DSLR Camera questions.
 

Ive been using a "bridge" cam in the Panasonic FZ7 for the last couple of years but im now thinking about whether to get a DSLR. The only issue is that I have enjoyed the versatile lens on the FZ7 which effectively stretches to over 400mm. It appears that Nikon or Canon are the photographers choice but which model? It would have to be entry level (couldnt afford 4 figures including lens) and same goes for lenses.

My cam is great for a lot of stuff but I get frustrated with it when trying to catch low light situations. The noise on anything above 200 ISO means its not worth going up higher

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

I'm a Canon girl- 400d. And I LOVE it!!!

I started playing with it at low light the other day....and it was fantastic. Really really impressed. I have a 70-210mm and a 70-300mm as well as the 18-55mm that came with it. It's a fantastic entry level camera. I use the 300mm trackside. I can show you some examples of pics if you want.

I've compared the quality of the pictures that come from this one to the Nikon- and my friend preferred the colour that came with the Canon.

However, I have a lot of friends who do prefer the Nikon.

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Im waiting for the upgrade to the D80, Ive got an FZ8 and dont really like it tbh, but want to wait till the new Nikon D90 comes out though.

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Play with them is the best bet. The 400d is too small for my money, to hold.

Where the 40d is more user holdable ;)

All much of a muchness imo - quality is comparable with all similar models.

Try em for size is the best bet.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

trickywoos how much did those lenses cost you? 3 lenses must have been a fortune?

Stewie, I think the FZ8 is basically the same as mine, but higher MP. I always weigh up whether its my technique that fails to create the images, or whether its the camera, which questions whether I need to step up to a DSLR.

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Ive never had a bridge camera before and feels too plasticky and lightweight for me tbh, although the results are ok, from what Ive read as well the FZ7 was a better camera than the FZ8 apparently, Panasonic didnt do enough to make it a worthwhile upgrade it seems, Ive always had SLR,s and miss the size and bulk of an SLR
Check this out though, may help http://www.dpreview.com/ although tbh you,ve probably already seen this site before.

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Not at all- the 18-55 came with the camera, the 70-210 was one from my old SLR, and the 70-300mm is £70 off fleabay! (Canon make- F4-5.6)

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Ah, I am female, small hands.
Although my dad gets on with it fine- he put the extra battery grip on tho.

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www.warehouseexpress.com were good for deals when we were searching, although try Amazon as they have great deals at the moment.

London Camera Exchange have been good too, great for advice, and you can go in and try any assortment of camera out. Although branches mainly in south of UK.... http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

+1 for the Canon. I've got a fairly elderly 20D that can go to ISO3200 for flash-free photos in very low light. Combine this with an image stabilised lens and you can take cracking print-quality photos that can be blown up to A2. Have a look on ebay for the older models such as the 20D/30D, I bet they are going quite cheap now.

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Stewie, the main problem I think is the image sensor. Its 1/2.5 and that didnt change with the FZ8, obviously the technology wasnt there or it couldnt be produced for their price point.

Im actually after a cokin P series kit at the moment because I want some ND Grad filters but not sure whether to get ND2 ND4 or ND8?

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You can get the Cannon 450D or the Nikon D40x with twin lens kits for about £650. Mother are good cameras. However, Sony's Alpha 350 at 14.1mp is a good buy at the moment. Again searching around you can get a twin lens kit for about the same money.

However, as said above, there are newer models coming out from Nikon soon.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Nikon D80 was definitely worth it, I upgraded from my D70 a while back when it stopped working after being out in all weathers including snow. Sent the D70 to Nikon for a quote to fix it and they sent it back all fixed free of charge, 2 years out of guarantee period.... With that service I'll be sticking with Nikon.

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+1 Canon, Have a 400 and love the thing. Came back from my holidays in Namibia and was blown away by the detail in the pics i took (only had the wee screen when i was there) using a 70-300mm lens with a couple of filters.

Battery life is excellent,
colors are phenomenal,
its simple to use but has all the detail settings for when you get more confident,
its (relatively) cheap and easy to get eos lenses.

at the end of the day it all comes down to experience and practice as a good photographer will prove with a average camera.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

+1 for the cannon D400, i use it at the TT and scarborough with a 55-250 lens on and its usually enough, need 300+ for most of the bigger circuits, then youve got the damn fences,

EOS 400 can be picked up pretty cheaplyt now that the 450is out, its the lenses that will cost you though , personally i think once you get to a certain level with the body its the glass that will make the biggest difference, and knowing how to get the best out of it

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-D60-Digital-SLR-Camera/dp/B00131Z1GS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221579038&sr =1-5

How good is this for the monies?

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

The best site on the net for digital camera info and reviews is www.dpreview.com

Either a Canon or a Nikon should be fine for you, though I wouldn't discount the new Sony's either. I've heard that the Nikons have slightly better build quality than the Canons, though the Nikon D40 felt a bit lightweight to me.

The quality of the lens is more important than the number of megapixels, so it might even make sense to buy a used camera body off Ebay and put the money saved towards some decent glass for it.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

I have a Nikon D40 and I love it. Very easy to use and the photo's are brilliant. For £250 odd quid you can't go wrong.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Maybe the 450, but I would be surprised if you paid that much on a D40x, maybe a D60.

Indeed it is. However, I have never used a Sony, but since they are all actually Minolta things should be ok and well sorted with them.

Very good advice.

That is very good for the money. That is exactly the kit I bought (although £25 cheaper) and frankly I can't fault it. The camera is more than good enough for people starting out and learning to take photos with a DSLR. The only thing that you might want to buy afterwards is a telezoom lens, and there are plenty of those for a Nikon fit. For reference I saved up on the camera and then bought myself a 18-200 Nikon DX VR lens.

Use the side by side comparison and camera database in dpreview to get an idea of what is out there, excellent site.

An excellent piece of advice that. However, as a counter point I'd say that my D40 feels right and the 350/400d I've tried out just felt wrong and clunky.

Listen to him very carefully, that is good advice. The camera is actually going to turn out to be the cheaper item of buy after you add up buying new lenses. And you definitely will end up buying a new lenses.

And buy the biggest, fastest memory card you can afford for you camera that it can use. I've got a single 2GB one and that didn't quite last a single morning at the goodwood festival of speed.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

http://search.stores.ebay.co.uk/Glob...051580QQsofpZ0

Not sure how good they are... seller wise but DAMN they are cheap!

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Just a quick one- you were talking about low light....here's an example of an image that I took the other night without flash. It's not taken with a tripod though, so its not very clear. This is on my Canon 400d.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...s/IMG_7420.jpg

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I cant believe the cost of the damn lenses. Mental! :(

Can someone explain how all the mm things work for the lense's?

Think I might have to wait a bit before I can afford this sort of thing :(

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It doesn't have to- if you are just starting out, like I have been this year, the lens doesn't have to be the professional IS one. The 300mm I used at Donington is just £70;

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...IMG_6423-1.jpg

It depends what you want to do with it I guess!

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Hmmm, yes that sounds ok. :)

Might get a 400D since my mate has one so I know a bit about it. He can teach me the rest.

Might keep my eye on Ebay at that shop I linked earlier. :cool:

What sort of Zoom will a 200mm lense allow? is it 8x?

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Hey Rob a good secondhand 20D would be my choice.

not that i am biased LOL (thats what i have)

the other advantage over the 400D is the frames per second ie 5 pics per sec.

anyway if ya wanna chat cameras then pm me.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Thanks Mark, and thanks for the advice. Im definitely going to start looking about, but im picking a Cokin filter system up tomorrow. Will be able to use it with other cameras

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Right here is a quick primer based on my limited knowledge of camera lenses, I am sure a someone that has been taking photos for longer/know what they are talking about will come along and correct me.

First of forget the 8x, 7x or whatever multiplier factor of zooms you want to think about, it just not very applicable to a DSLR as you can just change the lens for one a different size to reach things further away.

All the measurements on a lens now days is measured in millimetres, mm from now on. The longer the lens the further away it can zoom at. Most DSLR kits will come with a 18-55mm lens. This means when the lens is fully open, at it smallest length, it is only 18mm long. And when it is fully zoomed in it is 55mm long. I use this lens for mostly scenery shots and taking photos of people at close range. Parties, panoramas, gatherings, basically the sort of thing you might be indoor or close to the subject you want to photograph.

Another typical lens size that comes in a kit is 55-200mm, this will be your far away lens dougal, or in photographic terms your telezoom lens. Used when you can't really get close to the subject matter. Be either a race event where you can't really go on track, or you want to take some detailed photo of a building of scenery that happens to be just a few hundred metres away. In regards to your question 200mm is a very good zoom lens, it will let you get close to almost everything you will ever want to photograph. Think of something I'd say about 100m away (more suggestions here people) and it will let you photograph that with fairly good detail.

The next thing you will see on lens is something like f 3.5-5.6, this is the aperture of a lens. Which in layman terms is the size of the hole of the lens. The most important thing to remember is that apertures are reciprocals. Basically the smaller the number, the bigger the hole. Two numbers are usually given on a normal zoom lens. The first number is the size of the aperture when the lens is at shortest zoom, i.e. fully open. The second number is the aperture when the lens is at full zoom. You will pay a premium lenses which have a very large aperture, a very small f number, due to the fact that they require a lot more glass of usually higher quality to make the lens. Large apertures mean you can take photos with less light, so night shots without flash & night sky photography start becoming more Soof a possibility.

So applying this quick primer to the canon twin lens kit, it comes with a 18-55mm f3.5-4.5 & a 55-200mm f4.5-5.6 lens. The first lens is a short range lens with an aperture of 3.5 at 18mm at 4.5 at 55mm. The second lens is a lot longer than the first, it has an aperture of 4.5 at 55mm and 5.6 at 200mm.

Quick rules:
- Lens length is measured in mm, the bigger the number the further away you can photograph
- Aperture is a reciprocal. The smaller the number, the bigger the hole, the more light it will let into the camera.
- Lens diameter is also measure in mm. This is the diameter of the lens where you attach filters and hoods.

There. Damn I should have written that to begin with...

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Ha ha cheers. I thought the mm thing worked like that, I was mostly wondering what the ranges were for a certain lense...

Cheers for the write up, very well written! Aparture makes sense now so nice one.

One question though. Does the f number automatically change as the length of the lense does (I.E. 100mm uses an f 0f say 4.5 and you cant change that, or can it be changed seperatly?)

So if you can get a lense that does 18-200mm it should in theory be better than having the two lense setup you mention?

Jeez. :p

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

The aperture/exposure is set by the camera when you take the picture (depending on settings) but the maximum aperture is usually different at different focal lengths of a zoom lens. The Canon kit lens has a max of f4.5 at 18mm and f5.6 at 55mm, iirc.

Not in practice as compromises are made in the design and all sorts of other aberations are introduced (vignetting, pincushioning etc) and see comments on aperture above.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

You can adjust the aperture of a lens through the camera. Most lenses will go down to f/16 or f/22.

Not necessarily better, just more convenient.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Folks please correct me if Im wrong with any of the below.


The bigger the aperture (Smaller the f number) the much shorter the depth of field.

18mm focal length will mean that the lens is capable of wide angle shots, over the standard 35mm

The compact I have has 12x Zoom or theoretically a range of 450mm. That gives you an idea of what 200mm is if you work in compact numbers for focal length.

For sports photography, large lenses and fast shutter times are required to stop the action. The bigger the lens, the easier it is to take shots as you dont have to be as close to the action and if you're panning on a bike, then from a further distance, its easier to control.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Correct, but remember that a long lens has "sees" much less light because of it's field of vision so you need a fast one if you want action photography in low-light (without bumping up the iso). Fast long lenses are very expensive compared to fast short lenses - check out the price of Canon L lenses if you wanna feel ill!!!

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Good post, but I'd reckon if you can afford a bigger lense than 200mm, get one. I have a 70-300mm lense and even then the photos I could take at Brands for example, were limited.

Although as you say, the f number is more important as you can have the longest lense in the world, if it's not good quality your pics will look carp anyway.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Out of interest, what do you mean by a 'fast' lense? One that'll focus quickly?

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

One that has a larger maximum aperture - f2.8 is "faster" than f4 so lets in more light for a given focal length

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:scratch: But that's just apature size as you say, that doesn't really make it any faster or slower. Is refering to the speed of a lense a widely used term to describe apature size?

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

I think he means that because it lets more light through the shutter can be faster?

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Correct.

As an example of how price increases with lens speed. Canon offer a f4.0 and an f2.8 70-200mm zoom. One is £600 and the other is £1150 rrp

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

Yes I knew that, it just seems like a rubbish term. It might allow faster shutter speeds, but it doesn't make anything about the lense its self faster.

It's like describing tarmac as 'faster' than gravel.

Re: DSLR Camera questions.
 

The depth of field (i.e. the amount in focus does depend on the aperture, the wider (smaller F number) the smaller the depth of field yes but this also changes depending on the focal length of the lens also. A wider angle lens (say 18mm end) at a certain aperture will have a larger DOF than a longer focal length (say 100mm) at the same given aperture.

Most DSLRs have a smaller sensor than a 35mm film frame and as such the angle of view from a lens is different than when used on a 35mm. Generally there is a multiplication factor of around 1.5x so an 18mm lens on a DSLR will give the same angle of view as 1.5 x 18 i.e. a 27mm on a 35mm camera. A 200mm lens on a DSLR will give the same angle of view as a 300mm on a 35mm camera.

For sports shots where you want to pan to give the impression of movement a slower shutter speed should be used or a fast moving vehicle will look like it's stood still.

Panning example below I took using A Nikon D70, sorry it's not a bike:
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...pix/Marcos.jpg