watmm photographers

I'm thinking of dipping my toe into the world of DSLR as I'm pushing my trusty TZ-7 Lumix to its limits.

 

which would be good affordable entry level unit that wouldn't make me wish I'd bought something a little better in a 6 months time.

 

I'm particularly interested in concert/festival photos so decent low light pics at high shutter speeds at a 5-15m distance is paramount.

Edited October 3, 2011 by soundwave

  On 10/3/2011 at 3:20 AM, soundwave said:

I'm thinking of dipping my toe into the world of DSLR as I'm pushing my trusty TZ-7 Lumix to its limits.

 

which would be good affordable entry level unit that wouldn't make me wish I'd bought something a little better in a 6 months time.

 

I'm particularly interested in concert/festival photos so decent low light pics at high shutter speeds at a 5-15m distance is paramount.

 

 

a used, canon 1D (4MP)...the battery life will suck. the ISO performance is shit. but the sensor ... my god, the sensor.

  On 10/3/2011 at 3:20 AM, soundwave said:

I'm thinking of dipping my toe into the world of DSLR as I'm pushing my trusty TZ-7 Lumix to its limits.

 

which would be good affordable entry level unit that wouldn't make me wish I'd bought something a little better in a 6 months time.

 

I'm particularly interested in concert/festival photos so decent low light pics at high shutter speeds at a 5-15m distance is paramount.

 

any of the entry-level nikon or canon dslr's should have pretty high and clear ISOs now. $500 should get you a pretty decent body, another $300 for a 30/50mm if you're after a good low-light lens (f/1-2). too much?

I just found out that I haven't got enough cash for the D7000 house this month, since buying it will leave me with next to nothing for the rest of the month. I can't live another month without that camera - or well, I have to.

 

So I've been shooting film and polaroid. I just sent two rolls of 35mm film off to development. I can't wait to see the result.

  On 10/3/2011 at 5:20 AM, verticalhold said:

  On 10/3/2011 at 3:20 AM, soundwave said:

I'm thinking of dipping my toe into the world of DSLR as I'm pushing my trusty TZ-7 Lumix to its limits.

 

which would be good affordable entry level unit that wouldn't make me wish I'd bought something a little better in a 6 months time.

 

I'm particularly interested in concert/festival photos so decent low light pics at high shutter speeds at a 5-15m distance is paramount.

 

any of the entry-level nikon or canon dslr's should have pretty high and clear ISOs now. $500 should get you a pretty decent body, another $300 for a 30/50mm if you're after a good low-light lens (f/1-2). too much?

 

 

yeah that's the range I was expecting, someone mentioned a D90 to me which you can still find new but cheaper being an older model?

actually I've just seen how much the D90's go for which is just a little high for my budget

 

is it better getting a D3100 with a good lens?

What is your budget for lens and body?

  On 10/4/2011 at 12:57 AM, goffer said:

What is your budget for lens and body?

 

under £500 tho I'd be happy all in for £400

more than enough to get a nice setup.. i bought a d5000 kit set with a 17-55mm and a 55mm-200 for around $800 i think.. if i could re-buy my camera though, i would have bought a used body and spent the extra dough on just one nice lens to start. you can get all the kit lenses really cheap on craigslist anyway because no one ends up keeping them.

You can also look into the mirrorless approach, whether that be the NEX series or micro 4/3 series... I would recommend the NEX due to the larger sensor.

 

The NEX-3C, or maybe even the 5n if you shop around, falls into your budget with a 18-55mm kit lens. The NEX series is quite something... the sensor is up there with the D7000 and there have even been reports of it having better ISO performance. Another huge advantage to the NEX is they have the ability to adapt to basically ANY lens out there (with adapter of course). Only downside is they have a P&S mentality to them, function wise. Performance wise though, they can rival just about any other crop sensor DSLR out there.

canon 1D used

4MP

CCD

  On 10/5/2011 at 2:15 AM, elusive4 said:

canon 1D used

4MP

CCD

why'd you want a CCD?

CCDs tend to have better IQ and better noise performance... the buggers are power hungry though. Dont know how a sensor from 2001 will stand up to the CMOS sensors of today though.

Bought a used Panasonic Lumix today for $40.

 

 

It's a standard point and shoot, but I can't believe I got it for so cheap. Score!

  On 3/19/2012 at 7:36 AM, Braintree said:

Bought a used Panasonic Lumix today for $40.

 

 

It's a standard point and shoot, but I can't believe I got it for so cheap. Score!

this is my camera until I can afford to buy a better one, and just to warn you, it is incredibly sensitive to being blurry, and is absolutely terrible in low light. the only time when it works really well is outside in bright daylight on a tripod/rested on something, and then you have to use the timer so that you're not touching it when it takes the photo, because it will wobble when you hit the button.

 

also I would say it's forte is closeups. it can look really sharp on macro. otherwise it's pretty cheap looking.

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2012 by ganus

My NEX-7 finally arrived a few weeks back... interesting rig it is.

so, i got a new phone, and it doesn't have a hardware camera button, you just tap the screen. it sucks because you can't really push on the screen without inducing camera shake, and one-handed shooting is basically impossible.

  On 3/21/2012 at 1:44 AM, goffer said:

My NEX-7 finally arrived a few weeks back... interesting rig it is.

Nice try, goffer; do tell more!

Welllllll.... I have it fitted with an M mount adapter so I can mount my rangefinder glass on it... the adapter also has a helicoid so I can now close focus my rangefinder glass too :)

 

Comparing it to the Nex-5n, it's much prefered. A little bit larger, built in EVF, and more dials so I dont have to fuss with the menu much. Still not as much fun to shoot as my TLR or rangefinders, but for digital it'll do :)

 

Noise performance is impressive given the amount of megapixels... I'd say just as good as my old fullframe D700.

 

DSC00181 by akagoffer, on Flickr

 

One of my first shots with it:

DSC00231 by akagoffer, on Flickr

Got a nice bonus and bought one of these guys: Fuji GF670

 

 

At my going rate I might hit large format sometime in the next 2 years.

 

I started with a 1.5 crop digital camera, then went to full frame digital, then full frame film, then medium format 6x4.5, then 6x6, now 6x7... next step is 4x5" then evenutally I might look something like this:

 

sweet jesus - those Fuji's cost quite the pretty penny

 

Have you taken any photos with it that you could post?

 

i've been considering picking up a decent small rangefinder that I could (in an ideal world) take everywhere I go...but i've invested a good bit'a cash into my SLR m42 lenses collection that for me to buy a new type would seem counter productive...time shall tell

my fave camera is the lomo LC-A. I've got a few shots up @ http://www.lomography.com/homes/yawn

i love my nikkor 50mm 1.4 too but i have no camera for it anymore, i should get some second hand nikon reflex...

  On 4/11/2012 at 12:52 AM, goffer said:

Got a nice bonus and bought one of these guys: Fuji GF670

 

 

At my going rate I might hit large format sometime in the next 2 years.

 

I started with a 1.5 crop digital camera, then went to full frame digital, then full frame film, then medium format 6x4.5, then 6x6, now 6x7... next step is 4x5" then evenutally I might look something like this:

 

 

Don't be hatin' on my 1.6 crop, you racist!

 

  On 6/21/2012 at 6:39 PM, yanG said:

i love my nikkor 50mm 1.4 too

 

Pretty much the best lens ever. $100 used and does the trick for 80% of portrait needs.

Just got myself a macro lens last week (Canon 100mm f2.8 USM), still very much a beginner with that lens type and my shaky hands from medication are not the very best of friends with it in all but the best of lighting conditions. This came out OK though -