Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only

Hello Everyone! (already starting off with a question!?...

Homepage Forums Before You Start Introductions Hello Everyone! (already starting off with a question!?)

  • This topic is empty.

Hello Everyone! (already starting off with a question!?)

  • Sander
    Member

    Hey everyone, my name is Sander (short for Alexander) and i was born and raised in the Netherlands (also known as Holland) and I am 20 years young
    I’ve always had a interest in photography, but never really the equipment to do it. I had a minolta (or rather, my parents had a minolta) which i used but this is quite a long time ago.
    I have been living in Ireland since early September now and i am planning on getting a camera pretty soon. Since i want to see a lot of Ireland as well, it is a beautiful country with lots of nice places to take pictures. However, there is a slight dilemma.

    I am not really sure to get a canon or a nikon, now i know people will advice me to get either since there is a lot of pro nikon and canon people around. But i think i want to go for a cannon, it just feels good.

    I am in doubt between 3 camera’s at the moment. The Eos 40d, 30d and 400d.
    I know I am just starting off, but I am pretty worried that if I buy the 400d and I get really in to it that I will want a 40d and it just seems like a shame to spend the money on the 400d and not use it for a long time…

    It is still a lot of money to spend on the 40d… And also what I am confused about is lenses, what lense is used for what, i saw the 40d can come with a 15-40mm lense or something, but i couldnt really find anything on what that does. Anyone willing to give me a short intro to lenses? :)

    Nice to meet you all =)

    ossie13
    Participant

    Welcome Sander and enjoy the site!!

    I use a Nikon camera but you will get plenty of advise from the “Canon Crowd” on the site re choice of camera lens etc..

    All I would advise is go into a good camera shop and try the feel of as many camera’s as possible before making your choice!!With regards to lens always buy the best you can afford and again do your research!!

    Cheers Steve

    Seaview
    Participant

    Hi Sander.

    I’m sure there will be a couple of experts along soon to give you loads of good advice, but I will start the ball rolling.

    Firstly I have a canon 400d and I’m very happy with it. As for getting the 40d which is a super camera by the sounds of things, it’s a lot of money to spend starting off. A few good Lenses might be a better option with the 400d.

    Now to your second question about what lens to get. It all depends on what you want to shoot.

    Wild life = zoom lens or really expensive prime lens. Anything around 300 mm or more.
    Landscape = wide lens like the one mentioned above, or really wide like a 10 – 22 mm.

    That’s my brief intro to Lenses, I’m sure others will explain the rest.

    Dave.

    Sander
    Member

    oh thank you very much for the info so far, so the more MM on the lens the more zoom it got? i didn’t quite understand it with regards to wide angle lenses. Im not too sure what I want to do yet, maybe landscapes and stuff and also people, just a lot while traveling around. I did see the eos400d got some nice deals on at the moment!

    Seaview
    Participant

    The wider the lens means you will capture more of the landscape, so less mm is good for landscape.

    Dave.

    sean1098
    Member

    Hello and welcome,enjoy yourself.

    Sean.

    GCP
    Participant

    Welcome to the site and do enjoy your time both here and in Ireland. Both are top class cameras so its just a matter of which you prefer really. I dont think you’ll be dis-satisfied with either.

    constantine
    Participant

    Welcome Sander.

    Hope your enjoy your time here at P.I. and in Ireland. I’m a canon man myself, but as Gerry said, the choices you are presented with are all good, comes down to the ‘feel’ you have for the camera after that….

    Enjoy

    Sander
    Member

    GCP wrote:

    Welcome to the site and do enjoy your time both here and in Ireland. Both are top class cameras so its just a matter of which you prefer really. I dont think you’ll be dis-satisfied with either.

    Yeah I thought they were both good… Just some comments i read on the d400 about it feeling a bit “cheap” and I kinda like the burst function on the D40 as well, but I am just wondering if there is that much difference between the 400 and the 40, if it is really worth spending the extra odd hundred euro on… See I usually get pretty into something if I like it, I am just wondering if the 40 got that many more features on it that would make me want to upgrade after a year or so.. :)

    I have been enjoying Ireland so far, it is way more beautiful than Holland, in my opinion anyway.

    steelydan
    Participant

    the 40D is a far superior camera then the 400D. Its a bigger body and solid build, weather proof (not waterproof) and has tons of features.I like the live view feature, where the image can be seen on the LCD rather then the eyepiece,and you can zoom in X5 or X10 to ensure your focus is spot on.A good image will not depend on your camera,but will depend on what piece of glass thats put in front. You can put “ANY” camera on a good piece of glass (lens) and get good quality photos. Dont make the mistake that most make,myself included, to buy a camera and then in 6 months wish you had gone for the one you really wanted.Wait and save a few extra euros and get what you want exactly. You never said what type of photography you enjoy??, this will depend on what lenses you need. If its a general walkabout lens , may i suggest the 17-85 IS which is a good lens with the Image Stabilzer inbuilt ( stabilizes the image before the photo is taken, then you will be able to shoot and low speeds 1/30 sec) Hope that helps and dont confuse you anymore.

    Brian_C
    Participant

    Hi and welcome.

    If you were thinking of spending money on a Canon 40D why not consider the Nikon D80, it’s a step up from the D40 and D40x, but yet still cheaper than the 40D. Also, bear in mind that the Canon 400D is a very small camera, so if you have big hands it’s gonna feel pretty small to you. I’m not a big fan of Canon, but there’s no doubt the 40D is a good camera.

    Now, I’d like to reccommend the Sony A100. You probably think what Sony making dSLR’s. Yes, they bought over Minolta and make two great, great cameras, the A700 (12.3mp) and the A100 (10.0mp), I use the A100, it’s a great camera. Sony are also on the verge of releasing an A500 which is the replacement for the A100 and a pro-spec A900.
    One major advantage the Sony’s have is that it has in-camera stability, so ALL lenses have the stability feature, even 20yrs old lenses. Trust me I have one.

    RavenAsh
    Member

    Hi Sander, welcome to the Forum.

    Sander
    Member

    thanks so much for all the kind replies!

    To get back to steelydan, I am not too sure what kinds of photography I enjoy, I like doing landscapes, but I am also quite well in to Fencing at the moment, so it would be brilliant to take some nice shots there, which is why I think I would like the 40d with its 6,5 FPS burst?

    I am still a bit confused by the lenses, they have 2 measuring units on it? 17mm-85mm is meaning what? I’m not sure how to separate the zoom lenses from like the wide angle lenses etc. So it is still a bit weird to me, it’s all new! haha

    To get back to Brian_C, Why do you prefer Nikon over Canon? I am just asking for your opinion here, not trying to turn my thread in to a nikon vs canon flamewar. I am not sure why I am going for Canon, I just get a good feeling from it and I like the looks of the 40d as well as the features. And yes, I do have big hands so thanks for that :)

    Brian_C
    Participant

    Hi again Sander,
    Why do I like Nikon over Canon… now you’re asking. It’s just purely personal opinion, nothing to do with the technical capability. I think a lot of people just buy into Canon because they’ve been brain washed. IMHO they rarely produce cutting edge and/or new features. That aside, Canon do produce very good cameras. I was very impressed with the Canon 40d, and in fact nearly bought one 2 weeks ago.

    Re: your question about the 2 measure units. All zoom lens are like this: 10-20mm, 17-70mm, 28-200mm, 70-200mm….. what this means is the shortest focal length is the first figure, the 10 or 17 or 28 or whatever…. this will give a widest angle of view, while the second figure, that’s the 20, 70 or 200mm is at the zoom end of the lens, thus magnifying in on the subject.

    Now, there is a second figure on a lens, and that’s the aperture range, it will be marked as f4-5.6 or f3.5-5.6 or f2.8 or f4 or similar? This refers to the maximum aperture of a lens. The smaller the f/number the faster the lens is and more suited to low light photography. At this point I won?t go into f/number, it?ll probably fry your brain or scare you at this point.

    If you?re seriously thinking of doing landscape photography, that?s what I do, you MUST get yourself some Neutral Density (ND) Graduated Filters. Cokin make a very good, and inexpensive range of these. They?re basically sheet of glass with dark grey at the top and clear at the bottom and are used to darken down the sky in situations where the sky is much brighter than the land/seascape/foreground. Look at my website, at least 75% of the shots have a ND Grad filter.

    lousy
    Participant

    My advice fwiw is go for the 40D, not that the 400D is bad but I would think in a short while you will want to upgrade and what’s the sense in paying so much for the lesser of the two when you could start at the top.
    You can buy the 40d with the 17-85 IS-USM 1:4-5.6, which is a top class lens and would do for a lot of stuff until you get more experienced.

    Whatever you do, make it wise… best of luck and post many images… welcome to the site

    Pat

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.