camera day

[draper]

canon 35od SLR ? good camera ? a friend of a friend has one they are thinking of selling, would it be easy enough for a muppet (aka me) to have a go with ? also what kind of price should i expect to pay ?

[large_steve182]

350d's are kind of entry level digital slrs. although with control of all manual functions exposure. shutter speed.white balance etc.
plus your usuall automatic settings which should be avoided.
as for being a muppet. it will take a little bit of reading and a couple hours fannying about but im pretty sure anyone can work it out.
price around new is about 350ish.
but ask what comes with the camera. your going to need lens. cf card and other accessories when buying up cost some moneys.

and canons are great to throw that in there as ive rambled on and not actually answered your question sorry

[Ben]

Yes mate as a camera muppet you can still use the fully automatic mode and take good pics, then as your confidence grows you can try out the other functions.

IMO a great camera, wouldnt call it an entry level slr, there are better on the market but far worse.

Can pick them up with a lens and card etc on gaybay for about £200+/ -

[Jack]

<£200 for a used 350d IMO, if its in good condition and comes will all accessories.

I've got the 450d, its a good camera if you know what you're doing - the auto mode on it is rubbish so you have to use manual aperture and shutter speeds to get the best result (I would assume the 350 to be the same...). The reason I chose that over the available Nikons was it had a couple features I was looking for that the Nikons lacked, although the 350/400d also lacked these features.

Personally, I'd choose a Nikon D40 or D80 over a 350/400d. Depends on the price though I guess.

[Ben]

I love my 450d but think will take a while to get used to all the features!

[draper]

comes with a cf card and 2 lenses, think shes after about 180 for it

[Ben]

Sounds cheap enough with the lenses.

[Jack]

Aye, sounds like a good price to me.

What lenses?

Ben, if you have the time or inclination, have a look at a doing HDR photography with a program called Photomatix and the Auto Exposure Bracketing feature of the 450d. Can make some interesting shots like that, I quite often use it - in fact the pics I usually post on here of my saloon and Celica are shots run through that process.

[draper]

lenses are - a manual focus 2.8 to 50mm Tassar lens with fish eye attachment and 35mm to 80mm auto focus lense

might take a punt next week when i get paid then

[ade]

I have a 350D and love it - its an entrey level canon with "idiot" settings as well as the full "SLR" settings. Usually comes with an 18-55mm kit lens.

you can actually get them on ebay just now (body only) for about £160 - the standard kit lens will set you back about £50.

The tassar lens isnt a canon lens and at 50mm isnt a fisheye either. A true fish eye is less then 10mm. It's probably a carl zeiss M42 screw mount type lens with an adapter so it'll fit on the canon (I have one) - and at 50mm is a standard portrait lens. (The human eye sees at about 50mm).

The 350d has a "cropped sensor" (x1.6) which means it's focal length is longer so a 50mm lens will be about 80mm. Useful for when you buy a zoom lens (300mm becomes 480mm etc). You can use "normal" canon eos/af lenses or the smaller APS-C lenses.

Here's some pics I've taken with my 350d (scaled down from 3meg to web size) - its excellent resolution (you can get decent 10x8 prints) but the quality is all down to the lenses.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/web6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/_MG_3699.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/anda0016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/anda0017.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/bf0003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/anda0026.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/pv2660002-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/random040.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/pv2680029-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/puppy015bw.jpg

If you can invest in a decent couple of lenses and you'll have tons of fun if youre into that sort of thing. The lenses used in the pics above were a standard canon 18-55kit lens, Tamron 55-200mm and a Sigma 70-300mm APO - by no means "good" lenses but well worth the money I paid (off ebay again!). Decent canon lenses all have an "L" in their titles and are usually cream coloured - expect to pay upwards of £600 - £6000 depending on what you want.

[Ben]

Great pics Ade!

[draper]

nice pics ade, ive always fancied having a crack at photography, got a few ideas for places/things that i think could make good shots, i suppose if i dont get into it i could re-coup my money back if i sold it on (and go back to a disposable lol)

[Pistol Pete]

Some good pics the Ade. I'm sure Olly will post up later aswell.

[loggyboy]

Ade, You have the same slight lean to the left problem me and bro find when we use his DSLR!!

[ade]

lean to the left? they dont look squinty? lol

[loggyboy]

White nova and the boat/lake (lock) both look like they are leaning!

[Jack]

I get that too, probably down to how I hold the camera though. Thats one thing I miss on the 450d over my old Fuji, the latter could place a grid on the pic through the viewfinder.

[trackdaynova]

I agree on the 350D front, it is most certainly an entry-level D-SLR, which doesn't mean its crap by any stretch, just means the internals are built for occasional use, they're made from plastic & nylon which wear quicker, as opposed to stainless and alloy, found on higher spec models.

Thats about where my Canon knowledge stops thankfully (awaits lynching lol) I'm a Nikon man myself, which I prefer to Canons but again - they're simply all down to personal tastes, there is no 'right and wrong'.

And to be honest, and most toggers will agree that the body is a mere fraction of the end result of a photograph, you really want good quality glass - without good glass, you're not going to get prestine results.

Canon talk here, but you could take a photo with a Canon 1D Mark III (£2.3k body alone), with poor glass, such as a basic Sigma or Tamron @ fastest which would be f5.6 (£150)... and you'd get better clarity results with a 350D (£250), with a Canon L Series DX AF IS DP f2.8 lens (£1.2k)...

Ade - quite severe burnout on the front end Nova pic, up your F-stop by two stops, or lower your ISO, for more detail, less bleaching :thumb: :)

[Jeff16v]

I'm personally looking at a Nikon D100 at the mo, the medical photographers at work said its a great camera for the money. Typically going on ebay for between £230 to £350 depending on batteries and lense's included.

[stevie-p]

they are some nice pictures ADE

[Ben]

I get that too, probably down to how I hold the camera though. Thats one thing I miss on the 450d over my old Fuji, the latter could place a grid on the pic through the viewfinder.

You can select a grid on the 450d!

[Benn]

I use the 400D and find it a great dslr. Perfect starting point.

[ade]

Ade - quite severe burnout on the front end Nova pic, up your F-stop by two stops, or lower your ISO, for more detail, less bleaching :thumb: :)

Cheers matey - its totally washed out - I was messing with a ND grad filter for the sky but it's summut I'm always messing up - sky/car shots - I either blow out the sky or the car! Thought the ND grad filter would darken the sky allowing the car to have more detail but I fecked it!

lol:roll:lol

[Jack]

You can select a grid on the 450d!
Not through the viewfinder you can't.

[Ben]

Pah padantic barsteward!

[Jack]

lol :thumb: