I need help!

[erno james]

Kristinaskoro, the web is full of good sites to get you started as well. Here

[Kristinaskoro]

Thank you everyone! Yeah I don

[dsiegel5151]

Not to beat a dead horse, but in the slight chance of saving you $1000s of dollars, every one of those pictures could easily be obtained with a Canon A490. The A490 costs less than $100. Also, the A490 can fit in your pocket or purse very easily, and there is a much better chance of you having that camera on you for moments like those that you posted above.

[Johnny Rasmussen]

.. its either between the t2i or the Nikon d5000 with a -NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED lense??

If the tilt/swivel LCD is important get the Nikon D5000. If not get the T2i. []

[Sheiky]

I really don't know which camera I want

To make it even harder.. I have a few thoughts.


Yes I agree with the others that your sample shots could have been made with a Point and Shoot camera. However I have made such shots with my "professional grade" camera as well, so that shouldn't be a reason not to buy a DSLR. In fact a DSLR will offer you much more creative freedom and options.


What I like to know from you is: besides these samples, what kind of photos do you think you'll be going to make: nature, sport (what type? indoor/outdoor?), wildlife, portraits etc etc


These are very important factors which you have to know before buying a camera. Perhaps you need to look into a whole different category of camera's...let's hope not []


Another thing: the lens is the factor that gives you the image-quality. In other words: a cheaper camera body with a better quality lens will make technically better(richer colors, contrast, sharpness etc) than an expensive camera with a cheap lens.


I have bought my girlfriend an XSi/450D this summer. While it is actually an older model, it makes great photos(it doesn't do video though). Then the T1i came and after that the T2i came. I personally would rather buy a XSi and save some money to invest in a better (or second) lens than to buy the T2i with the kit-lens and be broke []


Don't get me wrong: I do think that the best way to learn your camera and needs is to buy a camera body with a cheap kit-lens(since it's only 50 dollar more or so than a body only). Use it for a while and then start looking at other things like better lenses or perhaps a flash or other attributes.


I have no idea what Nikon camera's are about, but if you are sure you don't need the video, I don't see why you'd need a T2i. A much cheaper T1i or even an XSi will do great as well.


Good luck deciding![Y]


Jan

[TakahiroW4047]

Dear Kristinaskoro,


Want to see what the possibilities of a dslr are? (This method assumes that most photo enthusiasts use a dslr for their photos)


Are you familiar with flickr? What I like to do sometimes to get inspiration is to find one photo that I really like from one user. Then check out that user's favorite photo list and click on another photo that I like out of it. Then you keep on repeating this.


Often times good photographers favorite images taken by even better photographers. The more you repeat this, you'll end up coming across photos that will really make your eyes bulge! [:|]


Most times those photos are taken with a dslr which allow them to be more creative. Often times the camera that was used to take the photo is listed in the upper right. If those are the kind of photos that you strive for, then dslr is for you!! []


If you don't want to lug around loads of gears that wont fit in your carrying bag, still capture moments on the fly, but every so often want to be creative with your photos, maybe a higher end point and shoot with manual option would benefit you the most.


Here's my favorite list if you want a heads start. I do mostly portraits so most of my favorites are along those lines, but there are some landscapes as well.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/takahirow2118/favorites/


*EDIT - The great thing about this method is that the more you repeat this, you'll find more and more photos and users that have the same taste in photography as you []

[erno james]

Great advice Takahiro. I do the same with Flickr.


For Kristinaskoro, don't forget that you can still make some pretty good pictures (emphasis on the "make" and not "take") with a point and shoot. In addition to the cost of a DSLR, most of us using sites like this spend lots of money on software and computers to process our images. I use Aperture 3 (about $180) and Photomatix (another $99). You can download these and lots of other great software programs for 30-day trials (Lightroom, Topaz filters)to see what works best for you.All are great and this is not intended to start a software debate.


I generally use my DSLR and fancy lenses, but as it has been said so much lately, "the best camera is the one you have with you." I made this photo with my little Point and Shoot Sony TX5 that I bought for $325. Many of the members on this site have lenses (and probably filters, tripods, flashes, umbrellas....) each that cost more than that. It fits into my pocket and makes decent video too.


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Just remember that there are options o'plenty when it comes to photography. Have fun and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone (well, I guess to all who overindulge in food and booze and watch the NFL this Thursday). erno.

[Kristinaskoro]

Everyone thank you so much for putting your time and effort for writing me a response, I wish I could thank everyone personally!


I just really wanted a dslr because I

[neuroanatomist]

If you like the pics from your P&S, great! Sure, 3 of those might cost the same as a dSLR. But stack all 3 of them and the pile would be smaller than a dSLR. If you

[Kayaker72]

Hi Kristina,


Far be it from me to disuade you from a DSLR. And honestly, if you have been through a couple of P&S cameras, you probably enjoy photography enough justify a DSLR. One item you haven't mentioned, or I missed it, is your budget. How much do you want to spend on this purchase. Because like any great hoby, it is more expensive than you think and the costs just keep going up the deeper you get into it. I foolishly started this year thinking that I could buy my 7D and upgrade my kit lens and I'd be happy. I blew my first budget because I ended up wanting the good B+W MRC UV filters on my lens, a better backpack to carry my new purchase, bigger/faster memory cards, a backup battery, etc. I blew way past my original budget after viewing a number of amazing photos from this forum and wanting to upgrade my old filmlenses. Thanks to this forum I now have a long list of lenses, flashes, memory cards, books, and software that I want....Usually my wife isn't sure what to get me for Christmas....not this year []...


As you like taking pictures of your friends, I can see you starting with a camera body and a kit lens. But which camera depends upon your budget and what you want that camera to really do. Second, typically the quality of the lens you have has more to do with your image quality than the camera itself, so, again, depending upon your budget you might want to upgrade your kit zoom. Or, you could add a prime lenswhich tend to give you better image quality and wider apertures at a lower cost than a zoom lens, but are limited to a single focal length. The faster aperture will help you get better depth of field, which blurs your fore-/background and really makes your subject stand out (great for people). And, if you are taking pictures of people indoors you may want an external flash (the one attached to the camera only gets you so far). An external flash will reduce red-eye in people (even a DSLRinternal flash will be better than a P&S, but an external flash really should reduce it), help you focus faster in low light situations, will extend the effective reach of the flash, and you can change the direction of the flash (if you get a good one)to bounce the burst of light off the ceiling or wall which creates a "softer/more flattering" light on your subject.


So, in short, getting a good camera body is the start and an important start, but DSLRs are really about the ACCESSORIES. So get a camera body that fits your needs, but make sure you can also get the accessories that you want as, ultimately, a DSLR with a kit lens is only a 1 step improvement over some of the better P&S cameras. The big differencecomes when you start adding lenses/flashes/etc. That said, I am a big fan of incrementally buying gear, so I'd recommend identifying a basic kit that will let you do what you want and then slowly adding on. Given what you have said, I think this approach will help you learn about photography and grow over time.


But the specifics really get down to your budget andwhat features you want. I don't know Nikon, but in the world of Canon, a Rebel with the kit 18-55 IS lens may be a good start. So that you can start seeing what a better lens can do, you might want a "non-L" prime such as the 50 mm f/1.4, or the 85 mm f/1.8 (both between $350-$400 at Amazon) that would be good for pictures of your friends (the fast aperture would also let you start playing with DOF). Many people on this forum started with a Rebel and moved onto something like the 50/60D, 7D or 5D and lenses such as the EFS 17-55 f/2.8, EFS 15-85 or an "L" general purpose lens.So if you can afford thosenow, maybe you start there...but again,this gets back to your budget and what features you want. But starting with a Rebel will give you a limited "feature" set and very good image qualityin comparison to theother camera bodies, the 18-55 IS lens is typically considered a good "value" lens, and one of those primes should be a good stepping stone as to what you can really do with a DSLR. While random, one quick tip for someone starting out that I learned, multi-point AF sometimes leads to soft pictures (averages focus over too large an area), single point AF/manual focustends to givebetter/sharper images more consistently.


I hope that helps,


Brant


BTW, if you click on amazon/BH/Adorama on this site when you make your purchase you help support this site. []