Non-dSLR user Considering a switch. Any pointers on what to get?

[ombre]

Hi again gymak90,

Thanks again.

Actually I made some errors in my consideration.

1) No flash for me. Not yet at least. I've heard much about the wonders of a good flash user's pictures. But my main consideration for a dSLR was the lens speed for low light condition, in which almost all of them, I am not allowed to use flash. Stage works or even classes, its just plain distracting, a little rude. And if I could use flash, my prosumer would do satisfactory stuff for me, my taste for IQ isn't that extreme yet.

2) I totally forgot to consider IS. Will i get IS with the Canon lens and body?

Yes again I do want the high ISO low noise capability. Seems like I'm back to deciding on a 450D again. Anyway I don't plan to buy it THAT soon. Not at least until next March, so maybe the price will dip a little for me by then. I'm hoping at least.

I just went down to Best to play around with their display sets, and oh my gosh, I feel like a noob. I figured wheres the zoom, but where on earth is the aperture and focus ring? I was trying to twist and turn things everywhere to no avail. Bleagh. Anyone know a website for dummy dSLR users?

Thanks again!

 

[ngck12]

Canon and nikon only got IS in their lenses, not bodies, while pentax, sony, olympus offer IS in their body.

take a look at 350d's ISO 1600, picture soft due to handshake, but main focus is noise.
acceptable noise? you decide.

Entry lvl cameras have shutter life of about 50k, usually if u get it 2nd hand, it would prolly be about 6-15k, which means the shutter still have about 35k clicks before it dies. In this 35k you would prolly use about 10k of it before you upgrade and perhaps the cam depreciated to 50 dollars lower the time u sell. $50 for 10k clicks + experience + some keeper shots, worth it? you decide.

Also, a basic flash would prolly be a 430ex, should be sufficient for normal usage

For adjusting of aperture, turn to AV mode and adjust accordingly. Focussing? adjust from the lens itself? switch to MF, then continue with your focussing.

Actually the best combo if you got more cash(maybe go work), would be
1. 350d, or a 20d
2. tamron 17-50 f2.8
3. 70-200f4L
4. 430ex
total about 2k

and i dont see any need to upgrade for quite some time, prolly few years.

 

[ombre]

Canon and nikon only got IS in their lenses, not bodies, while pentax, sony, olympus offer IS in their body.

take a look at 350d's ISO 1600, picture soft due to handshake, but main focus is noise.
acceptable noise? you decide.

Entry lvl cameras have shutter life of about 50k, usually if u get it 2nd hand, it would prolly be about 6-15k, which means the shutter still have about 35k clicks before it dies. In this 35k you would prolly use about 10k of it before you upgrade and perhaps the cam depreciated to 50 dollars lower the time u sell. $50 for 10k clicks + experience + some keeper shots, worth it? you decide.

Also, a basic flash would prolly be a 430ex, should be sufficient for normal usage

For adjusting of aperture, turn to AV mode and adjust accordingly. Focussing? adjust from the lens itself? switch to MF, then continue with your focussing.

Actually the best combo if you got more cash(maybe go work), would be
1. 350d, or a 20d
2. tamron 17-50 f2.8
3. 70-200f4L
4. 430ex
total about 2k

and i dont see any need to upgrade for quite some time, prolly few years.

Picture looks great for ISO 1600 actually. Noise is acceptable for 1600, can still afford a little photoshopping. I get this kinda noise between ISO 200 and 400... Thanks for the samples!

Is the Yashica F2 50mm any good? I saw some people selling and the average price is usually 90-100 only. I think the extra 0.2 F stops won't be worth 80 dollars to me.

Is there going to be a difference with IS in lens vs in body?

Actually all this talk about Pentax might take me to look at their equivalent models, but before I do, roughly how much is a Pentax equivalent cheaper to Canon?

Anyway I read somewhere that shutterlife of cameras are about 21k? its a website with survey inputs of the actual users themselves.

 

[tc-95]

Ombre,

D40 is actually a good camera and you can pick up a used on for around $300.00...atleast here in Houston...If you go with the camera you have to purchase AF-S lenses from Nikon or something similar in Sigma and Tamron, Tokina does not have any non motor driven lenses...now any Nikon F mount lens will work with the camera just in Manual focus mode...

I would do two things first find out what your area has in the way of used lenses, and then find a body that you can live with....and just because it is several years old does not mean that it is bad...I still use a Nikon D100 and Sigma SD10 which are about 5+ years old...they are slower than the newer camera's but have their own unique features....I would personally spend no more than $300 to $400 on the body and then another $400 to $500 on used lenses and the final $300 to $100 on memory cards, a bag, and decent Tripod...not a $25.00 one....but do not forget that the camera and lens are only 75% of it ... you need to have some decent software to manipulate the pictures with.....so what I am trying to tell you, your budget of $1000.00 will probably turn into $1500 to $2000 easy...but take your time...buy a good used body and maybe one or two prime lens...and enjoy...

Hope this helps a little bit.

Tony C.

 

[gymak90]

Picture looks great for ISO 1600 actually. Noise is acceptable for 1600, can still afford a little photoshopping. I get this kinda noise between ISO 200 and 400... Thanks for the samples!

Is the Yashica F2 50mm any good? I saw some people selling and the average price is usually 90-100 only. I think the extra 0.2 F stops won't be worth 80 dollars to me.

Is there going to be a difference with IS in lens vs in body?

Actually all this talk about Pentax might take me to look at their equivalent models, but before I do, roughly how much is a Pentax equivalent cheaper to Canon?

Anyway I read somewhere that shutterlife of cameras are about 21k? its a website with survey inputs of the actual users themselves.

How acceptable noise is, also depends on how larger you want the photo to be. If ngck12 posts that shot in a larger size, noise will be more obvious.

I have not heard of the Yashica lens. Have never seen anyone using Yashica lens. So no comments.

Prices of pentax, should be somewhere close. Go research more.

To be more accurate, it is IS in the sensor. There is a difference. With IS in lens, you see the stabilising effect when looking thru the viewfinder. If IS is in sensor, then you don't see it. There are so debates on how IS in lens affects image quality etc. How IS in sensor gives stabilisation effect to all lenses, cheap or expensive. But some say IS in sensor means the capability of the stabilisation cannot be changed unless you upgrade body. IS in lenses on the other hand, has always been improving...

As always, read more, learn more

 

[ngck12]

Dont forget u have to get adaptors like CY to EOS if you wanna use it on EOS bodies.
Im a canon user but i think pentax produce better colour rendering and more bang for bucks. U might wanna take a look at their new Km body and DA-L lenses.

 

[felixcat8888]

Pentax has announced their new entry level DSLR called the K-m. Look at the Pentax thread if you would like to know more about the camera.

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=417920

 

[Simon_84]

To Simon_84,

I may not know much but this is not what I hear; Over at the Nikon thread, D90 was being compared with D300 in terms of ISO performance, it was a pretty tough one. Are you sure the new D90 has bad ISO performance?

go over to dcresource.com and have a look to decide is the noise performance acceptable to you.
the safe bet is to cap the iso for d90 at 800.

 

[aaxiz]

Saw a lot of replies mentioning 50mm F1.4 , as a new DSLR switcher also, I'm having difficulty getting good night shots with my A300 Kit Lens. WOuld this be able to solve my problem? Btw, I'm also using built-In flash, will getting a new flash be good? If so, how much am I looking at?

Thanks!

 

[ngck12]

what do you shoot at night? i suppose you are shooting landscape?
Get a tripod and play with long shutter speed. Set aperture priority say f8-11, the camera will determine shutter speed for you. Large aperture usually results in soft picture, unless you want that, go ahead and explore.

 

[aaxiz]

Bascially, I'm trying to capture shots in basketball court near my house and surrounding, trying to play around and catching pictures of a concept "normal routine night" in a HDB neighbourhood...

 

[zac08]

Bascially, I'm trying to capture shots in basketball court near my house and surrounding, trying to play around and catching pictures of a concept "normal routine night" in a HDB neighbourhood...

a 50mm f1.8 would suffice.

ISO800, 1/30 at f1.8 would probably get you the shots you need. But then again, it depends on the scene's lighting also.

 

[ombre]

a 50mm f1.8 would suffice.

ISO800, 1/30 at f1.8 would probably get you the shots you need. But then again, it depends on the scene's lighting also.

At 1/30 he might not catch the basketballers and other moving people I bet. There will be significant motion blur.

But are you sure at ISO800, F1.8 he can only shoot at 1/30? I've not much experience, but with my prosumer, my night shots are about F2.8, ISO800 at about 1/20 I can capture night streets, like roads etc, I'm under the impression it could be much faster.

 

[ombre]

Hey guys, just wondering, whats a 10D? and versus a 350D? 10D is listed under semi-pro and it seems really cheap and comparable to 350D? What am I not seeing?

Thanks and Cheers!

 

[zac08]

At 1/30 he might not catch the basketballers and other moving people I bet. There will be significant motion blur.

But are you sure at ISO800, F1.8 he can only shoot at 1/30? I've not much experience, but with my prosumer, my night shots are about F2.8, ISO800 at about 1/20 I can capture night streets, like roads etc, I'm under the impression it could be much faster.

As I mentioned.. it depends on the scene. :dunno:

I normally shoot at night with approx that setting and those scenes are only lit with street lamps... If there are additional lights, of course you can increase the shutter speed. But seriously, you won't be able to capture much of the action at night...

 

[ombre]

As I mentioned.. it depends on the scene. :dunno:

I normally shoot at night with approx that setting and those scenes are only lit with street lamps... If there are additional lights, of course you can increase the shutter speed. But seriously, you won't be able to capture much of the action at night...

Yea... its a pity.

By the way, are there such things as night vision for cameras? I read a few articles, but they're all not very specific, but it seems possible to mod one.

 

[zac08]

Yea... its a pity.

By the way, are there such things as night vision for cameras? I read a few articles, but they're all not very specific, but it seems possible to mod one.

It's all dependent on the sensor, so unless there are special amplifications done like on NVGs, you're not likely to capture anything decent.

 

[ombre]

It's all dependent on the sensor, so unless there are special amplifications done like on NVGs, you're not likely to capture anything decent.

Okay thanks. Doubt its good for photography anyway.


Thanks to all too! I learnt lots from you guys. I'll come back again when I have more questions! ^^

 

[lsisaxon]

For a budget of <<< $1000, it's unlikely you can buy anything more than a 2nd hand camera body with its kit lens. So don't expect bokeh like you'd get on a 50mm f1.8 lens, let alone surpassing it.

This lens should cost more than the budget. ;p

 

[SleepingIdol]

How about considering Oly - E3.
Get your self 14-54mm lens and you can get this...

or this, shot with ISO 1600..

Cheers...!