loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Thinking about getting my first DSLR. At the moment, I've got a Nikon Coolpix S5100, a lovely little point 'n' shoot... but Athena is getting too fast for me. I have NO pictures of her outside in the garden or the trails because she just won't sit still long enough and my camera really isn't cut out for it. So I'm thinking about saving up for a Nikon D3100. I've read some reviews that it's great for an introductory DSLR and it's decently priced considering... I've no doubts that it'll be quite the step up from my little point 'n' shoot. Although it's cheap compared to others, I still kinda need a push to get one as it would be a stress on my wallet... U3XNTb4BJAo Tell me I need this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim&sky Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 ever thought of the canon eos 1000f or the 450d ? bought my 450d (ex currys demo) at £315.00 inc delivery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 ever thought of the canon eos 1000f or the 450d ? bought my 450d (ex currys demo) at £315.00 inc delivery really? i'm looking right now online and the canon 450d looks to be $686 (£480) online... the nikon d3100 is selling for $649 (£453) at some online stores. i think no matter which one i go for, i'd consider it one of my bigger purchases. there's no doubt that once i do have one, i'll be incredibly happy but it's always hard for me to justify spending money on things like this though. i think i just need to hear more about how dslrs are way better... life changing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 i think i just need to hear more about how dslrs are way better... life changing? IMAGE QUALITY. Although your Point and shoot may be 12Mp and so should give high quality images. the 12Mp refers to the image capturing sensor (CCD) inside the camera. Sooooooo. . . . If the lens in front of the CCD (sensor) is average or poor then all the megapixels in the world won't give you a good image. Most compact cameras have average to Ok lenses that have to try to cope wide variety of photo taking situations. With a DSLR you have much higher quality lenses in front of the sensor and therefore MUCH better quality images result Nuff said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 YES! that's what i want to hear. the more and more i look into it, the more convinced i am. though... the lens options are OVERWHELMING to say the least. the camera i want comes with a kit but i was going to opt to get a telephoto lens? i've read here that it's the telephoto lens that would be the best option for action shots. i mean, sure i'll take some landscapes, portraits, and close ups but would i be correct in assuming that the standard lens could handle those just fine? i figured if i shell out any extra for a lens, it'd be for action shots because, well, i have a SIBERIAN HUSKY! lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 YES, I would agree with getting a DSLR. I had this dilema only last month where i couldn't decide what to get, a good compact or DSLR. I ended up going for an 'inbetween' camera and got a Fujifilm s4000. Don't get me wrong the camera is great and it takes great snaps but it isn't a DSLR. The main feature that is missing from the funjifilm is 'manual focus' I will probably look at upgrading next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 i also want to take a photography class, i'll kinda need a dslr. but now it's just a matter of funds and priorities. recently i've given up parts of my bjd hobby so i can sell one of my dolls for $500 to go towards the cam. i don't know why i prefer nikon though. on another forum, there has been an ongoing thread entitled "Nikon vs Canon" ... i don't think nikon is better or that canon is bad. i just like how nikons look and feel... but whatever camera i look at, i keep going back to the D3100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marley & Lumikkis Mummy Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 I have a pentax K-X and I love it, Fantastic camera and I only paid £350 for it. I paid £120 for a 70-300 tamron lens for it too. Here are some of my test shots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidjk Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 if you cant afford an expensive camera (i cant sadly) then look at reviews for digital cameras, also look for one with a high speed or sport mode. my pictures come from kodak cameras that are about £150 range. check out my site for my 2 girls http://www.blog.co.uk/community/profile_photos.php?user=davidking thats all my pics i realise with a slr camera i could do so much better, but not bad for point and shoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid_Wolf Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 I have a Fujifilm HS10 bridge camera, its very similar to an SLR, its one of the higher end bridges, and has manual focus as well as autofocus. I love mine .JPG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidjk Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 look on ebay you can pick up dslr that are a few years old for a good price. i.e. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CANON-10D-SLR-DIGITAL-CAMERA-28-80-LENS-/250839280078?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_DigitalCameras_DigitalCameras_JN&hash=item3a672fa9ce#ht_500wt_1156 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueWolf Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Do you buy it as kit? Sometimes you only buy the body and have to buy the lens/lenses separately. I personally have an Canon 1000D Kit with two lenses: 18-55mm & 75-300mm. I really wanted to have the 300mm included as just the 18-55 one doesn't give that much zoom, although it's usually fine for huskies and fast action shots. At that moment it costed me about €500/£440 for the whole kit, and that is CHEAP! But the great thing with DSLRs is that even if you don't want to buy the whole kit, you can always purchase a new lens any time you want. No need to buy a complete new camera! What I learned it that for the quality the lens is more important than the camera. You can buy a very a expensive camera but if you have crap lenses, the quality of the pictures will be bad anyway. You can make great photos with a very cheap camera and great lenses. Edit: And if you're wondering. This are the kinds of pictures I took with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 O_O all of the photos above are amazing... and that's another thing though... i don't want to assume that just because i have a dslr that i'm going to start taking amazing photos. maybe i'm just a bad photographer... Sid, i was so sure you had an slr because i love all your photos and they're soooo... crisp and clean. i'm super jealy. i've emailed the photography instructor to find out what kind of camera i'm supposed to bring. thankfully the class isn't until the fall so i have time to save... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Do you buy it as kit? Sometimes you only buy the body and have to buy the lens/lenses separately. I personally have an Canon 1000D Kit with two lenses: 18-55mm & 75-300mm. I really wanted to have the 300mm included as just the 18-55 one doesn't give that much zoom, although it's usually fine for huskies and fast action shots. At that moment it costed me about €500/£440 for the whole kit, and that is CHEAP! But the great thing with DSLRs is that even if you don't want to buy the whole kit, you can always purchase a new lens any time you want. No need to buy a complete new camera! What I learned it that for the quality the lens is more important than the camera. You can buy a very a expensive camera but if you have crap lenses, the quality of the pictures will be bad anyway. You can make great photos with a very cheap camera and great lenses. Edit: And if you're wondering. This are the kinds of pictures I took with it the Nikon D3100 is a kit with a 18-55 but i can also add the 55-200 lens and if i buy both, i get like a bulk discount of $200. i think the whole total comes out to be less than $800 (€558)... i'd definitely buy different lenses later though. i like the idea of having different lenses for different jobs, it makes the whole thing more exciting! just a bit overwhelming with so many options. you've got some really nice pictures there ^w^ but i just keep coming back to the nikon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueWolf Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Again, it doesn't matter whether you're buying a Nikon or Canon, in the end it's the lens that matters I believe Nikon is cheaper, but Canon has more lenses. I know lots of people always buy the latest stuff from Canon and sell their previous equipment, resulting in lots of relative new and barely used cameras from Canon being sold for less than the original price. I did not follow any photographing classes, I just learned everything by trying it out myself and getting inspired by other photographers. And the DSLR *really* lets you play with all kinds of options and settings. It's not like the DSLR somehow make better photos, it give you the ability to create one, unlike the point and shoot camera's which basically have only one mode: auto mode. If the scenery is great but the camera focusses on the wrong spot and/or has the lighting completely wrong set up you can't do anything about it. With the DLSR you can pretty much fine tune every aspect of your photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 yeah, i'm pretty set on definitely getting one. i do want to take the class, kindof as a formality + college credit! my younger brother was a bit discouraging saying things like, "A good camera is going to cost more than $1,000..." and, "Every girl that gets a SLR thinks she's a professional photographer!" gets on my nerves. but he's my brother, that's his job. it's not like i want to do this for a living. i just want pictures of my puppy where she's not just a white blur across the page... and i do like the options of the slr... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 O_O all of the photos above are amazing... and that's another thing though... i don't want to assume that just because i have a dslr that i'm going to start taking amazing photos. maybe i'm just a bad photographer... i've emailed the photography instructor to find out what kind of camera i'm supposed to bring. thankfully the class isn't until the fall so i have time to save... Part of taking great photos is "capturing the moment", and "being in the right place at the right time" However when you see that "One" fantastic photo, you'll soon realise that the photographer may have taken HUNDREDS of the same scene, but "that one" captured the moment. Also then when you have "that one" a lot of other things like cropping the photo, colour balancing and a bit of photoshop trickery may have been done to make it that extra bit special. here's an example. original and tweaked one is an "Ok" photo, however the second has much more impact. a bit of cropping, adjusting the colour saturation, brightness / contrast and blurring out the background to draw your eye to the action. All of this goes into making an average photo better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriam Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 the differences of the two photos are amazing. two totally different feels from the same photo. i had a photoshop trial that i got to play around with for a while. i actually kindof miss it. but i'm learning that there are a lot of components to a good photo, not just the obvious ones. it's a learning process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 i had a photoshop trial that i got to play around with for a while. i actually kindof miss it... GIMP is an excellent free image editor. not as fully featured as Photoshop but with a bit of practice you can achieve really good results http://www.gimp.org/ and a bunch of tutorials to help you get started http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elyse Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 I would go with the Nikon D90. (The one I have) With the extra money you save, you can buy an awesome lens. Just buy the camera body and forget about the 'stock lens', the stock lenses are usually crappola. Generally, for a good lens, it must cost more than the camera body itself. For example; the lens I have on my Nikon D90 is not that good for night shots (which is why I bought a tripod) but it is super at zooming (mini-telephoto lens) and it's shutter speed can go up to 1/4000th of a second! (That's amazing, and is more than enough to freeze a motorcycle going 200 km/h! And, with my lens, you can shoot macro shots. This is the lens I've got: AF Zoom-Nikkor 24-85mm f2.8-4D IF I think the lens set me back a good $800-900 (CDN) while the Nikon D90 camera body (didn't buy the kit, just the battery charger and the camera body alone) was around $500 (CDN) There's also a very good website that reviews cameras and lenses - it'll help you pick out the camera for your needs. He also tells you how to set up your DLSR correctly in order to get the most realistic shots without much post-processing. Although I forget the URL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim&sky Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 ahhhhhhhhhhh if 1 more person that says "photoshop "or the like id id id sellme camrea lol .....filters are the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 ahhhhhhhhhhh if 1 more person that says "photoshop "or the like id id id sellme camrea lol .....filters are the way LMAO Tim, here's the ultimate filter set up for ya. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Sletten Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Lord almighty!!! You should be able to take a nice photo of the sun with that many UV & polarized filters and not have to worry about frying your eye.:cool: What lens you have on there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Sletten Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 I purchased a Sony A200 little over two years ago to take pics of my first born grandson. I liked the idea of being able to purchase Minolta lenses to use on it although I haven't bought any since I got two with the camera as a package. I haven't had any issues with it and for what I take photos of its WAY more than I needed... But I do like having the capability to take HQ photos of wildlife, classic cars, firearms...generally things that aren't moving LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Lord almighty!!! You should be able to take a nice photo of the sun with that many UV & polarized filters and not have to worry about frying your eye.:cool: What lens you have on there? LOL not mine, just a silly photo of some guy who put every filter he had on the front of his camera. the distortion from so many filters meant the photo he took was almost unrecognisable. My camera is a little more modest a 3 year old Panasonic FZ50 "bridge" still takes nice piccies tho' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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