Camera Questions

[chickenstrip]

Time to up my game from a dig compact, as I now feel ready to get a bit more serious about my photography. The compact will stay on as a handy point and snap job.

My main subject is landscape work. Can you recommend a good entry-level DSLR, and perhaps a couple of lenses to go with it? (I gather wide-angle is the preference for landscape?).Want to shoot in RAW, so am also thinking about investing in Lightroom software - is that a good starting point?

Should I also consider mirrorless cameras, as I have been hearing one or two good reports on some (Sony NEX7?), and they seem to be a little less bulky and heavy than more traditional DSLRs? Pros and cons?

Price range: I will be considering 2nd hand, so probably top out somewhere in the region of £400 for camera, plus lenses? Reasonable, do you think? Any new ones to consider in that bracket?

Any other equipment I should consider as essential? Any books/publications you can recommend, specifically on landscape photography, which might help me on my way? Have subscribed to a landscape photography e-magazine for now.

All help appreciated.
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[Jayy]

I bought a Nikon D3200 on eBay for about £350 last year, having never owned a DSLR camera. I've hardly used it but when I did need to, found it fairly easy in the "n00b" mode guide settings.

I only used it to take up close product shots mostly, with a few distant landscape shots.

You seen these : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfshAzV0FN4

Absolutely insane zoom on them.

[chickenstrip]

Incredible, but something a little more terrestrial was what I had in mind

Zoom is useful, my Nikon compact has x20, which seems sufficient for my needs, but as mentioned, I'm probably more interested in wide angle.

It would be useful to have a few n00b settings, but it's really time I started to learn to figure out the best settings for particular situations for myself.
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[doggone]

Lightroom is good, you can download older versions.
It's useful with all photos for basic adjustments and you really don't need much else for most pictures.
An important aspect of it is the actual importing and organising your files.

Don't forget some better compact cameras shoot RAW and are very capable.
I got a Canon S100 (does RAW) about 3 years ago and since then the 5D rarely comes out because it's too cumbersome and heavy to carry about.
I would honestly look at a high end compact with larger sensor - such as the Sony RX100 and your RAW software.

Having said that getting familiar with manual on an SLR helps you get more from almost any compact camera too.
It's nice to have both that's for sure.

[chickenstrip]

Being the complete n00b that I am, I hadn't realised that some compacts shoot in RAW now, so thanks for that info. doggone

The cumbersome/heavy thing is why I thought of mirrorless. But I've just read a couple of camera reviews and heard one podcast from a guy that switched for his landscape work as he travels to remote locations and got fed up with the sheer weight. His comments on mirrorless seemed pretty favourable, and as he makes his living from his landscape work, I thought got to be good enough for me to start with?

Do you lose anything with a compact? Less versatility? Apparently, the sales of DSLRs are down, so maybe other types are catching up/exceeding their performance now? But price will be a limiting factor - can't stretch to thousands (or justify it as a beginner).
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[Matt B]

I'm not going into the minefield of camera choice but if you want to buy a lens make it a 50mm prime.

They are an excellent little lens for not a lot of money. Will do your landscape work, portraits, good in low light, good optical quality, wide aperture, lightweight.

Buy a Canon and you can pick up an EF 50mm f/1.8 lens for around £80.
____________________
stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people.

[Tarmacsurfer]

I've recently converted to a compact system after years of using bridge cameras, finally decided I wanted to get something that could really stretch my understanding of the mechanics of photography.

Tried playing with my partner's Nikon D300 a fair bit I decided that a "proper" DSLR was simply too big, I wanted something I could hang in a pouch off my belt and have ready whenever. Not something I needed a backpack or large messenger style bag to carry.

After asking around some of my more photography oriented friends I also got pointed toward the mirrorless stuff and eventually went for an Olympus OM-D EM10 at a decent price, second hand. While I've had one or two issues with it (had to get the top plate changed) the camera itself is exactly what I wanted, it's small enough to have easily to hand at all times and even with three or four lenses and a few accessories it all fits in an old bumbag (along with suitable padding). All in all I'm really happy with it, it's smart enough that it'll point and click if I'm feeling lazy but the settings, possibilities and options are incredibly detailed - even down to the ability to create button maps and set buttons and control dials to custom layouts depending on what you're doing at the time (useful when using legacy lenses with no autofocus or switching from arty macro shots to landscapes, for example).
____________________
I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[bladerunner]

If your getting into serious landscapes then the difference between a mirror less and std dslr will be for nothing by the time you've added in a good tripod,quality glass,filter system and remote etc. If your after sunset type landscape work look for a camera that has native low ISO ie 100 or less as some of the sonys start at 200. Canon and Nikon offer more lens choice and cheaper used options due to the number in circulation. If your doing wide landscape work then I'd say 10mm on a cropped sensor( or 16mm equivalent on full frame/35mm) is a must have. Don't expect much from 18-55mm kit lenses as they are cheap and nasty get you started option. Budget for ND and grad filters and holders with a 10 stop ND for those arty shots
____________________
Current bikes...cbr929, KDX200's, Rd125lc mk2, RGV250's

[chickenstrip]

[Tarmacsurfer]

I tend to use THIS place as my goto for reviews, they're thorough and seem fairly unbiased. Also worth looking for blogs, and finally searching Flikr for shots taken with the camera/lens you're looking at, this will give you a good idea of realworld capabilities along with the technical bumpf.

As an aside to remotes and so on, one of the things that swung me to the EM10 aside from the fact it had a viewfinder and a flash was the fact it has inbuilt wifi, this allows you to use a phone as a viewfinder for long exposures and shots where you really don't want to disturb the body by pressing a button.

My goal is to have everything I need in a bag that I can wear as a belt, about to purchase a gorillapod as the tripod/support is the only things I'm currently lacking. I suspect that with a bit of ingenuity I can sling it along the base of the main bag. Not ideal but still a big saving on space and weight. Currently I have the body, a few filters and accessories, a 14-42mm pancake zoom, a 45mm prime and a 40-150mm zoom in the kit with room for a couple more primes when I'm feeling rich.
____________________
I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Going]

I'm another one for the Olympus OMD-E10.
It's about quarter the size of an entry level APS-C DSLR with lens on, also not much bigger than some compacts.
Base ISO is 200 but has a low option. Lots of lenses and button configuration options.
The kit lens(es) can get good photos.
It's a mft camera which as a crop factor of about x2 (ie a 35mm sensor 100mm lens will be 200mm on mft).
Shoots RAW and Jpeg at same time.
May have issues with low light shooting and focusing (also of fast objects (Sports), haven't really tried)

I was considering DSLR for a few years, then decided that mirrorless would be better for me. If you do go mirrorless, go for newer models rather than much older ones.

[ferrisio]

Do you know anyone else with a DSLR? I went down the Canon route and got a cheap used one (550D I think) because it meant I could share lenses with a couple of friends. This saves wasting a lot of cash if you want to try out wide-angles or big zooms. I've stuck with Canon for entirely this reason.

If you get into it you'll need to carry a decent bag of kit around (tripod or monopod, lenses, filters, reflectors/flash if doing portraits etc.) so the size has never really been an issue for me.
____________________
BMW R1100R

[Kickstart]

Hi

I would echo ferrisio. Cameras go out of date rapidly, but lenses don't, and they are the bit that costs the money. Big thing you are buying is the system, and it is a big plus point to have one where you can share lenses with others

All the best

Katy
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[chickenstrip]

Ok, so I've settled on a new Canon EOS100D as my start point. I realised that the only way to learn about DSLRs is to get using one, and it would be silly to splash out on the latest all-singing, all dancing top-end camera at this stage.

It's actually pretty small and light, quite manageable with just the kit supplied lens, which I will stick with until I start to get the hang of things a bit. Cheers again for your advice and knowledge if you have posted here, it has been very helpful, not only in what you have said, but in pointing me towards things I needed to read about in more depth. But at the end of the day, as a complete beginner, I think I could only take in so much information to help with my decision. The real learning begins now!
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[ferrisio]

Good choice, if you can work out the difference between Av and Tv modes (i.e. depth of field vs. time) you'll really start taking control of your photos.
____________________
BMW R1100R

[orac]

Nikon is the better choice for long term lens investment as both dx and fx format lenses work on birth format bodies(d300 is fx body). There are a few caveats, fx body will operate in dx mode with a dx lens, while you will get ab altered coc worth fx lens on a dx body. You can also use lenses from way back in the 80s too as well as newer lenses. Aspc Nikon camera are a great choice and small to boot, the d3300 etc are dx/aspc bodies
____________________
Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[Kickstart]

Hi

The Canon lens mount currently used is from the 1980s anyway (when they went with auto focus lens they abandoned backward compatibility to do the job properly). While you can't use the cheapo EF-S cropped lenses on a Canon EF mount body, not sure why you would want to splash out on a full frame camera and then use it as a cropped body.

Down side of Nikon is most of their older autofocus lenses relied on the autofocus motor being in the body, and very few recent Nikon cameras have that.

All the best

Katy
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[doggone]

You can get adapters anyway, I quite like results from an old Olympus F1.4/50mm on my 5D (no auto focus though!)

[chickenstrip]