Advice Please

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dans

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Daniel
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Im looking in to upgrade my camera and would like some advice on **** to get will probabley go second hand unless i come in to some more money and ill have a budget of about £500-£600 so all sugestion welcome :thinking::thinking:


Thanks Dan.
 
Canon 500D £50 cashback atm :D should get that for under 600 no probs
 
Get along to your local camera shop and try a few out. All the brands are good so I'd make my decision on how they feel in the hand, and how easy/comfortable they are to operate.

HTH
 
What are you looking to change for? As in what does your current camera not do that you want it to?

Do you have much investment in lenses/flash/etc?
 
IF you decide on Nikon I would strongly consider looking for a deal on the D90 as having the motor in the body gives you more choice lens wise and the D90 is basically a slightly stripped down D300.
 
Well i have the pentax k10d with a sigma 28-200mm on it and the resaults im getting from it are worse than my cannon eos 300 35mm slr iv now had this camera for 2 years and every time i go out with it i feell iv got some great pics and when i get home they are crap iv been doing photography for about 10 years now and this has got to be the worse camera iv had. Iv been told a lot it is down to the lens im using but when shopping for a new lens and other equipment there just isant the range there is for like canon or nikon:cuckoo:
A friend of mine has just bought the nikon d90 and we have set both camears to the same setting and taken the same shot and mine always come out dull, lifeless and gerneraly a poor quality.
So once iv recovered from my knee surgery ill be popping out to try some new cameras but was just looking for some recomendations for models to look at:):):)


Thanks Dan.
 
dans said:
Well i have the pentax k10d with a sigma 28-200mm on it and the resaults im getting from it are worse than my cannon eos 300 35mm slr iv now had this camera for 2 years and every time i go out with it i feell iv got some great pics and when i get home they are crap iv been doing photography for about 10 years now and this has got to be the worse camera iv had. Iv been told a lot it is down to the lens im using but when shopping for a new lens and other equipment there just isant the range there is for like canon or nikon:cuckoo:
A friend of mine has just bought the nikon d90 and we have set both camears to the same setting and taken the same shot and mine always come out dull, lifeless and gerneraly a poor quality.
So once iv recovered from my knee surgery ill be popping out to try some new cameras but was just looking for some recomendations for models to look at:):):)


Thanks Dan.
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One way or another you're not getting the best out of that camera. Off the top of my head I suspect some experiments on the JPEG pre-sets (Picture Styles in Canon speak) would make a big difference - sharpness, contrast, saturation, colour tone etc. See handbook.

Make sure the exposure is optimum too, by learning to read the histogram. Maybe you need a tiny bit of plus exposure compensation to get the result you need. The lens is not the best but should be capable of producing a decent result at least, so I wouldn't blame that.

Having said that, if you've lost confidence I can see why you want to change and I can't argue with Nikon or Canon being the preferred choice. Not that other brands are worse, they are not, but those two brands are excellent whatever model you choose. In performance terms you get pretty much what you pay for so set a budget and go and try a few.
 
You say you have a cannon film camera. Many lenses for it?
If so check out the cannons in a store to see if the lens(es) you have will work on it.

As to the pentax, again if you have lenses see whether you can try the latest incarntions. Perhaps they have fixed the sort of pics you are getting.

If someone on here who has pentaxes can assist they might have some settings that you might find useful.

If you haven't invested in lenses yet and aren't happy with pentax, have a browse through canon, nikon and Sony ( and if you have the time any others )

look at as many models as the sales bloke will let you so you can see where you might go should you upgrade in the future and get some quotes for cameras. Some place do finance too with interest free (as long as you pay off before the time runs out). Might be worth looking at that.

If you do find one that you like but can't do the finance then perhaps fleabay or some local second hand photo store might be able to help
 
HoppyUK said:
One way or another you're not getting the best out of that camera. Off the top of my head I suspect some experiments on the JPEG pre-sets (Picture Styles in Canon speak) would make a big difference - sharpness, contrast, saturation, colour tone etc. See handbook.

Make sure the exposure is optimum too, by learning to read the histogram. Maybe you need a tiny bit of plus exposure compensation to get the result you need. The lens is not the best but should be capable of producing a decent result at least, so I wouldn't blame that.

Having said that, if you've lost confidence I can see why you want to change and I can't argue with Nikon or Canon being the preferred choice. Not that other brands are worse, they are not, but those two brands are excellent whatever model you choose. In performance terms you get pretty much what you pay for so set a budget and go and try a few.
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I would have to agree. Understanding your camera and lenses, its limitations, getting the correct settings, apertures/shutter speeds, exposures, knowing how to adjust for light conditions and understanding the Histogram are the most important thing to do first before blaming the camera. Several friends have the pentax and they taken some fantastic images with it.

Ok the sigma 28-200mm lens isn't great, but if light conditions are good you should get good results. What are you trying to take images of?

Prime example, TP member was about to buy new lens because he wasn't getting sharp shots (had sent it back for servicing etc), only after long discussion, on thread form several TP members it was discovered that he didn't understand his camera settings and the camera wasn't set up right, changed that and hey presto good images....
 
pete.rush said:
I would have to agree. Understanding your camera and lenses, its limitations, getting the correct settings, apertures/shutter speeds, exposures, knowing how to adjust for light conditions and understanding the Histogram are the most important thing to do first before blaming the camera. Several friends have the pentax and they taken some fantastic images with it.

Ok the sigma 28-200mm lens isn't great, but if light conditions are good you should get good results. What are you trying to take images of?

Prime example, TP member was about to buy new lens because he wasn't getting sharp shots (had sent it back for servicing etc), only after long discussion, on thread form several TP members it was discovered that he didn't understand his camera settings and the camera wasn't set up right, changed that and hey presto good images....
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:agree:

The k10d is a very capable camera, coupled with decent glass it is a real overlooked gem of a camera. Feel free to change systems (it's your money at the end of the day), but I'd honestly like to see comparison shots straight from your k10d and your mates D90 (taken by you, not your mate) for comparison (same shot, same ISO, same shutter speed, same focal length, aperture, all EXIF data intact etc). So many factors to consider and picture quality is a bit subjective.

End of the day if your heart is set on a change (which I suspect it is), then feel free to splash the cash!

Regards

Carl
 
Ok then after taking everything in to consideration i think i might stick with what iv got and invest in a decent lenes and a flash.
So my next question is how do i know what is a decent lens as i thought last time i was buying a good lenes but ofestly not is there a serten code of lens as i know for canon the L series are the best. I was thinking of a decent macro lens so any sedgestions please


Thanks Dan.
 
dans said:
Ok then after taking everything in to consideration i think i might stick with what iv got and invest in a decent lenes and a flash.
So my next question is how do i know what is a decent lens as i thought last time i was buying a good lenes but ofestly not is there a serten code of lens as i know for canon the L series are the best. I was thinking of a decent macro lens so any sedgestions please


Thanks Dan.
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Cool. Pentax do make good cameras. Don't expect night and day difference just by changing the lens. Play with those camera settings - probably turn up the saturation, and the contrast a bit. Try a little bit of plus exposure compensation. A decent flash can make a lot of difference, but you need to learn how to use it - bounce and fill-in techniques etc.

There's nothing magical about Canon L lenses. You can tell which ones are good by the price - that is the 'certain code' to look out for ;) Bear in mind that if you spend a lot on lenses you will be inreasingly locked into Pentax and, sorry to say this, but they are a bit wobbly at the moment and there have been rumours that they might go under.

Of course, that does not mean that your current camera will instantly become useless or you won't be able to get it serviced, far from it, but it's another reason why you should make sure you are getting everything you possibly can out of your equipment as it stands before splashing out. Go and try out a posh Pentax lens before you buy, take a few snaps to see what you're getting.
 
Well iv had a little play and things are looking better but once i can get up and about agin ill be able to play around with thing alot more but these are a few iv taken today sat on me arse:lol:

Chereos
IMGP5914-1.jpg
 
dans said:
Well iv had a little play and things are looking better but once i can get up and about agin ill be able to play around with thing alot more but these are a few iv taken today sat on me arse:lol:

Chereos
IMGP5914-1.jpg
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Is the background blue? What colour balance have to got it set on? Check that, and maybe try a shot with custom white balance.
 
:lol::lol::lol::lol: Ow yeah didant notice that but now you have said it dont know how i missed it as the back round is white not blue have just taken the same shot again and set the white balence to custom and hay presto white back round :cuckoo::cuckoo:


Thanks Dan.
 
dans said:
:lol::lol::lol::lol: Ow yeah didant notice that but now you have said it dont know how i missed it as the back round is white not blue have just taken the same shot again and set the white balence to custom and hay presto white back round :cuckoo::cuckoo:


Thanks Dan.
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And a bit more exposure so that it is closer to white, and not grey.

If you take a normal auto exposure shot of an unusual subject like that, ie lots of white background, the camera will see a lot of brightness and assume that there's a lot of light around when in fact there's is not in this case.

So it gets fooled into into giving the shot less exposure than it needs, and you end up with grey instead of white. Use the exposure compensation control - try +1 and see how that looks.
 
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