Cameras....help!!!!

**DonnaR57** · 12-04-2011, 08:26 PM

Thank you for all the recommendations and discussions. As we've read the articles in the links, and others we've found, we are definitely leaning towards an "entry level" DSLR, particularly CANON. We realized, of course, that you do get what you pay for, especially with that Nikon Cool Pix point-and-shoot. At the time, we weren't doing much more than occasional casual photography.

BTW, glc, we have two Canon non-digital SLR's hanging around here. One is a 37 year old TLb, and the other is a 33-year-old AE-1. Our older daughter used both in HS for her photography class, but the school now has a guy teaching digital photography. We always shot slides, but of course they take up SO much space!

I think we really like the Canon EOS Rebel T3i with the 18-55 lens. One thing that attracted us to this was the lens. Canon always did have a decent lens!

Now to shop for the best price....

Donna

**glc** · 12-04-2011, 08:29 PM

You are going to need a long lens too. I just wish there was a digital body that would take all my old Canon FD lenses!

**Year25** · 12-04-2011, 09:19 PM

You will love your new DSLR...Happy Shopping!

**DonnaR57** · 12-05-2011, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by glc

You are going to need a long lens too. I just wish there was a digital body that would take all my old Canon FD lenses!

Wouldn't THAT be great! At one time, we had quite a few FD lenses hanging around here.

Donna

**AZBuck** · 12-05-2011, 07:21 AM

Donna, I also took some photography classes back in the day. And our instructor (a MFA) insisted that we shoot using B&W slides that we then developed ourselves. In the days before digital photography this let us shoot an amazing number of frames for relatively little money, but more importantly taught us to compose great pictures at the instant the image was taken. B&W slides do not allow any post-shooting manipulation or 'enhancement' and shooting in such a medium trains the eye and thought process to get a good image from the get-go. In today's world of digital shooting and Photoshopping, too many people don't have their finished photos until after hours of sitting at the computer and end up with the picture they think they want rather than a picture that captures the essence of what they actually saw and experienced.

AZBuck

**CalOldBlue** · 12-07-2011, 07:55 PM

If you ever catch the serious camera bug, the things people will tell you is the MOST important piece of equipment sits between your ears.

After that, lenses are more important than cameras, and in a good system (Nikon, Canon to some extent) a good lens you buy today should be usable through your next several camera bodies.

As the sensors and electronics get better and better, you upgrade your bodies but keep using your lenses.

My first Nikon (not my first camera) was a film N6006; I moved to digital with a D70 and recently acquired a D700. Every Nikon lens I ever bought (and the Sigma and Tokina lenses) will fit and work on all my bodies. There are some trade-offs with the different sensor sizes, but even APS size sensor lenses for the D70 will fit to and work on the full-frame D700 (it auto-crops; you lose some megapixels but you can still use your 10mm fisheye).

The only reason I have a possible caveat with the Canon system is I understand there have been cases where their lenses have been less upward-compatible than Nikons.

From my last vacation with my newish D700 (still post-processing, so I haven't posted a trip report yet).

Fallen tree with fungus; Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Photo: Don Casey

So my vote is buy a decent body in whichever system floats your boat (Nikon, Canon, whatever), and the best lenses you can stand.

Oh, what the heck; here's another:
Cannon Beach

Photo: Don Casey

**Year25** · 12-07-2011, 08:47 PM

Awesome fallen tree picture! If I ever get my Nikon D60 AND the space between my ears to work that well together, I will be one happy camper!

**DonnaR57** · 12-24-2011, 08:36 AM

We've moved up one notch in our search. Now, whether Santa will leave it under the tree for me, or if we'll have to go to the store later and buy it, that remains to be seen. But now we've moved up to the EOS Rebel T2i in our thinking, rather than the T3. There's more to the T2i that's to our liking, after research and what you all have had to say.

BTW, both of the photos above (beach and fallen tree) were AWESOME. Yes, AZBuck, that's how my dad taught me to shoot photos: crop and frame before you click.

One of the things that really interested me about the digital SLR's, over the point-and-shoots and the bridge cameras, is their click-click-click readiness. One thing that has driven me nut-so for the past few years with the point-and-shoot was the "shoot, and wait." Old film SLR's were shoot and wind, shoot and wind, which was faster. When the AE-1 Program came out, that shoot and automatic wind was even faster. So we didn't progress with the "shoot and wait" cameras.

We shall see what Santa has put under that tree for me. Hubby knows I've started to recapture the interest in photography, now that we are doing more traveling.

Donna

**glc** · 12-25-2011, 09:01 AM

I got a new phone a couple months ago - an Atrix 2. It supposedly has a high end (for a phone) camera in it - 8mp. I don't really like it - it's not that easy to use effectively. It's very difficult to lock in a focus before actually taking the picture, it seems to be a crapshoot. When it does take a decent picture, it's quite nice. However, from an ease of use standpoint, my old 7mp Kodak point and shoot is a lot easier to actually use.