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help me decide which camera to buy

sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Its time for a new camera. I've had slr s before they were digital, and I've taken a few classes on photography. I got sick of carrying the entire camera bag all the time, so I sold the slr and went to point and shoot cameras. Y latest was a canon s90. Its been the best point and shoot I've owned, but my pictures are lacking.

I think I'm ready to go to a dslr, but I don't know what to get. I'd like to be able to shoot HD video with it, but my budget is in the $1000-1500 range. What do you reccomebd, and where should I buy it from?
 
frieed

frieed

Jeepless in Draper
Supporting Member
Location
Draper, UT
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DAA

DAA

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
West Bountiful, UT
I love my 60D. It's got enough features and then some for my neeeds, but the size is still just small enough to make it with me on a lot (but not all...) hikes. Have gotten a lot of compliments on the pictures I've taken with it, which speaks more to the camera than to me.

All that said... I picked up an S100 point and shoot last month and haven't used the 60D too much since! Although, on my Henries trip a few weeks ago, it was really nice just leaving my long lens on the 60D for wildlife and keeping the S100 handy for everything else. I can see that happening a lot in the future, keep the 60D armed and ready for "photography", but keep the S100 right at hand for "snap shots" - which comprise 95% of my picture taking.

- DAA
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Skylinerider said:
Check out Olympus' PEN line of cameras. Interchangeable lenses, but smaller than a DSLR.
Click to expand...

I have an Olympus PEN E-PL1 and I am more than impressed with the photo's and the mind blowing color the the camera captures. Even the raw, untouched photos are simply amazing. I'm sure you've seen plenty of those photos in my trip reports from the last 2 years. I bought my camera with 2 lenses, which is nice.

That said, the camera isn't capable of producing HDR images and that is quite disappointing for me. I would love to fiddle with HDR, but the PEN doesn't seem to be capable of it. :(
 
frieed

frieed

Jeepless in Draper
Supporting Member
Location
Draper, UT
sixstringsteve said:
Very cool. How do you like your 60d?
Click to expand...

Still new to me so I haven't figured out how to operate it all that well, but compared to the ancient 10d that it replaced, it's amazing. 3x the resolution, better focusing, massive sd card (mine is 32 GB). I love that it will capture a raw image and a jpeg with size of my choosing for each shot. I shoot with smallest jpeg size for posting on forums and reviewing which ones I want to mess with in raw form. I also had several lenses for it from my 10d. I have a 28-135 zoom that is my normal carry-around lens, the little cheapie 50mm f1.8 that is tack sharp, a 70-200 f2.8 l-series zoom that I need to drag out more often, a 1.4x extender, and a nice tripod with a ball head. Eventual plan is to get the 24-105 l series
 
Skylinerider

Skylinerider

Wandering the desert
Location
Ephraim
Greg said:
I have an Olympus PEN E-PL1 and I am more than impressed with the photo's and the mind blowing color the the camera captures. Even the raw, untouched photos are simply amazing. I'm sure you've seen plenty of those photos in my trip reports from the last 2 years. I bought my camera with 2 lenses, which is nice.

That said, the camera isn't capable of producing HDR images and that is quite disappointing for me. I would love to fiddle with HDR, but the PEN doesn't seem to be capable of it. :(
Click to expand...

Pretty sure the E-PL1 has exposure bracketing. That's what you use for HDR, then combine in a software program like photomatix or photoshop.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Skylinerider said:
Pretty sure the E-PL1 has exposure bracketing. That's what you use for HDR, then combine in a software program like photomatix or photoshop.
Click to expand...

It does, it will take 3 images from one photo... I have played with it, but don't know that the images look as good as a camera that gets more than 3 different lighting scales of the same image. Seems like other cameras do better with HDR than the E-PL1.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
The wife and I went to Costco tonight to see what they had. We were just kicking tires, but she got excited. We ended up getting the Rebel 3i for $829 with 2 lenses, a case, a memory card, yada yada. It sounds like for beginners like us, it'll be fine. I'd LOVE a cannon 7D or a 60D, but I'm no pro and I doubt I'll be able to tell the difference between the two. Either way, we have 90 days to figure out if we like this camera or not.
 
frieed

frieed

Jeepless in Draper
Supporting Member
Location
Draper, UT
You'll love the camera Steve. If it will accept non-es lenses (the ones designed not specifically for the aps sensor size) then you can try a couple of mine...
 
P

Plumcrazy

Formerly GVHS
I know your done for now but in the future look into pentax. In the US all you hear and see are nikons/cannon for the most part. I bought a pentax which you almost never ehar about here. The cool part is the pentax platform has not changed very much and I can basically use and pentax lens from the 60s on. I have picked up 2 lenses thus far for $40 at one yard sell. Granted the auto focus wont work but heck that is not what I am after. Other things I liked about pentax was after market none pentax lenses are availible for cheaper. the one I bought was just under $700 it has a metal sub frame and is completely ealed and life time warranty from moisture, not water proof but it is weather proof. I have shot with it in -20 degree weather etc. The thing has been a tank. I have is in my vehicle all the time. It has been with me 4 wheeling, hunting etc. Not to mention has survived several encounters with my kids... Here are some pics...
Also the best part was that it takes double a batteries and with one set of batteries I can take right at 700 pics... Means no carrying chords etc. When batteries die just go buy new ones. I use rechargeable and get around 450 pics on them...



This one was out hunting it was over 90 degrees that day, nothing fancy just a pic
1315279769.jpg



4 wheeling...
Twist1.jpg


Low light
Sniff.jpg


Sunsets
willowcrss2.jpg

willowcreekss.jpg

Very 1 st pic I ever took with it...
Rainbow2CR.jpg
 
NoTrax

NoTrax

New Wheels Big Trax
Location
Utah
I loved my canon 60d, It will mount any ES or EFS or L lens... I only sold it to upgrade it to a 5d MKII
 
NoTrax

NoTrax

New Wheels Big Trax
Location
Utah
I also had the t3i, its a great camera... and it will mount ANY lens.. even the non EFS... efs are the ones you cannot mount on a FF ( full frame ) but you can mount the L and ES lens to the t3i

I shot an entire soccer game at RSL with my t3i and a 70-200 2.8 II L lens... it gives you a crop factor zoom of 320
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
NoTrax said:
it gives you a crop factor zoom of 320
Click to expand...

what does that mean?

That makes me feel better. If you say it's a great camera, then it's plenty good for me and my wife. Thanks NoTrax, I was going to ask you about it eventually, I'm glad you found this thread.
 
frieed

frieed

Jeepless in Draper
Supporting Member
Location
Draper, UT
Steve,

The crop factor NoTrax is talking about is due to the size of the sensor. the 70-200 lens was designed for 24x36 mm(or there abouts) film (35mm). The sensor on our cameras is 25x16mm so it only "sees" the center area of the image from the lens. The ratio of the two is 1.6, so a 200mm lens on our camera's is the same field of view as a 320mm lens on a film or full frame sensor camera (such as a 5D). This is nice for two reasons, on a typical lens, the center of the image usually has better performance than the edges (sharpness,distortion,vignetting) so we get the sweet spot of the lens and second is that we get effectively longer zoom lenses for less money. The down side is that it hurts us on the wide angle end of things. But that's where photoshop comes to play. Stitching images together can give you as wide angle as you want with the lenses you have. I don't know if you ever looked at the gallery I put up on RME from my skyline drive day trip weekend before last, but that 360 panorama was build from 12 separate shots with the lens at 28mm(45mm eq due to the sensor crop)
 
frieed

frieed

Jeepless in Draper
Supporting Member
Location
Draper, UT
NoTrax said:
I also had the t3i, its a great camera... and it will mount ANY lens.. even the non EFS... efs are the ones you cannot mount on a FF ( full frame ) but you can mount the L and ES lens to the t3i
Click to expand...

Yeah, had it backwards, no EF-S lenses on cameras made for full frame lenses unless specifically designed for both. Now I have to go check whether my 60D can take EF-S lenses...
 
frieed

frieed

Jeepless in Draper
Supporting Member
Location
Draper, UT
NoTrax said:
I shot an entire soccer game at RSL with my t3i and a 70-200 2.8 II L lens
Click to expand...
Was that the image stabilized version ?
I thought about it when I bought mine, but just couldn't get myself to spend and additional $1000 to get it...
 
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