choosing a DSLR (around £500)

[fela fan]

Have a look at the Alamy guidelines if you want to feel daunted

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography-guide.asp



Edit: there is actually a load of useful information there...

I refuse to feel daunted! I'm on a mission, and it's early in the new year, so no time to be giving up just yet! Cheers mate, more reading for me for the weekend.

 

[fela fan]

I've just been to the main shop to see the various options.

Based on availability and feel, it's down to the olympus E510 or the Nikon D40x or D80 (no D300 here yet). The canon was too uncomfortable.

A few questions to those in england:

How much would the olympus set me back, including the main kit lens? Here the price is the equivalent of 450 quid. The 40-150 f3.5 lens is about 170 quid.

Should i get CF cards or Sandisk Extreme III cards? The latter are double the price, i wonder why...

I read this in a review of they olympus:

"If it had a better sensor (less noise and better dynamic range) the E-510 would be a strong candidate for category winner"

In a nutshell, what exactly is this noise and dynamic range stuff?

Finally, i've a bit to learn re digital photography, can anyone recommend a nice simple website to this end? I looked on urban but i can't find anything.

Cheers to one and all.

Oh i forgot, are cameras in england made in china?

 

[lobster]

Should i get CF cards or Sandisk Extreme III cards? The latter are double the price, i wonder why...

will you be using a card reader on your laptop/pc to transfer the photos ? if not standard CF cards are fine. the extreme ones have no speed benefits if your getting the pictures off via the camera. Buy kingston or Sandisk memory, i use the sandisk cheap range and its great.

In a nutshell, what exactly is this noise and dynamic range stuff?

Noise is the little colours use see when shooting at a faster iso aka film speed .

The photo on the left has more noise.

Dynamic range is the amount of colour contrast .

Finally, i've a bit to learn re digital photography, can anyone recommend a nice simple website to this end? I looked on urban but i can't find anything.

I cannot say there is a definitive site, i tend to tap into a search engine whenever there is something i would like to know.

http://photo.net/learn/

that sites pretty good, its community based so people add comments.

Oh i forgot, are cameras in england made in china?

I would say Taiwan, Japan, China are where most digital cameras are produced.

 

[fela fan]

Thanks lobster.

I ended up getting the olympus.

Now comes hours of fun getting to grips with noise reduction, white balance, histograms and the like. It's a new world compared to the old film option!

 

[editor]

Thanks lobster.

I ended up getting the olympus.

Now comes hours of fun getting to grips with noise reduction, white balance, histograms and the like. It's a new world compared to the old film option!

Don't forget getting decent RAW conversion software!

 

[fela fan]

Don't forget getting decent RAW conversion software!

Oh dear oh dear! I was alright with aperture stops and bromides and stuff...

Now i know i'll need to shoot in RAW if i'm to sell, and i have spotted that the olympus can be set to take pictures that do jpeg and raw options at the same time (well, i think i spotted this), but what do you mean by 'decent', and 'conversion'? I have assumed that the software i get with the camera will allow me all of this, but i am now confused by the word 'decent' and the fact that i shall have to do converting...

Right now i have ACDSee, photoshop, and the software that came with the camera which i've yet to put on my computer.

If there's a lot of posters like me, new to digital photography beyond the point and shoot stuff, perhaps urban could have a sort of faq thread. I've thought about it, but i'm assuming due to its absence that most people here are all clued up on this. I know i'm going to have a heap of questions, but a bit loathe really to assume on people's time if it's just me.

Either way, i know what's going to be taking up a lot of my spare time this year. I intend to learn the lot, and my instruction manual has given me an idea i've a wee bit of work to do...

 

[lobster]

your correct in that a camera converts from RAW to jpeg, however the software can not be changed. A Raw file is basically equivalent to a unprocessed negative.
The developer used on that film determines that quality of the processed negative.

The same is true with digital cameras, software can easily be updated on a computer which will offer better processed images.
Also working on compressed images a lot will add artefacts to the images.
converting the RAW to tiff and then working on the tiff is generally the best solution and with the final converted to jpeg.

 

[fela fan]

Lobster...

That's a good analogy for raw, helps!

So, let me get this right, take the pix in raw, use software to do things if you need to to the pic in tiff, then save the final thing in jpeg?

Also, i presume artefacts are not good things?

If i was totally confident that the picture i was taking would need no working on whatsoever, then i could forget about raw and simply take it in jpeg format? I think my question is that raw is only of any advantage when one wants to do follow-up on the picture on the computer?

Furthermore i think from memory that my olympus doesn't offer tiff format. Or would i be able to get that from software?

 

[lobster]

Lobster...

That's a good analogy for raw, helps!

So, let me get this right, take the pix in raw, use software to do things if you need to to the pic in tiff, then save the final thing in jpeg?

that's right, i would back up the raw encase in the future you want to go back and change something...

Also, i presume artefacts are not good things?

its matter of artistic taste, b&w film grain looks good to me.

If i was totally confident that the picture i was taking would need no working on whatsoever, then i could forget about raw and simply take it in jpeg format? I think my question is that raw is only of any advantage when one wants to do follow-up on the picture on the computer?

yep, many on this board just do that because RAW files are pretty big.

Furthermore i think from memory that my olympus doesn't offer tiff format. Or would i be able to get that from software?

sorry, software converts raw to tiff, very few cameras output tiff files..

the software you have will do that fine.

 

[SanityFreeZone]

fela, quick question for you: Do you know anywhere in either Bangkok or Chang Mai that sells a 40 - 150mm lens for the E510.

The reason I ask is that I bumming around between the 2 cities at the moment, and would like to pick up a bigger lens ASAP.

I've allready tried tons of malls in Bangkok, plus a load of the camera shops around China Town.

Thanks!

 

[fela fan]

fela, quick question for you: Do you know anywhere in either Bangkok or Chang Mai that sells a 40 - 150mm lens for the E510.

The reason I ask is that I bumming around between the 2 cities at the moment, and would like to pick up a bigger lens ASAP.

I've allready tried tons of malls in Bangkok, plus a load of the camera shops around China Town.

Thanks!

Well mate, that's the exact lens i bought with the camera just over a week ago. It cost me about 11,000 baht. I bought it in Denchai Trading shop which is just kind of north of the north-eastern corner of the moats in Chiang Mai.

Maybe your problem is that most people are buying nikon or canon.

In bangkok i'd say that you would be guaranteed to get this lens if you go to panthip plaza, which should be in petchaburi road, assuming this huge electronics plaza has not moved since i lived there at the turn of the century!

In chiang mai, you can also go to similarly named panthip plaza at the bottom of the night bazaar, head for the ground floor and a shop called Big Camera or Big Photo and they were selling both the camera and lens last week at a better price than what i paid!

 

[fela fan]

Hey, editor, mods, who changed my title of this thread?! I'm not bothered, but have never known such a thing to happen in my time on urban. Just curious really. I mean the bit that puts a price in. I just named the thread 'choosing a DSLR'.

 

[editor]

Hey, editor, mods, who changed my title of this thread?! I'm not bothered, but have never known such a thing to happen in my time on urban. Just curious really. I mean the bit that puts a price in. I just named the thread 'choosing a DSLR'.

I changed it because the original thread title was too vague and a more detailed description reduces the risk of someone starting a thread on the exact same subject.

We often amend vague thread titles as a courtesy to other users and to save duplicated threads.

 

[fela fan]

Fair enough.

Meanwhile i've been in continual staggered mode this last week or so at how far slrs have advanced. It's a whole load of fun learning just what these digital slrs can do, and concurrently investigating much further the software that i've previously only touched upon.

I still think there's a useful thread missing from this forum, based on my last week's worth of learning, and so...

 

[editor]

Oh, I should link to this new article on urban:

Best low cost dSLR cameras 2007
http://www.urban75.org/photos/best-dslr-2007.html

 

[Lazy Llama]

Oh, I should link to this new article on urban:

Best low cost dSLR cameras 2007
http://www.urban75.org/photos/best-dslr-2007.html

No Canon 400D?
Ah, that was pre-2007, I guess.

 

[editor]

No Canon 400D?
Ah, that was pre-2007, I guess.

Yeah, it came out in Sept 2006, I think.

It's still a fine camera.

I'm about to review the Nikon D300 which is an astonishingly good camera.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Since i've always been a film fan, can you expand on that a bit bernie?

The main reason i've decided to finally go fully digital is that i want to build up my own library of photos that i can hopefully sell. It seems that at 10 mega pixels (thanks for the comments paul) i will have the camera to do that, and obviously the convenience factor is rather pertinent here.

Well, the main thing is that it's noticeably smaller, with smaller lenses. Also it makes me much less likely to blaze away at everything in sight than the D200.