blursotong said:
Hi to all, I am new to digital photography. In fact, to photography in general.
I really want to buy a DSLR, but cannot decide which to buy: Why straight to DSLR? Cos I want to buy 1 time. Pain one time (seeing the $$ fly). Not like others who buy, sell, buy, sell.... the cycle never seems to end...
My Two cents....I assume you are totally new to photography and about to take a big leap in to it....off the deep end.
The most obvious aspects that will influence your purchase (should) involves your heart and head. Your wallet may seem a logical inclusion in the decision making but trust me when I say, if you don't sort out your true needs for purchasing the right equipment whatever amount you set aside now will be blown to pieces or cause much regrets just a few weeks or months into a hobby you now find could have been done just as well with a point and shoot camera.
Photography can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be and STILL can have NOTHING to do with the quality of your photgraphic skill or love for it. Taking a GREAT picture of your adorable kids for example..... Even a badly taken picture of your bady taking his/her first few baby steps can still evoke a an emotional respond in you even when you look at the picture years from today. And it would still not matter if it was shot using a Point-and-shoot camera or DSLR or a cheap 35mm disposable camera.
$3 to 4,000 might be considered entry level or small change by some of the hard core photographic fellow forummers here at CS but honestly for a person with hardly any real experiments with photography that is logically not a small sum of money to chuck around even if you are comfortably well to do. Apart from the obvious cost involve, there are other "hidden cost" you might have to consider too and I am not talking just about spending more money either....like investing numerous hours learning not just how to use your camera equipment but also basic photographic technique, how to do basic post photo production on your PC (with software like photoshop..etc), learning to 'read' colours and picture composition, touch up techniques, printing your own shots..etc.... to name a few of the entry level things you need to really APPRECIATE your investment. It is also true some of the stuff I just mentioned could be given to a photo kiosk to do them so why bother to learn them. And if that is the case, you might as well not bother with purchasing an SLR, you should be thinking of getting a point-and-shoot camera instead if you feel learning all that stuff is too tedious.
The more features and power functions you want in your camera equipment, the more confusing it can get for someone just starting out. This is especially true observing folks I know who got bought into the "professional image" or "stylo look" of owning and shooting with big lens/body. But ALWAYS set their SLR/DSLR in Program Mode as they just can't be bother to learn how to use or explore the full potential of owning an SLR/DSLR. Then I see them complaining about how disappointed they are with their equipment as the picture they shot looked blur, too dark, too bright, out of focus..etc. Problem is they did not want to learn how to hold a camera with long lens, they don;'t know about depth of field in relation to apeture setting, shooting with too low a speed for fast moving subject..well you get what I mean I hope...heheh. Oh by the way, If you are new to photographic equipment setting, selecting Program Mode means the camera does all the exposure calculation for you while you simply point the camera and shoot. You are therefore shooting at whatever setting (speed/apeture combo) the camera calculates. Program mode is never always perfect unless the conditions are clinically perfect. That is why serious hobbist and especially profession photographers buy SLR or DSLR cameras and various lens because we want to take more "control" over the shooting process by varying the shutter speed, depth of field, composing the scene and lighting. All this contributes to creating the "creativity" of the "end" shot. Buying more expensive gear does not make you a better photographer unless you are willing to spend the time to learn it. And even then, you have to remind yourself that they are just tools. The most important photgraphic equipment you can have are your eyes and your "mind's eyes" as I call it.
Do you need really need the best or even second best equipment .....or best brand camera equipment to take good pictures? Frankly...no! Look at some of the pictures in the Club Snap Gallery or other photo websites ...not all of them were shot with a Nikon or Canon SLR or DSLR..There are lots shot with just a point and shoot camera too. There will always be the anal retentive who will nitpick about how unsharp or how the light is abit off, busy background or wrong choice of lens ..etc..at least for me, I am looking at the "story"..that to me is the most important aspect of a picture.
If you are going to have the camera always in one of those "Automatice" shooting mode, I rather advise you purchase a slightly above average cost prosumer point-&-shoot camera instead of a SLR. (but if you do want to dabble in a bit of manual shooting, point and shoot camera can do that too) Where today's standard in camera technology is concern, all the established known brands are about on par in quality and basic features where the point and shoot camera market is concern and in relation to their price range. The DSLR marketing is "almost" no difference. Others might say otherwise I am certain
As technolgoy moves on, what;s good or right or exclusive to one particular brand will tomorrow be a "standard" feature found in all the other brands too and yes even in Point and Shoot camera.
Frankly....it's your money, therefore I feel no pinch about it...so I should just be telling you what I like and therefore you should follow it too. Buy Buy Buy...as some would suggest. And why not...for one thing, we just got another person interested in photography which is great. And if not, well we just got a poor sap who made the wrong choice in a heat of the moment ....who will now be giving up on the hobby and had to sell his toys to us at a favorable discounted price. Lucky us! And I am sure there will be those lurking around who will be looking forward to now telling you how much your 'almost new second-hand' stuff is worth and try their best (from encourging you to take up the hobby) to now trying to tear your price down as low as they can for your stuff. WAH!...now I am going into the depressing end of the scenario huh?
Maybe I am but I am just trying to play devil advocate here. Take every piece of advices you hear with a pinch of salt whether it be in club snap or outside. The old timers has their story, the techno weenie of equipment will have their bias on equipment and the brand fanatics will have their pitch too. At the heart of it all, I think majority have good intentions with their advices for you but that is all it is....advices...you can take them or leave them. Not hard and fast rule.
From what you wrote I have to say, your interest are really about casual shooting and it seem to pertain more about your family and maybe how your wife wants you to take occasionally pictures of your kids growing up. That does not sound like an every day or even every week affair! That PAIN ONE TIME is not something that will go away anytime soon if you over extend yourself by going into a hobby you actually dont like. And also never see everyone buy and sell and buy and sell as being fortunately...some could be just making mistake after mistake with their purchase or just have a weakness for new bright shiny toys. I honestly dont know anyone here...and neither am I implying anyone here for that matters when I talk about those negativities but I have been in photographic groups and I have seen my share of what happens with newbies.
Again...Nikon? Canon? Olympus? Leica? I have a friend whose wife two years ago gave birth to twins. As a happy daddy, he went gaga over them. He was not so much into picture taking but ever since his twins arrived, he had been taking alot of pictures with his P&S 35mm. Rather expensive processing film and then scanning them. So I told him to go digital help him pick a P&S Sony camera and then set up his PC with a simple software he can use to print out the pictures. He has been using the same camera till today. Those pictures will never win any awards but as a proud dad he love everyone he shot. And they were not too shabby too for a point and shoot camera. As it is a small camera, carrying it around in his wifey's handbag was not a problem. Which is good as the twins are a handful when they go out.
My first Nikon SLR eons ago was a Nikon EM with a 50mm 1.8 lens. I was shooting with just that lens for more then a year. It taught me alot. I learn to think beyond the "equipment". I am not saying you should but what I am saying is that photography is more then just about equipment. When you think beyond that, you will be able to see clearly what you really want. After that...then you can think abou whether to get a Nikon, Canon or Olympus. ( all three are good btw...though I am a faithful Nikon user) And then again it could be a Sony, Panasonic, Minolta, Casio.....
cheers...
