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Baggy81

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Tom
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Hi peeps

First post on here..

The 'better-half' and myself have decided to take up photography as a hobby. We are planning on getting on a photography course at a college near us.

Just a quick question before I leave for work - could anyone advise us on cameras we could purchase? Something at a beginner level? Any links to websites would be handy.

Thanks
 
A very warm welcome to you and you will find the advice and help on this site absolutely excellent.
I pretty much gave up photography many years ago and have only recently started again in a world of digital cameras etc
My own advice would be to stick with one of the major producers of camera. I would probably go with either Nikon or Canon.
I am personally a Nikon man but I am sure both brands are equally as good.
As for models of camera that is the difficult bit.....
I'me sure someone with a greater depth of knowledge will be able to assist shortly but in the mean time you need to establish how much you want to pay as prices can vary drastically.
I would look at something like a Nikon d3100 which gets some excellent reviews and I know many on here use them with astounding results.
If you are not particularly conerned about buying new you could look at the second hand Market where you would get more for your money.
Get some hands on experience with the cameras as it could boil down to what simply feels better.
Not the best answer to your question but hopefully of some benefit.
Good luck with your shopping and most importantly your photography.
V
 
As someone who is new to photography (got my first DSLR at Christmas) I would start with some of the lower model camera's like the D3100 (I bought the D5100) as they seem to offer the flexibility of getting creating with settings but without the complexity of a million buttons all over the thing to scare you!

Again I have gone Nikon but that was not really down to anything other than a few people I know have Nikon camera's so it was something I could easily talk to them about.

If I were you I would hold off on the course at college for the moment, and read some of the tutorials here on this forum. Pretty useful for understanding the basics and from then on for me it's just a case of taking a picture, and trying to play with the settings I'm aware of to try and get the shot I want. Then once you feel you understand the camera you can re-evaluate whether you need to go to one of these courses or not.

Another tip I would give is try to avoid the auto modes on camera's, it won't teach you anything about the camera and what you can do with it. I am no expert and my shots certainly needs a lot of work but I don't think I would understand my camera half as well as I do if I wasn't trying to shoot every image in manual!

Hope this helps and I'm happy to share the few amateur experiences I do have.
 
All depends on your budget I guess. The advice given above is all good. I have a D3000 which is the older version of the D3100 and is more than enough for a beginner if you were looking to get a good second hand buy. This will then give you scope to buy more lenses to allow you to experiment in different areas.
Whatever you get just bear in mind that you will be the main limiting factor in the quality of your photos to start with so there is no point in spending £££ only to be faced with a level of complexity that hinders, not helps!
 
Hi Tom,

Go to Jessops ask them to show you a Canon and Nikon body side by side - Hold both of them see which one feels right in your hand. Then ask them to show you how you change shutter speed and aperture on both models as this can be a deciding factor. I started out with Canon I owned a 30d, 50d, 5DMKII and the 7d but last year I sold the lot and switched to Nikon I now have the d700 and then d7000 for lots of different reasons that I won't explain on here. If you can afford it and your going Nikon the d7000 is fantastic the other end of the scale look for the d3000 on amazon. Also don't buy the kit lens and skip the zoom lens to start with you will learn more with a 35mm F1.8 prime as that give you around 50mm on a crop and 50mm focal length is what you eyes see and you will learn to zoom with your feet....after that save up and buy the 24-120 F4 Nikon or the 24-105 F4 Canon.

Hope that helps other may not agree but that what I would suggest...

Ian...
 
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Hi Tom, welcome to the site. As Ian suggested, go to a shop and have a look at and hold of all the cameras within your budget, don't forget the lenses either as some will be just bodies and some will be kits.
I started off with a Canon 550D at christmas 2010. I'd decided on what I wanted and bought it before I'd even held one, but that worked for me. It's a terrific camera, very easy to get on with and gives great results. I've since worked up to a 5DMkII and a 7D and passed the 550D onto the wife, but that was due to a windfall and not really the need to. The Canon 18-55 IS and the 55-250 IS lenses are very good for kit lenses that give consistant good IQ. If you look for the reviews on here for the 55-250 IS you'd be surprized just how good a "cheap" lens can be.
 
Having recently just purchased my first DSLR (not even a week ago), I was in your same position. I was dead set on either a Nikon D3100 or Canon 550D. I had read on here not to disregard other brands and handle them all but I was certain I was going to come out with one of those cameras.

Went into the shop, handled the Canon, immediately didn't like. I knew it wasn't for me. So I tried the Nikon, it felt nice but just not right. Handled a Sony and it felt right. I went from one to the other for ages (and in 3 different shops as they had different Sony models).

Cut a long story short, I looked at what the Sony was offering compared to the Nikon and how it felt. And it was a no brainer. I love my Sony, more importantly, I feel comfortable using it. I know Nikon and Canon have more lenses but I checked out what Sony has on offer and I can't see that ever becoming a problem for me.

I would say, take the advice you read on here (it's priceless) and both you and your wife go into the shops and look at the cameras within your budget and see which one feels more comfortable :thumbs:
 
Vinny v said:
Get some hands on experience with the cameras as it could boil down to what simply feels better.
Click to expand...
ise438 said:
Go to Jessops ask them to show you a Canon and Nikon body side by side - Hold both of them see which one feels right in your hand.
Click to expand...
modchild said:
As Ian suggested, go to a shop and have a look at and hold of all the cameras within your budget, don't forget the lenses either as some will be just bodies and some will be kits.
Click to expand...
starog said:
I would say, take the advice you read on here (it's priceless) and both you and your wife go into the shops and look at the cameras within your budget and see which one feels more comfortable :thumbs:
Click to expand...

This is all good advice.

When I bought my first DSLR I tried out the comparable Canon and Nikon models in a shop. Although I'd never owned any equipment from either manufacturer before, I found that the Canon did everything the way I intuitively expected it to and the Nikon was bizarrely unintuitive. Even down to little things like the position of the main aperture/shutter dial - Canon's is right (for me) and Nikon's is wrong (for me).

BUT - and this is the KEY point - I know people who made exactly the same comparison and reached exactly the opposite conclusion! It's a very personal thing.

Your first DSLR is unlikely to be your last, and as they acquire lenses, flashes etc most people tend upgrade within the same system rather than switching. So the choice of system matters. Don't worry too much about whether one camera has more features than another, because in 5 years time all that will have changed anyway. But do pay attention to the ergonomics, layout, menu design etc. because these things are baked into the manufacturers' DNA and will persist for many generations of equipment.


PS - Welcome to TP. Hang around and you'll learn lots.
 
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hi baggy
me and my mrs have just taken up photography i have a canon eos 1100d and my mrs went for a fuji bridge camera both are fantastic i love the canon for a first dslr i carnt fault it i went into jessops and played with different cameras i loved the way the canon felt in my hands join a local club aswell
 
Hello Baggy,

The fact that you have said you and your better half are thinking of a course on photography suggests you want more than a compact camera. The choice then is between a bridge camera and a Digital Single Lens Reflex.

Bridge camera is a term used for cameras that have more features than simple compact camera but whose features are not as extensive as those on a DSLR.

I have to ask, how much do you want to spend? I appreciated that if you are new to photographer then you don't know how much you may need to spend, but it would be useful to know what is your limit.

Once we know your limit then the advice can be tailored accordingly.

Dave
 
It's a complicated question.. There are so many options and things to consider. If you're new to photography I'd resist spending a lot of money, after all you may not decide to take it up after a few months, and eBay is littered with second hand unused equipment. Personally I'd stick to something like a canon powershot (bridge camera), but don't buy the latest model. Get the model out six months or a year ago, the difference will be pretty much zero and alot cheaper. When you're more confident you can splash the cash. Also don't get fooled by the more megapixels = better photos. That's true with high end cameras but not with less than full frame sensors I.e. Bridge cameras. Manufacturers think by increasing the mega pixels you'll think you're getting a better camera - more often than not the sensors can't deal with it....
 
Thanks for all the feedback - much appreciated

Our budget is going to be something like £300 - £400 (maybe push to £500 if we get a really good deal).

We like to go to really picturesque places and i'm a massive fan of mountains so these are the sort of pictures I would like to take. (We drove to Scafell Pike via Wastwater and the scenes were amazing, only problem is I forgot to bring a camera! :bonk:). Are there any particular cameras that are suitable for mountain ranges??

We're going to take the advice on here and pop into a few shops and handle the cameras. So mega-pixel rate isn't that important? That's funny as that would have been the first thing I looked at!!

Thanks,
 
Personally (as someone who was brought up in the film era), I would hold off your spend at this stage until you have done some work on your college course, which is an excellent idea by the way, and go for the time being with something second hand and cheap. More people should understand the basics before firing away and splashing large amounts of cash down on the first camera that "woos" them in the shop. Whilst digitial is great from the point of view of seeing the image instantly, the problem with it is that it doesn't teach you about "photography".

A good college course will explain the relationship between shutter speeds / aperture and ISO, and the combined effects there will have on things like noise (grain in the final image), freezing movement and depth of field (the amount of the depth of the image that appears in focus). Also you would need an understanding of how a camera "sees" an image from an exposure point of view and when to interveen with manual controls or exposure compensation. Then there's how to hold a camera and a lens properly, the effects different lenses have on perspective, flash photography and the inverse square law etc. etc.

As I said any camera will allow you to get a photo, but being a photographer and understanding what's going on, is the difference between getting a snap and a great photo. It really is a fascinating subject and you are always learning.

The reason I said hold of major spend now, is after you have grasped the above fundementals, this may well sway your decision as to which camera to purchase. You may decide not to bother with interchangeable lens cameras at all and prefer a "bridge" camera. You may want full manual control, or access to a hugh range of lenses and accessories (which is where Nikon and Canon score really highly), however you may want to build a more modest setup, in which case Pentax is also very good. You may want something small and light in which case the micro 4/3 systems from Olympus and Panasonic may well fit the bill. Basically what I am saying is that until you understand the basics of photography, you really are not in a position to estimate in which direction you want to go, and laying down £500 or £600 now on a camera for you to find out in a few months time it's not really what "YOU" want (not what everyone else wants or uses), you could be wasting your money.

This is one of the reasons why film and transparancy were so good. Because you only got 36 shots max on a roll and you couldn't see the photo before it was developed, one took much more care over composition, exposure etc. etc. and tried understand how the camera interpreted the scene so you would know when to let the camera get on with it or when to interveen.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
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I have recently started out in photography aswel and bought the Nikon d3100. I really like the camera but as it has been said above, you really need to try it out in the shop. I picked up the cannon in the shop and the nikon and the nikon felt more natual in my hand. Only thing with Nikon is that the additions lens can be a little more expensive than the cannon ones when you want to upgrade.

It is a little bit of a head fart when you are trying to choose your first camera becuase you dont really know what all the settings do and you try to pick out the key bits to compare the different models.

Feel free to look at my posts/ threads for some examples of pictures taken with the 3100 or send me a PM and I will send you some links.

Karl
 
Baggy81 said:
So mega-pixel rate isn't that important? That's funny as that would have been the first thing I looked at!!
Click to expand...
Not really that important, for most people, most of the time.

0.5 Megapixels = Typical image size on Facebook
1.0 Megapixels = Largest image size on Flickr for non-Pro accounts
2.3 Megapixels = Full screen on my 23" widescreen monitor
4.0 Megapixels = Full screen on a top-spec £1000 monitor (like this one)
6.0 Megapixels = enough to print A4 or A3 or A2 or ...
 
Amount of mega-pixels.

I made that mistake as I lushed after the 5DMKII with 21 Million pixels - however I couldn't get on with the focusing system. The Nikon d700 is only 12mill pixels but for me the focuscing system if far better, for me that means I get more keeper and IMO the d700 is better in low light. The new d800 is suppose to have 36mill but I won't be buying into that model if I change I will go for the D3s because of the low light etc.

I know these are pro camera's but the same could be said for entry level, switching from Canon to Nikon cost me £££ if I had done my research in the first place I would have bought Nikon...that only me thought Canon are cool as well.

Hope that helps

Ian....
 
For me it was easy...... bought a canon 400D for my first DSLR and have to say I really disliked it. Never bothered to go shopping around, big mistake, and after several months of disappointment I bought a Sony. I have never looked back. It felt right and I was for some unexplainable reason able to get around the camera much better and easier than before. I wish I had been a member on here before messing around as the advice is very reliable. Good luck with your new venture and I hope to see some of your pictures posted for all to see :)
 
completed 2 x local college courses,beginner and intermediate.to me it was invaluable,akin to golf,learn from the pros,from the outset,and enjoy your hobby knowing what to do.(still lovin & learnin both!!!)good luck
 
Indirectly Gazbag has raised an important point, Baggy.

Because of the dominance of Canon and Nikon you could be forgiven for thinking they are the only manufacturers of DSLRs.

There are others which also make excellent cameras, eg Pentax, Sony, Olympus which are worth looking at.

Dave
 
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