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theducks ([personal profile] theducks) wrote2008-09-22 08:23 pm
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Why Elizabeth is awesome

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 [livejournal.com profile] 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.
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[identity profile] dannipenguin.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 01:07 pm (UTC)(link)
You have a broken link.

[identity profile] dannipenguin.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Also you need to take more photos...

Up to June 08 (with a lot missing from 04 and 05 it looks like):

$ find Documents/Photos/200[45678] |grep -i 'jpg$' | wc -l
10128

Who knows how many more I've deleted in that time.

[identity profile] ilumiari.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I've got the 450D, you're welcome to play with it if you want but I have different lenses (17-85mm f/4.5-5.6 IS, 50mm f/1.8 and Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, I use the Tamron the most). I spent months looking into which camera to get and I'm really glad on the decision I made. I decided to get the 17-85mm lens instead of the two kit lenses but I haven't really used it since I got the Tamron. I'll probably sell it when I get around to it. Most of the reviews I've seen on the twin kit lenses are that they are definitely beginner lenses, and you'll probably want to upgrade from them fairly quickly.

[identity profile] torque-635.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I bought my D70 second hand with about 600 shots on it. Just checking my latest shot i'm up to just under 20k.

So yeah DSLR FTW. But that said i'm had to replace the SQ base plate earlier this year at about 14k shots.

I followed Packrat's lead and went the Nikon path. I found them easier to use than Canons, but its purely personal choice.

[identity profile] pennae.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Crumpler make great bags that aren't bulky... ;)

(And they're not electronic, and they're not money too!)

Woot!

[identity profile] gaewyn.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Good camera choice... and if you really want to play with lenses get the 75$ 5mm f/1.8. It is amazing that their cheapest lens is hands down the sharpest consumer lens they make and works well in low light also.

Great lens to have!

[identity profile] drabbo.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure what the price difference would be between the two lens and other package deals - but I think you'd find the 55-250mm too slow for the kind of photography you might want to be doing with it. That being said, it's a lot of fun to play with.

The image stabiliser would be good, though.

Give it a bit of a test for motion photography if you can.. but if it doesn't cost that much of a diff ($200-$300 diff) then get it anyway :)

[identity profile] silverai.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Zig just bought a new Nikon something-or-rather that just came out recently to replace his current Nikon. He had a whole bunch of reasons why it was the best choice that his friend he was talking with agreed with. Apparently the closest rival was a Canon which had more $$ attached and wasn't necessarily worth the extra $$. He ordered it last week and it's due to arrive this week. I'll see if I can find out what model it was.

[identity profile] distantcam.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
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
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