A good camera?

kashi_takashi

So I was thinking of getting a good SLR Camera for mostly personal use but I will do some professional photography some time soon with my friends. So my question is what's a good camera for a person who has a limited budget and prefers a canon camera. Feel free to recommend a different company but state the reason why for your recommendation and it can't be "it just rock LOL!!!!1!!"

ziggy53

kashi_takashi wrote:

So I was thinking of getting a good SLR Camera for mostly personal use but I will do some professional photography some time soon with my friends. So my question is what's a good camera for a person who has a limited budget and prefers a canon camera. Feel free to recommend a different company but state the reason why for your recommendation and it can't be "it just rock !!!!1!!"

Kashi_Takashi, welcome to the Digital Grin.

It really is hard to find a poor choice in a new dSLR these days. They all have some desireable qualities and some are very unique.

What qualities are you interested in and what will be the application?

Sports?
Wildlife?
Landscape?
Macro?
Product?
Weddings?
Events?
Low-light and high-ISO?

etc. (List any and all applications you wish to pursue.)

You mention Canon but how did you come to that decision?

Any idea about budget? (A range is usually more valuable than a fixed amount.)

Special qualities like weather resistance?

Tell us as much as you can about your background in photography, and your plans for photography.

kashi_takashi

ziggy53 wrote:

Kashi_Takashi, welcome to the Digital Grin.

It really is hard to find a poor choice in a new dSLR these days. They all have some desireable qualities and some are very unique.

What qualities are you interested in and what will be the application?

Sports?
Wildlife?
Landscape?
Macro?
Product?
Weddings?
Events?
Low-light and high-ISO?

etc. (List any and all applications you wish to pursue.)

You mention Canon but how did you come to that decision?

Any idea about budget? (A range is usually more valuable than a fixed amount.)

Special qualities like weather resistance?

Tell us as much as you can about your background in photography, and your plans for photography.

Well I do mostly portrait, panoramic, and outdoor photography and most of the time it will be more to the end of the day(3-7 PM). As for preferring canon, my cousin(who is a professional photographer) recommend canon to me and I shot really good photos with his camera (canon 30D). Since I currently don't have a job (I'm a student) I'm saving money right now, but I do plan on saving about 600-800 to spend on a basic body,bag, memory and a stock lens. When ever I had a SLR camera it was all canon cameras and I didn't adjust the ISO much keeping it at the low end 100-200, I shoot some what to light so i have the 'sun in the lens' effect. My plans for the camera is mostly personal, portrait, and outdoor photo shoots. The biggest reason for switching to a dSLR camera is to have a lot of control of how i can take my shots, not commonly found on standard point and shoot. I also want the camera to be reliable and not fail when i need it the most, i'm not planing to do crazy things other than standing on my two feet and shoot. I do prefer to use a CF card rather than a SD just for size and I can find it easily, and I can bare with a 8 MP camera but nothing higher than a 10MP as I take A LOT of photos. I do have a habit of getting all the photos of the cards as soon as I can.

ziggy53

Great information!

According to your needs you might look at all of the major manufacturers products (they all qualify), but if you liked the Canon 30D then there is no practical reason not to have one.

You can get a used 30D from KEH with the "kit" lens for a little over $700 in EX+ condition with pretty much all standard accessories.

Then again, a used 20D kit (very similar in capabilities) is maybe $60-$70 less.

We regularly list those cameras in the Flea Market too so that's another good place to check.

Then again, you can get a brand new Canon XT/350D at Adorama for $400 (without lens) and then pick up a decent couple of lenses like the EF 50mm, f1.8 and the EF-S 18-55mm, f/3.5-5.6 IS, add a small flash, the bag and some memory cards and you have a pretty capable system within your $800 budget.

I still have 2 - XTs and they are a great entry-level Canon camera.

http://www.adorama.com/ICADRXTB.html?searchinfo=xt
http://www.adorama.com/CA5018AFU.html?searchinfo=canon%2050mm%20f1.8&item_no=1
http://www.adorama.com/CA1855AFU.html?searchinfo=canon%2018-55%20is

swintonphoto

I would recommend looking also at Olympus cameras. Their DSLR's are more feature filled for the price than Canon's. Also, The lens lineup for Olympus is fantastic. One of their primary benefits is having slightly smaller bodies with the same capabilities of other brands. These three reasons were enough to sell me

ziggy53

swintonphoto wrote:

I would recommend looking also at Olympus cameras. Their DSLR's are more feature filled for the price than Canon's. Also, The lens lineup for Olympus is fantastic. One of their primary benefits is having slightly smaller bodies with the same capabilities of other brands. These three reasons were enough to sell me

Jonathan is not kidding about the Olympus lenses. I rank some of their lenses as being the best in the business. Where else will you find a lineup like:

Zuiko ED 14-35mm F2.0 SWD
Zuiko ED 35-100mm F2.0
Zuiko ED 90-250mm F2.8

In these 3 lenses you go from approximately twice normal FOV through approximately 10x normal focal length and 2 of the lenses are f2 and the longest is a constant aperture f2.8. That's just astonishing.

Jonathan makes a living with his Olympus systems, so you have to take him seriously when he makes his recommendation.

kashi_takashi

Ok ^.^ I'll take a good look at that right now I don't have any plans on buying until later around winter and spring comes around, as for cameras go I've been jumping from the canon XTi, 30D, and the 40D and not many others so I'll take that recommendation and look at Olympus' line, I'm not too worried about lens right now I just need a body, then I'll look in to better lens beyond a stock one

ziggy53

kashi_takashi wrote:

Ok ^.^ I'll take a good look at that right now I don't have any plans on buying until later around winter and spring comes around, as for cameras go I've been jumping from the canon XTi, 30D, and the 40D and not many others so I'll take that recommendation and look at Olympus' line, I'm not too worried about lens right now I just need a body, then I'll look in to better lens beyond a stock one

I think you'll find that the 40D is beyond your budget by itself, even used/refurbished.

Scott_Quier

kashi_takashi wrote:

Ok ^.^ I'll take a good look at that right now I don't have any plans on buying until later around winter and spring comes around, as for cameras go I've been jumping from the canon XTi, 30D, and the 40D and not many others so I'll take that recommendation and look at Olympus' line, I'm not too worried about lens right now I just need a body, then I'll look in to better lens beyond a stock one

If you pardon me for being a little blunt, I think this is wrong thinking. When you buy a camera body, you are buying into a system. The most significant part of any camera system is the lenses available. All the major manufacturers have great lenses - some are just "greater" than others. So, look at it from a system perspective before you jump for one or the other.

kashi_takashi

Scott_Quier wrote:

If you pardon me for being a little blunt, I think this is wrong thinking. When you buy a camera body, you are buying into a system. The most significant part of any camera system is the lenses available. All the major manufacturers have great lenses - some are just "greater" than others. So, look at it from a system perspective before you jump for one or the other.

I don't mind at all, but I do realize that the lens is the most important part of the camera but as of right now I don't have a body to hold a lens in and like I said I'm a student who doesn't have a job so it's a little harder for me to save money for a good lens beyond a stock one. Once I get a body to work with I'll look to getting a lens farther than a stock one, but for now I'm still deciding what company and what kind of body I'm getting.

Scott_Quier

kashi_takashi wrote:

I don't mind at all, but I do realize that the lens is the most important part of the camera but as of right now I don't have a body to hold a lens in and like I said I'm a student who doesn't have a job so it's a little harder for me to save money for a good lens beyond a stock one. Once I get a body to work with I'll look to getting a lens farther than a stock one, but for now I'm still deciding what company and what kind of body I'm getting.

I got it and we're on the same page - you don't have the $$ right now. But, now is the time to look at the entire systems offered by the various manufacturers - before you make your first purchase. Lot's of decision criteria can/should be a part of the decision process and most of these can be done with no cash output at all:

• Look at the lenses that are available. Determine quality and fit to your purpose. Are they available in quantity?
• Look at the flash systems. The flashes offered by the camera manufacturers are not interchangable. In addition, each manufacturer looks at various aspects of the "correct flash exposure" differently. Which way works for you?
• Hold the camera bodies in you hand - with a decently "heavy" lens on board. How does it feel? Look at the controls. Does the arrangement and functionality of the controls make sense to you? Or, do you find one set completely cumbersome?
• Look at the sensor (not physically ). What kinds of photography are you going to do. Some sensors do better jobs of rendering color. Others handle/limit the noise generated in low light situations.
• What about legacy lenses. Yep, there are more than a couple of new cameras that take older lenses just fine. And, some of these older pieces of glass have no match in the current market. Is that of interest to you?

The above is over-kill for most decisions, but it should give you an idea of what you can do right now to decide on the camera that is right for you. And my point is that all this can be done for free!

Mike02

kashi_takashi wrote:

So I was thinking of getting a good SLR Camera for mostly personal use but I will do some professional photography some time soon with my friends. So my question is what's a good camera for a person who has a limited budget and prefers a canon camera. Feel free to recommend a different company but state the reason why for your recommendation and it can't be "it just rock !!!!1!!"

XS/XSi, and buy a 50mm f/1.8 Lens, you wont regret it.

Mike02

swintonphoto wrote:

I would recommend looking also at Olympus cameras. Their DSLR's are more feature filled for the price than Canon's. Also, The lens lineup for Olympus is fantastic. One of their primary benefits is having slightly smaller bodies with the same capabilities of other brands. These three reasons were enough to sell me

Their lenses are nice, but often more expensive than other manufacturer's counterparts; I would recommend sticking with canon, especially because of the op's affinity for it.

Also, canon's noise control in their professional cameras are almost as much of a stop, as you'd gain with the more expensive olympus lenses, so it all evens out; and if you really like low depth of field, you should just shoot primes, its alot easier (and cheaper ;p).

kashi_takashi

Ahh the choices, so the two brands i should be looking for is olympus and canon?

Scott_Quier

kashi_takashi wrote:

Ahh the choices, so the two brands i should be looking for is olympus and canon?

Or Nikon. Or Sony. And it seems to me there are a couple of others still in the field.

Ahh rrrggggg - the choices!! Ain't it great!

kashi_takashi

Yes they are just lovely