Lots of options, little knowledge

[tylerrobb]

From what I've read so far, TPF is already turning out to be an amazing resource for my many questions. It's great to see such a big community getting together on these forums to answer questions and help each other out as well as display amazing photos that are taken.

I'm brand new to the photography world, I joined my high school's yearbook staff this past school year and enjoyed being able to take pictures and use Adobe Photoshop with InDesign to edit and create pages. The experience on staff there using the Canon Digital Rebel XT (with 18-55 lens) to shoot all of our pictures was lots of fun and I learned a lot of techniques and things I never even knew about before.

The school year is over but since the staff position allowed me to shoot a DSLR camera for the first time, I am now addicted and will probably never shoot with anything else besides a DSLR. My family is heading to New York City this summer for a vacation there during 4th of July weekend and I want to purchase my first DSLR for use on the trip. Being a junior in high school, my budget isn't too extensive (I'm hopefully looking at no more than $1200 total for everything) I am looking at getting the DSLR body (with included lens kit), a tripod, circular polarizer filter, memory card, and extra battery pack for the total of $1200.

My main concern was that I wanted to shoot fireworks at night as well as big landscapes of the city (mostly on the ground looking up at the skyscrapers). I am not sure that the 18-55mm lens kits included with the majority of DSLRs that I am looking at would suffice for such a purpose... I can always spend more if need be (I understand that lenses can be vastly expensive at the high end) but I'd rather just find the most cost effective solution.

After long sessions of online research, I narrowed my choices down to 3 cameras that satisfied all my criteria as far as resolution, features, etc. :

Nikon D80
Nikon D40x
Canon Digital Rebel XTi

These 10MP cameras seemed to produce amazing pictures from what I've seen but I wanted to the know the subtle (or not so subtle) differences between them. I've noticed that the XTi has a CMOS sensor while the D80 and the D40x both have CCD sensors, any advantages for a certain type?

Sorry for the long thread but hopefully I can get some good advice as to which I should purchase... Thanks again!

-Tyler Robb

[venchka]

Originally Posted by trobb09

...

The school year is over but since the staff position allowed me to shoot a DSLR camera for the first time, I am now addicted and will probably never shoot with anything else besides a DSLR.

-Tyler Robb

Understandable perhaps. You'll be missing a lot of the fun.

"I love the smell of fixer in the morning."

[iCe]

The difference between Nikon and Canon boils down to ergonomics and low light performance (sorry Nikonians... Canon wins that one for now). Taking away low light performance... there is no distinguishable difference other than how the camera feels in your hands and how familiar you are with the controls...

In a perfect world your budget would be unlimited and I would tell you to pick up a Canon 85mm f/1.2 lens Since the lens alone would hammer your budget that's probably not an option.

[CaptainTom]

Tyler
Welcome aboard, and you have a huge world of opportunity in front of you.
As for which camera to buy ?? Your short list is composed of some amazing equipment that will take you quite a while to outgrow.
I think most experienced folks on this forum will advise you to try to get hands on with each of your candidates. There is not a bad camera on your list. If you don't already have a heavy investment in lenses, you are free to go Nikon or Canon. You'll have Nikon fans and Canon fans all touting their brand, but it comes down to what camera feels right to you when you put it in your hands, operate the controls, look through the viewfinder, etc.

We put on a good show here regarding which camera is better, but in reality you can't make a bad choice.

[HFMarshburnJR]

Tyler -

Welcome to the DSLR world. There are lots of good articles on shooting fireworks with digital cameras. The short answer to your question is this - the kit lens will work just fine. You are probably going to be relatively close to the fireworks and they are quite bright - think shooting a fire in the fireplace. You will also be wanting to shoot at apertures of f8-f11, so high end glass is not required. The best tutorial I saw broke this kind of photography down as such:

You will need: DSLR equipped with a lens with a focal width in the 20-70MM range; A good sturdy tripod; A cable release or remote shutter release. Follow these steps:

1. Set your camera up on the tripod. In manual mode, set to your lowest available ISO setting. Set the Aperture to F11. Set the shutter speed to 5 seconds. Enable the cable or remote shutter release
2. Pick the area of the sky where you want to compose your fireworks images (You may have to wait for the first few fireworks to go off if you are unfamiliar with the location)
3. Take your time - do not panic - most fireworks shows are at least 30 minutes long and the best is at the end. Relax.
4. Turn off the autofocus and manually focus the lens to infinity (you may want to have a little penlight with you so that you can easily read the settings on your lens and your camera control panel)
5. Take a few shots with these settings and look at your display to verify that the composition is what you wanted and that the fireworks are not blown out. If they are showing up with blown out highlights, reduce your shutter speed down until you are happy with the exposure. Unless you are right under the fireworks, you will probably not go below 2 seconds for your shutter speed.
6. Once you have made your adjustments, step away from your controls and snap away. Take a new image after each timed exposure ends. Do not chimp or touch your controls until the show is over. Enjoy the show...and enjoy the photos afterward.

This isn't the only way to shoot fireworks - but it is the easiest way that I have ever read about, and it is a great way to get started. Enjoy.
HFM

[Raiderphotog07]

Apparently you are in the same boat I was. I started shooting pictures for my high school's yearbook at the end of my sophomore year and then heavily my junior and senior years. I was lucky and won a Canon 20D in a contest, so my first advice is enter lots of contests as often as you can. As for the camera right now, go with what you are comfortable with. If you are going to shoot with it in school and you have any other lenses at school (or are looking at getting any this year), then I would suggest the Canon so you can use the school's lenses also. And if you want a good, low budget lens when you get back to help shooting sports, try a 75-300 mm f/3.5-5.6 or whatever aperature it is. They usually run $200 to $300 and help greatly on the field. Good luck figuring out which camera fits you best. My main advice is once you pick one and buy it, don't look back and doubt yourself. Let us know which one you picked up when you decide.

[Digital Daddy]

Ditto all previous posts. And welcome to the craft. To shoot fireworks your kit lens will work fine. You MUST use a tripod and a remote release. Heres how I did this one; camera on tripod with a remote release. set to manual and set aperature to f11 (I think) and shutter to bulb. When fireworks start zoom to frame the burst as you want it. With the camera on bulb, the first time you press the button the shutter opens. When you press it again it closes. With that said you just leave the shutter open to let the burst (or several as this pic) blossom. There is a little trial and error in this. and you will have to play with contrast to get rid of the smoke. If you can shoot in raw, and the contrast slider is pretty easy to use, as well as the saturation slider. Good Luck.

[Daniel Bates]

Welcome to the forum!

I've owned Canon and Nikon (the former a great deal more than the later), and unless you're pushing your equipment to the limits of its performance, anything will do the job quite well. Try out a D80 and an XTi in person in a camera store - I wouldn't go for the D40 personally, the D80 has better features - and see which one feels most comfortable. For me, when I started, it was the Canon.

The kit lens will do fine. It's not the best lens money can buy, but it doesn't pretend to be either. I might think about picking up a 50mm f/1.8 lens for $70 (ish) if you want low light performance - it's surprisingly sharp.

Best of luck! You're young, which is a very good thing. Us young'uns have a lot of time to experiment with new crazy things, and while most of the experiments might be something less than raving successes, it's still a very fun process.

[end of epistle]

--Daniel

[erisian pope]

Canon offers 3 kit lenses that I have found in my searching (at least with the EOS 30D camera): 18-55, 17-85, and 28-135. Of those, my local photo store HIGHLY prefers the 17-85. So if you decide on getting the XTi then I would recommend checking out the 17-85. It's got more range than the 18-55 and image quality is supposed to be superior.

That's my $0.02 worth, anyway.

[crazeazn]

TPF is like heroin, seriously! hahaha

[venchka]

Originally Posted by crazeazn

TPF is like heroin, seriously! hahaha

In a digital only kinda way.

[jamiewallace]

Also consider getting a used slightly better body. For instance the Nikon d70s is a lot more camera than the d40x, and you can get one than is only slightly used for cheaper than a d40X. Also consider the Canon 20d. The 30d was only a slight upgrade, but you can get a 20d for cheaper than a XTi. Again, the 20d is a lot more camera. One is pending for sale right now in the buy and sell forums for $675 with 2 batteries.

I also echo the "get a 50mm 1.8 lens" comments above. We all learned on those, and it's the cheapest beautiful fast glass you can get.

[ngoduyviet]

Originally Posted by crazeazn

TPF is like heroin, seriously! hahaha

You musta meant "crack"

[venchka]

...but

If you drop $1,200 bucks on your first camera body and lens...

Never mind. It's your money. Do with it as you please. Enjoy!

[venchka]

Originally Posted by jamiewallace

...I also echo the "get a 50mm 1.8 lens" comments above. We all learned on those, and it's the cheapest beautiful fast glass you can get.

We should all still be learning how to use a 50mm relatively fast lens. However, all you folks with small sensors are really learning the joys of a fast 80mm lens. If you want to learn how to use a lens with a 40 degree angle of view, buy a 30/1.4 or 35/2.0 for your small sensors.

http://www.lighttec.com/angle.html