Advise needed

[jasongcp]

another issue about digital photography is the need of post-processing skill.. Are you ready for that? Like the famous saying. "When you fully pressed the shutter button, real work just began!" I find it so true.. now despite I'm armed with a dslr, I still very cautious over being trigger happy.. if not go home open CF then not happy liao...

 

[syncer]

another issue about digital photography is the need of post-processing skill.. Are you ready for that? Like the famous saying. "When you fully pressed the shutter button, real work just began!" I find it so true.. now despite I'm armed with a dslr, I still very cautious over being trigger happy.. if not go home open CF then not happy liao...

Yeah. I guess i'm ready for that. Having been in the web designing biz for sometime, I reckon i would be able to get the hang of it quite soon.

Jason, need a help from you. I'm simply awed by the mass range of DSLR available, particularly Canon and Nikon's. Can you sort of categorised the different models into different catagory? Thanks!

Cheers,
Clement

 

[wahgongzai]

I am from print-base design background. Only recently I decided to recap back about photogarphy (only remember some basic manual SLR knowledge from the school days).

I decided to experiment with a prosumer first (dimage A1), than from there consider should i invest in a DSLR package as it is expensive...

Most of my photographer friends own Canon DSLR (note all of them are canon died hard fans )

So my choice
Manual vintage: Nikon FE or FE2
DSLR: Canon 350 (or Rebel X or Digital Kiss)

Do check out the reviews from http://www.dpreview.com/

I dip in dpreview for weeks before i decided to buy dimage A1...

 

[syncer]

350D... Hmm... after reading up quite abit, I'm considering the 20D as well...

 

[student]

First I will admit that I know nuts about pricing of digital cameras. And I will not talk about which camera because I think that all have their pluses and minuses.

I do not know the mindset of many here who had given advise.

Taking your financial consideration, your interest, and photography knowhow, I will advise a basic camera body, whether new or second hand, and one lens. Here I would compromise and suggest the kit lens. And if you are interested in landscape, get a tripod that can support the set up because landscape photography usually needs longer exposures. A storage card, and that's it. Oh, if you do not have access to an airconditioned office, a dry box is necessary.

I will not bother with any other lenses for the time being. And I will not bother with flash.

 

[syncer]

Hey student,

I kinda agree with you. That's my plan too. And only to decide which camera body to get is giving me headaches already. How i wish i can get all! Or one camera that has all the pros and no cons... One Camera to rule us all.. LOL

The most i'll probably go is to sell the kit lens if it's of too 'koyat' quality and get a slightly better one.

 

[student]

Hey student,

I kinda agree with you. That's my plan too. And only to decide which camera body to get is giving me headaches already. How i wish i can get all! Or one camera that has all the pros and no cons... One Camera to rule us all.. LOL

The most i'll probably go is to sell the kit lens if it's of too 'koyat' quality and get a slightly better one.

Your headache comes because you received too many advices, and much of them do have some merit.

It is foolish to say that equipment does not matter. Of course it does! But we have to put everything into context, the main one is your financial consideration. Lesser considerations are the types of imagery you are interested in, and the level of your "expertise" at this moment of time.

But these considerations will change. Your financial standing will change. Your taste will change. Your knowledge will change. You will find your place and know what you want. When you reach there, you will be in a much better position to determine what you need, and what you can afford.

But for the time being, any basic camera will be good enough for a few years. Remember too that digital equipments do have a shorter lifespan than film cameras. Some of my film cameas are more than 20 years old!

I can honestly tell you that I have only one lens with my oympus E1. Yes, that is one better lens than the kit lens. But I can afford the better lens. But still one lens. With this lens alone, I can take 90% of the kind of photographs I want to take. I cannot take extreme macro. I cannot take wildlife. But I can pictures of people, from environment type to tight portraits. I can take landscape. I can take streets. There are things I cannot take because of limitation of the equipment. But then I turn my attention elsewhere, and find things to photograph.

 

[syncer]

Very true!

I'm having a headache becuz of the amount of feedbacks the gd people here gavfe. I sincerely appreciate the suggestions/recommendations given by the pros, i must say!

student, you seems to be one of the pros as well. Care to intro me to a few models that i shd narrow down on?

My current candidates are :

1. Canon 350D
2. Canon 400D
3. Canon 20D [is it too gd for a beginner?]
4. Nikon D70(s) [is it too gd for a beginner?]

 

[ExplorerZ]

Very true!

I'm having a headache becuz of the amount of feedbacks the gd people here gavfe. I sincerely appreciate the suggestions/recommendations given by the pros, i must say!

student, you seems to be one of the pros as well. Care to intro me to a few models that i shd narrow down on?

My current candidates are :

1. Canon 350D
2. Canon 400D
3. Canon 20D [is it too gd for a beginner?]
4. Nikon D70(s) [is it too gd for a beginner?]

imho, all dSLR are good enough for beginner. and yes, kit lens is capable of producing good photo if you know how to use it. :thumbsup:

as for choice of those 4 camera, it depends on how you weight the con and pro among the cameras.

 

[student]

Very true!

I'm having a headache becuz of the amount of feedbacks the gd people here gavfe. I sincerely appreciate the suggestions/recommendations given by the pros, i must say!

student, you seems to be one of the pros as well. Care to intro me to a few models that i shd narrow down on?

My current candidates are :

1. Canon 350D
2. Canon 400D
3. Canon 20D [is it too gd for a beginner?]
4. Nikon D70(s) [is it too gd for a beginner?]

Haha!

I have to disappoint you! I am just an amateur like you. Maybe with a little more experience.

I wish I can, but really I cannot give you specific advice on the cameras you listed above. All of them are fine. I do not believe that there is such a thing as "too good for a beginner". A "better" camera usually have better features than the "not so good" ones.

Just get one that fits your budget. And then go make some pictures! When you are more experienced and have more money to spend, you will know what to get, believe me. Do not get into the trap of wanting to "cover" all eventualities.

 

[syncer]

Haha... Ok den.

Hmm... so what dslr are you using now?

 

[jasongcp]

dude you overestimate my capability. I know nuts about nikon although it was my first love. I fell to the dark side and onto the barrel of a CANON. However I can share with you my story and my plan in my photography path.

I started out a very pure hobby, gotten a Sony DSC H5. However my interest turns in serious hobby and finally evolved into an addiction. So as expected I outgrown my H5 when I started to feel fustrated about the inflexibility of a fixed lens. So I arrived at where you are now. Pondering what brand to go for, which series?? Consumer?? Pro series??

So I decided to calm myself down and do a serious consideration, asked myself the questions below:
1) Am I ready to jump to DSLR? (Obviously the cost of ownership is the factor I'm worrying about)
2) Am I up to it? (From a total noob to a prosumer and all these within 6months, now I'm consider a DSLR... really doubting my skill level)
3) Am I responsible for a DSLR? (DSLR is no pns on a simple difference, it can be opened up and lens changed, this will imply dust, humid, unknown substance get into the body and mess up the sensor and mirror.... All shot session must follow by a proper cleaning session)
4) What I intend to do with this addiction? (Am I going to be a part time shooter? P mode all the way or am I going to push myself... every rest day regardless of rain or shine I make this promise to venture out with my dslr and start challenging myself)
5) What I forecast myself doing in 5 years time? (I may give up hobby or may join as pro or may just continue as a part time serious hobby)
6) Last but most importantly, how much do I have in that piggy bank in order to get a decent and proper setup?

So I kinda of realised I am ready and did 2 weeks of intensive research and finally decided I have more friends with Canon (this means my venture into dslr wouldn't be too expensive and I can borrow lens from them to test out) So I decided to go for a decent 350D (Saw many great pictures by fellow cs members to convince me that it is the person behind the device not the other way round. So I finally plunge into this expensive hobby.. Now starting to feel BBB virus all over me... My "WishList" can go 4 A4 pages

But most importantly I seriously think, if you commit to dslr, you must have great patience and great determination to walk this path (that is if you want to be a above average photographer) A few times I feel like lazing in bed instead of carry a total load of nearly 8kg and venture outdoor just to shoot

If you are interested can visit my blog to find out the detail of my story

 

[syncer]

hey jason! Wow! That's a impressive history. I wouldn't dare to share my piece of story as it's just so dull yet. Maybe, only maybe, 12 months down the road, another noob pop by and I'd be ready to share my story then. Haha.

Anyways, thanks for all the advice. Most important question now... Any website to check the latest brand new DSLR pricing? Local ones please..

 

[jasongcp]

hey jason! Wow! That's a impressive history. I wouldn't dare to share my piece of story as it's just so dull yet. Maybe, only maybe, 12 months down the road, another noob pop by and I'd be ready to share my story then. Haha.

Anyways, thanks for all the advice. Most important question now... Any website to check the latest brand new DSLR pricing? Local ones please..

for canon you can visit the sub thread in Clubsnap Canon... it gives you pretty good gauge of the pricing, however usually I don't go for the cheapest. I sometimes do illogical thing like going for better service... Like for Alan Photo... I actually have 4 lenses on the counter and basically playing with them before I finally settle for my sigma.. I am very impressed with their service and so they naturally got most of my biz ;p

 

[syncer]

Ok, so best customer service would be alan photo... the one at SLS?

How about the shop with generally the best pricing? There's this guy "The Oracle" in the BnS section, no offence, but is he reliable?

 

[jasongcp]

Ok, so best customer service would be alan photo... the one at SLS?

How about the shop with generally the best pricing? There's this guy "The Oracle" in the BnS section, no offence, but is he reliable?

well one man's meat is another man's poison. Do your own walk around.. I walked into Alan photo with no particular "want to buy" in mind but ended up parting $600++ of my hardearn $$ :sweat: The Oracle I never tried him/her yet but apparently he/she is quite popular. Don't be afraid to ask... you are obliged to do that however don't take for granted that good advices are given without strings attached.

I do a couple of research based on Clubsnap and www.dpreview.com

 

[jasongcp]

I personally find that by reading the critique pages very beneficial for my inspiration and techniques.. but since photography is a form of visual art.. try not to copy how the shot is done... try to think how you would yourself frame the shot and do your angle... sometimes it works for me and sometimes it just rubbish and straight from my CF to my rubbish bin icon... but that's precious learning process.

 

[student]

Haha... Ok den.

Hmm... so what dslr are you using now?

I use an Olympus E1 with a 14-54 lens.

I also use many other equipments - too many! Different equipment for different purposes.

jasoncgp talked about nearly 8 kg of equipment. Sometimes my trekking photo-gear goes to 20 kg without taking into account a very sturdy tripod.

There is always a role for any equipment and add ons. You will find out later what you will really need in future.

But for the tiime being, keep it simple.

 

[syncer]

Alright guys... Am doing lots of reading up now... Let's hope i can convince myself to get one before Xmas!