Saving for a new Cam

[White Wolf]

After dropping and breaking my digital cam I'm saving for a new one and have my eyes on a Canon 10.1MP Rebel XTi Digital SLR Camera.

Whats your thoughts or experience with this cam or does anyone recemend something else. I'm wanting something were i can take great close up shots from a distance. I'm mostly into nature shots.

[Hope]

I don't have the Canon, so I cannot comment on the camera. I can tell you that I looked at all the SLR on the market and chose the Nikon D50. The price was better and the quality of the images was the same. I was actually looking at the cannon, but it was $300 more than the Nikon. I have found that Cannon lenses are a lot easier to find.

[White Wolf]

Thanks for your post Hope, I'm looking at the D50 now.  I know there's allot of cheaper cameras but after spending $350 on that Sony and not being very impressed with it, I decided to save for one that I would be happy with.

After the Sony broke I purchased a cheap one for $50 thinking it would do until i got the money for a better one all i can say is $50 went down the drain, pictures look like crap and after taking 2 photos the batteries go dead.

At the moment I'm using a digital video camera to take photos
with spring time around the cornor and everything turning green and blooming i sure wished I had on now

[Menard]

...I purchased a cheap one for $50...

I just have to ask: what did you get that cost $50?

[White Wolf]

I just have to ask: what did you get that cost $50?

A piece of plastic that resembles a camera 

Here is a links to it on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Concepts-3-1MP-Camera/dp/B0007OVOI6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_k2a_2_txt/104-9024832-0288766

[Hope]

Since this was my first SLR I thought it best not to spend over $1k to find out I was not happy with it. I am very pleased with the D50. The images are wonderful and it shoots in RAW. One night at a concert I took over 400 pics before the battery died, so I can't complain about that.

[Menard]

A piece of plastic that resembles a camera 

Here is a links to it on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Concepts-3-1MP-Camera/dp/B0007OVOI6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_k2a_2_txt/104-9024832-0288766

I actually don't have to look at the link as I recognize the name Digital Concepts. If you want a back-up, that is cheap, I would go for the Vivitar Vivicam 5100 (5MP). It is cheap, less than $90 at Walmart, but it can give good results for the cost. Heck, I'd just go to Walmart and look at their camera display for clearances as I have seen feature laden 6 & 7 MP cameras for less than $150 because they were discontinued.

One thing I would recommend for a backup is a old manual 35mm SLR. You can find Autofocus models with zoom lenses for less than $150, especially if you go by Circuit City, Best Buy, and others and look for out-of-the box specials (they are basically selling the display model). If you are into nature photography and plan to spend much time outdoors, away from electrical outlets for chargers, it would be a good idea to have a camera that can operate on regular AA batteries, or even none at all.

[Andy]

Also consider the size of the camera. If a camera is big, you will tend to leave it at home and miss photo opportunities.

But if you want to photograph people or models at events, it must help alot to have a professional-looking camera to get them to take you seriously.

[SensoVision]

Hi Kevin!
I should say that never had a chance to work with dSLR, for a few years I'm waiting for affordable model which would have all features I need.

Whats your thoughts or experience with this cam or does anyone recemend something else. I'm wanting something were i can take great close up shots from a distance.

having dSLR it's all depend from a lens you own, you can get a body and find a good macro lens which would allow you to do this. All camera makers offers a lot of lenses and you'll be able to find something what fit your needs. The only problem as was mentioned by Heidi, is that not all camera brands are easily found, e.g. in place I live it"s impossible to get any lens or dSLR, I can order from our capitol city some Nikon and Canon lens and body but would have problems finding Pentax, Olympus or any other lens... so you'll have to consider this factor as well.

If I understand you correctly you're looking into dSLR because of picture quality not because of higher control depth of field and photography process? If I'm right that in addition to Nikon D50 consider other models.
If Heidi wouldn't tell this before I would also advice this model as it have very good noise ratio in my opinion and is very good camera, if I'd have money few years ago I would certainly buy this model.

One thing I would recommend for a backup is a old manual 35mm SLR. You can find Autofocus models with zoom lenses for less than $150, especially if you go by Circuit City, Best Buy, and others and look for out-of-the box specials (they are basically selling the display model).

It's good advice to have backup camera, although dealing with film is money consuming so since photography doesn't make me money I couldn't afford to have film camera, but when we got to trip in addition to my camera I'm taking small point and shot belongs to my girlfriend.

If you are into nature photography and plan to spend much time outdoors, away from electrical outlets for chargers, it would be a good idea to have a camera that can operate on regular AA batteries, or even none at all.

I've found solution to this problem, when we got camping outside civilization I'm taking with myself extra pair of charged batteries and solar battery torch which have space for charing two rechargeable batteries. In a sunny day you can restore power of your batteries for next day.
Take a look at new Pentax K100D model. It's running on AA batteries so if your accumulators gone dead you can buy some batteries in any store and doesn't miss your shot. Also it have shake reduction mechanism which would work on almost any lens, it's sometimes could become handy if you forced to use slower speed and don't have tripod or have no time for mounting camera on it. The only two things I doesn't like about Pentax k100d is that it's lack second curtain flash synchronization which is important to me as I'm frequently photograph moving objects and my next camera should have it, but if you're mostly in nature photography you'll probably can leave without it, also it have a bit more noise than Nikon D50...
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/pentax/k100d-review/

Nikon have recently released D40 which have small price and it didn't lost a lot of functionality from D50, check it out yourself:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/d40-review/

BTW here is also link to D50 and Canon reviews:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/d50-review/index.shtml
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/digital_rebel_xti-review/index.shtml
At the bottom of review you can find a link to gallery to download full sized pictures from camera and see which camera bring better pictures to your eyes.

But if you want to photograph people or models at events, it must help alot to have a professional-looking camera to get them to take you seriously.

Have to disagree here with Andy, as especially if you going to travel to other countries it's probably better have some cheap looking camera rather than professional looking one as it will attract less attention to you and could save you from extra troubles. Anyway with dSLR you'll attract attention in any case IMHO.
If I remember well Heidi have posted somewhere on this board that she had troubles getting to the concert with dSLR but with P&S security let her in...
Regarding making impression I believe that people should take you seriously not because of your equipment but photographs you're making.

BTW don't look that cameras mentioned above have 6megapixel comparing to Canon, you can compare pictures from any camera and Canon and would see that there are not so much loss in picture details... It's because physical size of sensor chip remain the same so sometimes more pixels only mean more noise...

Let me wish you good luck in choosing camera!

[Menard]

Have to disagree here with Andy, as especially if you going to travel to other countries it's probably better have some cheap looking camera rather than professional looking one as it will attract less attention to you and could save you from extra troubles. Anyway with dSLR you'll attract attention in any case IMHO.
If I remember well Heidi have posted somewhere on this board that she had troubles getting to the concert with dSLR but with P&S security let her in...

Well...yes, and no.

Both Andy and Denis have a point. The result is situational though.

There have been times I have been stopped by security when carrying a large camera outfit (by large, I mean an SLR and a few lenses in a bag). There have been other times I have waltzed my way right past security due to looking like a professional photographer, while others were being stopped.

If you were going to a concert, indoor sporting event, etc., Denis' recomendation would be valid as they are more apt to refuse entry to someone that looks like a photographer, but they would let Ma and Pa Kettle through with their point and shoot; primarily as someone's personal photos don't represent a threat to image infringement as compared to letting a photographer or reporter photograph the event.

By contrast, if you were photographing models, contestants in a beauty pageant, etc., they are more likely to ham for you if they think you are a professional. At a beauty pageant where I took photos for a contestant, I did not have any problem with having other contestants take a moment so I could get a shot of them, and one past contestant who played the fiddle was very good at playing to the camera for me. I was using a professional looking camera outfit and standing, both of which made me noticeable and identified me as a photographer.

Of course, it simply comes down to getting what you want in a camera regardless of how professional or not that it looks; so long as you are happy with it. You can always have a point and shoot for a backup and use it in situations where your professional camera would not be accepted.

[White Wolf]

Thanks for all the replies I can't seem to find any SLR here exept for Cannon. I can buy online but I don't like spending that much on somthing online. The only place here to purchase one is walmart and they carry the Canon.

I don't go to many concerts. The only concerts I go to is Papa Roach, and that only if they are close by (Memphis or little Rock) which they will be in memphis on May 6.

 

[donecweb]

If you can find a Circit City They are closing a bunch of stores and so they may have some good sales. The same is true of CompUSA but I don't know if they carry cameras.

[Andy]

I can buy online but I don't like spending that much on somthing online.

Why is that? If the payment goes though a processor such as World Pay there is no problem compared to a staff member in a store skimming your card or somebody writing your credit card details on a post-it note when you deal over the phone. If you use a credit card you are usually insured against online theft.

With online transactions you get confirmation screens that you can cut and paste for your records.

[SensoVision]

actually I would prefer to buy such stuff like camera in offline stores as well, as e.g. one camera I've bought though Ebay had problems with batteries, camera just hang up when batteries was slightly discharged, it was annoying but camera worked if you was using new batteries or have patience to restart camera when it hang up, wait a moment and shoot again hoping that it wouldn't hang up again...
Of course I could send it back to Ebay for repair but it would cost me almost half the price of the camera... Local Minolta service center wasn't able to repair it as well so I've just was using it and collect money for new camera.
I would like to buy my next camera in some local store so I can direct all warranty issues to them but it's not possible as there are no such stores in nearby cities so I'll buy camera through Internet or make a trip to capitol

Regarding insurance on transactions we have weird rules in my bank, e.g. before my card is activated for internet payments I have to sign up paper where I tell that aware of all risks and that if I lost any money that would be my fault... otherwise I wouldn't be able to use my card at all. I've asked bank worker if I still have insurance from fraud and it was confirmed that I get it, but not officially told that it's very problematic to return money...

[Andy]

actually I would prefer to buy such stuff like camera in offline stores as well,

I think you are twisting the problem around. There was a fear of using online payment processing. The buyer did not have a local store that stocked the camera they wanted to buy.

[White Wolf]

Why is that? If the payment goes though a processor such as World Pay there is no problem
compared to a staff member in a store skimming your card or somebody writing your credit card details on a post-it note when you deal over the phone. If you use a credit card you are usually insured against online theft.

With online transactions you get confirmation screens that you can cut and paste for your records.

It's not the payment processing I'm worried about, but how do you know they are using worldpay, 2checkout etc? The only way to know for sure is if you do the CC transaction on the payment gateways websites. Alto of times you are asked for CC details without any mention of their processor.

With my cart users process their CC from within my website they don't know who my CC processor is and I can also keep their CC details to process it manually within my online terminal. So unless you are processing your CC details directly on a payment processors website you do not know how your CC is being processed.

compared to a staff member in a store skimming your card or somebody writing your credit card details on a post-it note when you deal over the phone.

Most stores now use computers to read and process CC by reading the magnetic strip on the back of card and it's my belief the the employee never actually See's the cc number only if it is accepted or not. and if they did in most cases to process that number over phone or net they need my Address and the 3 digit CCV code. I'm not saying you can't get ripped off by using a CC in store because I'm sure you can.

Like I said above it's not the payment that bothers me,  it the fact I can't see hold feel the product I'm buying.  I had a friend that moved into his own place and spent close to $600 dollars on household items vacuum cleaner,coffee maker, stereo equipment etc. He received the Vacuum cleaner and nothing else and it took him a couple months to finally get his money back.

When I went to walmart to buy a Digital video recorder I had 30 days to return it for another or get my money back  even if there was nothing wrong with it.  I did this twice before I found the cam i was happy with, this is the reason I only deal with big ticket items in store.

When I purchased my HDTV I could have took it back to the furniture store if I wasn't happy with it and got a diffrent brand, were i read online that you would be responsible paying the shipping cost and would have costed close to $200 to ship back the TV if i had ordered it online and wasn't happy with it.

 

[White Wolf]

Well finally ordered me a dslr I decides to get the Nikon D80 from a ebay seller.
Should be here sometime this week

[SensoVision]

congratulations, Kevin! D80 seems to be great camera from what I know, so I can't wait to see your photos done with it
And if possible please tell if you like it or not.

[Andy]

Sounds good. Do you have nice places to shoot photos near where you live?

[White Wolf]

Sounds good. Do you have nice places to shoot photos near where you live?

Yeah, as soon as I open my front door, I live out in the country (Ozarks) and about 8 miles/12.8 Km miles outside of a small town.
The State I live in is Arkansas and it's called the "Natural State" and that name is very fitting.

Theres horses in a pasture on west side of my house, forest and mountain behind, and a large pasture were cows come to graze in the evening as well as deer.
I'm planning on setting up a photo gallery for my photos, and will post the link once I get it up and some photos to share.

[SensoVision]

Theres horses in a pasture on west side of my house, forest and mountain behind, and a large pasture were cows come to graze in the evening as well as deer.
I'm planning on setting up a photo gallery for my photos, and will post the link once I get it up and some photos to share.

sounds like a dreamland for natural photographer
Here even in most beautiful places you can find some garbage which sometimes may not be visible at beginning but always appear on the final photo

I'm awaiting to see your photos.

BTW Today I've saw Nikon D80 here with one kit lens and it cost 1500$, so you've got really good deal!

[White Wolf]

sounds like a dreamland for natural photographer

Yeah, and that is the area of photography I'm most interested it.

I hope to in future get a 18-200 vr lens and a speed flash  SB-600


The kit i purchased can be found here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEBTOX:IT&item=130191039024&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI

I think it's a very good starter package for price.  Most big stores here sell the d80 with only 1 lens at just under $1k

[Andy]

It looks like a great package. It seemed to me like it had everything most people would need.

[SensoVision]

I couldn't imagine that 3 lens and body could be bought that cheaply They don't ship to my country anyway, so guess that I'll buy dSLR locally
The only bad thing about this kit is that it have 18-55 lens which isn't so good as 18-70 which originally goes in kit sold in most shops. 18-70 have less problem with chromatic abberation.

[SensoVision]

Kevin, I think it's time to share some photos from your new camera Maybe you'll tell how does it feels comparing to your old camera and how do you like it overall?

[White Wolf]

Kevin, I think it's time to share some photos from your new camera  Maybe you'll tell how does it feels comparing to your old camera and how do you like it overall?

I have not really learned all the camera functions yet. I setup a album and uploaded a few photos  http://www.mistyphotos.com/

I've been very busy lately, just finished building two storage buildings in back yard and now starting on some flower beds that have been neglected for the past two years. I also still have the front and back porch to paint.
I hope to go out around my area soon and take some photos to share, so far the few I have posted are from my house.

Tonight my Daughter has a choir concert at the local community college and I plan on taking some photos there of her singing.

[SensoVision]

I have not really learned all the camera functions yet. 

I'm sure you'll learn everything with time, and get used to your camera.Actually I like time when I learn functions of new device especially if it's camera

I setup a album and uploaded a few photos  http://www.mistyphotos.com/

I like dog photo most, he seems to be a good model.

I've been very busy lately, just finished building two storage buildings in back yard and now starting on some flower beds that have been neglected for the past two years. I also still have the front and back porch to paint.
I hope to go out around my area soon and take some photos to share, so far the few I have posted are from my house.

maybe when got time, you'll show me what you've made? it would be interesting to see.

Tonight my Daughter has a choir concert at the local community college and I plan on taking some photos there of her singing.

have you had luck to get some photos there?

[White Wolf]

have you had luck to get some photos there?

Nope, photos didnt turn out very good (fuzzy) I did not use flash as I dont think it would have done much good from my distance a tipod probably would have been best.  I used the 70-300mm lense, and was able to take close ups but not the chior as a whole from were I was sitting towards the back. I think a 18-200 mm VR lense would have been a better lense to use in my situation.

 

[SensoVision]

I have to say that although VR and other optical stabilization technology helps it doesn't do the magic... BTW just to see if it help or not in your case you can try to boost ISO settings 2-3 steps(this amount is what most manufacturers claim to gain when you use optical stabilization).
And yes, tripod is must have for many situations especially when using flash isn't possible or not desired.

[Queen Bee]

I setup a album and uploaded a few photos  http://www.mistyphotos.com/

Kevin, I don't know much about photography, but I loved those photos. Thanks for sharing. I have to say I was especially fond of the cat portrait-- it's beautiful.

[White Wolf]

BTW just to see if it help or not in your case you can try to boost ISO settings 2-3 steps(this amount is what most manufacturers claim to gain when you use optical stabilization).

Thanks for the tips, I just purchased a Opteka 70" tripod this should help out alot.

[White Wolf]

Kevin, I don't know much about photography

I don't know much either. 

I just purchesed a e-book on disk "Thom Hogan's
Complete Guide to the Nikon D80" hopefully I will learn alot from it.

I loved those photos. Thanks for sharing. I have to say I was especially fond of the cat portrait-

Thanks Rachel, She was at the front door witch was open, but could not get in because of the glass outer door, thats why you can see some spots in the photo.

[sholing]

After the Sony broke I purchased a cheap one for $50 thinking it would do until i got the money for a better one all i can say is $50 went down the drain, pictures look like crap and after taking 2 photos the batteries go dead.