On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Thaths <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 6:25 AM, Aditya Kapil <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 7:44 PM, Thaths <[email protected]> wrote: > >> As with any such photography question.... what is your intent? Will > >> you be shooting indoors/outdoors? People or landscapes? Can you carry > >> around a lot of gear? Etc. > > Mostly outdoors. Am willing to carry gear on such occasions. Intent: to > > learn photography more. > > I advice waiting till next week before you make a conclusion. The PMA > trade show is happening this week in Las Vegas and there might be > announcements about new product lines made there. > > My recommendations: > > * Buy a camera body that is cheap and does most of what you want. If > you really get into photography you will likely upgrade your camera > body in a couple of years anyway. Think of a camera body as a > light-tight black box with a few capabilities. At the cheaper end of > the spectrum you will get a sensor that has a 1.5 crop factor (i.e., a > 35mm lens will act as a 35*1.5 = 52.5mm lens). >
True. I am now considering buying the full frame D3. > > * I strongly recommend a non-zoom lens such as 50mm f/1.8 (or the more > expensive 35mm f/2). Learning photography with a fixed focal length > lens enables you to be more deliberate about visualizing the image you > want and taking steps (changing aperture / shutter speed, moving > closer to farther away from the subject, shooting from low down or > high up, etc.) to achieve the look you want. The 50mm lens sells for ~ > $100 is one of the most widely used lenses. > Seconded. I use a Nikkor 50mm @ f/1.8 and cannot ask for a better lens for my kind of photography. Very sharp, very clean photos. It sells for about Rs. 4000-Rs.5000 in Chennai, and if you know the store guy, he can get you discounts. > > * Take lots and lots of photographs. Learn how to process them. Cull > >95% of what you shoot and learn from the process. > Oh yes! On a regular photo outting, I take about 200-300 photos, but end up posting only 10, if at all. Most of my photos are very spur-of-the moment (though I do shoot 100% manual mode) and are merely snapshots of the place I've visited. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
