 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris220220]

Murray the f1.8 is a nice lense and will not break the bank. It is light and gets good write ups for what it is.

[Muffla Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Muffla]

Murray the f1.8 is a nice lense and will not break the bank. It is light and gets good write ups for what it is.

Cheers mate, Ill check it out

Murray

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Bought a D700 (great camera btw) 2 months ago and now they FINALLY release the D800.... DOH!!!

I am surprised you could still get a D700, they haven't been for sale in Japan for about a year now. I have been waiting (along with everyone else!) for the D800 for a long time. Now I will grab one in May or September depending what happens to the price after launch. My 21 year old 28 - 80 mid range zoom has developed a case of fungus so I will put it out to pasture and have arranged to pick up a nice new f50 1.4 G lens next month when I am in Tokyo.

[KAKADAZ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close KAKADAZ]

I am surprised you could still get a D700, they haven't been for sale in Japan for about a year now. I have been waiting (along with everyone else!) for the D800 for a long time. Now I will grab one in May or September depending what happens to the price after launch. My 21 year old 28 - 80 mid range zoom has developed a case of fungus so I will put it out to pasture and have arranged to pick up a nice new f50 1.4 G lens next month when I am in Tokyo.

My 50mm f1.4G is very very sharp...although I find the 35mm a much better length the 50mm is cream.

[wsp Member Find all posts View Profile Close wsp]

Hi we have a canon 450d twin lens the small lens is 18-55 and the larger one is 75-300 got it off e-bay (cheap) very happy with it the only problem is the mug behind the lens has a lot of features that i dont know how to use but with my limited knowledge takes orsum photos and we couldnt be happier with it

[Max Member Find all posts View Profile Close Max]

Nicely put Roo, you've inspired me to dust off the gear and get out there more.

Madkore

After 12 years in the IT industry never wait for the new stuff or you'll be dissapointed as it will cost a premium and then 2 months down the track (pun intended) it'll be superceded by something else.

Agree with never buying the latest technology but I'll happily buy a recently superseded product for half the price. Often these have only been on the market for 6-12months and do the job just as well.


I have a Nikon D90 with a 50mm f/1.8 and an 18—200mm (more on the wish list). I started off with a D40x twin lens kit but upgraded after about a year. Why?

D40x (read any entry level DLSR) settings are mainly through software and this became a pain in the ar$e when I started learning to play around with manual settings. I can now hold the camera in one hand and change multiple settings in seconds without putting my beer down.

Dedicated lenses are great but I found the standard twin lens kit average and inconvenient, especially when travelling (unless you're always carrying everything in the Prado). Take a look at the bag you're carrying around for a twin lens setup compared to a single. Yeah the 18-200mm isn't the worlds greatest but I can throw it in my daypack with a whole heap of other stuff and happily wander around for the day. Having the 18-200 focal range in the one lens means less swapping of lenses in dusty or salty environments and exposing the body internals to crap it's not designed for.

Top control panel makes it easy to see all your settings together (handy for a gumby like me)

Having the auto focus motor in the camera body gives me more choice of lenses (bonus but not essential)

On the downside
- No autofocus when shooting video but I bought it for photos (I don't think there were many that did back when I got mine)
- Live view (framing the shot in the LCD) is painfully slow and I've only used it once or twice. Fine for me but it took my wife a bit of getting used to.

Extras I couldn't do without

- 2nd battery (even though these batteries will last nearly a week of heavy shooting)
- Gorilla pod http://joby.com/gorillapod
- Wireless remote (this and the Gorilla pod make it easy to take group shots almost anywhere without leaving anyone out)
- Lens pen http://www.lenspen.com/?cPath=_1&pro...NLP-1&tpid=323
- Polarising filter on the 18-200

There are some good quality 3rd party lenses out there cheaper than OEMs

D90 is getting a bit long in the tooth and I'm not necessarily recommending it, just don't want to you spend your money twice

Nikon and Canon are both great. Go with what your mates have so you can swap/share lenses.

I'm no pro, just sharing what I went through spending money on more toys.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

My 50mm f1.4G is very very sharp...although I find the 35mm a much better length the 50mm is cream.

I will look at the 35 later. I have the 12 - 24 which covers the wide angle side and going back to full frame I think the 50mm focal length will be fine.

[outdoorgaz Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close outdoorgaz]

Digital film SLR is like the older style SLR camera, you buy a digital film for them, the film camera will always give a better quality picture than a full digital camera. The only benifit of a digital camera is you can take more pictures without changing film (because it does not have any), The Pappo's have the new style Dig SLR bacause they can take many shots without fumbling around with film, so they dont miss a shot, but go to a photograher in a studio, and they will always use a film camera for the better quality picture. It is the same for Video cameras.

I'm sorry crooza but I have to say there is no such as a digital film camera. There is either digital or film camera. Video cameras went from analogue tape to digital tape then disc then hard drive or flash drive. Digital cameras are getting about the same resolution as film now so most professional photographers will use digital SLRs and most video is shot using digital. A lot of movies are now even "filmed" using Canon 5Ds or 7Ds which are really still cameras.

There are also many benefits of using digital over film - hence Kodak has now gone broke.

If you are wondering about my street cred, like the roo I started on Canon AE1, went to Canon New F1 then digital about 7 years ago. I have had images published in many magazines over the last 30 years.

[Tony0 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tony0]

I have a Canon 50D - it came down to size and (percieved) robustness. The 550d and 60d felt cramped compared to the older 50d have a EFS17-85mm 1:4-5.6 IS USM. Only issue is Compact Flash cards are harder to find.

[JoshF Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoshF]

I have a 400d with a 15-85 IS USM lens for "walking around" and a Sigma 70-200 f2.8

I still have a 28-105 and 70-300 from my old EOS 50 which get used on occasions

Carry the 15-85 on camera and 70-200 and 70-300 with me in the car on trips

I think my next beast will be a 40 or 50d.

[Muffla Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Muffla]

How are you Murray. For portraiture and wedding photography, you really can't go past a standard zoom lense. I had one of Canon's old 35-135mm zoom lenses for this. The new lense in the Canon range is the 28-135mm F3.5-F5.6. It's not a L series lense though, but it will be a lot cheaper. Having a zoom like the one above gives you the option of the main subject matter be separated from the background up in the higher focal lengths which is desirable, 85mm up. 50mm only gives you 46 degrees, which is what your eyes see when you look straight ahead without moving your eyes. For portraiture, you need the flexibility of a zoom lense as there are allot of different situations within that format. A lot of wedding photographers that I know are using the 28-300mm F3.5-F5.6L lense hooked to a EOS1ds body. The L series lense just gives them a bit more detail in the image for doing big enlargements, above 40x50cm. If you are not going to enlarge an image above 40x50cm, then the first lense would be my choice. The great thing about today is that you can always enhance an image through Adobe Photo Shop if you want to go bigger anyway. I thick, it's always more interesting anyway, to put more than one image up on the wall, in a frame, a story board of images that are related, so to speak, eg. nine in a frame.
Hope this helps, the Roo.

Thanks for the tips Roo, there are so many options out there that it can get a bit confusing. Im thinking so long as I get a lens with a high aperture I can't go wrong provided I stick to yours and some of the other recommendations here. Anything with good aperture should easily out perform the lenses that came standard with my 500D anyway.

Thanks again mate. ;-)

Murray.

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

** BUMP **

One to be moved to the photography forum.

[Ozpat Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ozpat]

Some good information on this site...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/

Cheers Jim

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Some good information on this site...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/

Cheers Jim

Never long before Ken finds his way I to a conversation.
Another good site ishttp://www.luminous-landscape.com/index.shtml

[SGS Member Find all posts View Profile Close SGS]

I have a Canon 60d with 15-85 USM IS lens - love it. Had a 450d prior (was OK) and before that a 350d (good camera, served me well)
The speed and the control of the 60d makes it very easy to take fantastic photos.