Very New

[Tinuva]

Hiya,

Very new to photography, so probably won't be posting much for a while. I heard that this was a good place for advice and learing so you guys have a good reputation :) Yes I am grovelling in case you wondered.

Just a quick question. As I am new to digital photography, I'm off out this week to buy some 'idiot guide' books and then hopefully some kit. Any tips on what to go for. Probably only have about £500 to spend initially and I know that is probably a drop in the ocean considering what I could buy with more funds.

Cheers

T.

[GetCarter]

Hi

...and welcome

£500 will buy you a very good digital camera. I suggest you go for a DSLR (not a top of the range point and click) - probably a Nikon or Canon with lens thrown in for *JUST* over the £500 mark. I think the Nikon D50 is about £540 (with lens)

You won't regret it, though your bank will as you decide to buy better kit/more lenses.

My point: You are much better spending money on hardware rather than books... a picture is worth 1000 words remember. If you get out and do it, you'll soon find out what's working, what's not.

IMHO of course

Have fun.

Steve

>> Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 9th October 17:19

[rustybin]

A vote here for the Nikon D50 (purely as I have one and can therefore speak from experience). I know many here wouldn't dream of it as opposed to the D70(s) but it will do 99% the same job. The kit lens is pretty good and you can build your lens set from a quality range and then trade up on the body at a later date. You may strugle to find one below £500 without resorting to e-bay though.

Bear in mind that you will need a memory card at least to get started and one with a decent capacity is going to take another £50 odd out of your budget add a skylight / UV filter to protect the lens (£20) and something to carry it in (£30) and you are actually looking at a budget of £400 for the camera.

As GetCarter says I would throw the book fund into your budget as well as most of the information you need to get going is in the manual or on the web.

Might be worth considering second hand as you could pickup a pretty complete and good quality set-up for £500.

Happy hunting.

[simpo two]

GetCarter said:

My point: You are much better spending money on hardware rather than books... a picture is worth 1000 words remember. If you get out and do it, you'll soon find out what's working, what's not.

Agreed, as long as you have enough marbles to learn by doing, which being a PHer I'm sure you have
DSLRs are complex beasts and to get the best from them DO make an effort to read the manual from end to end. As you do so you'll probably find that half of it is not appropriate for what you want to do, but at least you had the choice to discard it rather than never find something you actually want. It took me 3 sessions to get through the D70 manual but I'm glad I did.

So IMHO your starter pack should be:
Camera + kit lens
UV filter to protect lens
1Gb branded CF card at least 40x
Spare battery (generic from eBay is fine)
Decent bag with 'growing room'.

That should keep you busy for a while, then as you run off the end of what that will do - I'm thinking mainly lenses - you can start saving all over again!

Tinuva said:

Joined initially for the photography side of things, but now totally hooked because of the cars as well. Ah well, another large portion of my working day up the swanny.

Oh yes

>> Edited by simpo two on Sunday 9th October 18:01

[Tinuva]

Cheers guys. I can't actually believe what a numpty I was about to be and blow probably the best part of £50 quid on a couple of books. Been doing a bit of research on the interweb and come up with a few sites that have some sound advice.

Simpo, I take it PH fills up a large portion of your day too

[740i]

Hi and welcome to PH
I'm only just a step or two in front of you having got my first dslr earlier this year. I'm finding this forum an invalueable source for inspiration and technical tips from the guys above and many more.
Have already had a couple of pics published in a local paper with my name proudly credited, Ph can take a lot of the credit for this.
Shoot like crazy and don't worry about the failures, the "keepers" will increase week by week, something I could never afford to do on film.
John

[miniman]

740i said:

Shoot like crazy and don't worry about the failures, the "keepers" will increase week by week, something I could never afford to do on film. John

That's good advice. I bought my first DSLR a few weeks ago and took my first large amount of shots at a wedding over the weekend. There's only a few in there that I think are any good - but it'll cost me nothing to delete 95% of them and move on to the next set.

[KarlosFandango]

I have only just gone over to a digital SLR from digital point and shoot (last week) Going for an SLR has to be the way to go. After having mine for a few days it's mind blowing what modern cameras are capable of, and that's with me having a very limited understanding of all the technical thingies. The fact that you can couple different lenses makes the possibilities endless.

I just had a quick look and found a D50 with lense for £499(new from warehouse direct). For my Minolta I managed to get two batteries and two 512 ultra II Sandisk CF cards for slightly under £50. Ebay will be your friend

Karl

[Tinuva]

You lot should charge for all this help and advice! Not me of course

[gopher]

Hello, and welcome to PH! within a few weeks you will be asking yourself questions like "what did I do with all my time before PH??"

Another vote here for the Nikon D50 - although you may get a Canon 300d cheaper(especially 2nd hand), leaving you room for more lenses etc.

Also agree that the best thing you can do is shoot loads and learn - read the exif info on each photo to see what you did and what effect it had, and as has been said RTFM!! - I take mine with me each time I go out, there is so much to learn!

I bought my D50 a couple of months back, and have actually sold a few pics so I'm more than happy, but even if I hadn't I've found it a very interesting, motivational and addictive hobby!

Cheers

Paul

[te51cle]

I originally went with Canon instead of Nikon (back in 1988) because as a glasses wearer I couldn't see the viewfinder info in the Nikons of the time. The point I'd like to make is that it is important to handle the cameras from all the SLR manufacturers if possible before buying anything. See which one feels best in your hands and you feel most happy working the menus and seeing the viewfinder information. Whether it be Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta or whatever they're all capable of producing good results so got with whatever works best for you. Once you've got your basic outfit as per Simpo's list above I'd strongly recommend getting a tripod before you think about an extra lens.

Oh and I would recommend buying a book, but stick to just the one at first. Michael Freeman's 35mm Handbook was the first one I had and found it just right to start me off - I see that he's got a Digital SLR Handbook out now so that should have decent information and sufficient pictures to inspire you.

[rustybin]

You might want to budget for some post processing software as well. Helps to rescue some of the shots that don't go quite right, make the average interesting and the good better. Also damn good fun.

[simpo two]

miniman said:

I bought my first DSLR a few weeks ago and took my first large amount of shots at a wedding over the weekend. There's only a few in there that I think are any good - but it'll cost me nothing to delete 95% of them and move on to the next set.

Actually I disagree with the 'machine gun and bulk delete' approach. While your finger is hosing pixels and caning the frame buffer, you could be examining the first frame, checking it and getting the second frame better. It also saves you having to delete 95% later

rustybin said:

You might want to budget for some post processing software as well. Helps to rescue some of the shots that don't go quite right, make the average interesting and the good better.

Yep, DSLRs can be surprisingly poor at getting the exposure perfect. I think PhotoShop or similar is pretty much essential to get the best results, and also opens the door to creativity.

[simpo two]

te51cle said:

I originally went with Canon instead of Nikon (back in 1988) because as a glasses wearer I thought it said 'Nikon'

A cheap shot but a good one

[406]

This may help

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?FAQ=true&f=109