calling all photographers

[Littlepeahead]

I love Canon and the EOS range can be used as a point and shoot to make it easy, as you gradually learn what the different settings mean before getting more adventurous.

Regardless of what you buy, remember to spend just a few quid on a clear filter for each lens as that way you only scratch the filter which is much cheaper to replace.

Always remember to switch the camera off when you change lenses. It's easy to forget when you are new to camera with chamgeable lenses but the static just loads your sensor up with dust and it's a pain getting it cleaned.

And HAGGLE after Christmas. If you are spending £400 then see if they will give you a 4 or 8 gig card for the price of a cheaper one, or the filters, or a spare battery, or a big discount on a bag. Point out you could probably get things cheaper on line but you have the cash now. It pays to be cheeky, even in Jessops.

Here's what my local camera shop are offering:

http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewPro...&%2018-55%20IS

i think i got a good deal online for mine but i did see and handle the camera first off in Curry's, the lense advise is good in the above posts, jessops are very helpful and even fitted the lense to the camera body and let me have a play in the shop

Jenn has been reading this and has added it to her own research

It seems the main contenders are:-

nikon D3000

or the

cannon EOS1000


Is there much between them?

Originally Posted by Littlepeahead

I love Canon and the EOS range can be used as a point and shoot to make it easy, as you gradually learn what the different settings mean before getting more adventurous.

Regardless of what you buy, remember to spend just a few quid on a clear filter for each lens as that way you only scratch the filter which is much cheaper to replace.

Always remember to switch the camera off when you change lenses. It's easy to forget when you are new to camera with chamgeable lenses but the static just loads your sensor up with dust and it's a pain getting it cleaned.

And HAGGLE after Christmas. If you are spending £400 then see if they will give you a 4 or 8 gig card for the price of a cheaper one, or the filters, or a spare battery, or a big discount on a bag. Point out you could probably get things cheaper on line but you have the cash now. It pays to be cheeky, even in Jessops.

Here's what my local camera shop are offering:

http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewPro...&%2018-55%20IS

That is very bad advice. Why would you put a cheap filter in front of a lens? All it will do is reduce image quality and increase the chance of vignetting (dark corners). I personally just attach the lens hood to protect the lens from knocks as well as improve contrast. Never have and never will use a clear filter which can often attract reflections of light as well as affect contrast. I only attach good quality circular polarizer filters when need be or ND filters. If you feel you must use a clear filter look at the slim type from the respectable brands but in all honesty you wont need them. However if you KNOW you will be taking pics somewhere where your lens will be covered in crap then thats a different matter i guess.
I do advice spending a few quid on a good lens pen instead and not to use a cloth to clean lenses

Originally Posted by TC3

Never have and never will use a clear filter which can often attract reflections of light as well as affect contrast.

Any flat surface you place in front of the lens will cause light to reflect back and forth between the sensor and that surface, which will cause these effects (ghosting, mirroring and contrast degradation). With film, sometimes using a clear UV protection filter would actually improve contrast and colour, but since digital sensors already have UV protection built-in there is no need for that anymore.

This is even more problematic in any situation where you have light sources in your frame, like lamps in night street shooting, and especially if you're using (cheap) uncoated filters, where your light sources will appear mirrored on the opposite side of the photo. To make matters worse, it's not a vertical symmetry line, it's a diagonal one, so any lamps that are on the bottom half of the picture will appear as UFOs in the middle of the sky on the other side.

This said, I tend to use decent clear filters when I'm shooting at the beach to try and stop salty water spray from reaching the lens front element... even with all the care in the world, the spray will always get there.

[Littlepeahead]

When I said a 'cheap' filter I mean in comparison to the cost of replacing the lens (L series Canon lenses in my case), not cheap as in low quality filter. I'm often sat on the ground at the edge of a cricket pitch where dust is a problem, even with a lens hood.

My colleagues occasionally borrow the camera and the one thing I've noticed it that because they are used to their compacts, where you switch off the power and the lens slides back and is protected, they often forget to put my lens covers back on, so the filter helps there too.

Originally Posted by Littlepeahead

When I said a 'cheap' filter I mean in comparison to the cost of replacing the lens (L series Canon lenses in my case), not cheap as in low quality filter. I'm often sat on the ground at the edge of a cricket pitch where dust is a problem, even with a lens hood.

L series... okay, even a multicoated Tiffen will be cheaper to replace than that.