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Wishing To Go DSLR
Hello
I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. any suggestions would be great. Thank you Jenny |
#2
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Wishing To Go DSLR
Sorry if I do not know all the information to give. I did just think of
something from reading another post. my pictures will be for use on PC, mostly for the furniture and the layout and not people. Thank you again. "Just Shoot Me" wrote in message news:vQkxi.457$5y3.221@trndny07... Hello I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. any suggestions would be great. Thank you Jenny |
#3
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Wishing To Go DSLR
On Aug 17, 1:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote:
Hello I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. any suggestions would be great. Thank you Jenny Wait 2 months for new models to come out. New ones will be better, old ones will be cheaper. |
#4
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Wishing To Go DSLR
"RichA" wrote in message ps.com... On Aug 17, 1:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote: Hello I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. any suggestions would be great. Thank you Jenny Wait 2 months for new models to come out. New ones will be better, old ones will be cheaper. a couple of weeks ago I would have replied with "wouldn't that always be the case" but just last night I was telling a friend that I would feel safer when today's models become cheaper than getting an older one now. I didn't think 2 months would be enough time. One model that caught my eye is the Canon EOS-1D Mark II N. A friend did recommend the Canon 20D. Because I travel a lot I would like one that is pretty strong. I guess I will hand around the digital groups for a while sharpening my skills. thank you Jenny. |
#5
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Wishing To Go DSLR
On Aug 17, 4:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message ps.com... On Aug 17, 1:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote: Hello I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. any suggestions would be great. Thank you Jenny Wait 2 months for new models to come out. New ones will be better, old ones will be cheaper. a couple of weeks ago I would have replied with "wouldn't that always be the case" but just last night I was telling a friend that I would feel safer when today's models become cheaper than getting an older one now. I didn't think 2 months would be enough time. One model that caught my eye is the Canon EOS-1D Mark II N. A friend did recommend the Canon 20D. Because I travel a lot I would like one that is pretty strong. I guess I will hand around the digital groups for a while sharpening my skills. No, go take pictures to sharpen your skills. |
#6
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Wishing To Go DSLR
"Pat" wrote in message ups.com... On Aug 17, 4:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote: "RichA" wrote in message ps.com... On Aug 17, 1:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote: Hello I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. any suggestions would be great. Thank you Jenny Wait 2 months for new models to come out. New ones will be better, old ones will be cheaper. a couple of weeks ago I would have replied with "wouldn't that always be the case" but just last night I was telling a friend that I would feel safer when today's models become cheaper than getting an older one now. I didn't think 2 months would be enough time. One model that caught my eye is the Canon EOS-1D Mark II N. A friend did recommend the Canon 20D. Because I travel a lot I would like one that is pretty strong. I guess I will hand around the digital groups for a while sharpening my skills. No, go take pictures to sharpen your skills. I just came back from taking 98 at one location. This time while very rare I also took some outdoor shots of the backyard. For me its a hobby but I am also trying to help out a friend that is in the real estate business. I get to (hopefully) learn something that I will enjoy and help a friend at the same time. Right now its a cool pix camera and that probably would make my questions off topic. I already deleted the really bad pics and now its time to see if I can make the good ones even better in Photoshop. Anyway I hope you guys can help me make a good choice in my first DSLR. Jenny |
#7
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Wishing To Go DSLR
They are all good (Nikon, Canon, etc.). Buy one and use the heck out of it!
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#8
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Wishing To Go DSLR
On Aug 17, 4:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message ps.com... On Aug 17, 1:23 pm, "Just Shoot Me" wrote: Hello I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. any suggestions would be great. Thank you Jenny Wait 2 months for new models to come out. New ones will be better, old ones will be cheaper. a couple of weeks ago I would have replied with "wouldn't that always be the case" but just last night I was telling a friend that I would feel safer when today's models become cheaper than getting an older one now. I didn't think 2 months would be enough time. One model that caught my eye is the Canon EOS-1D Mark II N. A friend did recommend the Canon 20D. Because I travel a lot I would like one that is pretty strong. I guess I will hand around the digital groups for a while sharpening my skills. thank you Jenny. $2G won't buy the 1DMkIII (or fix its focus problems!) the 20D is out of date. You can get a 30D for about $800 and a decent zoom/flash with the remainder. |
#9
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Wishing To Go DSLR
Just Shoot Me wrote:
I have been thinking about going DSLR and would like a little help making up my mind. Right now I am using a Nikon Cool Pix 8400. I only do indoor photography and don't mind working with a tri-pod. $2,000 is what I can spend total on a new DSLR, Shoe Flash? and a New Tri-pod. I like wide angle but not curved pictures, Something user friendly. my pictures will be ...mostly for the furniture and the layout and not people. Jenny OK so Architectural/interior design is the purpose. That means (as you said) a low distortion wideangle lens. Most entry level DSLRs will come with a kit lens at 17 or 18mm with somewhat bad distortion and if you are surviving on a point & shoot, that's probably not quite as wide as these and probably much more curved. Architectural photographers (especially interior) generally find a super wide lens useful (essential?), and they generally demand the lowest possible distortion. Usually barrel distortion is the problem at the wide end of a zoom, like a mild fisheye effect. That's a rather difficult goal. The other thing serious architectural photogrphers use is perspective control lenses, in medium or large format that's called tilt/shift and shift allows you to keep all the verticals vertical (tilt doesn't matter on a tripod). And to expressed the desire for something easy to use and a budget that doesn't match the demanding requirements. So my suggestion is to look into a post-processing solution which will let you correct the distortion in an affordable super-wide or stitched P&S images. That's not very simple but it would be workable even with a P&S camera and panorama stitching. Panorama stitching software is more hassle but better programs are not too hard to use and they will completely remove the curves and make a super-wide field of view with exceptional detail, even with a tiny old P&S camera. You might want to get a panorama head for your tripod in that case. It sounds bad but just shoot the whole room & crop later to suit and you will be very satisfied. I don't know how big you want to print, if for web use this is overkill. Look for a P&S camera that has a panorama feature and it will come with easy software and simplify the manual control settings necessary for this. Pretty easy. Now, if you want to go DSLR and don't need huge prints, you would use a program like DXO to correct the relatively minor distortion and look for a lens that is sharp corner to corner and has well controlled flare. Then buy the body which matches that. The other thing a DSLR will buy you is dynamic range. Windows in daylight are much brighter than the dark corners of a room so this is valuable. The tripod doesn't matter for interiors with a wide angle, you just want a cable release instead of an infrared remote. Mirror lockup matters if you are doing larger prints and want lots of detail but that only comes on the higher end models. Canon's entry level kit lens is barely adequate, Nikon's newer models come with a not-so-great kit lens also, the 18-70 that came with the D70 was good, then you could add a 10-20 Sigma. Put that on a used D50 which has decent dynamic range with DXO for corrections and you are good to go. Canon makes a 10-20 and combined with their kit lens is probably not bad. Bubble-level, maybe a flash and diffuser for bounching off the ceiling, extra memory & software, probably a little better tripod with a ball-head for convenience, quick-release, and a remote shutter cable & you can use up $2,000 easily. -- Paul Furman Photography http://edgehill.net Bay Natives Nursery http://www.baynatives.com |
#10
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Wishing To Go DSLR
"Paul Furman" wrote in message t... OK so Architectural/interior design is the purpose. That means (as you said) a low distortion wideangle lens. Most entry level DSLRs will come with a kit lens at 17 or 18mm with somewhat bad distortion and if you are surviving on a point & shoot, that's probably not quite as wide as these and probably much more curved. Architectural photographers (especially interior) generally find a super wide lens useful (essential?), and they generally demand the lowest possible distortion. Usually barrel distortion is the problem at the wide end of a zoom, like a mild fisheye effect. That's a rather difficult goal. The other thing serious architectural photogrphers use is perspective control lenses, in medium or large format that's called tilt/shift and shift allows you to keep all the verticals vertical (tilt doesn't matter on a tripod). And to expressed the desire for something easy to use and a budget that doesn't match the demanding requirements. So my suggestion is to look into a post-processing solution which will let you correct the distortion in an affordable super-wide or stitched P&S images. That's not very simple but it would be workable even with a P&S camera and panorama stitching. Panorama stitching software is more hassle but better programs are not too hard to use and they will completely remove the curves and make a super-wide field of view with exceptional detail, even with a tiny old P&S camera. You might want to get a panorama head for your tripod in that case. It sounds bad but just shoot the whole room & crop later to suit and you will be very satisfied. I don't know how big you want to print, if for web use this is overkill. Look for a P&S camera that has a panorama feature and it will come with easy software and simplify the manual control settings necessary for this. Pretty easy. Now, if you want to go DSLR and don't need huge prints, you would use a program like DXO to correct the relatively minor distortion and look for a lens that is sharp corner to corner and has well controlled flare. Then buy the body which matches that. The other thing a DSLR will buy you is dynamic range. Windows in daylight are much brighter than the dark corners of a room so this is valuable. The tripod doesn't matter for interiors with a wide angle, you just want a cable release instead of an infrared remote. Mirror lockup matters if you are doing larger prints and want lots of detail but that only comes on the higher end models. Canon's entry level kit lens is barely adequate, Nikon's newer models come with a not-so-great kit lens also, the 18-70 that came with the D70 was good, then you could add a 10-20 Sigma. Put that on a used D50 which has decent dynamic range with DXO for corrections and you are good to go. Canon makes a 10-20 and combined with their kit lens is probably not bad. Bubble-level, maybe a flash and diffuser for bounching off the ceiling, extra memory & software, probably a little better tripod with a ball-head for convenience, quick-release, and a remote shutter cable & you can use up $2,000 easily. -- Paul Furman Photography http://edgehill.net Bay Natives Nursery http://www.baynatives.com Hi Paul and thank you for the thoughtful post. I have read your post and will have to read it section by section again to fully understand. a few things I wanted you to know while I do this. The pictures will only be displayed on PC no prints at all. I do have a problem sometimes with glare in the windows. trying different settings I do get the windows right but its really from just trying different settings. I realized now in this DSLR world that my $2,000 wont buy much and I am kind of getting a feeling that maybe you think I might be better off with my Nikon8400 with a 24 - 85mm lens. I get no fisheye with this lens and very happy although I can see where even wider might come in handy but if its going to take too much away from the camera or the pics 24 will be fine. I also have a canon S1 IS and can use that for taking regular pictures. I wonder how much I can get for both my cameras. I just finished editing my pictures and now my head is killing me. Later I would like to get into taking pictures of nature, however those $5,000 and up cameras are a bit out of my reach for what I will allow myself. You post was great, thank you Jenny |
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