Cool photos

[jamie2112]

Pug, ten times more vicious.

SheepStar

Damn you better get him a muzzle...

 

[Sheep]

Damn you better get him a muzzle...

Her.

SheepStar

 

[jamie2112]

Her.

SheepStar

My bad sorry : Her a muzzle......She looks like a sweetheart...

 

[Sheep]

She's pretty useless. Lots of sleep, more like a cat.

SheepStar

 

[jamie2112]

Yeah , but she's cute......

 

[emorphien]

Well, the Canon EOS-1D Mark III is 4500 dollars. I think $600 for a lens is normal. Once my skills surpass the Powershot S5 IS I'll head down the DSLR route.

SheepStar

Indeed $600 for a single lens is in the middle I'd say. I wouldn't dare say what all my equipment is worth, however I did just get a Rebel XTi and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 as my "point & shoot" because I wasn't satisfied with any real point and shoots on the market. I already have an SD630 for the deck of cards sized pocket camera.

 

[Sheep]

Indeed $600 for a single lens is in the middle I'd say. I wouldn't dare say what all my equipment is worth, however I did just get a Rebel XTi and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 as my "point & shoot" because I wasn't satisfied with any real point and shoots on the market. I already have an SD630 for the deck of cards sized pocket camera.

What do you recommend as a decent DSLR for quality shots? My Powershot S5 IS will suffice for Point and Shoot.

SheepStar

 

[emorphien]

Depends on your budget.

Canon and Nikon offer the biggest modern systems with all kinds of new lenses and accessories available. Nikon also will let you use older lenses on their cameras although with the more basic Nikons they may work in a very basic, or manual way. Any lens you can get an adapter for will fit on a Canon but you lose any automatic aperture control (meaning you have to manually open it to focus and manually turn the aperture down to shoot at a smaller aperture if you want).

Olympus offers a rather limited and expensive system in my opinion if you go beyond the lower level SLRs which are quite compact.

Pentax is expanding their system after what seemed like near death a few years ago. Their bodies are well designed and thought out and you have a long legacy of Pentax lenses from the past that you can use as well.

I think once you know how much you want to spend, you have to consider where you want to go with it and whether the full Canon or Nikon systems appeal to you. Then, beyond that, just go somewhere and check them out because each system feels and operates a bit differently.

 

[gus6464]

It really comes down to preference when it comes to DSLR with Nikon and Canon. My wife and I are Canon people so that's all we have. She uses an older SD450 for random point and shoot, and I have a Powershot S45 which is one of the few point and shoots out there that can do RAW and has a manual mode which offers as many features as the entry level DSLR's.

The good thing about buying a Canon or Nikon is that once you start investing in lenses and decide to upgrade bodies your lenses will never go to waste. Pentax also makes a very nice entry level DSLR with their K100 series but once you decide to move up in the world there's not much higher you can go. Since I only have experience with Canon, if you start out with a Rebel just make sure you buy EF lenses instead of EF-S because if you ever decide to upgrade to 40D+ range you cannot use EF-S lenses.

 

[emorphien]

The 40D will take EF-S lenses.

Nikon similar has DX lenses however unlike Canon they use the exact same mount as their regular lenses and will work on any of their cameras however that doesn't guarantee they won't vignette.

 

[gus6464]

The 40D will take EF-S lenses.

Nikon similar has DX lenses however unlike Canon they use the exact same mount as their regular lenses and will work on any of their cameras however that doesn't guarantee they won't vignette.

I guess they must have changed it with the 40D because the 30D could only use EF lenses. I know the 5D and 1D/s can't use EF-S either so I guess it's still a good idea to just buy EF lenses if you are going to spend over $500 on a lens.

On a side note is there a lens you recommend for portraits Emorphien? The kit lens that came with the XT is pretty crappy and we are looking for a specific portrait lens. We were thinking about getting a Canon prime lens.

 

[jonnythan]

I guess they must have changed it with the 40D because the 30D could only use EF lenses. I know the 5D and 1D/s can't use EF-S either so I guess it's still a good idea to just buy EF lenses if you are going to spend over $500 on a lens.

No, wrong. All xxD (10D, 20D, 30D), xxxD (300D, 350D (XT), 400D (XTi), 450D (XSi), and xxxxD (1000D) cameras use an APS-C size sensor (1.6x crop) and take EF-S lenses.

The 30D came with an EF-S lens from Canon. So do all of the other 1.6x crop cameras.

Only the 5D, 1D, and 1Ds series cameras from Canon use a larger sensor than the 1.6x crop (5D and 1Ds are full frame, 1D is 1.3x crop) and cannot use EF-S lenses.

On a side note is there a lens you recommend for portraits Emorphien? The kit lens that came with the XT is pretty crappy and we are looking for a specific portrait lens. We were thinking about getting a Canon prime lens.

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 is a fantastic, super-cheap portrait lens. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 is a very nice step up, at a cost. The 50mm f/1.8 is on my camera 90% of the time over the 18-55mm IS and 55-250mm IS. It's fast, sharp, and gives surprisingly good bokeh.

If you want the best, the Canon 85mm f/1.2L USM is about as good as it gets for portrait lenses. Little bit long on a crop body, though.

 

[gus6464]

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 is a fantastic, super-cheap portrait lens. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 is a very nice step up, at a cost. The 50mm f/1.8 is on my camera 90% of the time over the 18-55mm IS and 55-250mm IS. It's fast, sharp, and gives surprisingly good bokeh.

If you want the best, the Canon 85mm f/1.2L USM is about as good as it gets for portrait lenses. Little bit long on a crop body, though.

How much better is the Sigma compared to the Canon? Even though amazon sells the Canon for cheaper they seem to have around the same MRSP. While the Sigma is a faster lens, is the PQ up to par or better than the Canon?

Before we bought the big Canon 300mm lens we were looking at the comparable Sigma lens but the Canon just blew it away in PQ.

 

[emorphien]

Based on initial testing that people have done the Sigma seems to have better resolution and contrast. It is also probably a more solid feeling lens... the Sigma 30mm 1.4 feels like a much nicer piece of hardware than my Canon 50mm 1.4. If you can take the gamble on supposedly iffy Sigma quality control and are OK with potential camera compatibility issues in the future (which Sigma can fix although you may get charged a bit for it) then their 50mm looks to be a good alternative.

As far as portrait lenses go, on your Rebel a 50mm would be a wider portrait but would work quite well. Other options include the 100mm f/2 or 85mm f/1.8. Which one is best for you would depend a bit on what kinds of conditions you're shooting under and the size of your "studio" because if your distance to the subject is controlled in some way you would want a lens that will give you the portaits you want at that distance. I'd probably go with the 85 1.8 and 50 1.8 to have both options on a Rebel. The 50 is cheap enough ($80ish) to pick up on a whim however it doesn't have the most pleasing bokeh (rendering of OOF highlights), the 1.4 is nicer in this regard. I think a 100mm would be a bit long for portraiture on your camera, but again it depends on where you're shooting and how far you can back up.

No, wrong. All xxD (10D, 20D, 30D), xxxD (300D, 350D (XT), 400D (XTi), 450D (XSi), and xxxxD (1000D) cameras use an APS-C size sensor (1.6x crop) and take EF-S lenses.

This is not exactly 100% correct. The 10D will not take EF-S lenses even though it has a 1.6 crop sensor. Similarly, neither will the D30 or D60. All Rebels do as do all 1.6 xxD cameras from the 20D and on.

 

[jonnythan]

Note that Canon has three 50mm primes:

f/1.8 II ($90 or so)
f/1.4 USM ($375 or so)
f/1.2L USM ($1500 or so)

The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 will definitely be a better lens than the Canon 50mm f/1.8. It appears to possibly be superior to the Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM as well, for around the same price point.


And you are correct about the 10D not taking EF-S lenses. I didn't know that. The 20D, 30D, and 40D all do, as you've noted. The D30 is a much older camera, not to be confused with the 30D.

 

[emorphien]

The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 will definitely be a better lens than the Canon 50mm f/1.8. It appears to possibly be superior to the Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM as well, for around the same price point.

The Canon 50mm 1.4 is in the $300-350 range. The Sigma is near $500. I don't think I'd call that the same price point, but for that difference I would hope the Sigma is better than the Canon!

 

[gus6464]

Well the portrait lens will be mostly for events like weddings, parties, christmas pics, and vacations. I don't really care spending the $500 on the lens if it will last me a long time and since I want to upgrade to a 40D in the near future.

 

[emorphien]

I'd probably start with the 85mm... but if you have a zoom in that range I'd test out 85 and 50 and see how you like each one in terms of framing.

 

[Sheep]

Yeah, well, my lens is fixed....


Camera envy.

SheepStar

 

[Sheep]

Lexus ISSO (IS250)

SheepStar