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G3XOI

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Hi all! I have decided to get a DSLR but don't really know where to start!

I have been looking at Canon D10's and 20's and these seem just about in my price range of £250 but I would also like a Fisheye lens as I will mostly be shooting using one of these.

I was wondering if anyone could reccomend me a DSLR and lens package in my price range, second hand if possible!

Thanks
 
The 10D and 20D are quite old, but still do the job. They are considered semi pro bodies, so are nice to handle, although the LCD screens are tiny in comparison to modern DSLR's

A fisheye is a specialist lens, and not ideal for most types of photos. You wont get a decent fisheye for less than £400. There are some on ebay by Falcon and Samyang for less, but they are manual focus only and not the best optically.
 
You will get a better spec body than a 10D or 20D for £250, What attributes is it you are looking for that make you think they are ideal. Also what is the primary use for your fisheye lens, skateboarding/bmx pics by any chance ? Might there be alternatives ? Fish eyes are not cheap. Also take into account that a 10d 20d body is an APS-c sensor with a 1.6 cropfactor so for instance an 8mm fisheye will only be equivalent to 13mm on a full frame or 35mm film body, Still very wide but not a true fisheye that will give a circular image. So a little more info will help us give you the right advice.
 
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TCR4x4 said:
The 10D and 20D are quite old, but still do the job. They are considered semi pro bodies, so are nice to handle, although the LCD screens are tiny in comparison to modern DSLR's

A fisheye is a specialist lens, and not ideal for most types of photos. You wont get a decent fisheye for less than £400. There are some on ebay by Falcon and Samyang for less, but they are manual focus only and not the best optically.
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I just asked a mate who said that they were great cameras as he had one before he upgraded recently! I just want something for taking skating and some other sports shots. I also saw some fisheye adapters on eBay that attach to your current lens are these worth the money?

Gazamonk said:
You will get a better spec body than a 10D or 20D for £250, What attributes is it you are looking for that make you think they are ideal. Also what is the primary use for your fisheye lens, skateboarding/bmx pics by any chance ? Might there be alternatives ? Fish eyes are not cheap. Also take into account that a 10d 20d body is an APS-c sensor with a 1.6 cropfactor so for instance an 8mm fisheye will only be equivalent to 13mm on a full frame or 35mm film body, Still very wide but not a true fisheye that will give a circular image. So a little more info will help us give you the right advice.
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What camera would you reccomend other than a 10 or 20D for use with a fisheye lens or adapter?

The rest you said didn't make any sense to me! As I am very new to digital photograhy! :thinking:
 
G3XOI said:
I also saw some fisheye adapters on eBay that attach to your current lens are these worth the money?
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No, not really.

You'd be better off with a newer body like a canon 450D or 500D. Get a decent kit lens with it and concentrate on learning how it all works before trying to take shots with specialist lenses that cost a lot of money and produce very limited results.
If you are that fussed over the fisheye look, similar results can be obtained in editing afterwards.
 
You can't go far wrong with a Sony alpha dslr for your money. It's what I had before having to sell up but I will be getting another one In the new year.
 
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TCR4x4 said:
No, not really.

You'd be better off with a newer body like a canon 450D or 500D. Get a decent kit lens with it and concentrate on learning how it all works before trying to take shots with specialist lenses that cost a lot of money and produce very limited results.
If you are that fussed over the fisheye look, similar results can be obtained in editing afterwards.
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What sort of body and lens kit would you reccomend then? Still don't want to go over £300 all-in really!
 
Something like a canon 450d or 500D with 18-55 IS lens, or a Nikon D3000 or D3100 with the standard kit lens. It wont be amazing, but for £300 you wont get amazing.
Never used Sony or Pentax so cant comment on them.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Something like a canon 450d or 500D with 18-55 IS lens, or a Nikon D3000 or D3100 with the standard kit lens. It wont be amazing, but for £300 you wont get amazing.
Never used Sony or Pentax so cant comment on them.
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Thanks, but still finding it hard to get that anywhere near my budget! I'm more looking for something cheap and cheerful to start out with :thumbs:
 
G3XOI said:
I just want something for taking skating and some other sports shots.
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Would that be skateboarding. If so I understand why the use of the fisheye here. My son is a skateboarder for Harmony skateboards and records a lot of his stuff using a fisheye lens albeit on a Sony pro video camera.
Sorry I can't be much help to your original question, quite new to photography myself and still learning.
 
thing with cheap and cheerful, is it limits you so much, and really, If you want to invest in Photography later, the more you spend up front, often gets you more later on. If you want to take decent skating pics, you want something that is fast (fast shutter speed, to capture movement without blurring). Any digital camera SLR or otherwise will take adequate snaps, but if you want better quality pictures, then better quality kit will make this easier. A fish eye lens looks cool, but is a bot over used in skate mags. The problem is, its a very specialist image it creates and is useless for pretty much everything else. A good wide angle lens will serve you better, and as noted above, you can do a fisheye effect later on with editing software (which in my opinion is a better way to go about it!). The ability to zoom will let you take shots from further away, which stops you getting hit, but can leave your pictures looking a bit like you are watching the action rather than being "in it" If you know what i mean? Also, as another tricky thought, consider getting a fast lens (as in low F number), which will enable you to focus on a skater whilst blurring the background (making them look fast and helping the viewer to focus soley on the skater) and also enable you to take photos in environments with less light without needing a flash.

As for a cheap set up, maybe pick up a cheap SLR body (I'm a Nikon man, but any will do) and get a 50mm F1.8 lens to start you off (from £100 new, less second hand) I'm not sure where abouts you live, but my local camera shop has a few 35-70mm zooms with F3.3 which would work quite well and can be had for about £50.

As an after thought, if you can get a camera that shoots movies, this is an easy way to get "the shot". I used to take a lot of BMX pictures, but found that the rider would be looking the wrong way, or I'd release the shutter at just the wrong moment. A short film, maybe 5 seconds wold catch the whole move then I could flick through, frame by frame and find the perfect shot. Quality suffers though.

Hope some of that helps! Remember, its the photographer, not the camera!
 
kena said:
Would that be skateboarding. If so I understand why the use of the fisheye here. My son is a skateboarder for Harmony skateboards and records a lot of his stuff using a fisheye lens albeit on a Sony pro video camera.
Sorry I can't be much help to your original question, quite new to photography myself and still learning.
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Yes I will mainly be using it for skateboard photography and a music events for crowd and DJ shots.

meehaja said:
thing with cheap and cheerful, is it limits you so much, and really, If you want to invest in Photography later, the more you spend up front, often gets you more later on. If you want to take decent skating pics, you want something that is fast (fast shutter speed, to capture movement without blurring). Any digital camera SLR or otherwise will take adequate snaps, but if you want better quality pictures, then better quality kit will make this easier. A fish eye lens looks cool, but is a bot over used in skate mags. The problem is, its a very specialist image it creates and is useless for pretty much everything else. A good wide angle lens will serve you better, and as noted above, you can do a fisheye effect later on with editing software (which in my opinion is a better way to go about it!). The ability to zoom will let you take shots from further away, which stops you getting hit, but can leave your pictures looking a bit like you are watching the action rather than being "in it" If you know what i mean? Also, as another tricky thought, consider getting a fast lens (as in low F number), which will enable you to focus on a skater whilst blurring the background (making them look fast and helping the viewer to focus soley on the skater) and also enable you to take photos in environments with less light without needing a flash.

As for a cheap set up, maybe pick up a cheap SLR body (I'm a Nikon man, but any will do) and get a 50mm F1.8 lens to start you off (from £100 new, less second hand) I'm not sure where abouts you live, but my local camera shop has a few 35-70mm zooms with F3.3 which would work quite well and can be had for about £50.

As an after thought, if you can get a camera that shoots movies, this is an easy way to get "the shot". I used to take a lot of BMX pictures, but found that the rider would be looking the wrong way, or I'd release the shutter at just the wrong moment. A short film, maybe 5 seconds wold catch the whole move then I could flick through, frame by frame and find the perfect shot. Quality suffers though.

Hope some of that helps! Remember, its the photographer, not the camera!
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Thanks for that advice!

Since making this thread I have found a Canon EOS 50E with a Canon Zoom Lens EF 28-80mm 1:3.5-5.6 IV lens and was wondering if this would be compatible with a Canon 450D?

THanks!
 
Hi, I have decided to give photography a shot and after much deliberation I have invested in a Sony Alpha A230L DSLR camera (hopefully that was a good choice for a novice??) I stumbled across this forum within my iPhone whilst looking for photo apps so decided to sign up and introduce my self, I intend to get started using Photoshop editing tools on my MacBook and also purchased a few basic books to help shuve me towards the right direction but was also hoping to get a few pointers along the way from you fellow photographers :)
 
JM82 said:
Hi, I have decided to give photography a shot and after much deliberation I have invested in a Sony Alpha A230L DSLR camera (hopefully that was a good choice for a novice??) I stumbled across this forum within my iPhone whilst looking for photo apps so decided to sign up and introduce my self, I intend to get started using Photoshop editing tools on my MacBook and also purchased a few basic books to help shuve me towards the right direction but was also hoping to get a few pointers along the way from you fellow photographers :)
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Maybe start your own thread would be better. :thumbs:
 
G3XOI said:
Yes I will mainly be using it for skateboard photography and a music events for crowd and DJ shots.



Thanks for that advice!

Since making this thread I have found a Canon EOS 50E with a Canon Zoom Lens EF 28-80mm 1:3.5-5.6 IV lens and was wondering if this would be compatible with a Canon 450D?

THanks!
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If you want to do live gig stuff, you need a body that can cope with high ISO shooting, and a good fast lens. A 450D with a 50mm f/1.8 will just about cope, but you'll probably need to use noise reduction software afterwards.
Sadly there isnt really a cheap and cheerful way of doing that kind of photography. You either pay your money and get the right gear, or end up with blury noisy photos.
 
micloi said:
Canon 50E is a film camera and not digital :shrug:
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Yes I know, I have had this camera for ages but never used it so I was wondering if I could take the lens that is on this old film camera and put it onto a 450D body.

Also the reason that I seem in a hurry is because it is my birthday next week so would like some money to put towards this purchase before I spend it ;)
 
Lens should be compatible, but best checking with Canon fans (or just google the name of the lens and the name of the camera?) If your kit isn't up to dark gig/DJ shots then you need technique over equipment. Time it so your target is lit up, get close with a flash, or combine both?
 
G3XOI said:
Yes I know, I have had this camera for ages but never used it so I was wondering if I could take the lens that is on this old film camera and put it onto a 450D body.

Also the reason that I seem in a hurry is because it is my birthday next week so would like some money to put towards this purchase before I spend it ;)
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yes it will, but remember that the focal length changes by a factor of 1.6x
 
The lens will fit, but its quite slow, and wont be much good for live stuff. Be fine for portraits and general use though.
 
TCR4x4 said:
The lens will fit, but its quite slow, and wont be much good for live stuff. Be fine for portraits and general use though.
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Sounds like it could be a plan then until I can save up enough for a new lens!
 
Definitely, at least it gets you started and you can spend your 300 budget on a decent body. As has been mentioned though, the 28-80 is wide angle at 28mm on the film body but mutiply the numbers by 1.6 on a digital body. So for example 28 x1.6= 44.8 (i.e. 50mm)
Now set your lens to 50mm on the 50E Body and look through. This is the widest angle of view you will get on a digital body with the lens set at 28. Do you understand this explanation ?

You may also want to do a deal with this chappie right here for the body and the 17-70 (an excellent body (semiPro)and a damned good fast lens and Ideal for your gig stuff and your skating)

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=284134
 
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There are places you can hire lenses, so you could hire a fisheye for a week (Lenses for Hire has fisheyes from £39 for a week).
 
G3XOI said:
Thanks, but still finding it hard to get that anywhere near my budget! I'm more looking for something cheap and cheerful to start out with :thumbs:
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Try the 350D or 400D with a kit lens. Anywhere from £150 to £250....worth looking in the classifieds on here and asking sellers questions too.
 
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