In the market for a SLR, Suggestions?

[KC Kropf]

Making the jump to SLR in the next month or so.  Would anyone suggest something better than either one of these Cannons?  Based on price range, quality, etc? Every Cannon that I have owned (PowerShots) has taken fantastic shots and everyone that I have talked to has seemed to confirm the 50D to be one of the best in this price range.  The recent sell of my old film Pentax and multiple lenses via craigslist has left me feeling "empty" 

Thanks for any help!


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... gital.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... gital.html

[LenexatoKCMO]

Making the jump to SLR in the next month or so.  Would anyone suggest something better than either one of these Cannons?  Based on price range, quality, etc? Every Cannon that I have owned (PowerShots) has taken fantastic shots and everyone that I have talked to has seemed to confirm the 50D to be one of the best in this price range.  The recent sell of my old film Pentax and multiple lenses via craigslist has left me feeling "empty"   :(

Thanks for any help!


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... gital.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... gital.html

The 50D is about to be replaced with the 60D.  I believe the 50D had a little bit of an AF reputation issue.  It appears that Canon has attempted to split this segment into two directions with their new product line up, with a choice of the new 7D being a bit more full featured than the 50D and the new 60D a bit less full-featured.  If I were buying new, I would consider either the 7D or 60D; the camera bodies themselves are the most quickly obsolete part of a DSLR system so why get a model that is on its way out. 

[KC Kropf]

The 50D is about to be replaced with the 60D.  I believe the 50D had a little bit of an AF reputation issue.  It appears that Canon has attempted to split this segment into two directions with their new product line up, with a choice of the new 7D being a bit more full featured than the 50D and the new 60D a bit less full-featured.  If I were buying new, I would consider either the 7D or 60D; the camera bodies themselves are the most quickly obsolete part of a DSLR system so why get a model that is on its way out.   

I was not at all aware of that, THANK YOU, clearly I have some more research to do.  Looks like my timing could be good with either of the ones you suggest.  Don't see the 60D listed anywhere "officially" but most say September availability. 

Hmmm..  7D v 60D  ??? 

[LenexatoKCMO]

I was not at all aware of that, THANK YOU, clearly I have some more research to do.  Looks like my timing could be good with either of the ones you suggest.  Don't see the 60D listed anywhere "officially" but most say September availability. 

Hmmm..  7D v 60D  ??? 

Biggest differences look to be more robust body, better auto-focus, and faster frame rate.  For some folks that is well worth the ~$400 difference but its not like the 60D is going to be particularly weak in any of those areas either. 

Most importantly, go ahead and order a book on controlling manual exposure, metering, etc. - with either model that is way too much camera to waste in point n shoot mode. 

[KC Kropf]

Most importantly, go ahead and order a book on controlling manual exposure, metering, etc. - with either model that is way too much camera to waste in point n shoot mode. 

No doubt... I am familiar with my old manual film (light meter in the middle, shutter speeds and aperture) , but for sure understand I have some more learning to do on the digital side..... couple friends of mine have taken some intro classes at the KC Art Institute that sounded fairly priced...

Any other suggestions, or a specific book to get?

[shinatoo]

Whats you budget? What do you ultimately want to get out of the camera? Family photos? Amateur landscape photography? Professional photography?

I'm on a tight budget and really wanted to replace my AE1 because I had stopped taking photos with the hassle of film (still prefer it for B n W). I wanted something for family photos and to do some artsy stuff with. I settled on the Olympus 420. got it a Wal-Marts for 400 bucks and have been very happy with it. It is the smallest SLR on the market, takes great photos, I mainly shoot in RAW and then edit in Olympus Studio which is a great program that comes with the camera. It comes with a nice telephoto however I plan on getting a 25mm lens for my walking around shooting days.

What I have found with a 10MGP camera is that you don't have to be in that tight to get a good photo. Most of my long shots I crop 75% of the pic out for the finished product and there is more than enough resolution for a good 4x5 print. The imager is 4 by 3 aspect which I like because I come from a television background. The drawback is that on a 4 x 5 print you don't fill up the paper unless you crop it to that aspect, but that is minor. Olympus isn't a huge player so used gear is hard to come by. Also the MM ratings are different because of the wierd aspect ratio, but that only matters when you are buying lenses.



IT LOOKS LIKE A TOY! But i love it so far.

I made my choice from the reviews on this web site. http://www.dpreview.com/ Best clearinghouse I found. I believe the E620 is the current model.

I am looking for a better finishing program but don't want to shell out the bucks for Photoshop. I need to do color isolation, and dodge and burn. Any suggestions?

[KC Kropf]

Whats you budget? What do you ultimately want to get out of the camera? Family photos? Amateur landscape photography? Professional photography?

...

I am looking for a better finishing program but don't want to shell out the bucks for Photoshop. I need to do color isolation, and dodge and burn. Any suggestions?

Have you tried http://www.getpaint.net/  ??  I recently got turned on to this free application that is supposedly very similar to photoshop.  I used Photoshop in college and paint.net has the same look and feel and functionality that I can remember, but I honestly have not used it much yet.  It may not do everything that you are needing...

My budget to start is right around $1k give or take maybe a couple hundred...  I want to make an investment that will last me a long time, and get back into a creative hobby that I can grow into... IE take some classes, invest in more lenses accessories, etc. ....  I want do a number of things, but probably mostly amateur architecture and artistic shots to share on the web, and create prints for artwork in my condo and for friends...  I enjoy taking action shots and sporting events...  Photography will probably never be my full time job, but I would like to challenge myself and see how good I can get.  I guess that one day when there is a family, I'd love to be able to produce professional type shots of my fam. 

Among those and others interest, I mostly want to share  unique shots of Kansas City with everyone 

Thanks for all the info and guidance, truly appreciated!

[phna]

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/sd15-digital-slr-camera

    World's first full color image sensor: Foveon X3 image sensor

    14.45 megapixel

    True II Image processing engine

    SD card

    21 frames captured continuously in RAW mode

    Large, highly visible 3.0' TFT color LCD Monitor

[IraGlacialis]

First it depends on your budget and how casual your shooting. You can get a good Rebel for about $700 with lens. This also allows you to get into the habit of shooting digitally in manual format and it isn't a weight to lug around. It will also free up some money for a lens or two (which is where the real investment is).

If breaching the grand mark isn't going to be an issue and you are getting pretty serious, then I would straight-up choose a 7D.

I myself use a 7D and think it is the most useful thing I could have. There are quite a bit of fun elements in there, but I'll just go over the stuff I have a lot of experience with or that is notable.
I'm mainly a sports, especially track&field, photographer, so the 8fps was the first thing I gravitated towards. What is also nice is how many frames you can cram in one setting (at least 70 in JPEG and ).
The second was the 19 AF points which allows greater flexibility.
18mp is nice, but wasn't a great concern when I chose this camera.
I haven't used it much, but when I have, the fact that a slave-master is built into the flash was extremely helpful.
I personally could really care less about the 1080p video setting; however, the tilt/elevation tool was helpful whenever I shot buildings.
Finer control of the ISO (as opposed to my previous 400D) was useful as was the amount of noise that was reduced.
The fact that it can go up to 1/8000 of a second can sound a bit ridiculous, but I got some use it of it when shooting some landscape shots on a sunny day.
Oh and since I go around to a lot of places, and the potential for elemental abuse is high, the fact that it is solidly built and weather-sealed is an extreme plus.

Even when factoring price, I'd pick the 7D over the 60D (a $400 jump really isn't bad all things considered). It has also got a bit of tenure as opposed to the 60D.

If money really isn't going to be an issue and you aren't going to be focusing on action, might as well get the 5DmkII. It definitely has positive tenure (never got to try it myself, so this is just by reputation) and, with a full frame, you will be getting more out of that heightened mp range.

Some other things you will need regardless of the camera you get (other than lenses of course).
Most importantly, buy a flash, and don't rely on the pop-up (that will be $300-500 for a good one).
The more memory cards, the better. One meet, I ended up shooting about 1,400 shots a day; even with a 8g UDMA card (and a friend's house next-door that I could easily run over and dump some excess shots during breaktime) those spare 2gigs were a lifesaver. Same goes for an extra battery.
Stabilizing device: tripod, monopod, one of those little table-top tripods.

A couple sample shots from my 7D.


An idea of how the framerate is.






This was when I was just learning how to work the slave-master.

[KC Kropf]

wow, thank you IraGlacialis!  Great info and cool shots... I actually stopped by a camera shop today while traveling on business in Topeka and got play with a 7D.  The people there also said that 7D was no brainer v. the 50D or 60D. 

Side note: I wish I had photo's as good as yours of my high school track days, you got that whole baton exchange in 6 frames, pretty sweet! 

[IraGlacialis]

Thanks.
University of Arkansas is probably one of the few places I've been where I can comfortably shoot at night due to the unbelievably powerful spotlights the arena has, which means I don't have to make that much of a compromise for shutter speed, ISO, and aperture (it creates a nice effect as well, especially for steeplechase). As stated before, t&f is pretty much my specialty, with vaulting being the event I probably put the most energy into shooting (though I still put more than enough energy into the rest of the events).

Whatever you get, hope it will suit you well.

[KC Kropf]

Okay.. so it's just about PURCHASE TIME!!  BUT....  I am torn and cannot seam to get a straight answer that I am comfortable with on which Kit lens to purchase with the 7D.. 

I know this may seam silly.. but want to ensure I make the right choice.. the difference does not seam all the much to me.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6 ... l_SLR.html

OR....

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6 ... gital.html

ANY HELP.. much appreciated.

[taxi]

I would go with the 18-135 for sure. An extra $100 just isn't that much more. It of course depends on what you'll be shooting and your style. For me, the wider the better.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Which are the two lens options?  work internet apparently doesn't like B&H. 

[KC Kropf]

28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens

- OR -

EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Kit


The BH Site is weird.. they were showing a $100 difference the whole time (the 18-135 being higher) but at checkout they were both the same price.. I went ahead and ordered the 18-135...  Figure I just needed to get something and quit over thinking it...  many more lenses to buy down the road once I know how to use the darn thing

[LenexatoKCMO]

Yeah that is the more sensible choice by far unless you are planning to upgrade to full frame soon. 

28mm is effectively 45mm on your 7D so you would pretty quickly find yourself shopping for something wider to augment it.  Not that future lens coveting isn't inevitable anyway. 

Happy shooting. 

[KC Kropf]

Wheww..  great to hear, THANKS! 

[KC Kropf]

Thanks to all for the help!!  I welcomed the 7D to the family last week and don't think I've set it done yet... (not kidding, I kinda took it into work with me)..

A few fun shots I put together of a friends dog and one off my balcony to share PRE any schooling or hard core learning how to use the dang thing..  Have attended one workshop at Digital Labrador and plan to enroll in KC Art Institutes Digital Photo 1 this Feb..