my first D-SLR.......any recommendations please?

[y2blade]

andy-xr said:

One of my mates is selling a used 30D with grip and 18-50'ish for not much money. Less than your max budget

Let me know if you want me to put you in touch

thanks for the offer but i'd rather buy new tbh



It will be in my hands within an hour now

[Papoo]

y2blade said:

It will be in my hands within an hour now

Howay then!

I'm a bit late to the table, but on monday I picked up an EOS 1000D with kit lens, and a sigma 18-200mm "general purpose" lense. Very happy with it so far. Enjoy it - I fear I'm already addicted, and my dog is severely fed up with me!

[Marc W]

Killwilly said:

Marc W said:

I've got a Canon Lens from the 80's that was originally for a film camera and it works fine Af and everything. I don't use it much anymore as its a bit worn out!

Marc, the lens you refer to is I presume an FD lens, if so what DSLR do you use it on?

I am just about to purchase a Canon 450d and have a number of FD lenses, including a macro.

It would be brilliant if I could use them.

I've had a look and it is the very first of the EF lenses. (A 75-300) It's not quite as old as the 80's either, apparently being from 1990. It works with all of my Digital SlR's (300D, 400D and 50D.)

Edited by Marc W on Wednesday 25th November 22:07

Edited by Marc W on Wednesday 25th November 22:09

[Killwilly]

Marc W said:

Killwilly said:

Marc W said:

I've got a Canon Lens from the 80's that was originally for a film camera and it works fine Af and everything. I don't use it much anymore as its a bit worn out!

Marc, the lens you refer to is I presume an FD lens, if so what DSLR do you use it on?

I am just about to purchase a Canon 450d and have a number of FD lenses, including a macro.

It would be brilliant if I could use them.

I've had a look and it is the very first of the EF lenses. (A 75-300) It's not quite as old as the 80's either, apparently being from 1990. It works with all of my Digital SlR's (300D, 400D and 50D.)

Edited by Marc W on Wednesday 25th November 22:07

Edited by Marc W on Wednesday 25th November 22:09

Thanks Marc. That's a shame, I thought for a minute I would be able to use my FD lenses on the 450d.

[Killwilly]

Mr E said:

jon- said:

A 400/450d will do 300 pictures on a single battery depending on flash, temperature, chimping etc. An unbranded second battery is a cheap purchase and should be the first thing on the shopping list.

My 400D would do something like 600 on the canon battery, and 300 on the ebay special backup battery.

I believe the 450 battery has 50% more capacity than the 400, albeit the same dimensions.

I may be wrong.

[y2blade]

very happy

but....

....erm...how "silly question" friendly are you lot?

Edited by y2blade on Thursday 26th November 08:47

[andy-xr]

Is this along the lines of "Why is a lens round but a sensor rectangular"?

[jon-]

I think you need to purchase an Aardvark.

[Mr E]

y2blade said:

....erm...how "silly question" friendly are you lot?

Quite friendly, but nude shots will cost you at least dinner and a bottle of wine.

[Simpo Two]

y2blade said:

but....

....erm...how "silly question" friendly are you lot?

Buy a pipe. A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth.

[y2blade]

Mr E said:

y2blade said:

....erm...how "silly question" friendly are you lot?

Quite friendly, but nude shots will cost you at least dinner and a bottle of wine.

I was going to ask what the differance is between "Large-Fine and Large-Normal" in shooting menu 1 on the EOS 1000D

both settings acording to the display are 3888x2592

I told you it was a silly question!

I am pleased to report that the menus and options on the EOS 1000D are much the same across the Canon range, I have a few Canons now, my recent purchase SX120IS (to use along side the new EOS 1000D) and my old powershot A580 (the A580 has been a cracking little camera actually)

I also Have a konica minolta Z3 (that is for sale)

jon- said:

I think you need to purchase an Aardvark.

excuse me?

Simpo Two said:

y2blade said:

but....

....erm...how "silly question" friendly are you lot?

Buy a pipe. A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth.

that was prob very good advice, given the question I am asking oh well, i've never been scared to ask a silly question

also are there any decent digital Photography forums you guys recommend?

[Simpo Two]

y2blade said:

I was going to ask what the differance is between "Large-Fine and Large-Normal" in shooting menu 1 on the EOS 1000D

both settings acording to the display are 3888x2592

'Large' refers to the image size in pixels, 'Fine/Normal' refers to the amout of compression. The manual should tell you this.

y2blade said:

jon- said:

I think you need to purchase an Aardvark.

excuse me?

Make sure it's an Aardvark 9000, the latest model.

y2blade said:

also are there any decent digital Photography forums you guys recommend?

You've already found it

Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 26th November 10:12

[y2blade]

since when do men read the manual?

there are no more daft questions at this stage

thank you

I did a search for aardvark 9000 and this is all i found

http://www.aardvarkjuicers.com/ww9000.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=aardvark+9000&i...

Edited by y2blade on Thursday 26th November 10:17

[Simpo Two]

y2blade said:

since when do men read the manual?

When they're wise men faced with a DSLR... they are very complex; you won't work it all out by poking buttons. For your own sake, read it from cover to cover. It probably won't all make sense to start with but it will greatly increase your understanding ... three evenings should do it.




ETA: The Aardvark as an essential piece of kit was introduced by our very own Professor Beano: www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=10...

(Needless to say there has been a run on supplies and a good Aardvark is now almost impossible to find)

Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 26th November 10:21

[The Walrus]

Simpo Two said:

y2blade said:

since when do men read the manual?

When they're wise men faced with a DSLR... they are very complex; you won't work it all out by poking buttons. For your own sake, read it from cover to cover. It probably won't all make sense to start with but it will greatly increase your understanding ... three evenings should do it.

+1 There really are two many buttons and combinations to guess at, you will find out things you had not thought it could do and then have a quick play on it to see what they actually do.

And this is coming from somebody that did a two year course when I was younger at college and picking up my first DSLR I was baffled by all the tricks and adjustments it could do, until I read the manual

[beano500]

Good grief - this Aardvark thing has blown up out of all proportion....



...I must stop feeding them dynamite to inflate their performance.

Anyway, on an even more serious note, RTFM is a mantra you must adopt when embarking on life with a new camera model. Some books are written abut how to use particular models too, but with the speed of reissue of model number "xs Mk III improved" every other week I am not sure how valuable they are.

There's an awful lot to learn in terms of getting the camera to do what you want to do and not the other way around! And my "tongue-in-cheek" business venture, was actually a comment on the fact that, especially in the age of the life coach and personal shopper, busy people do have great difficulty in assimilating all the information to make technology work for them. Hence RTFM unless you're willing to pay for the PH Coaching team! Whilst you can "pick it up as you go along" the bottom of the knowledge ladder is the steepest and needs most effort.

I have failed fairly miserably in my own advice when it comes to a Blackberry, and am so hopeless I cannot turn on our Virgin Media V+ door stop - but have read the D2X and SB-800 manuals over and over!

[Simpo Two]

beano500 said:

Whilst you can "pick it up as you go along" the bottom of the knowledge ladder is the steepest and needs most effort.

Actually I'd put the Nikon CLS system in that position! I have yet to work out why fill-flash exposures are highly variable with distance when in aperture-priority mode, yet are better in manual mode... and that's with an SC-29 and distance feedback an' evryfing...

[y2blade]

lesson learned


tbh I only had it out for about 30 mins last night and had a quick flick through the menus and stuff, took a few pics of the dog (as you do)

I will attack the manual tonight ahead of tomorrows NEC bikeshow...did you guys not see the " " after i said "since when to men read the manual"



.

Edited by y2blade on Thursday 26th November 10:45

[beano500]

y2blade said:

...did you guys not see the " " after i said "since when to men read the manual"

... but we don't - and we don't ask directions either, but don't let women know we know!

[The Walrus]

beano500 said:

y2blade said:

...did you guys not see the " " after i said "since when to men read the manual"

... but we don't - and we don't ask directions either, but don't let women know we know!

Apart from my 40D and my Hero phone, I never read manuals unless I have to take it apart then a quick browse of the internet suffice's.