From South Africa to B&H

chopsky

Hey guys,

In 2 weeks time Im going to be leaving sunny South Africa to visit a less sunny and colder USA. I will be in New York, and while there I plan on buying my first SLR. I'm pretty darn excited about this as I've wanted to buy one for ages, but the prices here in SA are DAMN expensive.

For obvious reasons Im going to head down to B&H straight away to hopefully make a great purchase. I've been told its the #1 place to go for camera-gear and on a side-note, being Jewish myself (coming from a city with quite a small jewish population), I hear its quite an experience too

Here is what I've got down so far for my first purchase:
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel XT(350D)
Lenses: Canon 50mm F/1.8, Sigma 10mm-20mm OR Canon 10mm-22mm (not sure which yet).
As far as filters go, I'm not yet sure which would be useful to me and would appreciate whatever recommendations. I LOVE shooting landscapes as I live in a city that lends itself to this. I also want to start with some photojournalism.
I hear that UV, Polarizing and Graduating Grey Filters are the way to go.
Not sure which though.
I've got a pretty limited budget so dont want to overspend obviously.
I also need the obvious accessories: 2gb compactflash (big enough?), extra battery? handstrap and neckstrap and a carry case. I already have a tripod.

Guys, any recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated and any advice on how to secure the best possible price would also help a lot.

THANKS!
Grant

jdryan3

chopsky wrote:

Hey guys,

In 2 weeks time Im going to be leaving sunny South Africa to visit a less sunny and colder USA. I will be in New York, and while there I plan on buying my first SLR. I'm pretty darn excited about this as I've wanted to buy one for ages, but the prices here in SA are DAMN expensive.

For obvious reasons Im going to head down to B&H straight away to hopefully make a great purchase. I've been told its the #1 place to go for camera-gear and on a side-note, being Jewish myself (coming from a city with quite a small jewish population), I hear its quite an experience too

Here is what I've got down so far for my first purchase:
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel XT(350D)
Lenses: Canon 50mm F/1.8, Sigma 10mm-20mm OR Canon 10mm-22mm (not sure which yet).
As far as filters go, I'm not yet sure which would be useful to me and would appreciate whatever recommendations. I LOVE shooting landscapes as I live in a city that lends itself to this. I also want to start with some photojournalism.
I hear that UV, Polarizing and Graduating Grey Filters are the way to go.
Not sure which though.
I've got a pretty limited budget so dont want to overspend obviously.
I also need the obvious accessories: 2gb compactflash (big enough?), extra battery? handstrap and neckstrap and a carry case. I already have a tripod.

Guys, any recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated and any advice on how to secure the best possible price would also help a lot.

THANKS!
Grant

As you know they are closed Saturdays, but they also observe all the holy days. Check their hours online. They will be closed for Purim on March 4th. Also I think if you order it onsite and they ship it to you, no sales tax. You carry it out, sales tax. Obviously you need to compare shipping to SA versus walking out. Good Luck and happy shopping

ballentphoto

jdryan3 wrote:

As you know they are closed Saturdays, but they also observe all the holy days. Check their hours online. They will be closed for Purim on March 4th. Also I think if you order it onsite and they ship it to you, no sales tax. You carry it out, sales tax. Obviously you need to compare shipping to SA versus walking out. Good Luck and happy shopping

Forgive my ignorance but how long does Purim last? I know that there is a holiday where they close for a week, just not sure if that is the one?

chopsky

jdryan3 wrote:

As you know they are closed Saturdays, but they also observe all the holy days. Check their hours online. They will be closed for Purim on March 4th. Also I think if you order it onsite and they ship it to you, no sales tax. You carry it out, sales tax. Obviously you need to compare shipping to SA versus walking out. Good Luck and happy shopping

Yeh, Im aware of the Sabbath (being jewish) :P
And I'll be only be there 18th-25th so Purim wont affect me.
Im going to be in Vegas for 2 weeks after, so maybe i'll order it onsite and get it shipped there.

Thanks for that tip, but yeh, my main concern at the moment is exactly WHAT I should be buying.

And to answer ballentphoto, they will only be closed on Sunday the 4th for Purim. It is not a week long festival.

esc2476

B&H has a link on their web site which specifies which days they are open/closed.

ballentphoto

chopsky wrote:

And to answer ballentphoto, they will only be closed on Sunday the 4th for Purim. It is not a week long festival.

Thank you chopsky.

ziggy53

For vista type landscapes, the super-wide zooms you mentioned are very nice.

I wouldn't mess with graduated filters because more effective results are obtained in digital post-processing, possibly in conjunction with multiple exposures. See this thread for some great samples and hints:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=52631

For photojournalism, it depends upon the subject. Low-light lenses, like the 50mm, f1.8 II, are rather required for interior work, but longer focal lengths are often used for more discrete imaging at a distance. It would help if you were more specific about your wishes.

chopsky

For photojournalism, it depends upon the subject. Low-light lenses, like the 50mm, f1.8 II, are rather required for interior work, but longer focal lengths are often used for more discrete imaging at a distance. It would help if you were more specific about your wishes.

Well, to be honest, Im not entirely sure about what I want to make photos of (bar landscapes). I've never had control of my camera before, so things like aperture etc werent available to me. I may find that with these features at my disposal, I'll want to make photos of things I never thought I'd previously be interested in. Id love to start doing portraits and shots of objects where I can control the depth of field (hence why I was looking at the 50mm which is cheap and has a wide aperture).
Ultimately though, I'm pretty new to the world of photography so it's rather difficult for me to say exactly what I want to photograph right off the bat.
A zoom telephoto lens would be great as well, but as I said, Im trying to keep within my budget and maybe I can get the zoom at a later stage.

LiquidAir

ziggy53 wrote:

For vista type landscapes, the super-wide zooms you mentioned are very nice.

I wouldn't mess with graduated filters because more effective results are obtained in digital post-processing, possibly in conjunction with multiple exposures. See this thread for some great samples and hints:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=52631

Using multiple exposure exposures to extend dynamic range requires a tripod which I didn't see on your list of things to buy. If you are dead set against tripods or want to extend dynamic range on moving scenes (say, trees on a windy day), a graduated ND filter would be useful. That said, a tripod is a far more general purpose accessory and I would suggest that if you don't have one you should put it high on your list.

chopsky

LiquidAir wrote:

Using multiple exposure exposures to extend dynamic range requires a tripod which I didn't see on your list of things to buy. If you are dead set against tripods or want to extend dynamic range on moving scenes (say, trees on a windy day), a graduated ND filter would be useful. That said, a tripod is a far more general purpose accessory and I would suggest that if you don't have one you should put it high on your list.

It is in my post but it isnt under my list of things to buy, because I already own one.
That said, should I still get a graduated ND?

Edit: More importantly, am I purchasing all the right stuff otherwise, and Im still really unsure as to which filters I need. Also, do B&H tend to throw things like accessories (memory, extra battery...) in when youre buying a camera, lenses and filters?

RedSox

chopsky wrote:

It is in my post but it isnt under my list of things to buy, because I already own one.
That said, should I still get a graduated ND?

Edit: More importantly, am I purchasing all the right stuff otherwise, and Im still really unsure as to which filters I need. Also, do B&H tend to throw things like accessories (memory, extra battery...) in when youre buying a camera, lenses and filters?

You might want to invest a general purpose walkaround lens, if you don't plan to buy the kit lens.

Tammy 17-50 f2.8 and Siggy 18-50 f2.8 all had lots of good review. If you need a bit longer reach and don't mind the variable aperture, than the Sigma 17-70 is also a good candidate. I hate to use the onboad flash light. A hotshoe mount external flash will be nice if your budget is alowed. You can buy a Canon 430EX or Sigma alternative.

Eric

chopsky

RedSox wrote:

You might want to invest a general purpose walkaround lens, if you don't plan to buy the kit lens.

Tammy 17-50 f2.8 and Siggy 18-50 f2.8 all had lots of good review. If you need a bit longer reach and don't mind the variable aperture, than the Sigma 17-70 is also a good candidate. I hate to use the onboad flash light. A hotshoe mount external flash will be nice if your budget is alowed. You can buy a Canon 430EX or Sigma alternative.

Eric

Yeh, I dont want to go overboard with buying things just yet. Im hoping the 50mm is a good enough walk-around lens (and the wide-angle when I need it)? If I find in the months after having the camera, that Im truly LOVING it and Im making steady progress, I'll look into buying further lenses/accessories.

RedSox

chopsky wrote:

Yeh, I dont want to go overboard with buying things just yet. Im hoping the 50mm is a good enough walk-around lens (and the wide-angle when I need it)? If I find in the months after having the camera, that Im truly LOVING it and Im making steady progress, I'll look into buying further lenses/accessories.

50mm on a 1.6 crop camera has FOV equivalent to 80mm on a normal film camera. It might be a bit too long and restrictive for work around. The 17mm is about 27mm FOV on a camera. Since it is hard to get a cheap ultra wide 17ish prime, you will probably need a decent zoom that I mentioned above. If you are comfortable just using 50mm focal length on a film camera, than you might want to buy a 28mm or 35mm prime on a 1.6 crop dslr to get similar FOV.

Eric

Tee Why

As for the lenses, if budget is a limiting factor, I think the XT is a good idea.
I would recommend the Sigma 10-20 over the Canon as it's cheaper and the optics are very close.

Unless you want to do something very specific with the 50mm lens, I'd skip it. You may want to consider the kit lens for walking around as well.

As for filters, if you shoot landscapes, a circular polarizer would be a good idea for the Sigma 10-20. If you want a UV filter for protection, then that's another one to get. Hoya makes good ones for a good price. As for other filters, wait till you know what they do and that's what you want to do, instead of blindly buying them and not using it later.

Sandisk CF cards are getting cheaper, if you don't get the latest ones, something like a 2GB ultra II card, I don't think it's as expensive as the extremem IV's. I think a 2GB should hold about 220 RAW shots.

As for accessories, Sterlingtek makes a cheaper version of the battery for a lot less.

Good luck.

W.W. Webster

chopsky wrote:

Here is what I've got down so far for my first purchase:
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel XT(350D)

As a previous overseas visitor to B&H, I can confirm it would be a very good place to spend your money. There's heaps of stock and heaps of expertise, and the prices are very competitive. Just allow plenty of time to look around - it's a veritable department store of photography!

I haven't taken a close interest in the 1.6x Canon equipment specs lately, apart from holding and a looking over a 400D briefly. However I'm puzzled why someone would plan to buy the 350D now when it has been obsoleted by the 400D for some time now. Aren't you just buying into yesterday's technology?

chopsky

W.W. Webster wrote:

As a previous overseas visitor to B&H, I can confirm it would be a very good place to spend your money. There's heaps of stock and heaps of expertise, and the prices are very competitive. Just allow plenty of time to look around - it's a veritable department store of photography!

I haven't taken a close interest in the 1.6x Canon equipment specs lately, apart from holding and a looking over a 400D briefly. However I'm puzzled why someone would plan to buy the 350D now when it has been obsoleted by the 400D for some time now. Aren't you just buying into yesterday's technology?

In way...except 'yesterday's technology isnt MUCH worse than 'today's. And it helps with the budget.
Not sure how much looking around I'm going to do. Im basically going to hand the guy a list of stuff I want and ask his opinion on it. (assuming I can do that). I'll probably spend a little bit of time looking at what else is on offer.

Richard

chopsky wrote:

Edit: More importantly, am I purchasing all the right stuff otherwise, and Im still really unsure as to which filters I need.

If you are on a limited budget, I wouldn't spend anything at all on filters yet. An external flash, extra memory and better glass would be better uses of your money for now. Also, don't forget that you will need to buy software if you don't already have it. Photoshop CS-2 is the standard and it's around $600 unless you have a discount. After you have gained some experience with your new equipment and a better idea of what you will be shooting, you will have no trouble understanding what to get next--affording it may be another matter.

Cheers,