Learn me digital SLR's

I doubt you will see any really significant discounts on DSLRs on black friday, but there is always the chance you can always wait the week and see.

Tifosi2k2 wrote: If you are interested in Canon, this is a great deal: Rebel Xsi Rebel's are great camera's and extremely capable, I use one as a back-up when shooting motorsports. Couldn't be happier. I've shopped B&H for all of my gear. Great company. -chris

that is a great deal, but my budget couldn't go that high.. I found the XS for $462 with coupons, but still couldn't stretch $375 to $462...

so ignorant how is the d40 working for you? it is quite a capable camera, you should have no worries about your choice.

Took a few shots at the house today.. but spent most of the weekend helping my buddy pack for a move.

So far so good. I have to finish nailing up this shoe molding. So no playing right now.

I am going to Asheville for Thanksgiving and touring the Biltmore. We shall see how it does then..

a few questions?

1. Bag.. any recommendations for a bag/storage case?

2. filters.. do I need them? Seems like anything between the lens and subject detracts from quality...

Tifosi2k2 wrote: If you are interested in Canon, this is a great deal: Rebel Xsi

Is there a difference between the XS and XSi? Your link goes to the XS.

Any other thoughts on the pricing of the kits I showed? And what are the thoughts on VR lenses vs. non-VR lenses?

ignorant wrote: a few questions? 1. Bag.. any recommendations for a bag/storage case? 2. filters.. do I need them? Seems like anything between the lens and subject detracts from quality...

For the bag it really is personal preference, most camera bags (and other accessories are over priced). For my first camera bag I took the grass roots approach, I built a foam padded insert out of a old sleeping bag pad and duct tape. I built it to fit in the bottom of my old german alpine pack. This gave me a bag that was tough as nails, protected my gear, and I had all of $20 into the whole rig. On this same note, if I'm only taking the D40 and I need to travel light, I stick it in an old WWII British gas mask bag.

Really the only bought camera bag I use is the Lowepro Slingshot 200 I picked up at Costco for $30 under the regular price. Its a great bag that lets you carry your gear on your back and still give you quick access to it when you need it. I can carry 2 bodies and 3-4 lenses in mine at any given time.

As for filters you can get some awesome effects with them as well as protection. The thing is if you buy cheap filters you will see some effect, usually not hugely noticeable but slightly. I normally will recommend a clear UV filter that is used basically as a protective element, polarizing filters can allow you to remove the reflection from surfaces and give the sky that sharper blue color. I've used a polarized filter to take a shot of a log going into a lake and being able to actually see the log beneath the surface of the lake. Those two would be the basic two filters to start with then as you develop your skills you can add additional filters to add effects if you want.

You will find that the argument of to use a clear filter or not is quite heated. However think about it this way, you have a lens that you have spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars on. Do you really want to leave the front element of that lens completely exposed?

dyintorace the XS is an 10mb camera where the XSi is a 12mb so there is a difference, they are completely different generations of the rebel.

As for VR versus non VR lenses they do have their advantages but they are not required. Think of it this way, photographers have been shooting with non VR lenses for all this time and have managed to get breath taking shots. The biggest thing is a VR lens will allow you to hand hold the camera at a lower shutter speed. It does however take a second for the VR to lock in. With a non VR lens you can still hand hold however the general rule is to use a shutter speed of 1.5 times the focal length you are using at the time. So if you are using a 100mm focal length you would want to use a minimum shutter speed of around 1/150 sec. Granted this rule is just a guide, you can test yourself to see what works for you, however it will vary depending on lenses used, conditions you are shooting in etc.

While driving through the mountains I will normally leave my D70 with 70-300 primed at 1/500 sec so that I can jump out of the truck and grab that quick shot of any passing wild life I run across (elk, pronghorns, deer, wolves, coyotes, bear, osprey, mountain goats...).

Ok so for filters, how do I determine size?

Ok.. for the bag.. I'll look for something cheap. The Nikon Gear back is $25 from amazon, so I figure I will start there. If I need to, I'll wrap it all in a T-shirt and jam it in my day pack.

dyintorace wrote:

Tifosi2k2 wrote: If you are interested in Canon, this is a great deal: Rebel Xsi

Is there a difference between the XS and XSi? Your link goes to the XS. Any other thoughts on the pricing of the kits I showed? And what are the thoughts on VR lenses vs. non-VR lenses?

XS is 10MP and XSi is 12MP. XS has 12 bit processor XSi has 14 bit.. There are a few other things, but those are the two biggies.

Filter size will be marked on the barrel of the lens; measured in millimeters.

FWIW, every camera in our office has a polarizing or clear filter for lens protection. Cheap insurance.

Ignorant the filter size is determined by the lens filter thread, the Nikon standard is 52mm, however you will run into having different sizes eventually (I have about 4 or 5 different sizes). It will say on the lens what size to use. If you have the 18-55 or 55-200 kit lenses right now they should be the 52mm size (again it will say on the lens).

thank you.

rebelgtp wrote: dyintorace the XS is an 10mb camera where the XSi is a 12mb so there is a difference, they are completely different generations of the rebel. As for VR versus non VR lenses they do have their advantages but they are not required. Think of it this way, photographers have been shooting with non VR lenses for all this time and have managed to get breath taking shots. The biggest thing is a VR lens will allow you to hand hold the camera at a lower shutter speed. It does however take a second for the VR to lock in. With a non VR lens you can still hand hold however the general rule is to use a shutter speed of 1.5 times the focal length you are using at the time. So if you are using a 100mm focal length you would want to use a minimum shutter speed of around 1/150 sec. Granted this rule is just a guide, you can test yourself to see what works for you, however it will vary depending on lenses used, conditions you are shooting in etc.

Thanks Rebel. You've been fantastic with advice on this front!

No worries I would much rather give some advice and lead someone in the right direction so they are happy with the gear that they get and actually USE it. Versus not giving the advice, someone making mistakes along the way because they are listening to the salesman at Best Buy or whatever and not being happy with their gear and ending up not using it or bitching about it non stop. Photography is a great hobby that compliments a being a gear head quite a bit, it allows you to get shots of cars at shows and races or even on the street.

Feel free to shoot me any questions you have, if I don't know the answer I can at least steer you in the right direction.

Heck I've spent spent enough money on camera equipment this year to more than likely pay for 2 challenge cars, its a sickness I tell ya.

Oh another thing that you guys will want to look at is some decent photo editing software. One of my top choices especially for working with batches of photos is Adobe Lightroom.

Tifosi2k2 Some good points there about trying to pan with the IS/VR enabled, it just does not work. Also it does cause a slight "shift" in the framed area. Also good point about the polarizing filter not being used for everything. They are great for some things but not others.

Pulled the trigger today, thanks to Black Friday deals. I went with the Nikon D60 and 2 lens kit, along with a bag and educational DVD. HHGregg had the best price locally at $675 before tax.

But I failed on the sweet memory deal. I'll have to keep looking for some SD cards.

Congrats on your purchase. Keep your eyes peeled you will find other deals on memory cards, there are loads of deals going on right now just not as good as the one I posted earlier . Another good place to pick up memory cards for a decent price is Costco, that is normally where I buy mine.

I'm assuming the 2 lenses in your kit are the 18-55 and 55-200 VR? Are you going to break it out now or wait? Let me know if you have any questions.

We're Sam's members, so I'll check there. I'm still bummed that I missed out on free though!

Yep...those are the 2 lenses. I ended up going with the non-VR lenses to save some money. Given that it's my wife's present, I'm going to resist the urge to open it now. The downside is that we won't be able to use it Christmas morning!

I guess I could have her open it first. But getting my kids to wait is the hard part. :D

What you do is open it before hand and take out the battery and charger, get that charging so its all ready for Christmas morning. Have her open it first thing, toss her the battery and photograph all the mayhem of the kids opening all of their stuff and ready to shoot for the day. Just make sure you get the memory cards as well

dyintorace wrote: Pulled the trigger today, thanks to Black Friday deals. I went with the Nikon D60 and 2 lens kit, along with a bag and educational DVD. HHGregg had the best price locally at $675 before tax. But I failed on the sweet memory deal. I'll have to keep looking for some SD cards.

office depot has 4gb Sandisk Ultra-II SDHC cards for $15 today only. (i got 4.)

rebelgtp wrote: What you do is open it before hand and take out the battery and charger, get that charging so its all ready for Christmas morning. Have her open it first thing, toss her the battery and photograph all the mayhem of the kids opening all of their stuff and ready to shoot for the day. Just make sure you get the memory cards as well

The perfect plan! I think I'll take the whole set up to my office so I can crack it open and get it ready.

Speaking of batteries, do most folks buy a 2nd battery to keep in the bag?

Yep most people get at least one extra. Me I carry 4 spares but then I've done days where I have shot 2000+ photos in a single day...Then did that for 4 days...can you imagine how long it took me to process all of those afterwards?

Anyway yeah get at least one backup battery, because your battery will always die right when you are about to get that once in a lifetime shot. I know last time I had a battery die on me in the field I was just about to shoot a picture of some wild life...I pressed my shutter release and nothing! I checked and my battery indicator was flashing, I had to have the person assisting me for the day quietly run back to my truck and get a spare battery for me while I kept an eye on the critter in question. That just goes to show you if you are out shooting for an extended period of time if you are going to leave your bag behind stick a spare battery and a spare memory card in your pocket.

Fun times it double posted. Oh you may want to hunt down a car charger for the batteries as well.

Thanks for the battery recommendation.

Per the earlier discussion, I'm also going to pick up some clear filters. I don't want to risk damaging the lenses.

Good idea. You may want to slap them on the lenses when you have the kit open just to make sure things are nice and safe on Christmas morning. Get at least one of the SD cards in there while you are at it as well and get the configurations all set.

Great info in this thread.

Here is a great book particular to the D60:

http://www.amazon.com/David-Buschs-Nikon-Digital-Photography/dp/1598635778/

These two are also worth reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Kelbys-Digital-Photography-Volumes/dp/0321604032/

Beyond that, just shoot as much as you can, see what you like, see what works and what doesn't...

Jon