First steps into digital photography

michael_w

After talking about it for so long I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself a Nikon D50. I went for the kit lens (18-55mm f3.5/5.6) because for the money and my budget I figured it would be a good way to go. I will pick up something a bit longer in the near future, but for now I'm enjoying the kit. Film is great and I do enjoy the darkroom process, but being able to take a few hundred shots, having it not cost you anything and seeing the results right away are some serious advantages.

Anybody else have a dslr (aside from John and his studio babes)? What lenses do you have and what types of photography do you do? I mostly do just inanimate objects for now, but soon hope to do more sports (skateboarding and snowboarding). Back when I was in school we got to work in the studio which was really fun, so I'd like to get back into that also.

I have a few shots up on Flickr but nothing really crazy yet.

I think maybe it's time to sell off the 35mm minolta and buy another lens for the d50

apc

I traded my Minolta SLR and gear with KEH in Atlanta for a Canon 20D. Never looked back. I opted for a kit lens as well to start (18-55 F3.5-5.6 EF-S II USM (58)). Soon added a telephoto (75-300 F4-5.6 IMAGE STABILIZATION ULTRASONIC (58)).

Save your $ and invest in good glass and you'll appreciate it later. Bright daylight is one thing, but kids on stages, late afternoons, evenings and indoors require better equipment for top results.

Digi-memory is cheap now, so stock up. Enjoy!

michael_w

Digi-memory is cheap now, so stock up. Enjoy!

That's for sure! I'll probably be picking up a second 1gig sd card for about $25 cdn from a local computer place in the next week or two. With two gigs I should be able to shoot raw anytime I choose (even for bigger events) and not have to worry.

The glass thing is very true... and I thought audio was an expensive hobby :rolleyes:

How is the 20D in terms of construction, body and feel? I've never seen it but I checked out the rebel 300d and was very dissapointed. It just felt really cheesy and plastic as well as not fitting my hand very well. The d50 is plastic as well, but has a much different feel to it.

SWFalken

I have been using the EOS 20D since November and it has been a very solid platform. The body construction is very solid, built damn near to pro standards. The battery grip BG-E2 on the other hand could be a little more solid like the Mag grip for the 5D. I've been using L glass on this body for about 4 months now and it is one camera that responds well to hi res glass. The 24-70 f2.8L is the best wedding lens that I have ever used and the 20D drives it's focusing motor very fast. The only thing that I would say about digital photography is that taking a lot of pictures quickly will not make you a better photographer. Take your time and pay attention to your composition and lighting and take a few really excellent pics. Cheap storage is no excuse for taking **** pictures.

SWFalken

http://www.trekearth.com/members/SWFalken/photos/
This is what this camera is capable of.

michael_w

I'll actually be attending a wedding at the end of this month. I'll be using the 18-55 f3.5/5.6 for that night (only lens for now...) so it should work fairly well then. Any tips for shooting a wedding? It will probably mostly be candid stuff, but I'm sure I'll pull them (aunt and soon to be uncle) aside for a while to get some personal portraits done.

What I usually try to do is make every picture good but take plenty to try and capture a few excellent ones among the good.

SWFalken

Michael; Invest in good flash equiptment. The pop up on the camera body is good for snaps but you will want better and more even coverage if you hope to grab any shots to put in an album. The lens that you have is really slow for an indoor shoot and the flash is going to have to supply almost all of the light in your images. My advice for shooting candids is to hang out with friends or family and just shoot for effect, trying to capture emotions on their faces or in their posture. Define a mood that you want to convey and then hunt it down and shoot it. The most minute changes in facial expression can make all the difference in the message that you convey to the client. Practice anticipating these changes and be there and be technically proficient enough to capture them. Practice, practice, practice

janmike

Congrats Michael. Nice Shots. I purchased a used Canon Digital Rebel (300D) as I wanted to use the lenses I previously had from my regular Canon 35mm. I still am experimenting with the manual options on the camera and find I use AV mode the most. What I need to do is determine what happens when I change this and that. Still learning and trying to figure things out as I used the auto settings 99% of the time.

michael_w

Thanks for the tips. A good flash is on the list of things to buy, but right now I'm a bit drained from the body and kit lens I'll have to keep those ideas in mind when I'm there. Thanks.

If I had any canon gear I would have gone with canon just as you did. Since I only had Minolta stuff, I opted out to go for Nikon. Care to post any shots Mike? I tend to use aperture priority a lot as well, but if I have time (in the studio or still life stuff) full manual can be very nice.

janmike

I agree with the flash. I am currently looking at some Canon Speedlite 420EX so see what I can pick one up for. No real shots, but will have some after a trip to Edmonton and Calgary. What I should do is take a few good shots of Yellowknife.

MacLeod

I was at Wolf the other day buying some film and started talking to the salesdude about digital cameras as I want one really, REALLY bad. Im partial to Nikon's but, unbelievably, he recommended Fujifilm! All I want is basically a point and shooter and he said they make about the best and their upper end P&S models have the best pic quality over the other brands.

At first I thought he was full of it cause I always thought Fuji was kind of a cheap brand but he raved about it.

He then went to say that Nikon's DSLR cameras were top shelf but their compact models werent all that.

shepx2

I have a D50 as well, with a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 lens, and that lens is astounding. I had a 28-105mm nikon that I sent back to KEH, because it was defective.

Here's a link to some of my shots; a lot of the earlier pics were taken with a Sony V3, and the latter with my D50.

http://shepx2.smugmug.com/gallery/970714

Mike682

MacLeod wrote:

I was at Wolf the other day buying some film and started talking to the salesdude about digital cameras as I want one really, REALLY bad. Im partial to Nikon's but, unbelievably, he recommended Fujifilm! All I want is basically a point and shooter and he said they make about the best and their upper end P&S models have the best pic quality over the other brands.

At first I thought he was full of it cause I always thought Fuji was kind of a cheap brand but he raved about it.

He then went to say that Nikon's DSLR cameras were top shelf but their compact models werent all that.

The salesguy has a point. While Nikon DSLRs are good (The D50 is a damn good DSLR at its pricepoint), their compacts are nothing special since they offer limited functionality. Fuji makes a very good p&s because they offer a great range of shooting options. Do they have the best image quality? I would say they are up there. What makes higher Fuji compacts a good camera is Fuji's superccd. This is a damn good image sensor that can shoot very good pics at higher ISOs. If I were shooting in a dark environment w/limited or no flash and could only bring a compact, I would most definitely bring a Fuji Finepix F30 ( and this is coming from a Canon user who loves his A620;) )

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f30-review/index.shtml

MacLeod

Thanks for the link, Mike. A good review page is invaluable for researching a product.

As for the sensor, thats exactly what the clerk said, but he went a step further and said they have the best sensor of the P&S models.

Thats very interesting. I think Ill look a little more closely at their cameras. They seem to have good value compared to Sony and Canons.

I was looking at this one: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Fujifilm-FinePix-S5200-Digital-Camera/sem/rpsm/oid/140000/catOid/-13062/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Mike682

MacLeod wrote:

Thanks for the link, Mike. A good review page is invaluable for researching a product.

As for the sensor, thats exactly what the clerk said, but he went a step further and said they have the best sensor of the P&S models.

Thats very interesting. I think Ill look a little more closely at their cameras. They seem to have good value compared to Sony and Canons.

I was looking at this one: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Fujifilm-FinePix-S5200-Digital-Camera/sem/rpsm/oid/140000/catOid/-13062/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Here are 2 reviews for the 5200:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S5200/S52A.HTM

http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/fuji-s5200/s5200-gen.php

Mike682

MacLeod wrote:

As for the sensor, thats exactly what the clerk said, but he went a step further and said they have the best sensor of the P&S models.

Most compact digicams use Sony sensors. Nikon, Canon, Non-super CCD HR Fujis, Olympus, KonicaMinolta use Sony sensors. Fuji SuperCCD sensors are actually made by Fuji.

Some DSLRs use Sony sensors too.

MacLeod

I think I may have found my next digital camera! $227 at Abes.

Strong Bad

Michael:

Thats it buddy! You've officially entered the "More Glass" zone. It'll be one lens after another! I can't say I love one of my lens over another since they all have different uses. I will say for studio work, it's the 85mm 1.4 all the way! It's legendary in the Nikon world. I also use that at Gymnastics meets since it opens to f1.4 and is a great focal length. The only (and it's only minor) downside is it's focus speed. Sharpness and accuracy, dead on!

Outside sporting events, the (again legendary) 70-200 2.8 VR.

I just bought the extended battery grip (w/vertical shutter release) for my D200.

You should see this thing with the extended grip, SB-800 flash and the 28-70 2.8 lens (known as the beast because of it's size and weight) all mounted. Seriously heavy and looks like some sort of high tech weapon. I have a baptism to attend this Sunday and will be taking some photos for my friend.

I'm attending 2 local classes, 1 on each of the coming Wednesdays of this month. The first is a complete tour and setup of the D200. The other is iTTL flash and a tour of the SB-800. Good stuff!

By the way Michael, go to www.nikonusa.com and download the trial version of Nikon CaptureNX. Total badass! They're touting lossless RAW image editing capability, among other things. It really is amazing!


Enjoy!

John

lomic

MacLeod wrote:

I was at Wolf the other day buying some film and started talking to the salesdude about digital cameras as I want one really, REALLY bad. Im partial to Nikon's but, unbelievably, he recommended Fujifilm! All I want is basically a point and shooter and he said they make about the best and their upper end P&S models have the best pic quality over the other brands.

Heh. I work at Wolf as well, I assume he's recommending Fuji because they have 3x the Sales Incentive as other brands. Not to say Fuji doesn't make decent cameras, but IMO Canon's Dig!c II processor sets their P&S cameras ahead of the competition. Obviously there's more features/speed etc. that you might be looking at, but the SD450/630 get my vote depending on budget.

Nikon actually use to be one of my favorites, but they have gone to hell recently, nothing I've recommended since the 7900 in their P&S lines.

Also, salesdudes only make $7.50/hr. If you're going to pick their brains about cameras and you like their recommendation be kind enough to buy from them unless you need a camera _right now_ and don't have the extra $30-40 to drop in a B&M store. Check out the damage protection too, take a hammer to your camera and you get a new model

Mike682

Canon compact digicams rock!! Great processing and very good glass.

But I have to give credit to Fuji for their F30 camera. Nice little cam.

masanz1

here's one more site for you that I visit often

http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=DCForumID201&mm=1&archive=

beware the NAS

michael_w

CaptureNX hmmm... I might just have to check that out. I already have the full version of Capture 4 (editor and camera control) and have found it fairly decent for my first experiances with raw. I really need to play around with raw in the next couple weeks to get ready for the wedding on the 28th. The camera control is pretty cool too. If I had my laptop up and running it might be pretty handy for studio work having shots go directly to the computer.

With my camera came a bunch of free stuff. Among the free stuff was some kind of "Take Better Pictures" lesson from blacks so maybe I'll redeem that and see what they have to offer.

Thanks for the links people. Will have to check out that nikon forum and some of the others.

I suppose for now with only a single lens at least I don't have to worry about getting dust on the sensor . Hopefully that'll change soon. I have a couple interviews next week so maybe finally I'll get off my lazy **** and start working full time instead of the twice a week stuff I also put up my 35mm minolta on craigslist so maybe that'll sell and help move towards a flash or another lens.

AlanD

I would also try Bibble as your RAW processor (www.bibblelabs.com). The demo is free, and it uses Kodak Digital Science for its color management. It also has basic noise ninja, and "perfectly clear" one-touch adjustments (which is hit or miss)