[luvxholic]

xti for $280???? really?? if it's legit can u tell me where ur getting it??

[hanako]

hi guys, i'm intruding in your thread here. *feels a bit intimidated*

i got myself a dslr a few months ago, a nikon d40 to be exact. so i've been using it as much as possible, trying to understand the different options and getting more familiar with the technical aspects of photography. no photos worth showing off yet unfortunately, but i'm working on getting better everyday. ^^;

with that said, i wanted to start saving up for a new lens, one with a bigger aperture. right now i only have the 18-55mm kit lens.

i suppose this has been asked before but considering this thread had 120 pages and that it started back in 2007...

i've been considering the following:
nikon af nikkor 50mm f/1.8D (or quite possibly the upcoming AF-S one)
sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM

so i know the lens best suited for your needs depends on what you shoot. i'm not quite -sure- yet what i like to shoot (although i really like having human subjects in) but from watching my habits, i'd say 30mm is about what i need. the sigma 30mm autofocuses on the d40, but not the nikkor 50mm. apart from that, is there anything else i should take into consideration? sorry i'm a bit of a newbie.

[erure]

^I'm not a Nikon user so I don't know for sure but I'd get the Sigma too because the 45mm is probably easier to use than the 75mm and autofocus can be important at times.

[d0wne]

+1 for the Sigma. My favorite lens.

[negitoro]

so i know the lens best suited for your needs depends on what you shoot. i'm not quite -sure- yet what i like to shoot (although i really like having human subjects in) but from watching my habits, i'd say 30mm is about what i need. the sigma 30mm autofocuses on the d40, but not the nikkor 50mm. apart from that, is there anything else i should take into consideration? sorry i'm a bit of a newbie.

Some photo programs also read your library and can generate stats based on your EXIF data.

Based on that you can tell which focal range you use the most and which lens would be closer what you normally use.

[epark1281]

If you are planning to take candid's, AF is a must. I tried shooting candid's with a MF lens, and about 40% of the time, they came out OOF. Especially with a f/1.8, the DoF is quite compressed, making it hard to hit the spot on a moving subject with a MF lens, and even if you look into your LCD and you think you have it, you pop your CF card into your computer and you get this:

This was taken with a 50mm f/1.8 OM Lens.
If you are willing to go without AF, you might as well save some $$ and get yourself an old film lens via an adaptor for your body. It's much cheaper, and you can get lenses like a 100mm f2.8 for about 100-150 bucks. To get a lens that wide open at that focal length, you would be looking at something closer to 1k-2k USD for a digial lens with AF.

[d0wne]

Forget MF lenses. The viewfinder is too small to properly focus. My Canon film camera has a huge viewfinder plus a split image that aligns correctly when you hit focus so it was easy to focus with that. For your Nikon d40, get the Sigma.

Also, as a beginner, I wouldn't want you to spend too much time trying to focus a manual lens. I'd hope you're paying attention to how your camera exposes the pictures so you can get more creative as you apply more control over those settings.

[Vanny92]

I'm pretty new to DSLRs and I got myself one yesterday =D

I got the Canon EOS 40D, together with the 18-55mm and 55-250mm lens and a 0.5/wide lens. =D

I'm still playing around with it now, but I'm happy with my purchase!

[epark1281]

has anybody used these puppies before? (Quantaray MS-1)
http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/53166076...ies%3Bciflashes

how did they work out for you?
I have no grandiose ideas of becoming a strobist, but for 15 bucks a pop, i might just consider getting 2 of these.

[awdark]

Wow a flash unit that isn't like $160-300!
Most likely... the complaints would be the lack of control of output power, non high end units will have inconsistent charge times, inability to focus for distance and I dunno what else. But I think usually people bounce the light off surfaces with those slave units anyways so how helpful those extra features can be, I don't know. Do you know if it can be triggered by the on-board flash or will it want the IR blast type that hot shoe flashes have.

I actually saw one off brand model for $60 that supports that E-TTL for canon and I was tempted but I have no idea if it will just be a waste of money either.

Yes, I have an odd perspective on hardware. Whenever I want something, I search for schematics and warm up my soldering iron before buying anything. I have seen slave flashes on Instructibles but after analyzing some flashes for fun I got bored of it.

[d0wne]

has anybody used these puppies before? (Quantaray MS-1)
[url="http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/531660769.htm?bct=t13031003%3Bcidigital-cameras-and-accessories%3Bciflashes"]http://www.ritzcamer...ies%3Bciflashes
http://a1672.g.akamai.net/7/1672/116/20081...9/531660769.jpg
how did they work out for you?
I have no grandiose ideas of becoming a strobist, but for 15 bucks a pop, i might just consider getting 2 of these.

I have two of the digital versions, which you might want to get. Remember that will TTL and regular digital cameras, they send out preflashes which trigger these units you're looking at. The digital ones that I have takes into account those preflashes and only go off with the second or third flash from your camera. I think they're the Quantaray QMS-1. That's the one you should get.

However, you can't change the power output on them. You'll have to go to your manual setting and change your aperture to get the amount of flash you want. I did a ghetto experiment and found out the power was equal to my canon 430ex flash at 1/4 power. Hope that helps.

[hanako]

thank you very much for your replies erure, d0wne, negitoro and epark1281! it's always reassuring to have actual feedback. i guess i will look into getting the sigma then. i was thinking maybe it'd be a good asset to learn MF but since i'm still very much of a beginner, i'll leave that for much later and concentrate on other aspects as d0wne suggested. nikon IS coming out with the AF-S version of the 50mm lens however, but i guess 30mm is better in my case.

i love EXIF data - i learn so much from it. never thought that you could actually compile stats from your photos though, so thank you very much for letting me know negitoro!

with that said, is there much of a difference between f/1.4 and f/1.8?

[epark1281]

I have two of the digital versions, which you might want to get. Remember that will TTL and regular digital cameras, they send out preflashes which trigger these units you're looking at. The digital ones that I have takes into account those preflashes and only go off with the second or third flash from your camera. I think they're the Quantaray QMS-1. That's the one you should get.

However, you can't change the power output on them. You'll have to go to your manual setting and change your aperture to get the amount of flash you want. I did a ghetto experiment and found out the power was equal to my canon 430ex flash at 1/4 power. Hope that helps.

Ok, so now my dad wants me to take shots of items at his store (jewelry). I was thinking about getting two of these guys on the right and left side of a light tent. I know i can't change the output, but i can compensate for that by adjusting my exposure. Would this kinda set up do the trick?

[d0wne]

Ok, so now my dad wants me to take shots of items at his store (jewelry). I was thinking about getting two of these guys on the right and left side of a light tent. I know i can't change the output, but i can compensate for that by adjusting my exposure. Would this kinda set up do the trick?

Yeah. Exactly how you're supposed to do it. I stress getting the digital versions of these flashes or else while you do see them going off, all you'll get is a very dark picture because they didn't sync.

[F00LiiSH x3]

http://www.refurbdepot.com/productdetails2...fererid=froogle

^ is this legit? $887.95

3.3/10 on resellersrating.
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1515-p4-s1-d1.html


Anyone know a cheaper legit place?

[Goombi]

I've finally saved enough money to finally purchase a camera . I was asking about the G9/G10 originally, but now have opened up my options to:

1) Canon G10

2) Olympus E-420 + 25mm pancake lens

3) Olympus E-510/520 + 25mm pancake/? lens

The problem I have about the Olympus E-Series is that the 4xx is small but lacks IS, and the 5xx is bigger, but has IS. If I indeed get the 4xx series, is there a way to compensate for the lack of the stabilization, or will I just end up with blur ocassionally? There is geometric distortion as well, but I'm guessing it won't be much to drastically affect the image product?

Also, the pancake lens is only a prime lens with one focal length from what I gather, meaning I'd have to move in order to "zoom" in and out. I would, however, be able to still get decent macro and telephoto pics from this lens yes?

What would you guys therefore suggest I get, and if I go with the Olympus, which lenses?

Thanks

[d0wne]

Also, the pancake lens is only a prime lens with one focal length from what I gather, meaning I'd have to move in order to "zoom" in and out. I would, however, be able to still get decent macro and telephoto pics from this lens yes?

To get macro will depend on how close that lens is able to focus on things. For example, the sigma lens I've been mentioning in the past few posts can only focus on things like as close as a foot away. So, not very good macro.
With telephoto, you'd get really good telephoto pics as long as you walk all the way to whatever you're taking a picture of and shoot a couple feet away from it.

[erure]

I've finally saved enough money to finally purchase a camera . I was asking about the G9/G10 originally, but now have opened up my options to:

1) Canon G10

2) Olympus E-420 + 25mm pancake lens

3) Olympus E-510/520 + 25mm pancake/? lens

The problem I have about the Olympus E-Series is that the 4xx is small but lacks IS, and the 5xx is bigger, but has IS. If I indeed get the 4xx series, is there a way to compensate for the lack of the stabilization, or will I just end up with blur ocassionally? There is geometric distortion as well, but I'm guessing it won't be much to drastically affect the image product?

Also, the pancake lens is only a prime lens with one focal length from what I gather, meaning I'd have to move in order to "zoom" in and out. I would, however, be able to still get decent macro and telephoto pics from this lens yes?

What would you guys therefore suggest I get, and if I go with the Olympus, which lenses?

Thanks

Out of those choices, the 520 sounds like the best but I haven't used one so I don't know. I started out on Olympus with E-420 and the pancake lens, but quickly got a kit lens because I wanted more focal range. If you want telephoto pics from the lens, you shouldn't get the pancake -- get the kit lens (14-42mm f/3.5-5.3). And the closest distance to shoot from is 0.4m or something like that so the pancake's not a macro lens either. If you want macro, you might want to get the 35mm f/3.5 macro lens. The best thing about the pancake lens is its size and that's about it, really. I mean most prime lenses that I've worked with before have really big aperture to compensate for being a prime lens (like at least f/1.8) but the f/2.8 on the pancake is nothing exceptional. But the E-420 + pancake is pretty much the smallest DSLR set up out there so it has its benefits.

[d0wne]

^did you get the 5DII yet?

[erure]

^did you get the 5DII yet?

No... They just started shipping out to dealers so I figure I won't get one until the end of next week at the latest. At first I was pretty freaked out that I wouldn't get one until March or something because I ordered it on the third day it was announced (I was on a road trip when it was announced and basically didn't know until I came back two days after it was announced). If I had been home, I would have ordered on the first day for sure. I called up Adorama yesterday to find out the order status in more detail and I got a pretty rude response from some woman who seemed irritated at everything in life I can't wait because I miss my 5D way too much.

Do you guys want unboxing photos and all that good stuff when I get it?