DSLR Cameras! Great scott!

[Limited]

Firstly, well done for clicking on this thread.

So I am in a situation where I am pretty happy with my bank balance and can afford to spend some of my hard earned cash on some exciting products!

I've always been into photography, but much more of a basic amateur, I've never gotten into it more of a hobby due to the fact of pricey cameras and my point and shoot is horrendous.

I am in the market to buying my first DSLR, at work we use a Canon 400D, its not too shabby - although I've only used it a few times so I haven't got the complete 'feel' of the camera yet.

I've spotted the 500D and the 550D and they seem like very nice cameras. I like the looks of the 550D menu and how intuitive and easy it is to use it. I'm not looking to dive into videoing too much but it would be a nice feature to use in the 550D.

So heres what I want to use the camera for:
Landscapes
Sunsets
The odd portrait of my fabulous family
A few up close shots, cat, bench, a few flowers but I wouldnt say enough to warrant a macro lens.
I like HDR photos, so I will give a few of them a good if I find a good shot, then again both cameras have bracketing functionality.

I basically want a well rounded setup that is good in most situations, I doubt I will do much low-light shots or dark shots, the most I will do is landscapes as I live in a very nice countryside with some fantastic views of the sea.

I like photos where the foreground is in focus but the background is slightly out of focus, at least the whole image is not in total focus, so I'd want something with a fairly decent aperture rating whatever the F means :D.

So viewing on jessops and Amazon I see a few nice items for sale, now I am slightly cautious when they sell the 500D and throw in a free lens - are they trying to kind of better the deal by throwing it in?


550D http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77142/show.html


500D with 18-55mm lens and 75-300mm lens http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/80640/show.html

(http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/80640/show.html)http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digital-18-55-Lens-Kit/dp/B0037KM0F8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315937723&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0037KM0F8/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&psc=1
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0037KM0F8/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&psc=1)
So I'd like your thoughts on a 550D vs 500D and what kind of lens do you think its appropriate, I'm starting to think the kit (18-55mm) lens will do a good overall job, and maybe down the line when I know what I want more out of the camera, I can purchase a different type of lens, maybe an 80-200m if they sell those).

Ideally I'd like to buy a bundle where you get a 16GB memory card or maybe even two of them, I've heard Transcend is a good one and its good to go with a high class card (Class 10 sounds excellent).

Thoughts??

[Nero]

D90? It's a nikon, but i used it a long time ago and its usefull for everything you described.
also, when you say slightly out of focus... thats wrong. what i think you mean to say is, you want a bokeh effect to your images. nikon lenses are extremely good with this... esp for potraits.
you may want to keep away from stock kit lenses though as they end up degrading the image from what it really could be.

hope this helps!

[Limited]

Canon 550D...not a Nikon. Also by out of focus, I meant like either the foreground is in focus 'more' than the bg, or vice versa. Theres probably some technical name rather than my poor effort in description.

[Cortexian]

You mean like this?
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/1239/77874198.jpg

[InnerGoat]

550D because it's newer I guess?? There's a few changes like (slightly) faster continuous shooting, better metering and better video. They'll both do whatever you want and come with the same kit lens.

Get yourself a nice tripod and mess with the kit lens a bit :)

[Timo]

Either will do fine (my 400D still takes great photos), i'd also recommend buying a 50mm prime lens, they're fairly cheap but are great to use and will give you that really shallow depth of field you're after.

[Limited]

So my IRL friend is trying to persuade me to get Nikon D90 (same as Nero), but damn it looks so ugly. They do have a Canon 550D with a 18-135mm lens, which gives you more option. I think I may go with that one.

Then again I did read a good article (http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/Canon-Rebel-T2i-EOS-550D-Compared-to-Nikon-D90.shtml) that basically shows how the D90 is better. I really want a Canon though, don't know exactly why I'm being drawn to the 550D.

Total cost is looking around £770 ($1,216).

@Freelancer, well thats macro so sorta yes but I dont want to get a specialised macro lens. Spot focus, maybe the name where your focused on one part of a scene.

Edit: Depth of field thats it, wow why couldnt I remember it...DOF is done by playing around with the focus/aperture right?

[Nero]

like I said in my first post, i think you are talking about a bokeh effect.edit: maybe cannons have another name?
also, sorry, i was telling you about nikon because i dont use cannons.. :p

[Cortexian]

@Freelancer, well thats macro so sorta yes but I dont want to get a specialised macro lens. Spot focus, maybe the name where your focused on one part of a scene.

Edit: Depth of field thats it, wow why couldnt I remember it...DOF is done by playing around with the focus/aperture right?
Yes, the easiest way is to set the camera to aperture priority, focus on what you want and then adjust the aperture setting to get the DOF effect you want. At least that's what I've been doing. The picture I posted was taken using the kit lens on my Canon T1i.

[sleepy1212]

I'd want something with a fairly decent aperture rating whatever the F means :D.

F-stop. It's an aperture setting for DOF. Just remember to adjust your shutter speed accordingly. less light + more time, more light + less time.

[Limited]

Yes, the easiest way is to set the camera to aperture priority, focus on what you want and then adjust the aperture setting to get the DOF effect you want. At least that's what I've been doing. The picture I posted was taken using the kit lens on my Canon T1i.So I had a lengthy chat with my IRL on Skype and he tried to push the Nikon towards me, I can understand his logic but my heart screams Canon.

That picture you took? I thought you just googled a picture and posted it, great picture. What are you thoughts with the lens kit? Also is it the 18-55mm or the 18-135mm? I'm probably going to get the 135mm one. Do you like the T1i Freelancer? Do you like have an album of pictures I can just see to see what kind of quality you can expect.

I have a feeling I would use AF and Tv settings (aperture priority and shutter priority) a lot in photos.

My only other question, is about how vivid the photos are. I will be shooting in raw so I could just bump it up there (I assume you can do RAW in Photoshop, I heard lightroom is the best but I don't have that...) I see photos where the colours are bold, vivid and the contrast is strong, but its never too strong. Its those type of promotional shots you see, my friend said you could achieve that strong colour by messing with the shutter, aperture and ISO, I'm wondering if theres a name for that "technique".

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm probably going to order this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digital-18-135-Lens-Kit/dp/B0037KM0FI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316023252&sr=8-3

U (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digital-18-135-Lens-Kit/dp/B0037KM0FI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316023252&sr=8-3)se express delivery and hopefully it will come by Friday (no ones in on Monday :O), only issue is the UV filter and the transcend SDHC memory card, of which I am thinking of going for a 8GB or maybe even 2x 8GB.

[Limited]

Bump, ordered earlier tonight, its guaranteed by Friday at 1pm (the camera), although the UV filter and the 2 memory cards will come whenever but unluckily this week, so I'll use my mums sdhc temporarily for the weekend.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[Cortexian]

I'm by no means a photographer, and that's why I got a T1i instead of something a little more beefy like a xxxD model. I got the 18-55mm kit lens and a 55-250 f/4-5.6 IS lens, they're both great entry level lenses from what I've found.

These SHOULD all be photos that I have taken with the T1i, most with the 18-55 lens. The ones with me in airsoft gear are the camera on time delay mode, I'm no expert at shooting in that mode so they probably don't represent the cameras quality.
http://imageshack.us/g/36/83884903.jpg/

Again, I'm no photographer an a lot of these have had their quality compressed.

[sleepy1212]

my friend said you could achieve that strong colour by messing with the shutter, aperture and ISO, I'm wondering if theres a name for that "technique".

Filters or their digital equivalent. There are also some darkroom tricks that are probably represented in the program. Shutter, ISO, and Aperture are light quantity controls.

[Limited]

Well the camera arrived today whilst I was at work so I was dying for 4:30pm to arrive. Forgot to turn it to RAW + Large JPG until after 20 photos.

Heres a photo I took of my cat twiglet, its scaled down from 5000odd something. The second photo is the original 100% view just cropped. Going to make a thread soon to house most of the photos, just thought I'd throw this in as a tease.

http://limited-development.net/photography/IMG_0017.JPG

http://limited-development.net/photography/IMG_0017_crop.jpg
(Click for full size)

Edit:
Okay one more, my friend asked me for a photo that doesnt make him want to look over his shoulder.
http://limited-development.net/photography/IMG_0011.JPG

[NullZero]

They look quite good ;)

[Cortexian]

Haha, I think everyone takes photos of their pet immediately lol:
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/2893/img0286vm.jpg

[Limited]

My cat has no tail :O and totally right Freelancer.

[Patrickssj6]

Wow first cat pic is rollin. I remember when I took my first picture with a decent compact digital camera...it looked horrible. I had to do some extensive tuning to get a picture quality I liked. After seeing your cat picture I guess I have to start saving some money:gonk:

[sleepy1212]

any SLR is a bazillion percent improvement over a compact-idiot-camera.