Why Elizabeth is awesome

[theducks]

Part 20 of ∞

Wherein is it is my birthday on wednesday, to be followed by a wedding and honeymoon within the next 7 days, and wherein I am difficult to buy stuff for, therefore be thanks raised to her of giving me a Digital SLR for said occasion!

god save the queen!

The embargo was broken tonight accidentally while having dinner with pennae, but this means I can do some checks on pricing and options before we actually go and buy it. The Canon 450D kit with twin IS lenses (Digital Rebel XSi in the US) looks pretty awesome. Comments? :D It does mean a much bigger bag to lug kit around, especially if I get the twin lenses.

In other news, I did check out a Nikon P6000 on the weekend. It's an $800 12MP camera with GPS and an Ethernet jack. It's a pretty interesting concept, I must say. I was disappointed by the image quality, but I especially like the GPS bit. Oh well.

Squee DSLR!

I have taken almost 10,000 photos in the last 7 years with digital cameras (9960 according to my photo library..), and I'm getting to the point that I really can understand why a digital SLR is the way to go for me. Playing with Cameron's 5D and my uncle's 400D has really driven home the desire for one.

Comments

[distantcam.livejournal.com]

Err, I have a 20D, not a 5D (I wish!).

As for lens choices, IS only helps with shaking, but is still useless in low-light. Both lenses are slow (F-stop number) especially at the long end. The 18-55 is 5.6 at full zoom.

If you're planning on using this camera for travelling, my advice is don't take two lenses. You'll keep having to change lenses at bad times. I'd recommend taking a single lens and lightening your bag. If you don't mind non-canon lenses the Tamron 18-250 looks good (http://www.qualitycamera.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=253&products_id=4159) also there's rumours of an IS version from Tamron but I couldn't find it. If you prefer Canon They've just released an 18-200 with IS (http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canon%5F18%2D200%5F3p5%2D5p6%5Fis/)

A good place to find out more: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

[theducks.livejournal.com]

Wow, that Tamron lens looks pretty cool. Even the cranky people have good things to say about it. In that case, we might just get the body-only 450D + that lens

[dannipenguin.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, although fast glass is nice, IS solves a different problem. Being able to shoot at f/2.8 is great, as long as you want the depth of field that comes with it. IS isn't going to freeze-frame your subject, but it will perhaps allow you to get the depth you need.

I'm a bit skeptical of 18-200mm lenses. I feel like something's gotta give.

[distantcam.livejournal.com]

Re IS: I totally agree. They're both tradeoffs.

Re 18-200mm zoom: Up until the last few years I would have agreed with you. But technology marches on and now there are several 18-200ish lenses that are getting fantastic review. So perhaps they're not quite as good as a shorter L-Series lens from Canon, but they're good enough.