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Noob beginner looking for advice…
:wave
I have migrated this way via direction from my fellow riders over at a sister site called ADVrider. Outside of point and shoot cameras, I have ZERO knowledge of the art and craft called photography. I am very eager to start learning and am looking for direction on where to begin as I embark on this new hobby.
I currently have an old Nikon Coolpix 990 that I know how to power up, point, and shoot. That will change soon as I am researching the good deals to be had on a Canon EOS 20D with low actuations as a starter body.
What would one recommend to accompany this body for starters in terms of a lens, flash, and or accessories? I am very active outdoors with camping, hiking, motorcycling and also attend a lot of my nieces and nephews sporting events.
Also, any recommended books, courses, different camera body, or sites in where one can establish a solid foundation on which to build upon would be greatly appreciated.:thumb
:ear
I have migrated this way via direction from my fellow riders over at a sister site called ADVrider. Outside of point and shoot cameras, I have ZERO knowledge of the art and craft called photography. I am very eager to start learning and am looking for direction on where to begin as I embark on this new hobby.
I currently have an old Nikon Coolpix 990 that I know how to power up, point, and shoot. That will change soon as I am researching the good deals to be had on a Canon EOS 20D with low actuations as a starter body.
What would one recommend to accompany this body for starters in terms of a lens, flash, and or accessories? I am very active outdoors with camping, hiking, motorcycling and also attend a lot of my nieces and nephews sporting events.
Also, any recommended books, courses, different camera body, or sites in where one can establish a solid foundation on which to build upon would be greatly appreciated.:thumb
:ear
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Your profile suggests you are considering a 20D. The standard advise is to suggest deciding whether you are a Canonian or a Nikonian. That is, examine each system carefully before you decide, because you will be in that system on a semi-permanent basis.
A 20D is a fine camera that will take excellent pictures - I still own one, and my wife has one as well, so I'm not just talking here. For a newby to photography with a DSLR, I would suggest the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 Di as a very good starter lens - inexpensive, small, reasonably fast aperture, nice zoom range, and very good optical quality. That is the lens I started with on a 10D several years ago. On a 20D, it will be quite capable of nice 13 x 19 inch prints.
As a fellow rider, I can tell you that my 20D or my G5, has been over Hagerman Pass, Old Monarch Pass, and all over New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and Utah on 2 wheels, and it still keeps on tickin'.
I would suggest you do some reading on basic photography theory, so that you can shoot in Manual mode or Av mode, and not depend on the Green Modes to make exposure decisions for you. To truly get the most out of a DSLR, you need to understand apertures, shutter speed, and how to use the reflected light meter that comes with your camera.
Once you are comfortable shooting with the 20D, you may want to explore Photoshop and what it offers a photographer in terms of color balance, and image enhancement. Photoshop will NOT make lousy pictures good, despite what a lot of folks seem to think, but it will help make very good images even better. Out of focus images will not be made sharp by PhotoShop, but crisp images will look razor sharp after good photo editing.
Learning all there is to learn about photography, and digital image editing is a fairly big undertaking that may take years and years to truly master.
Most of the folks here have been learning for years and years.
Welcome to dgrin, fellow Hoosier.
Hang around here and you will find lots to learn and try. Read the Tutorials at the top of the page here on dgrin for a start.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
I moved your thread to Cameras, since Technique is about shooting technique, not so much gear.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
As for a book, I've seen many recommend understanding exposure.
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Updated/dp/0817463003/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200283783&sr=8-1
Good luck
I'm new to the community but not quite as new to photography. I've been shooting dSLR for a little over a year. I currently use a 400d. I can highly recommend it, especially since the prices on them new have fallen.
If you choose to go with the Canon platform, I would suggest a book by Charlotte K. Lowrie on your specific camera body. I have her 400d edition and it covers the functions of it fairly thoroughly, as well as quite a few tips.
I can also suggest Tamron's 17-50/2.8 as a GREAT walk around lense for the things you described above (minus the sporting events as it's too short). It is wide and fast enough for indoor family portraits and has enough reach on a crop body for daily BS shooting. IMHO, it produces images just as nice as Canon's 17-55/2.8.
http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
Put the camera down, and walk away slowly. Then run. You don't want to get caught in the incremental farkilization that is photography!
That being said...
Advice #2: You get what you pay for in your gear. The caveat to that is that you might not notice the difference in quality, in which case it doesn't matter! Example: you can get lenses covering a certain range that cost thousands, and you can cover the same range for low hundreds. IF you think you are sticking with this hobby, spend the most you can on a single piece of gear at a time as you will grow into it, and it's cheaper to do it that way than buy the lesser Q gear, then buy the same gear again at a higher quality once you start to notice the flaws. Sure you can sell the first one to recoup costs, but...YMMV.
Advice #3: A nice all-rounder lens, like the previously mentioned Sigma 18-70mm, is a good choice. In rough terms think of 50mm as "normal;" anything smaller than that is "wide-angle" or landscape and anything longer than that is zoom or telephoto. Therefore an 18-70 will cover great landscapes to portraiture and some telephoto work. Not really a wildlife lens, but I haven't yet found myself stalking game once I'm off bike. Plus an 18-70 is usually a pretty compact lens that fits well in the tank bag, it's a simple construction, it's common, and usually inexpensive to get a hold of.
#4: Read this website, all the stickies, and ask your questions to the search function, google, then the public. Take lots of shots. Post them!
VI
Looks as if you all have put me on the right path with the Canon 20D, all around starter lens in the 18-70, have my son check Purdue University for any courses that may be available, read, snap, snap, read some more, snap, snap, and do it again.
As with the bikes, I can see this farkilization becoming addicting. While I agree with spending money on the good stuff theory, I may have a problem getting a $1,500 lens past the wife as a nOOb. :wow
I also have both of these on the way as well.
and
Again, thanks for the guidance!
That first book i dont know of but is on my list to order, the second one is a must have. I dont know if i agree about the spend big first time arguements.. for me, photography has and still is a big learning curve. finding your place, needs, likes and dislikes develops while you shoot and you find yourself doing one thing more often than others. For example, although i shoot just about everything i never shoot sports or go birding, so extremely fast glass isn't as important as when i would shoot sports or birds. had i bought the best lens available as my first lens i would have a lens that is overweight and overpriced for my needs which i then had to sell. I recently purchased a second hand tamron 28-75 and, contrasting other people, dont find that it is 'too long on the wide end' for me. i think the regular 17/18 mm is too long on the wide end so i've purchased a 10-20 to give me the 'oomph'. together they make a perfect match.
The glass i've bought second hand i've managed to sell for just about the same price, give or take 10 euro's and has allowed me to figure out what i really need and wheter i am serious about investing so much money in my hobby.
just another viewpoint for you
good luck!
http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/