Photography: Help me buy a camera

[gusmahler]

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ON THE KIT LENS:

the Kit lens with the Canon is basically crap.

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Check out this post I made:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...rue#Post8111932

I compared the kit lens to what is widely regarded as the best zoom lens available (in that focal length range) for the Canon.

The difference between the two is remarkable when you look at the 100% view of the cards. But when printed out, even at 5x7, you can barely tell the difference.

And at 600x400, can you tell which lens took the full scene (the bench, cards, hat, etc.)?

[DING-DONG YO]

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Bought it on Sunday. I am very happy with it although I have only had it a few days. I've put ~400 pictures on it in playing around with it.

My previous camera - another Canon - was several years old. This had a much nicer/larger LCD screen, a 6x zoom instead of 3x, a very quick startup and very quick focus. Also greatly improved was the shutter lag issue. I used to wait anywhere from 0.3 seconds to 2 seconds for the thing to take a picture, the new camera seems to be instantaneous unless it gets confused and refocuses -- and that is a rare occurrence.

I found that this site had a good write-up/review of the A710 and other mid/high-end cameras.

My purchase decision was based on general image quality, size, taking good high ISO pictures, image stabilization and AA batteries for ease of replacement battery in a pinch.

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If you're talking about the A710, I have a question. I read some reviews online that say this camera takes a long time to recharge the flash in between shots which is very irritating when you're using it. Have you or anyone else seen this?

I'm basically down to either the A710 or the S3IS. Both Canon Powershots. I am leaning slightly towards the A710 cause it is a little smaller but I'm concerned about the issue I mentioned. Any opinions would be helpful.

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Sorry, bump my own question. Still wondering about this.

[Blarg]

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"The "kit" lens, or lens that comes bundled with a DSLR body, is pretty universally held to be poor, with the canons. As in, dump it and get another. The most popular kit lens with Nikons now is an 18-55mm that is variously described as not special and as a bargain for the very low price. It's held in higher regard than the canon kit lens"

Wouldnt it be better to just buy the body only and a different lens?


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With the Nikon, that's what a lot of people are doing and recommending. Two lenses that are more pricey but cover more range and are quite popular are the 18-135 mm and the 18-200 mm VR(vibration reduction). The latter is hugely popular and probably the best walk-around lens made for digital SLR's at present.

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Right now, a large amount of life is dedicated to sitting in cafes watching women walk by. I am interested in photographing women as they pass by.

I am also interested in travel photography. Generally, I find the most interesting pictures to involve people. For instance, a school girl leaning on a stop sign A+, a Chef stir-frying some Pad Thai A+, an old man selling cigerettes A+.

It seems that photographs of children always come out very well when they are taken close-up.

I am also interested in photographing women in a model setting.

What lens do you recommend.

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If you want to do street scenes, you want a lens wide enough to capture them and/or include other interesting street details. There are a lot of lenses out there, zooms and primes, that can do this. The really wide ones are also great for landscapes. Either Nikon or Canon can do you fine on that.

For close ups on faces, you are probably going to want to stay away from wide angles, as they can distort faces and bring out prominent features like noses. Telephotos can help features look more natural/flatter.

You also have to decide how many lenses you want to carry around and how heavy/bulky they can be. And you have to decide how often you want to change lenses -- something that can worry some people, re: getting dust on the sensor. For someone just learning a camera, you will probably want to experiment with everything from wide angle to telephoto, so a zoom lens might be your best bet. And then you can add primes later at the lengths you tend to shoot most(zooms for sports, wild animals, wide angles for street scenes/landscapes and architecture, etc.) And then you can decide how much of a premium you're willing to pay for a better lens of this or that type when, say, it works better in low light or has better bokeh or resolution.

With your kind of balla cash, I'd think about a 18-200 VR lens if going Nikon, with a D80 or D200 body. Canon guys will be able to tell you about Canon body/lenses.

Both firms make very capable cameras, so don't feel too swayed by over-earnest fans of either system.

Consider reading up on flash systems if you want to do studio models.

[Specialist]

I got a new point and shoot a few months ago for travelling (Canon SD600). Even though it's one of the smaller cameras, carrying it around everywhere was a hassle sometimes. You'd probably be more likely to take random photos with a p&s than if you had a big camera with full manual controls carried in a big case. If you really want to learn photography, slr is probably the way to go. If you want to be able to take goofy pictures of you and your friends anytime anywhere, then I suggest p&s. Judging by the boards at dpreview and dpresource, it seems people have both p&s and slr cameras to cover all the situations.

[Blarg]

Yup, that's a perfectly good idea.

[Osprey]

I agree with the recs for a walk around lens- the 18-200 VR is very good and very versatile. Just wanted ot add that if you are going to really shoot women in a "model type" environment, I would get a portrait lens as well, normally a fast, somewhat long lens- the bargain example of this is the 50mm f1.8 which is very sharp, followed by 50mm 1.4-faster, bigger and more expensive, then going up to 85mm 1.8 or 85mm 1.4. But a $100 50mm 1.8 will do very well on a crop body, like a Nikon. If you spring for a "full frame" Canon 5d or 1n, get an 85mm or longer lens.
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"The "kit" lens, or lens that comes bundled with a DSLR body, is pretty universally held to be poor, with the canons. As in, dump it and get another. The most popular kit lens with Nikons now is an 18-55mm that is variously described as not special and as a bargain for the very low price. It's held in higher regard than the canon kit lens"

Wouldnt it be better to just buy the body only and a different lens?

Right now, a large amount of life is dedicated to sitting in cafes watching women walk by. I am interested in photographing women as they pass by.

I am also interested in travel photography. Generally, I find the most interesting pictures to involve people. For instance, a school girl leaning on a stop sign A+, a Chef stir-frying some Pad Thai A+, an old man selling cigerettes A+.

It seems that photographs of children always come out very well when they are taken close-up.

I am also interested in photographing women in a model setting.

What lens do you recommend.

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[TheNoodleMan]

FYI: The Cannon digital rebel XTi that has been mentioned several times in this thread is available in the stars store. link

[fish2plus2]

What is the semi-pro, pro standard for point and shoot camera?

[Osprey]

[fish2plus2]

anything less than $4800. more like $350-400. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]