photography

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photography

Well... I found it easier to learn with a film SLR using print film, not slide, because slide film has no tolerance to under/over exposure. you can always tell when print film has been compensated.

If you really wanna go digital, I started with a Konica Minolta DiMage Z2. has full manual settings, plus a 10x zoom (35mm equiv = 38mm - 380mm). Although it's a bit big and bulky. Maybe a Fuji Finepix S5000 or S7000, you can pick them up fairly cheap from ebay.
 
Well if you want to do photography with as much control as possible, then you need an SLR. If you want digital, look at the Canon Eos D300 or the Nikon D50. Both are around the £400 mark.
This doesn't mean you can't get a grounding of the principles of photography without spending big bucks. The basic rules still apply on a £2.99 disposable camera. Buy some photography magazines, like Amateur Photographer (if they still print it!), and you'll learn a lot...
H
 
charlieboy said:
i want to get into it.

whats a good camera? would prefer digital to be honest. any tips etc

any help is apreciated by myself and my brother


Depends what you wanna get into! if its scenic or portrait you really dont want a digital, and if you want sharpness you will not better than black and white film. How much do you wanna get into it? Just taking pictures or processing them aswell? Theres a hell of alot to photography, more than you can imagine! it just depends what route you want to take.:confused:
 
Why do all these cameras pop up for sale when I've just bought one !!!

As H said, get yourself a few magazines and read up on what's available and what will best suit what you need a camera for. There are basic photography magazines which cover film and digital and there are mags specifically for digital only.

I bought an all singing all dancing digital camera only to find out it was completely useless for what I wanted it for.....the shutter lap was so appalling that the cars I was trying to film were halfway round the track by the time the shutter had closed. It's sat in a drawer most of it's life. Fantastic for stills and wildlife etc but not fast moving cars.

Just off to the post office to collect my Fuji S5000 :D
 
to be honest, If you want to get into REAL photography I suggest you stick with film for now, or atleast to start with. You can pick up old fully manual cameras (perfect for learning the rules of photography on) for less than £30 on ebay.

I work in a photograpghic lab in east london (not a chemist, a proper lab) where we also run a shop and studio etc. We still use film in the studio as my boss prefers it that was for now although he will be changing to digital in the future just to make it easier because joe-public expect to see everything before they get it now :rolleyes:.

As far as cameras go, new isnt always the best. Older top of the range cameras can be got extremly cheap now adays. Something like a Canon EOS 650/750/500 are always good buys and were top notch in there day. The only cameras that superseeded them were ones that focused faster and had more built in programs that you never use anwyay, plus they got lighter and smaller. But the older ones have everything you need :)

My suggestion. Get a cheap old fully manual SLR camera and rent out a book on photography (or follow some excellent tutorials on the net) and learn the basics .What everything does etc, apature, shutter speed, depth of field, light reading, film speeds, different types of films, using a flash properly, different types of filters etc. It will all relate to taking photos using a digital camera in the end. trust me! Something like a Praktica MTL or a pentax K1000 etc. are great cameras to learn on (I have both :p).. make sure it comes with lens. preferably something like a 50mm lens. dont get anything over this unless its adjustable like a zoom lens etc. For taking pictures of cars a 50mm is perfect athough you can have alot of fun with wide angle lenses**.

Once youve got that learnt and can take decent photos, THEN get a digital camera :). If you get a Digital SLR and dont know the rules of photography, you wont get decent results unless you use the automatic settings, in which case, your hardly using the camera. Plus, automatic settings dont always get it right for what you want to take a picture of. For example, if you want to take a photo of a car on a track coming past at 8000mph. you will want a shutter speed of atleast 1000th/sec. The automatic setting on the camera will run a light reading and will prob adjust to something like 250th with a 5.6 apature for example on a dull day. not good as the car will just appear as a blur :p Digital photography is just like slide film, it has no tollerence which is why with cheaper cameras you see horrible bleached out highlights and dead shadows. the more expencive ones are much better but if the camera gets it wrong ital look horrible.

anyway, im just jibbering on.

as for digital SLRs, the fuji finepix 9500 is superb. I nearly bought one myself but opted for a new film SLR instead :D.

but anyway, as ive said, if you want to get into proper photography, get a manual SLR, learn the basic rules of photography. THEN you can make the decision of whether to go digital or just get a new film SLR.

Sadly, digital is the way forward but tbh, i dont expect film to die. Fuji are stll bringing out and making new films. Kodak HAVE pulled out but they are going bankrupt anyway so who cares. they shouldnt have been to far up there own arses to realise whats going on.

I will still use film as long as its still avaliable because I prefer it. The argument with digital that you get to see it before so you know youve taken a good photo is stupid. If you learnt to take a picure properly and not cut peoples heads off then you wouldnt need to see it first :mad: People are too impatient now adays! I blame hiphop and mobile phones :D

PM me if you need any help :)

http://www.photo.net/learn/making-photographs/

have a read through there, gives you some idea what its all about :) although you really need a camera infront of yo to play with.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7607707207&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEUS:IT&rd=1

Its yours for the start price if you want it :)

**. Wide angle piccies (babz will kill me :p)
wide1.jpgwide2.jpg
wide4.jpg

50mm Car piccies
50mm1.jpg50mm2.jpg
 
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yeah it aint going anywhere mate.. noone on ebay bought it (had a few watchers but noone bid in the end) so decided ide just keep it but if you want it its yours! just taking up space on the top of my wardrobe and i doubt ill use it again as Ive got my new SLR so no need really.

There are better tutorials than that one I posted but thats the first one I came accross after a little search that wasnt about digital :rolleyes:
 
charlieboy said:
i want to get into it.

whats a good camera? would prefer digital to be honest. any tips etc

any help is apreciated by myself and my brother

I bought a Samsung Digimax A400 series camera plus Printer for £130 brand new from Asda last year and it has proved to be a belting all round camera that manages to take crisp clear photos in any mode. It's easy to use with understandable instructions and the printer is ace if you only want to select a few of your photos to print off in stead of the whole lot. Well worth considering if you need a starter camera. Just remember that the higher Megapixel capacity the camera has the better photos it will produce. (They range from 100 to around 400 Megapixel.)
 
Bushboy said:
ooooh no they dont :rolleyes:

By getting into photography we assume he means proffesional photography. Eg. not using a compact camera with a dye-sub home printer.
yeah mean good top quality photos

have a sony cybershot DSC-P43 4.1 mp. came free with a laptop we brought.
 
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