Camera for wife

carmel6942

I am looking for some info on a good camera for my wife. She currently is using a canon S2IS. She is not a professional but she is taking some very good pictures with this camera. She has recently been offered a job taking pictures for a local horse club during their points events. I am looking for a beginner digital dslr camera that she can use with out a large learning curve. I am wanting to find out about specific models, brand is not real important. I would like to be able to upgrade later as needed migrating the old lenses to the new bodys. I know this is like asking what computer is better a mac or windows sorry for that. I know that I will have to take her to the local camera shop to get a feel for what she likes, so the model suggestions are important. Pros and Cons would be appreciated. These shows are both inside and outside in good and bad weather.

Thanks
Carl

Phyxius

Hey Carl!
Welcome to DGrin

Since you talk about moving lenses and bodies I'm assuming that you (and your wife) are ready to move up to a digital SLR. I feel that this is a must simply because I made the change myself last year. I had always used my old film SLR for important events, but relied on my trusty point and shots for most shows. Well, people started paying me and I starting getting contract work for companies dealing with Olympic and world famous horse people and my point and shot wasn't going to cut it much longer. I upgraded and I haven't looked back! I think you and your wife are going to be very happy once you get over the start up fees. :

I went the Nikon route even though my film SLR is a Canon. The decided factor for me, was money. At the time I could afford the Nikon and some extra goodies OR I could get a Canon and no goodies. I'm greedy. What brand you choose is up to you. Each have their own following and you were spot on bringing up the Mac vs Windows debate. And, I leave that to the others. So, I went inexpensive for my first go...the Nikon D50. The extra MP weren't a huge deal for me I knew I could get upclose and personal and I'm not planning on printing over 20x30. The only complaints I have about the D50 are the poor performance at high ISOs (but since I've started shooting RAW and with a faster lens I've not had as many problems) and the fact that there is not backlight when changing settings for night photography (not an issue shooting horse shows though). Pros, user friendly, ergonomically compatible to me, inexpensive, battery lasts for 1000+ shots.

What I can suggest...
For indoor - A speedlite (external flash) and The Better Beamer
It will increase your flash power by about 2 stops and is recommended for telephoto lenses 300mm and longer.

Also, one of the nicest mid-range lenses for both Canon and Nikon are their 70-200mm f2.8 VR(Nikon) or IS(Canon). They're expensive, around $1800 and kinda heavy 3.2 pds; but the VR or IS allow for handholding which is a must for equestrian sports. (I shot at Rolex this past year and I think one photog had a monopod.) The 70-200mm range is a bit limiting though. It works well for a 20x60 dressage arena and for a standard stadium course, but if your wife won't be close to the action it may not have enough reach. Conversly if she's right up on the action the 70mm may not be wide enough. It's done a nice job for me and I came down from the 70-300mm lens.

Also, crude yet cheap and effective....raingear for your camera if you don't want to spend the money or you forget it at home...a plastic shopping bag duct taped to your lens hood works in a pinch.

Mac Swenson

While I have very limited experiance with Nikon gear(some of my friends use it) I dont think you can go wrong with either Nikon or Canon. All my digital gear is Canon and I havn't regretted it once. My primary camera is a 20D, which I have found to be an exceptional camera. I would have upgraded log ago, but just cant bring my self to not be using my trusty 20D. Canon's entry level DLSR is the Rebel XTi, and from myexperiance with it(a friend owns one and swears by it) It was amazing. You get 10 megapixels, which is great. Its priced very well, under 1000 for the body only(I think) As for lenses, I shoot mostly outdoor feild sports, so I know where to st up, and what limitations my gear has. I have a 70-200 f/2.8 without the IS, and for sports the IS is totaly unnecessary in just about any case. Case in point for the IS, if I'm shooting at a shutter speed where the IS makes a difference, its way too dark, and either time to bump the ISO up, or get some strobes set up(indoors only) Lenses are sometimes very hard to recomend just for the fact that some people might not be right next to the action, or they like to shoot really tight etc.. So untill you are ready to invest in a 'L' type lense(dont know what Nikon's equivilent it) you can give the brands like Sigma a shot.

Which every route you choose, try not to go off the deep end too fast. I bought the 70-200 f/2.8 to start, then within a month and a half I had bought a 300 f/2.8 IS and its been a wild journey since them. And other than when I see the recipts for them, I haven't had a single regret. I've also made a nice chunk of change with them.

carmel6942

Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate all the information you gave me. For the shows is there any filters she would need to help take better pictures. I am a real noob to photography other than point and shoot cameras. BTW Christina great pictures on smug mug. It also looks like you both are using the 70-200 lens, this must be real versitile.

Carl

Tee Why

consider the "system" as well, consisting of lenses/flashes/accessories that are available.

Hence I'd recommend a Nikon or a Canon as they are the most versatile and have the most available accessories and bodies to upgrade into.

A Nikon D40, D50, D70s, or D80 would be nice along with a lens like a 80-200 f2.8.

A canon Rebel XT, Rebel XTi, or a 30D with a 70-200 f2.8 lens would be good too.

Phyxius

carmel6942 wrote:

Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate all the information you gave me. For the shows is there any filters she would need to help take better pictures. I am a real noob to photography other than point and shoot cameras. BTW Christina great pictures on smug mug. It also looks like you both are using the 70-200 lens, this must be real versitile.

Carl

Carl,
Sorry it took a while for me to get back to this thread. I forgot about it . (That's not nearly as bad as showing up a day early for a clinic with a Grand Prix rider....which I did this weekend. Oops. I'm not old enough to be going senile. )

I usually use a UV filter on all of my lenses all the time. I can't afford to buy new ones if they get scratched, so I spend the extra money for a good UV filter and use it as surface protection for the lens. I do have a circular polarizer and it'll help cut glare off of non-metal surfaces like water and glass as well as help saturate colors when it's very sunny outside, but I only have a CP on my small (18-55mm) lens. Otherwise I personally feel that you're better off without specialty filters.

Thanks Carl, for the compliment! I truly just got the 70-200 f2.8 and it hasn't gotten a real horse show workout yet. I love it though and I have a feeling that my 70-300 4-5.6 will never see the light of day. I should just sell it and use the money to pay off a bit of the 2.8 lens. : I just posted a bunch of pictures in the "sports" section, they were taken with the 70-300mm lens. People rave about fixed focal length cameras, but I really need the zoom.

You'll have to let us know what you guys decide on and I'd love to see pictures!

Take Care,
Christina

Seneca

carmel6942 wrote:

I am looking for some info on a good camera for my wife. She currently is using a canon S2IS. She is not a professional but she is taking some very good pictures with this camera. She has recently been offered a job taking pictures for a local horse club during their points events. I am looking for a beginner digital dslr camera that she can use with out a large learning curve. I am wanting to find out about specific models, brand is not real important. I would like to be able to upgrade later as needed migrating the old lenses to the new bodys. I know this is like asking what computer is better a mac or windows sorry for that. I know that I will have to take her to the local camera shop to get a feel for what she likes, so the model suggestions are important. Pros and Cons would be appreciated. These shows are both inside and outside in good and bad weather.

Thanks
Carl

Hummm I would suggest a Nikon D50 - JMHO.

carmel6942

Thanks again everybody. We have decided to go the Nikon way. Christina had it right with the extra goodies for the same price . We have been looking at the d50 and initially the d70 which I was told by our local shop is no longer made . The shops suggestions on lenses were a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and a 70-300mm f/4-5.6. Now I just have to wait for uncle sam to open my yearly savings account.

Carl

gpphotos

how much are you willing to spend on lenses? a good alternative to that nikon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 is the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8. for an f2.8 lens its fairly inexpensive, new they are 400ish. i bought mine from a dgrinner for $350 used. (thanks erik!) its been working pretty well for me in moderately low light...when i need to shoot in really low light i pop on the 50mm f1.8. Everyone here should have one of those, they are only 100 bucks. i find myself using it to shoot all sorts of stuff.

i also have the nikon 70-200 VR. i dont even turn on VR when im shooting sports...i got it mainly to shoot theatre and some outdoor portraits where im moving around too much to carry a tripod. one plus is that it is one of the sharpest lenses nikon makes. and it focuses very quickly. and it has nice bokeh. and it looks cool. did i mention that it was sharp?

ok i'll stop now.

Phyxius

carmel6942 wrote:

Thanks again everybody. We have decided to go the Nikon way. Christina had it right with the extra goodies for the same price . We have been looking at the d50 and initially the d70 which I was told by our local shop is no longer made . The shops suggestions on lenses were a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and a 70-300mm f/4-5.6. Now I just have to wait for uncle sam to open my yearly savings account.

Carl

Yes, the D50 is "retired", some places may still have one in stock, but they were discontinued in favor of the D40. The 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 is the kit lens, it's nice.

The Nikkor 70-300m f/4-5.6 is okay. Check This Thread that I posted in sports the other day. All of these were with the D50 and the 70-300mm f4-5.6. (As were 95% of all of the pictures in my smugmug account.) Since I bought the 70-200 f/2.8 I never use it any more. Mine's still in EXCELLENT condition. I bought it in March '06 and I baby my equipment since I can't afford to buy replacements. I'd be willing to sell it to you. I have to look at prices, but I know it'll be cheaper than the store. I take some pictures of the lens and send them to you if you'd like. Or, if that's not kosher I can post it in the flea market. I have the box and all original warranty papers. But, the 70-200 is just so SHARP and for the money I paid for it, it's getting USED!

If you're shopping at one of the Ritz family stores like Ritz, Wolf, Kits, Inkley's or The Camera Shop, they will also probably try to sell you on Quantaray lens. Just say no. If you have any questions about lenses post them here, the people on this forum are great, super knowledgable and most have used the more popular lenses.

tsk1979

If its lots of motion.....
Get the pentax K10D or K100D depending upon how much you want to spend.
IS is really important for evening telephoto motion shots.

Art Scott

tsk1979 wrote:

Get the pentax K10D or K100D depending upon how much you want to spend.
IS is really important for evening telephoto motion shots.

Or the Sony Alpha 100....I have been using the Konica Minolta 7D's for quite a while and not sure if I can give up built into the body IS....that means evey lens I use is stabilized if I push the switch up on the body......

BeachBill

carmel6942 wrote:

I am looking for some info on a good camera for my wife. She currently is using a canon S2IS. She is not a professional but she is taking some very good pictures with this camera. She has recently been offered a job taking pictures for a local horse club during their points events. I am looking for a beginner digital dslr camera that she can use with out a large learning curve.

If "without a large learning curve" is the key point here, I would recommend the Canon Rebel XTi. The controls/menus are VERY similar to the S2 so she should be very comfortable with shooting right out of the box.

I've got a bit of experience here as I was in the same boat last year. I had an S2 and was ready to move on to a dSLR. I looked at Canon, Nikon and Sony. All are very capable devices, however I decided to go with the Canon 30D (The XTi was not available yet) because I was already familar and comfortable with the Canon controls/menu system.

carmel6942

gpphotos wrote:

how much are you willing to spend on lenses? a good alternative to that nikon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 is the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8. for an f2.8 lens its fairly inexpensive

I have about 600.00 that I am going to be able to use for lenses. I would like to get at least 2. The nikon ones were what the sales person suggested, I am open to suggestions though.
If I understand the numbers right the f2.8 is a faster aperature than the f/3.5-5.6, right? So I should be able to get better looking pictures with less available light.

Carl

Phyxius

carmel6942 wrote:

If I understand the numbers right the f2.8 is a faster aperature than the f/3.5-5.6, right? So I should be able to get better looking pictures with less available light.

Correct. The amount of light is inversely related to the aperture number. So, the smaller the number the WIDER open the aperture, the more light = faster shutter speeds.

Conversely, a bigger number means NARROWER opening of the aperture, less light, and slower shutter speeds.

Depth of field is ALSO related to aperture. Bigger apertures (smaller number, bigger opening) have a more narrow depth of field, which means less of the entire image is in focus.

**editted to add these:
This is hardly scientific as I handheld and just put the camera on Aperture mode, but I figured they'd give you an idea of what different apertures do. It's rather dark in "my office", hence the high ISO choosen by AUTO ISO.

F2.8, 1/60, ISO 800 @ 200mm Full EXIF Here



F7.1, 1/60, ISO 800 @ 200mm - Full EXIF here


F13, 1/60, ISO 800 @ 200mm Full EXIF Here


(I'm really not sure why the second one is brighter than the first, it shouldn't be.) But, this shows depth of field difference.

Oh and I see a dust speck on my sensor, oops! Huh, I also added an "e", which is now deleted :

Phyxius

Also, B&H still has the D50 in stock. -
D50

S_Leeper

Bummer to hear only the d40 as the low end. It won't AF many of the older AF lenses.

Also, if on a budget consider the sigma 70-200 f2.8. Doesn't have vr, but is very sharp... can get for either canon or nikon mount.

Might also consider buying a used body from a reputable dealer (that also allows returns if problems) like B&H or KEH.

The fact that she was comfortable with a canon would make me think a canon in her future would be an easier thing (I'm a big fan of easy).

carmel6942

Phyxius wrote:

Also, B&H still has the D50 in stock. -
D50

Thanks again. I just went and looked. If all works out good we are going to go with either the d50 or the d80 most likely the d80. waiting on taxes to be finalized and a last minute snafu is causing lots of problems.

carmel6942

We finally did it . Today we went out and got our first dslr. We finally decided on the d50. What a difference from our old Point and Shoot. Thanks for all the advice and ideas. Once we get some practice we will put up some photos.

Carl

Phyxius

carmel6942 wrote:

We finally did it . Today we went out and got our first dslr. We finally decided on the d50. What a difference from our old Point and Shoot. Thanks for all the advice and ideas. Once we get some practice we will put up some photos.

Carl

Congrats! You guys will love it! I can't wait to see more horsey pictures in sports. I posted another thread there the other day, Horses-Hunters and it got one response.

Troutstreaming also posted some horse-y pictures, from a fox hunt. They're HERE.

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