The Learning Curve

[Pea-n-Me]

Thank you for posting the link, Deb. Good article. I'm looking for others, and not having much luck. Maybe it's brand specific?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

What is your shooting style, and how did it influence your choice of camera?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I thought this article explained it fairly simply.

And another.

One more.

I wish I had a better understanding of it on our last Disney trip - a lot of my pictures were underexposed - see photos post #94.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Hey, where'd everyone go?

Would like to see some pictures. Some that show progress. Your choice.

 

[Danauk]

OK, I took my camera out yesterday to the local country park. It was my 1st time using it so I was really playing around with the settings to try and understand how things worked. I did take this tough. I was using my Sigma 28-300mm f3.5-6.3 lens, plus I cropped the image a bit.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

What is your shooting style, and how did it influence your choice of camera?

My primary subject is my children. I like candid shots rather than posed shots. When I bought my current camera (almost 4 years ago...time really flies), I was looking for a camera that focused very quickly, had a large area of focus points, low noise at high ISO, and could take shots very rapidly (high fps). At the time, these were all very large challenges for consumer and hobbyist cameras so I bought a pro body. It's over kill, especially for a hack shooter like myself, but I decided that the extra shots I would get were worth the extra money to me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

OK, I took my camera out yesterday to the local country park. It was my 1st time using it so I was really playing around with the settings to try and understand how things worked. I did take this tough. I was using my Sigma 28-300mm f3.5-6.3 lens, plus I cropped the image a bit.

Nice, Danauk! (I wish it was a little bigger so we could see it better.)

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It's over kill

So what would you recommend for first time buyers today in terms of camera capabilities and shooting style? You do see many thinking they'll "grow with" their cameras. This is probably true of many. But, IYO, are some buying "more camera" than they need, and is it really necessary? From the numerous threads I've seen lately for first time buyers, this information could be helpful to many.

As for myself, I knew I wanted something fairly simple to use (as simple as a dSLR could be). I knew I wanted to grow with it, but that the process was going to be fairly painful for me and that I wanted to master the camera in a reasonable amount of time. I figured that for the near future anyway, I'd be shooting strictly as a hobbyist. I also noticed that many seem to upgrade their cameras in a short amount of time, maybe two to three years, so this made me curious as well.

Thoughts?

 

[allie5]

So what would you recommend for first time buyers today in terms of camera capabilities and shooting style? You do see many thinking they'll "grow with" their cameras. This is probably true of many. But, IYO, are some buying "more camera" than they need, and is it really necessary? From the numerous threads I've seen lately for first time buyers, this information could be helpful to many.

As for myself, I knew I wanted something fairly simple to use (as simple as a dSLR could be). I knew I wanted to grow with it, but that the process was going to be fairly painful for me and that I wanted to master the camera in a reasonable amount of time. I figured that for the near future anyway, I'd be shooting strictly as a hobbyist. I also noticed that many seem to upgrade their cameras in a short amount of time, maybe two to three years, so this made me curious as well.

Thoughts?

Thats a great question.

On the various photography and travel boards I belong to, the most asked question from newbies, is what camera should I buy?

Its a hard one to answer as you dont "know" people and all the information you are likely to get is "I want to be able to take good pictures".

For those that specifically ask about a DSLR, personally, I usually tend to steer them towards Canon or Nikon - that isnt because Sony, Pentax, Olympus dont make great cameras, they certainly DO, but the sliding scale of upgradeability with Canon or Nikon seesm to flow better and be an easier process.

I took my big step almost a year ago to the day - I knew I wanted a DSLR, I had a film SLR many years ago and had a keen interest in photography. I knew Id want to grow into better cameras and lenses eventually.

My choices at the time were the Canon 400 (rebel Xti in the US), Canon 30D or Canon 5d. Going down the Nikon route the choices were the Nikon D40, D80 or D200.

Once in the shop and fiddling I immediately ruled out the 400d - it felt too small and wrong in my hands. I also ruled out the 5D - it was too much camera for me at that time. That left me with the 30d and the Nikons to look at. I couldnt take to the Nikons, they didnt sit right with me and although I would readily agree i would get great pictures from them, I preferred the feel of the 30d, which was the camera I bought. At the time, many of its features were mysterious to me and probably the sensible choice was the 400d, BUT I grew into the 30D very very quickly and it turned out to be the perfect one for me.

I also have the potential to move up the scale, either to a 40D, a 5D or even one of the big war horses if I feel inclined (not that my bank balance would ever feel inclined!). This makes me feel very comfortable with my choice - and for me it was spot on. It was important to me to be able to upgrade easily and that was a big deciding factor on my purchase.

 

[handicap18]

My choices at the time were the Canon 400 (rebel Xti in the US), Canon 30D or Canon 5d. Going down the Nikon route the choices were the Nikon D40, D80 or D200.

Once in the shop and fiddling I immediately ruled out the 400d - it felt too small and wrong in my hands. I also ruled out the 5D - it was too much camera for me at that time. That left me with the 30d and the Nikons to look at. I couldnt take to the Nikons, they didnt sit right with me and although I would readily agree i would get great pictures from them, I preferred the feel of the 30d, which was the camera I bought. At the time, many of its features were mysterious to me and probably the sensible choice was the 400d, BUT I grew into the 30D very very quickly and it turned out to be the perfect one for me.

That is a perfect example of how to go about buying a camera. If you put it in your hands you'll have the best idea of what to get. Its also a great example of what not to tell people to buy. I felt the same way, but towards Nikon. I just couldn't take to the Canons. We do have bias opinions towards our chosen brand. No getting around that. This is why I always tell people to go to a store and put the camera's in your hands. Just know your budget and which models from each brand fit in that budget. Then go from there. Look at future uprades and future lens purchases and other accessories. You really can't go wrong with any of them.

When I bought my camera almost 2 1/2 years ago, the options were more limited. I had a limited budget and really only looked at 2 maybe 3 bodies (D50, D70/D70s and used D100's). Being a Nikon guy for 15 years I didn't even look at Canon's. For the price difference and not a lot of feature differences, I went with the D50 and was VERY happy. It wasn't until the D300 came out that I started to think about upgrading. I've grown into my D50 and am now looking for features it doesn't have (faster fps, higher ISO capabilites, battery pack with shutter release, quicker controls [2 command dials vs the 1 I have now, more buttons for quicker choices on metering and other things that I now have to search though the menu for and other things] faster focusing and other things). By the time I have funds available to get the D300 there might be a replacement for the D80 that is more similar to the D300. We'll see. For now my D50 is very capable of getting images I'm looking for. It certainly was well worth the money I spent.

As for shooting style, I don't know if I have one. I shoot all kinds of things. I love shooting candids of the kids. I love shooting portraits. Night photography is a lot of fun. Baseball season is now here and thats another challange that I'm really liking. I just go with what my eye see's and what I think will make a good photo. That doesn't always work out, but its fun trying.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

That is a perfect example of how to go about buying a camera.

What?!?!? No! No! No! No! No! That is not at all how you should choose a camera. The accepted standard is that you should read endless Internet postings about which camera is the most compatible with 50 year old lenses, which one supports the most obscure multi-thousand dollar lenses, which one has the most features that you don't understand or necessarily care about, which one has the largest or smallest market share, which one got the best reviews from websites, which one got the highest award from it's advertisers and the magazines they fund, and useful criteria like that. Your personal opinion about what feels better in your hands or is easier to use should play no role. Why do you think so many experts devote so much time and energy writing those posts? Just so you can dismiss their advice and make ignorant choices based on personal preference? People these days! I Swear.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Originally Posted by handicap18
I'm not completely sure of Canon's termonology, but I believe there are 3 options with the XT: One Shot, AI Focus & AI Servo. Servo is used to track a subject as it moves around the frame, or toward and away from the camera. AI Focus will choose which of the 7 points to focus on based on subject distance. One Shot allows you to move between the 7 focus points and you can choose which one the lens will focus on. I believe it is found in the menu under camera 1 then AF mode. In One Shot you use the 4 buttons on the back to move between the 7 focus points in the view finder.

If I'm wrong, please correct me. I'm just going by pictures and reviews on one of the review web sites.
Thanks for the explanation. I have seen those settings on the menu before but never looked them up to see what they meant . I start an intro to photography class tomorrow night so hopefully I'll be able to ask some questions there as well. Thanks for getting me pointed in the right direction

Close, but not quite right.

One Shot focuses until it gets a focus lock and then holds that focus until the picture is taken or you let go of the focus button.

AI Servo continuously focuses until the moment the shutter fires. It even applies a little intelligence to determine that if the subject is moving towards or away from you while you are tracking it, it will continue to move between the moment you press the shutter and shutter actually opens. This way a rapidly moving subject will still be in focus despite the small shutter lag that even DSLR's have.

AI Focus combines both modes. When it senses that your subject is not moving, it locks. When it senses that your subject is moving, it starts adjusting focus again.

I use a slight variation. I use a custom function to take autofocus off of the shutter button and move it to the AE lock button. I then leave the camera in AI Servo mode. Now I can push the button when I want the camera to autofocus and let go when I want to lock the focus or manually focus. It seems awkward at first, but it's really quite flexible.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

For those that specifically ask about a DSLR, personally, I usually tend to steer them towards Canon or Nikon - that isnt because Sony, Pentax, Olympus dont make great cameras, they certainly DO, but the sliding scale of upgradeability with Canon or Nikon seesm to flow better and be an easier process.

This is less of an issue today than it was even a year or two ago.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

These are a little late but are meant to go with my earlier histogram post.

They were taken with my previous camera, but illustrate the point that had I paid more attention to the histogram, many of them wouldn't have been as underexposed as they were. The histogram curve should be neither bunched up over to the left (underexposed/too dark), nor to the right (overexposed/too light). Mine was apparently too far to the left.

I fixed them in post processing.

Again, the histogram graph:

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Okay, maybe a dumb question. My D40 arrived the other day and I have had a ton of fun playing, however, I am seeing one thing in the viewfinder and I just don't know what it is.

In the little brackets on the right side that tell you how many exposures you have left, when I press the shutter release half way "R 11" shows up. What is that??

 

[handicap18]

Okay, maybe a dumb question. My D40 arrived the other day and I have had a ton of fun playing, however, I am seeing one thing in the viewfinder and I just don't know what it is.

In the little brackets on the right side that tell you how many exposures you have left, when I press the shutter release half way "R 11" shows up. What is that??

That has to do with the buffer. If you have the shutter release set to continuous shot then you can hold the shutter release down and the camera will keep taking a picture. The R 11 says you have 11 images left before the buffer is filled. It takes a bit of time to write to the card.

If you switch to RAW, that will change to something like R 4. RAW images are larger and take longer to write to the card.

 

[newtodis]

Hello Everyone! I currently have a Kodak D710 point and shoot and like the pictures that I'm getting from it but know that I could be getting better pictures. Right now, my primary focus regarding pictures is my boys (3 and 1). I also very much enjoy nature pictures as we just moved near Hilton Head Island, SC from MI so my options there increased dramatically. I'm looking into getting a new camera to help me in getting some better pictures. My main concern with my camera right now is that it's very slow. We were at the beach this morning and saw dolphins in the water. By the time my camera was turned on (seems like forever!) they were already down the beach. I did manage to get one shot but that was it. Also, I've been asked to take pictures at a family member's wedding next summer so this is a great excuse for me to upgrade and get a good photo editing program. I know once I pick what kind of camera that I want, I will start looking for a good book and use the manual to "practice" before heading off to Disney or something like that.

I guess some questions I'm looking to answer on my journey are:
*What things do you need to get started/what are the basics?
*What's the difference between your first photo and now/how far have you come?
*What are your best tips for "posing" for photos?
*What are your favorite additions (flashes, tripods, ect)?
*How did you know which one was "the one" for you (I've been to the store to try some out, see how they feel)
*What are the top three things you would look for when buying a new dslr?
*What's the most common lense you use and what do you photograph with it?
*Is there anyone in my area that's into photography? Would love to get together with people-newbies or not-to learn from?
*Maybe each week or two can be a new topic to cover so I don't get confused? There's so much to cover and it might be easier to have a couple of topics or one broad topic each week to try out and discuss. (example: this week we're going to work on focus-post some sample pictures showing different focus techniques and we can all look through and get/offer suggestions/advice???)

Thanks for starting this thread! Looking forward to making my choice and getting started!!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

That has to do with the buffer. If you have the shutter release set to continuous shot then you can hold the shutter release down and the camera will keep taking a picture. The R 11 says you have 11 images left before the buffer is filled. It takes a bit of time to write to the card.

If you switch to RAW, that will change to something like R 4. RAW images are larger and take longer to write to the card.

That's pretty cool. I don't think my camera has any sort of buffer remaining indicator.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

That has to do with the buffer. If you have the shutter release set to continuous shot then you can hold the shutter release down and the camera will keep taking a picture. The R 11 says you have 11 images left before the buffer is filled. It takes a bit of time to write to the card.

If you switch to RAW, that will change to something like R 4. RAW images are larger and take longer to write to the card.

Thank you! It was driving me nuts. I did have it on continuous shooting mode from my son's soccer game earlier today. I certainly am having fun learning!

 

[DVC Eric]

(Thought I'd post these from time to time. People new to the thread, please post yours anytime.)

When you first got your dSLR, how did you go about learning to use it?

Include any tools that you used. Did you just wing it? How many of you read your manuals before shooting? Books/DVDs you found helpful? Did you take a class or have someone help you? Let us know!

I have a canon eos rebel from high school but film got too expensive to process so i got the canon rebel xti dslr w/the 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 i had the 28-80 1:3.5-5.6 and the 70-300 1:4-5.6.
Would like to get better at taking fireworks do i need a tripod or a image stabilization lens?