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DSLR Advice
JonPaulWild
15-01-2010
I'm totally virgin to photography. However, I love images and HDR images.

I love landscapes and weather photography and would love to take pictures of those kind of things.

I don't have £1000's to spend, and obviously need to be sensible with the money.

If I do choose the 450D ( I don't like to buy 2nd hand as I don't want the risk of damage). I have no desire to buy 3nd hand.

Would like advice on the following?
- What lens to get to do landscape images?
- What lens to get for weather photography?
- Is 450D suitable for HDR?
- Any good bags for this product?
- What filters?
- What lenses for fast moving things such as aircraft landing or waterfalls.
- Is it worth just getting the body only package, and save the few pounds instead of getting the standard lens with it?

I have no interest in macro photography, as well as night time photography.

The Sigma 10-22mm is advised for landscapes images, and I may go with that.

The filters is something that seems very interesting, but also very confusing to choose what could be best for the kind of stuff I'd like to shoot.
Oldhippy
15-01-2010
Welcome to the interesting,but often confusing world of DSLR photography.

Don't just fixate on one brand, try several in your hands to feel the balance and to lear where controls are for example.

The canon on/off switch is on the back of the camera. One Nikon it is under your index finger, so falls readily for fast shooting of wildlife or aircraft.

For landscape and interiors etc you will need a wide angle lens. Sigma do a 10 to 20mm lens. Tokina produce an 11-16mm F2.8 lens this means it has a bigger aperture opening to allow much more light in than your average wide angle, therefore lower ISO and therefore less noise on your image. The Tokina lens has a reputation for being very sharp (detailed) images.

Some lenses will have Vr(Nikon) or IS Canon, this is designed to reduce handshake in lower light (slower shutter speeds) while hand holding.

For landscape photography you will need to think about filters, some are designed to hold the brightness of the sky back giving detailed clouds and that rich blue sky and balancing it with the ground level, these are know as graduated filters and come rated in 1, 2 or 3 stops 3 being the darkest.

all cameras are suitable for HDR, you will need the software from Photomattix to do it properly, though you can sort of do HDR in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

Filter systems vary, you will need a holder and the ring adapter to fit the fornt thread of the lens you purchase, these vary lens to lens a certain amount.
Lee filters are the best and most expensive. I use at the moment, the Cokin P system. filters are between 13 and 20 pounds. A circular polariser is about 60-70. though I use a screw on Hoya Pro1 about 50 on Ebay etc..

A polariser, reduces or increases the reflections on cars or water, depending on how you rotate the element. They also increase contrast and colour saturation.

The beauty of having the slide in system means you can use two or more for interesting effects. Coloured or warm up (orange) to give that early morning or late afternoon sunlight...

You cn also get a 10stop filter, this will reduce the light entering your camera by about 10 Fstops want silky flowing waterfalls or reflective rivers? 30 sec exposure at mid day! Great for making public places look empty too....
A certain technique is required though..


Useful links.

http://www.cokin.co.uk/
www.flickr.com
www.ephotozine.com
http://www.parkcameras.com/
http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/

The Tokina lens. http://www.kenro.co.uk/product/TOKIN...F+11-16mm.html

This has lower light capabilities than the Sigma, but take a look at the reviews by Dom Bower on Youtube, infact he has some great tutorial videos too.

http://www.youtube.com/user/dombower?feature=chclk


try to do a one to one lesson with someone, rather than an evening class... Lear how your aperture affects your depth of field.
Almost forgot the bag...

Crumpler make some rather trendy and snazzy looking bags. But I love the quality and ease of use of the Lowe Pro bags. Try out the AW 100, 200 or 300 flip.

Morris Photography and park have both on their website...

A mate of mine has both the Tokina and Sigma lenses.. Loves them both...


Right this is where your budget will increase... don't forget lens cleaning fluid and buy four or five lens cloths at the time, if you drop one in the dirt, throw it away as you may scratch your lens.....
Change the cloth regardless every 6 to 8 weeks.. same reason..

Now for aircraft and wildlife you will need a lens with a longer focal length.

I started with a cheap 70-300mm lens, then got the Sigma 50-500mm now more than £1,100, the new 150-500mm has image stabiliser and is around £700..

I think that covers most of your points. If you have any questions or tips let me know. if you are in the Thames Valley then I may be able to help you more.....
gemma-the-husky
15-01-2010
and dont forget, its never greatly about the camera/lens, its about the images that the photographer visualizes and takes.

have to agree with oldhippy about the polarising filter. saturates the colours AND protects the lens. Well worth it.
FlatProblem
18-01-2010
Originally Posted by JonPaulWild:
“- Is 450D suitable for HDR?
- Any good bags for this product?”

I use a 450D for my HDRs and it works well, as long as you know how to use it.

I have a lowepro slingshot for all my kit, but also a crumpler (I think the model is "pretty boy L") for wandering around town (it looks just like a "man bag" rather than a camera bag), it allows for the camera and 2 lenses (1 attached to the camera) which is usually enough for wandering around.

Originally Posted by Oldhippy:
“all cameras are suitable for HDR, you will need the software from Photomattix to do it properly, though you can sort of do HDR in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.”

All DECENT cameras - you need to be able to save the pic in RAW format (don't want any jpeg compression messing up your pic), and need to take a few shots of the same thing at different exposures to get good results.
clonmult
19-01-2010
Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky:
“and dont forget, its never greatly about the camera/lens, its about the images that the photographer visualizes and takes.

have to agree with oldhippy about the polarising filter. saturates the colours AND protects the lens. Well worth it.”

Rarely a truer word spoken - creativity is part of the photographer, not the camera. I've seen plenty of stunning pictures taken on iPhones, Nokias, etc. that are truly fantastic. Heck, I've managed to take some on the old 3mp N73 that I still can't believe were either taken on a phone, or by me!

I keep putting off a polarising filter, not got a clue why.
Oldhippy
19-01-2010
Originally Posted by clonmult:
“Rarely a truer word spoken - creativity is part of the photographer, not the camera. I've seen plenty of stunning pictures taken on iPhones, Nokias, etc. that are truly fantastic. Heck, I've managed to take some on the old 3mp N73 that I still can't believe were either taken on a phone, or by me!

I keep putting off a polarising filter, not got a clue why.”

I agree, having the eye is very important, but it can also be learnt and will come in time.

I only got a polariser in the last couple of months. Though I had one for a previous camera in 2002 and never got round to getting one for my Nikon until now.

Grad filters play a bigger part in landscape photography..
clonmult
19-01-2010
Originally Posted by Oldhippy:
“I agree, having the eye is very important, but it can also be learnt and will come in time.

I only got a polariser in the last couple of months. Though I had one for a previous camera in 2002 and never got round to getting one for my Nikon until now.

Grad filters play a bigger part in landscape photography..”

my sisters taken some stunning shots with her camera (as well as on her mobile, which seems to have a polarising filter on it!), she's definitely got a better/more creative eye than I do. I mainly tend to get good pictures of the kids in humorous situations.

For some reason I picked up a star effect filter, which gives an utterly gorgeous effect, but I've only ever played with it, rarely been out at night to use it in anger
The Sack
19-01-2010
Originally Posted by JonPaulWild:
“- Is 450D suitable for HDR?”

HDR is shot with a minimum of 3 raw images all shot at different exposures and then combined with software to get the result you like, the camera is irrelevent.

As for the other points you brought up any DSLR will suit you TBH, they are all good so just go with the one you like the look and feel of.

Buy a UV filter to protect the front element on each lens, i see people have mentions using a polarising filter to do the job but using one will mean you will lose up to a couple of stops, only use one on a nice bright day (when it will be at its best anyway)

Avoid all cheap lenses of all brands, they are all crap and you will only end up buying dearer lenses anyway.
clonmult
20-01-2010
Originally Posted by The Sack:
“HDR is shot with a minimum of 3 raw images all shot at different exposures and then combined with software to get the result you like, the camera is irrelevent.

As for the other points you brought up any DSLR will suit you TBH, they are all good so just go with the one you like the look and feel of.

Buy a UV filter to protect the front element on each lens, i see people have mentions using a polarising filter to do the job but using one will mean you will lose up to a couple of stops, only use one on a nice bright day (when it will be at its best anyway)

Avoid all cheap lenses of all brands, they are all crap and you will only end up buying dearer lenses anyway.”

There's been a lot of discussion on UV filters as protection - I've got one on my DSLR lenses, but the consensus tends to be that the UV filter itself does absolutely nothing, as the DSLR sensors already block UV.

can't agree with the last point though - okay, my Sigma 70-300 isn't as good as something 2 or 3x the price, but its still got me some cracking macros shots, and some seriously useful longer range images. Not noticed any problems with picture quality with it. Nor the apparent issues that have been reported with stripped gears whilst being used on a Sony.
Oldhippy
20-01-2010
Originally Posted by clonmult:
“my sisters taken some stunning shots with her camera (as well as on her mobile, which seems to have a polarising filter on it!), she's definitely got a better/more creative eye than I do. I mainly tend to get good pictures of the kids in humorous situations.

For some reason I picked up a star effect filter, which gives an utterly gorgeous effect, but I've only ever played with it, rarely been out at night to use it in anger ”

These days you can fake the effect of nearly every filter. It will never be as good as using the real thing though.. it is to do with the frequency of lightwaves..

if she has the eye, you will pick these things pretty quickly it is practice and how you look at something. try to see from a different point of view, like cows from ground level, like a work etc....

You will get the idea..
clonmult
20-01-2010
Originally Posted by Oldhippy:
“These days you can fake the effect of nearly every filter. It will never be as good as using the real thing though.. it is to do with the frequency of lightwaves..

if she has the eye, you will pick these things pretty quickly it is practice and how you look at something. try to see from a different point of view, like cows from ground level, like a work etc....

You will get the idea..”

I did consider going the photoshop route, but I prefer the idea of having all the creativity in the camera and in my eye if at all possible.

Main problem at the moment is that I don't get a lot of time to play with the camera, experiment with exposures, etc. Definitely like trying to use manual ISO, ramp it up as fast as the camera will go, then forcing the flash off .... rarely like flash photography, prefer the natural grainy effect. Kinda reminds me of my teenage days when i was working at a photo lab, and i first ran through a roll of ISO 1600 film.

Its just a lot easier, and cheaper to mess around with a DSLR, yet still get something approaching the same quality.
Oldhippy
05-11-2010
Well been awhile since I stuck my head round the door.. It is always best to get the shot right in the camera and I certainly prefer the use of filters.

Spending decent money on a lens is also the best thing you can do...

One mistake a lot of people do is keep a filter on 'for protection' certainly not recommended as it will reduce the sharpness and quality of the photo.

I started doing this when I first got into it, but a pro friend, told me what I just said and have not permanently kept a filter on my camera since 2003.

the slot in filter system will be more creative.. One filter I am fond of at the moment is a 10 stop filter which allows me to do long exposures in the middle of the day.. this is the type of exposure normally done at night @30 seconds or more...

Things have changed rapidly for me as I am now leading photography courses and am now working with location flash lighting system.

Didn't see the courses coming, but hey ho...
kyussmondo
06-11-2010
Also get a decent tripod, it is essential for HDR. Personally I prefer Nikon but Canons are just as good.
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