1st DSLR?!?

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johnnyflash

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Hi All,

Apologies for my painful rant and if this has been answered before, I've done many searches and cant find a similar thread!

I'm absolutely new to the whole 'photography scene' in general. My only previous experience is a 'point and shoot' sony cybershot camera that comes on holidays,to the races and to all the family and friend get togethers that i've attended.

Thing is, I've always had a huge hunger to take artistic photo's, and have never been in the financial or time friendly position to try develop any photographic skills to speak of!

Recently,(the past 6 months or so) with my finances looking up and my time management somewhat sorted,I have decided to take the plunge,make a lifestyle change and learn some new skills.

With that said,here lies my problem,

1. I want to learn how to use a camera properly, but do i need to learn on a bridge camera first or would a DSLR be a better investment(financially and for skills improvement)?

2. From reading reviews, rants and raves i have an automatic attraction to Nikon! I believe that brand choice lies in the eye of the photographer, so is there any reason to look outside this brand?

3. With a budget of £1500 or so for initial start up, what is the best option for the complete beginner?What do I need to start shooting?(lenses/camera/cards/tripod etc)

4. As I'm living and working in a remote part of the country, is there any courses that you recommend as an internet course?Are these courses worth while or is practice the best way to learn? (The countryside where i live would inspire anybody to take beautiful photo's)

Any recommendations are greatly needed and appreciated!!!!

Once again, i'm sorry if this has been covered already............

Thanks..........
 
Thats a lot to take on there!!

My best advice would be to pop to your local camera shop and try out the different brands available, see what feels best to you. Because if anyone mentions Canon vs Nikon then thats a can of worms opened!

£1500 is quite a big budget for starting out!! So it may be best buying a lower end dSLR and spending more on your lenses as they will inevitably outlive your camera, which you will want to be upgrading every 18 months or so no doubt!
 
:wave:Welcome. I'm also new to DSLR and so can only give you very limited advice. I have bought a Nikon D40X which is easy to get to grips with, as it has some creative photography modes (which means everything is more or less set up for you) and also all the advanced modes- so you can actually go out and take some photos while you are still studying the manual. It comes with a nice 18-55mm kit lens which is the most useful for taking landscape photography, as like you we live in a very beautiful area, just across the water from you. The Nikon D40X is selling at a very reasonable price at the moment as it has been superceeded by the Nikon 60.

I also bought a Nikon AF/S 55-200mm VR zoom lens, so that I could take telephoto shots. It's a very nice lens but I don't find I use it as much as the kit lens.

I think on this forum is one of the best places to learn as more experienced members are very helpful in their advice.
 
thanks purplecluods,

been into the the local camera shop, and i have to say (without starting a wicked arguement)that the Nikon equipment just feels better quaility, fits my grip better and is so much more comfortable. Its settled on make then, its Nikon for me then.
What Camera could you recommend?

D40/D80/D200 or D300?

I dont want to buy now and regret not spending the few extra £'s for better quality/durability/build quality!!!!

All rounder Lenses?
 
I'm a canon man myself so I'll be leaving this thread now lol....

I work with a wedding photographer and have used his D200 and I must admit it is a very capable camera, and managed to have a toy with the D300 at Focus the other week which seemed excellent and has had good reviews!!
 
remember as people said invest in glass, as it will last much much longer. I would say go for a d80 and maybe a 17-55mm F2.8 lens. And if anyspare a telephoto. I don't really know nikon as i am a canon owner, but i heard that lens is great.
 
Hillwalkinggirl,

that is just the type of advice i'm after!

Food for thought!

Thanks.
 
Thanks all,

the replies are nearly too quick for me to read...........
 
Welcome to TP :)

johnnyflash said:
1. I want to learn how to use a camera properly, but do i need to learn on a bridge camera first or would a DSLR be a better investment(financially and for skills improvement)?
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A DSLR would be a better long-term investment IF you're serious about it.
That said, a 'bridge' camera like a Fuji S6500fd will probably have most of what you need at the moment except for speed and image quality (the latter might not be an issue if you don't plan on editing your shots much, if you only print small sizes and if you don't crop much).

johnnyflash said:
2. From reading reviews, rants and raves i have an automatic attraction to Nikon! I believe that brand choice lies in the eye of the photographer, so is there any reason to look outside this brand?
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Yes. Apart from camera features, with DSLRs, you're buying into a system. Which means lenses, accessories (such as flashes, etc.).
A good SLR body isn't everything. That said, Nikon, Canon, Pentax/Samsung, Sony, Olympus, Sigma, Tamron and a few other make pretty good lenses, optically, but their build quality and other features (AF speed, durability, weather sealing) might differ considerably, so is likely the price to vary.

johnnyflash said:
3. With a budget of £1500 or so for initial start up, what is the best option for the complete beginner?What do I need to start shooting?(lenses/camera/cards/tripod etc)
Click to expand...
Best is subjective and relative. Almost always, in my experience.
What you probably want if you'd like to start with DSLRs:
- a camera body that feels comfortable in your hands and that performs sufficiently in most aspects you're considering
- a lens or two, a basic zoom lens like a 18-55 mm (most brands have these), Sigma 17-70 mm, etc. and perhaps a compact telephoto lens, like a 70-300 mm Sigma. Or a big, slow focusing lens with a fairly small aperture, like a Tamron 18-250 mm.
- a tripod (for longer exposures, I'd say below 1/30 of a second) and a monopod (good when you need to move around a lot, can be quite efficient at stabilising your camera and lens)
- memory cards for your camera. 1 GB should be the smallest for most people to look for. YMMV
- you'll find out the rest with time ;)

johnnyflash said:
4. As I'm living and working in a remote part of the country, is there any courses that you recommend as an internet course?Are these courses worth while or is practice the best way to learn? (The countryside where i live would inspire anybody to take beautiful photo's)
Click to expand...
I wouldn't go for an internet course, but there are lots of tutorials online for various occasions. Google is your friend here. Talk Photography is a good place to look for further advices if you're lost.
Tip: explore the M mode found in (and on) most decent cameras.

johnnyflash said:
Once again, i'm sorry if this has been covered already............
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A thread like this one pops up a couple of times a week, they just have different names and are often named after a model someone's already thinking about.

Good luck.

EDIT: Oh yeah, when shopping, spending more on lenses than on the body might be a smart decision. When you're more or less a beginner, a zoom such as the Tamron I've mentioned above might be a good start and it should also serve you well later as a walk around lens.
 
johnnyflash said:
With that said,here lies my problem,

1. I want to learn how to use a camera properly, but do i need to learn on a bridge camera first or would a DSLR be a better investment(financially and for skills improvement)?
Click to expand...

A DSLR is definately a better investment
1) it's an immedate step on to rung 2 if you get into photography
2) if you don't enjoy it a DSLR is probably easier to sell and probably less of a loss
3) A DSLR is easier to adjust shutter speed / aperture than a bridge so it's more condusive to learning photography.

johnnyflash said:
2. From reading reviews, rants and raves i have an automatic attraction to Nikon! I believe that brand choice lies in the eye of the photographer, so is there any reason to look outside this brand?
Click to expand...

I use Nikon, but always worth looking at Canon; there's not much difference between the two. Personally I'd avoid the others as I don't believe that they offer as much to grow into than Nikon / Canon. Two pieces of advice

1) Remember you are buying in to a SYSTEM of accessories / lenses not just a camera with features.
2) Get out there and try the various cameras as a camera that doesn't feel right won't get used.


johnnyflash said:
3. With a budget of £1500 or so for initial start up, what is the best option for the complete beginner?What do I need to start shooting?(lenses/camera/cards/tripod etc)
Click to expand...

£1500 is a lot of money for a new user. Personally I'd get a basic top end consumer body D80 (perhaps S/H) and lens 18-70mm or 16-85 VR (NOT 18-135mm), at least 4GB's of memory (2x 2GBs SanDisk Extreme IIIs) and a decent tripod (Manfrotto 055xprob or 190xprob), and save the rest to see if you really get in to it. If you want an external flash then I would reccommend to get the SB-800 but again I would wait a few months before seeing if you need it.


johnnyflash said:
4. As I'm living and working in a remote part of the country, is there any courses that you recommend as an internet course?Are these courses worth while or is practice the best way to learn? (The countryside where i live would inspire anybody to take beautiful photo's)
Click to expand...

Save your cash, I don't beleive you need to go on a course. If you take the theme of the previous TP monthly competetition and go out and take photos based on what you've seen, post your results here saying that you want to learn and ask for constructive critisim. You'll learn far more than any internet based course will ever give you.
 
Hi my friend has the new sony dslr (im a canon man) which i think must have the most built in pic modes on any dslr so you can start shooting straight away then start using the manual modes. As for improving your photo skills post some pics here and you,ll get lots of advice on how to improve your skills.Remember if you dont already have a good photo editing program you,ll need to budget for that aswell. Sam
 
I cant really shed out advise on this thread, but i will be looking at some of the answers given to help me towards choosing my first dslr! And ive just downloaded gimp shop its ok but compared to cs3 its a bit.. :p
 
nic bike said:
I cant really shed out advise on this thread, but i will be looking at some of the answers given to help me towards choosing my first dslr! And ive just downloaded gimp shop its ok but compared to cs3 its a bit.. :p
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Well, GIMP and GIMPshop are not quite as full featured as Photoshop, but they're free, which Photoshop isn't unless you steal it :P

Btw., the latest GIMPshop 2.2.11 uses GIMP 2.2.11 as its base, which is, compared to the newest release of the GIMP, which is 2.4.5 (2.4.4 on Windows atm), pretty obsolete and lacks quite a few features.
 
johnnyflash,

I was in exactly in the same situation only 15 months ago and was going to Cambodia for two weeks and wanted to take a DSLR (having never used one) so can tell you the process I have gone through.....

I was lucky enough to pick up a magazine that stated exactly what some of the others have said, you are buying into a system and it's really important to budget for the add ons like camera bag, filters, possibly tripod and memory cards. It gave good guidance on a starter kit for different budgets, to give more specific help on this, it may depend on what kind of things you want to take pics of i.e. Landscape, Portrait, Sports etc.

I went for a second hand camera but invested in very good quality lenses to go with it (also second hand). As cameras have already moved on, it's not so relevant any more what the camera is, but I went straight into DSLR without going into bridge despite not having done anything more than point and shoot on a compact.

When you are new and enthusiastic to it, you will go out and shoot lots of pics and therefore very quickly learn about the practical side of photography. I had an 'auto' mode on my camera, but very rarely used it from the beginning as just reading up on aperture priority vs shutter priority and taking some pics was enough for me, also supplemented by the online course I mention later.

I also found I moved on from my initial camera very quickly and was hungrier for better quality and functions within around 3 months and bought a D200 which is very versatile and very good value right now due to the release of the D300 which I have also recently bought as a second body. You will be able to buy a low use D200 for under £500 still under warranty, which would give you a very good budget for a quality lens or two. Your lenses will depend on the subjects you want to shoot, so if it’s landscape, most people would want a focal length of around 15mm to 70mm for most situations. If you say what kind of things you are interested in shooting, people can let you know. My most used lens is the 17-55 f2.8 for landscape and also works as a good focal range for Portraits.

This forum is excellent for getting feedback and critique on your pics, magazines can help too. I also took the first Open University Digital Photography Course last year which gives an excellent grounding and forces you to shoot lots of pictures for a weekly assignment and it’s online so you can do it in your own time each week. I needed around 10 hours. A key thing it taught me was how to do basic post processing and the £160 included Photoshop Elements in the price of the course. The downside of the course is the lack of proper critique to help you progress. There are other threads on the pros and cons of this course, you will find a few people on this forum have done it.

That’s a long reply to a long question, hopefully some of it is useful to you. Feel free to ask any more questions as I use Nikon and tried my hand at a few different things during the learning curve.
Regards
Jas
 
Buy a copy of Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson, as somebody recommended to me on a thread I started - a very easy to read, but thorough, guide on taking photos, composition, metering light etc.

It will probably be the best £12.99 you will spend out of your £1500 kitty!! :)
 
that is some excellent and very informative advice all round. Thank you all for your input!

I think this input has made my decision for me.!!!
Ok, here goes....

Plan is to buy a Nikon D80 and maybe an all-rounder lens like the Nikkor 18-200mm VR(?),memory card, tripod etc, see what kind of shots i like taking, and then decide on what other equipment i need then, if any!!

You guys seem to have vast knowledge of photography so I'm sure any questions I have will be answered and any shots will be commented on(all productive critisizim i hope).

Most of all I am going to get out and take some shots, lots and lots i hope....

Wish me luck, I'm dishing out so £££ this weekend.........

Thank you all again........
 
http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/cat11.html

Here's a good guide for prices. If you already know what you are going to buy, then send a Private Message to Kerso on this forum, he has lots of recommendations for competitively price warrantied new kit and delivers pretty quickly.

For example, he has quoted me for a new 18-200 VR for under £400 delivered.

Good luck
Jas
 
Get a spare battery
 
You wont be disappointed with the D80! Have fun with it
 
PsiFox said:
Get a spare battery
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Great advice! its so annoying if your battery has run out and you don't have spare battery and the perfect shot is just right the in front of you.
 
hillwalkinggirl said:
:thumbs:Hope you will enjoy your new camera - sounds like a very good set up to me that you are planning to get.
Click to expand...

Hopefully have it by the end of next week, my fingers are iching for practice.......:bonk:
 
candlestick said:
Buy a copy of Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson,
Click to expand...

I could not agree more:thumbs: IMHO every DSLR sold should come with a copy. Pound for pound probably the best value accessory you'll ever buy;)
 
johnnyflash said:
Plan is to buy a Nikon D80 and maybe an all-rounder lens like the Nikkor 18-200mm VR(?),memory card, tripod etc, see what kind of shots i like taking, and then decide on what other equipment i need then, if any!!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a very good plan to me the D80 is a great camera and the 18-200VR is a great choice for a single lens purchase as it will cover everything you might want to shoot (at least for a while)

Few tips
  • Don't skimp on a tripod unless you can get a S/H cheapo from ebay as you will want to upgrade this when you find it doesn't provide the support you expect - you are better spending your money on a decent tripod legs and a head now.
  • Order your SanDisk Extreme III SD cards(one of the fastest out there) from Play.com (I'd reccomend at least 2, 2GBs and can take upto a week to arrive), never delete photos on the camera and always format the card in camera before use.
  • Order spare batteries from 7dayshop.com - their EL3e equivalent batteries are higher capacity than the Nikons so you get longer life from them. You should only need 1 additional battery plus look at their charger system with adaptor plates as it allows you to recharge of a car 12v socket. (can take upto a week to arrive)


johnnyflash said:
You guys seem to have vast knowledge of photography so I'm sure any questions I have will be answered and any shots will be commented on(all productive critisizim i hope).

Most of all I am going to get out and take some shots, lots and lots i hope....
Click to expand...

There are alot of people on here with a lot of knowlege, there are others like me who have made lots of expensive mistakes in buying the wrong stuff but have learned from them and are willing to pass this to others.

Most of all enjoy it :thumbs:
 
SimonTALM said:
Sounds like a very good plan to me the D80 is a great camera and the 18-200VR is a great choice for a single lens purchase as it will cover everything you might want to shoot (at least for a while)

Few tips
  • Don't skimp on a tripod unless you can get a S/H cheapo from ebay as you will want to upgrade this when you find it doesn't provide the support you expect - you are better spending your money on a decent tripod legs and a head now.
  • Order your SanDisk Extreme III SD cards(one of the fastest out there) from Play.com (I'd reccomend at least 2, 2GBs and can take upto a week to arrive), never delete photos on the camera and always format the card in camera before use.
  • Order spare batteries from 7dayshop.com - their EL3e equivalent batteries are higher capacity than the Nikons so you get longer life from them. You should only need 1 additional battery plus look at their charger system with adaptor plates as it allows you to recharge of a car 12v socket. (can take upto a week to arrive)




There are alot of people on here with a lot of knowlege, there are others like me who have made lots of expensive mistakes in buying the wrong stuff but have learned from them and are willing to pass this to others.

Most of all enjoy it :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Hi Simon, I don't understand why you say not too delete photos on the camera, as all information I have ever received says "always delete on the camera and not on the pc".
Does anyone have experience of which is the best way.:bonk:
 
hillwalkinggirl said:
Hi Simon, I don't understand why you say not too delete photos on the camera, as all information I have ever received says "always delete on the camera and not on the pc".
Does anyone have experience of which is the best way.:bonk:
Click to expand...

You rasie a good point - I am simply repeating stuff I've read over my time in digital photography and represent the practice that I take and I've had no problems.

I understand that when you delete an image on a flash card it does some automatic rearrangement of the remaining data and I beleive that in this there is always a possibility of data corruption so I don't do it. Ken Rockwell advises that you should always format your memory card (effectively deleting the images) in your camera before every outing (assuming you have uploaded the photos of course :lol:).

As for any scientific evidence to support my approach I don't have any. I would of course be interested in any for any approach that maximises my chances of protecting my images against unintended loss.
 
SimonTALM said:
You rasie a good point - I am simply repeating stuff I've read over my time in digital photography and represent the practice that I take and I've had no problems.

I understand that when you delete an image on a flash card it does some automatic rearrangement of the remaining data and I beleive that in this there is always a possibility of data corruption so I don't do it. Ken Rockwell advises that you should always format your memory card (effectively deleting the images) in your camera before every outing (assuming you have uploaded the photos of course :lol:).

As for any scientific evidence to support my approach I don't have any. I would of course be interested in any for any approach that maximises my chances of protecting my images against unintended loss.
Click to expand...

Hi Simon, I agree that you should always format card before going out on another shoot, but from personal experience I have had memory cards fail when deleting files on the PC, and never (touch wood) when deleting in camera. I think that the reason that some articles say not to delete in camera is due to the time factor, as it's much quicker to reformat the card. I usually copy all files to my PC via card reader, and then format the card in my camera. Sometimes however, if you are getting short of space you need to delete the rubbish to make way for the good.

Likewise I don't have any scientific evidence either. Maybe we are both right, and it makes no difference at all!:thinking:
 
hillwalkinggirl said:
Likewise I don't have any scientific evidence either. Maybe we are both right, and it makes no difference at all!:thinking:
Click to expand...

Who knows, we probably are :lol: Especially as I don't actually delete any photos on the card via the PC either seems pointless when you are going to format the card. I have plenty of memory and for a big shoot I'll bring the Laptop to backup on site so have never needed to delete the rubbish :)

I think we can sumarise that from both our perspectives that Format the Card on the camera before every outing is good advice to a newbie.
 
Am i being dumb but was does formatting do to the card? My manual says how to do it, but doesnt say why?
 
It clears the card of all data that might be on there, it is best to format (instead of just deleting all pics) after you have copied all your pictures off it to stop data fragmenting :)
 
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