More camera buying advice

YeehaaMcgee

Right.
Er.
The Canon EOS 1DS is a very good camera as well.
It's worth mentioning that it's a full frame sensor, and nobody actually looking for a camera has mentioned that either

camerauk

And so is the Nikon D3 which I own just thought I would mention it as the op wanted to get close to the action and it may save them spending out on a longer focal length lens

YeehaaMcgee

Well, unless you're spending megabucks, all DSLRs are crop sensors, so...

camerauk

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Well, unless you're spending megabucks, all DSLRs are crop sensors, so...

you sir are very true
Canon’s are between 1.3 and 1.6x crop and Nikon's are 1.5

paul.skibum

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

The Rebel is what the yanks call the lowest end EOS model - which in this country would be the 350, 400, 450, 500 or 550, depending on year.

I'm in Canada so I get Yank models hence the Rebel. Lowest end meaning bad or lowest end meaning a good intermediate dslr for an amateur photo type?

Crop sensor/full frame means very little to me. I had an old SLR (Pentax P1) which I could use to get OK results but had to play around with everything each time I used it to remember how f stops and so on worked. the modern stuff baffles me! I am considering a course to learn how to use whatever I invest in.

Giraffoto

paul.skibum wrote:

Lowest end meaning bad or lowest end meaning a good intermediate dslr for an amateur photo type?

It just means price - there are no bad dSLRs, there are hardly any mediocre ones, there are lots of outstanding ones and the quality is moving rapidly down the price range. I have Nikons (five at last count!) and I like them, but they're not absolutely better than Canon, and Canon isn't absolutely better than Nikon. Any Canon or any Nikon in their current range is very good

paul.skibum wrote:

Crop sensor/full frame means very little to me.

Crop sensor refers to the size of the digital sensor that sits where your film used to and receives the light coming through the lens. "Full frame" means that it's about 36mm x 24mm in size, that is, about the size of a 35mm film frame. When the sensor is smaller than this, the result is as if you cut a smaller piece out of the middle of your film frame and blew it up to full size: it's almost (but not entirely) as if your lenses were a longer focal length. Most dSLRs have a crop sensor of about 24mm x 16mm, meaning that a 200mm lens gives you the same field of view as a 300mm lens on a film camera.

paul.skibum wrote:

I had an old SLR (Pentax P1) which I could use to get OK results but had to play around with everything each time I used it to remember how f stops and so on worked. the modern stuff baffles me! I am considering a course to learn how to use whatever I invest in.

You'll probably find that any new dSLR will give you better results than your old film camera because of the improvements in metering, unless you're an expert already. Don't allow the modern stuff to baffle you! Read this and then go on a course or read a book if it doesn't do it for you. And to expand on what I said before . . .

Giraffoto wrote:

What's far more important is to have what you need for taking pictures. So . . .

• Buy the camera. There aren't any rubbish ones about
• Get a decent bag or pouch so that it's always close at hand. It's no use in a drawer
• Take lots and lots of pictures of what you want to take pictures of
• Choose your favourites, and make a note of the settings you used

If you get [a] dSLR, just get two lenses to take you from about 16mm to 300mm (if it's an APS-C/"crop" sensor) and you'll probably be happy with it. And don't think about "zoom" too much

paul.skibum

Cheers!

That helps and that link looks like a useful guide.

OK gonna look at a few options and order me a magic picture box.