Cameras and all that jazz

Great idea HD and Posh Floyd..........now all you camera "nerds" can come here and chat all day long about camera's and lens and who's is bigger than who's !!!!!! 

Edited by Bluebell

Okay...to start this thread running..

How about everyone tell us what type of camera you have ...and what bit and bobs go with it...?

My pride and joy is a Nikon D80 10mp DSLR, 50mm 1.8mm Prime Lens, 18-135mm Zoom Lens, 70-300mm Zoom Lens with Macro.

Also have two old style SLR's on the way from Ebay.A Ricoh KR10M and a Canon T50, both with assorted lenses. So gonna be doing that film thing soon as well.

To answer your first question Freebird...I guess I am just curious what I could do with film. I pretty much missed the whole film thing..have only ever shot Digital since I got into it. So I just want to experience it and see how it compares. I'm booked on a course at the end of the month..a one day course in Darkroom printing and developing..another reason I bought the cameras. I only bought two cos I was drunk one night and bid on 5 different SLR's on ebay!! ended up winning two of them...;-)
They were cheap though so not complaining.

As regards the difference between a D40 and a D8O ..there are quite a few differences, reflected in the price difference. Don't really have time to go into all of them here..but basically the D40 is aimed at entry level  people with little or no experience of SLR's. It is limited in the type of lenses it can take, as far as I know it will only take Auto focus lenses..so you can;'t use any of the older manual Nikkor lenses. Also it does not take a battery grip..which would be important to me as it's a bit small and I like the battery grip for the convenience it gives when shooting in portrait mode.

Also if you check the specs you'll see that it falls short of the D80 in a number of technical areas as well..more of which later. What I would say is that if you plan on getting deeper into photography again then you'll feel limited by the D40 a lot quicker than the D80, which is basically a Semi-Pro camera. There are only two steps up from the D80..the D200, with which it shares a lot of features...and the D2X, which is the top of the line Pro Nikon.

You mught also look at the D200, which the D80 is more closely related to. It is more expensive, but is better built and has a few extra features.

Btw..I bought my D80 from Hong Kong and saved quite a bit of money. So that's something else to look at.


Edited by Hayseed Dixie

Well My camera is the Panasonic DMC-TZ3. It only has a small lens on it but it can Zoom in as good as some of those big LENS SLR camera. Size doesn't matter. Click on the link and check out the spec yourself.
For a complete an utter novice I recommend it. It takes great photos as you have seen and it has come down in price by up to €80 but shop around and waffle that you are getting a better offer somewhere else.
Its also great for getting into Concerts too

Roundy I have been taking around 150-300 photos when I take it out on a day.

HD great idea for a thread.

P

HD, Thanks for the link on the Nikon D80 v D40. Had done a search myself but didn't come up with much.

I think the Nikon D200 would be way over kill for what I need and would also blow the budget need to keep some funds for Guinness in Dublin


HD I am sure you will love the course, although after using digital and Photoshop you will probably find film limiting, unless you can develop and print your own





Edited by freebird

Just tried link but something is wrong

thanks Roundy

naah Macs dont have problems
I think its the size of the post reply box - couldn't do it on this pc either.

was looking at your cameras spec, P and would love one. it's tiny and the photos you took at the gigs were brilliant.

Im going to stick with my bulky Fuji for now too.

freebird wrote: Its so easy to start drowning in all this techo stuff with cameras, having all the gismos and gadgets does not necessarily mean you will take good photos, yes they will help but basically I think you can take a good photo with what ever camera you have, it all comes down to if you ‘Have and eye for it or not’ Good composition, interesting subject, and how you crop/frame a photo can make a huge difference.

100% agree Freebird. A lot of people "upgrade" to more expensive cameras and expect an immediate improvement in their shots. Of course when it doesn't happen they get disillusioned or annoyed. You can give someone a top of the range camera and if they haven't developed (excuse the pun) the basic skills they'll still take ordinary shots.

I used my first "proper" camera..the Fujifilm S5600 for the best part of a year and got to know it inside out and learned about composition and exposure and apertures and use of light before I looked at moving up. My main reason for upgrading to a full SLR was that I had outgrown the Fuji and found it quite limiting..especially with things like shutter lag ( still drives me mad when I use a P&S) and the rather clunky means of zooming and setting exposure values. It was quite liberating when I first got my hands on the D80..and it's not something you'll really appreciate until you use an SLR.

Once you get used to it, it's very hard to go back to using a Point and shoot camera.

Of course the great thing now, compared to when you used SLR's is that the price has really dropped, hence the amount of DSLR's you see on the street now, and if you want to shoot film then film SLR's..especially the older ones are being practically given away on Ebay and the likes. I bought my Canon T50 with a 35-70 zoom and a 75-200 zoom, a 2 x Extender, a flash unit, a set of Cokin filters and mount and a whole heap of screw on filters for just over €90!!

It's a good time to get into photography folks...film or digital...