Five Useful Tips for Buying Your First Digital SLR Camera

"I'm just an inexperienced photographer shopping for a DSLR camera, which one is the best?"

This is the most frequent topic asked by many people wanting to move up from their pocket digital cameras to a digital SLR camera.

1. Specify Your Standards

Naturally, you won't discover the exact field of photography you'll ultimately dwell into at this point, but you still have to find out the important criteria your camera should have such as:

Bulk - If you're the sort who wouldn't mind lugging a bag much of the time, then the DSLR's greater proportions should not be a big issue. On the contrary, if you believe that smallish cameras are not ergonomically appropriate for your sizeable hands, then you should not get a smaller camera.

Regularity of Use - How regularly will you bring the camera? If you think it's troublesome to carry a large camera, then don't acquire a DSLR. If you're intend to take the camera to your trips quite frequently, then a more compact camera would make a lot more sense.

Usual Theme - Even though you perhaps had not defined a style to emphasize on, you perhaps have established a purpose in why you require to upgrade to a DSLR camera, correct?

Are you thinking about to utilizing that new camera to shoot your young ones? Photographing for your web-based shopping website? Your dearest dog or cat, maybe?

Virtually all DSLRs have the ability of capturing these subjects with ease. Nonetheless, determining your most typical area of interest will allow you narrow-down your choices.

2. Identify Your Price Range

Be truthful with the amount you can afford to pay. For just about everyone, a standard DSLR camera set marketed by the leading brands will be more than satisfactory. Today's cameras paired with many of the factory extras plus a handy zoom lens is in fact, more than acceptable for most picture taking situations.

Identifying your price range limitations and you can take away off all other variants you can't afford.

To illustrate, if you only have less than US$900 to spend, and you really want a Canon DSLR camera, your resources will confine you to a EOS Rebel T3i (aka 600D) or cheaper units only. You can more or less dismiss the higher end products and deal with it. Why make an effort to contemplate a Canon EOS 5D Mark II if it's outside your price range, correct?

A few will probably guide you to allot for special lenses, flashes, and more desirable gear. Even though these are sound, well-meant recommendations, you ought to place stick to your original price range and pick up the camera and lens first, as they're the primary parts to get your photographic path going.

Plus, invest in equipment that you are going to benefit from and desire AT THIS TIME. Numerous recommendations in sites telling buyers never to acquire 'For Digital' lenses like the Canon EF-S lenses, since they aren't going to function the moment you shift to "full-frame" cameras down the road.

The reality is, the number of people shifting to a highly-priced, full-frame camera is REALLY LOW. Finally, your lenses do not depreciate as rapidly as other gears, you won't suffer a large amount of money when selling used lenses in good shape.

3. Examine Variety of Lenses and Products

One of the important features of a DSLR is the flexibility to swap lenses and add more gear as your talents and desires increase. Presently there are many of lenses, flash guns, extras to consider but in most cases, these products are very manufacturer-specific. Just like, a lens designed for a Nikon isn't going to fit a Sony DSLR, similar with flash products also.

Despite the fact that all brands have their unique lenses and add-ons, the two major companies - Canon and Nikon, feature much more in-house items combined with significantly greater third-party products as opposed to the other companies.

This doesn't necessarily suggest that companies such as Pentax, Sony, and Olympus are substandard, they are definitely not. Still, trying to uncover retail outlets that offer good deals for these types of brands are trickier than the ones of Canon and Nikon.

Once again, there is absolutely nothing bad with buying a non-Canon/Nikon brand, just be ready to fork out more or spend extra efforts searching as opposed to Canon/Nikon items.

4. Know What Your Buddies and Relatives Own

The bonus of discovering what your buddies and relatives use is the possibility to be lent the products that you're intending to invest in. You'll save a lot of money and understand what these new items can do for you before investing your hard-earned money.

5. Get and forget

After you've invested in your 1st DSLR camera, STOP COMPARING!

AVOID COMPARING your camera with more sophisticated products.

AVOID COMPARING your camera with other folks' cameras.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF the camera you invested in, study how to capture, make best use of the camera's capabilities.

Adopt these very simple, common-sense buying tips and you will soon have your new digital SLR camera in your hands capturing all the interesting things around you.

If you want to know more about practical and simple photography tips, as well as flash photography tips, visit David Tong's main photography blog - David's Simple Photography.

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Tips on Buying a Camera System

Buying the right photographic equipment cannot be rushed. To avoid regrets and wastefulness your purchasing decision must be based on a solid foundation - not on what the adverts tell us. A number of questions will guide us in reaching a decision.

First of all you must think how is it going to be used?What do you want to photograph?How often will you use your equipment?Are you going to travel with it to remote locations?How serious are you about photography?Do you think your photographic interest will grow?

You can produce great photographs with any brand of DSLR camera. After the entire camera itself doesn't take the picture. You, the person behind the camera does this job. The camera body is not the main factor in creating a good image. For example, the old photographic masters created great images with camera bodies that compared to what's available today can only be described as very basic boxes that held the film in place and little more. This is not to say that all cameras are created equal. Far from it, some are better suited to a specific purpose while others offer all kinds of facilities and sophistication.

It's the quality of the lens mounted in front of the camera and the way in which the lens is used by you, the photographer - the way in which you proceed in your picture taking, that's most responsible for the quality of the resulting photograph.

Digital photography revolutionised manufactures of photo equipment. Some gave up, others merged, still others diversified and a few entered the digital field as makers of equipment.

However, two manufactures captured and maintain a large portion of the market. Nikon and Canon. These two are the dominant professional brands. They offer broad choices both in camera bodies and lenses. The quality is excellent but their lenses are very expensive.

An informed decision must be made when first purchasing a camera system. Equipment for one brand is not interchangeable with the other brand name. A serious photographer over a period of time will spend thousands of pound in camera bodies, lenses and the rest. Once you decide to buy one brand your loyalty to that manufacture will most likely remain for the rest of your photographic life unless money isn't a problem for you. I must add that gear for these two brand names maintain their second hand value very well, perhaps making it possible to start again with a different new camera system without incurring a major financial loss.

Buy the best equipment you can then practice a lot to learn to use that equipment in the best possible manner. The very best equipment, the most expensive camera and lenses available can only be as good as the photographer using them.

Lenses - What to Buy?

This is the most expensive and critical purchase. Again the decision of what to buy is dependent on the answers to the above questions. For example, a portrait photographer will use different lenses to a wildlife photographer. So, what do you specialise in?

Is the photographer photographing scenes? Birds? Wildlife larger than birds? Scenes and Wildlife?

To photograph birds you'll need a 600mm lens if you want to fill the frame with action. These lenses are very expensive and heavy. I found a compromise - I purchased a 300mm, f/2.8 and a 2x converter. This raised the 300mm lens to 600mm with a f/5.6 to work with.

I found this system to be the second best option. The system is still expensive but not so much. It's also very heavy so your tripod must be able to offer a firm support. For example, my Sigma 120-300, f/2.8 lens without the converter and camera weighs about 2kg.

In contrast, a landscape photographer doesn't need a 600mm lens. To compress the elements in a scene a 300mm lens will do. The aperture is also not a critical factor. However, a landscape photographer will certainly need a wide-angle lens to create drama.

If you're thinking in buying a camera system sit down first and analyse some of these questions plus a few others you come up with. Then shop around for the system that fits your needs.

Carlos Pereira received a qualification from the British Institute of Professional Photographers. He developed a successful business in the UK as a wedding and Portrait photographer. He received further training in the USA from Monte Zucker, a master photographer.

His Wildlife and Portrait photographs have been published in the UK and European photographic magazines.

He concentrates his photography as a travelling photographer and a teacher, offering his expertise as a nature photographer through digital books.

His vision has been moulded by the classic portraiture that was his business for a number of years.

website: http://www.mountain-light.co.uk/

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Camera Buying Guide: What Camera Is the Best for You?

Choosing the right digital camera to best suit your needs is an important decision. As you consider which digital camera to purchase there are several important factors to consider. This article shows how to choose and buy the right one for you.

All the major camera makers, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc make high quality equipment. The brand's not that important. Or the camera either for that matter. After all, the camera just does what its told - the photographer actually makes the picture.

The first step in choosing the right camera is to determine what features are most important to you.

Choose a digital camera body that feels good in your hands. This is a personal matter depending partly on the size of your hands but also on factors that no one can quantify. Expert reviews recommend comparing cameras in person before buying. Note that a camera that feels too small for your hands may feel more comfortable if you add a battery grip, which holds an extra battery, boosting the number of shots you can take between charges.

Megapixels: Instead of film, a digital camera has an imaging sensor consisting of millions of pixels. To record an image, each pixel builds up a tiny charge of electricity in response to the light it "sees." A megapixel is the term used for a million pixels - and the more megapixels an imaging sensor has, the higher the camera's potential resolution.

So if most cameras can deliver the print sizes you need, how do you decide between, say, a camera with 8 megapixels and a camera with 10 megapixels? You may not need to. The difference in resolution between their photos can be difficult to detect, unless you're a pro who looks for the tiniest details, or you plan to make really enormous prints.

With that in mind, you may want to instead consider your photography habits and decide what other camera features are particularly important to you. Do you want extra zoom capability to capture close-ups of your child across the baseball field or wildlife in a distant tree? Are you mainly interested in automatic functions, or do you want to experiment with camera settings on your own? Are you looking for an ultra-slim model that you can easily carry everywhere?

Optical zoom is necessary to view the object in large size. Almost all digital cameras will have this optical zoom facility. Before buying the camera, you must check the optical zoom present in it and you must not afford it if it has the optical zoom less than 2.

Digital zoom is used to increase the size of the picture. Most of the digital cameras offer this digital zoom facility. Check out the clarity levels of the picture clearly when you increase the size of it because some of the pictures will loose their clarity if you apply digital zoom to them.

SLR or POINT AND SHOOT?

SLR's (Single Lens Reflex) are fairly large, more fully featured cameras that permit you to change lenses according to the situation. They also allow use of powerful add-on flash units, offer more controls and more accessories. Also, importantly, you focus, compose and meter exposure using the picture taking lens with an SLR. This allows great accuracy in composing and metering. SLR's are ideal for sports, wildlife and nature photography. They are also a good choice for people photography because they are fast and have good lens choices. I use a digital Olympus SLR system mostly and a film Nikon SLR system occasionally.

Point and shoot cameras are everything SLR's are not: they are small and light, mostly simple to use and inexpensive. Modern digital P&S cameras are rich in features such as exposure compensation, high quality fill flash, white balance settings and metering choices. Lens quality is usually very high. P&S cameras don't allow you to change lenses, have fairly weak on-board flashes and usually do not permit add-on flash. They offer more limited exposure and metering choices than SLR's. You compose through a separate lens resulting in some inaccuracy with close-in subjects; your picture will be slightly to the left/right, or up/down from the way you composed it (with close-in subjects).

Budget: This is a very crucial element that will determine the limit price that you are willing to pay for the camera. A low budget doesn't necessarily mean you will get a bad camera. But, it's very important that you know exactly how much money you are going to allocate in order to narrow down the range of choice.

If you have plenty of time before you need to buy the camera, do some price comparisons. After you've narrowed your list to two or three different options, write down the price and exact model number. Use the Internet to visit various retailers and compare prices on the models. Read through some of the opinions others have posted about the models. Return to the store and see whether it will match any prices you found online.

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A Guide to Selecting And Buying Lenses

Background: The more complex zoom lenses used in high end digital SLR cameras can be made up of up to 20 elements - some of which are themselves a compound of elements. The most common material used is glass due to its resistance to scratching and excellent optical properties, however acrylic, quartz glass, fluorite, germanium and meteoritic glass are also used. The surface of most modern lenses is coated to reduce flare, have a UV coating to help with colour balance and elements to minimise abrasion.

However, a set of the most expensive, complex lenses will not enable you to take great photographs if you lack imagination, intellect, creativity and resourcefulness. Many great photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson - the father of modern photo journalism - used just one lens most of the time.

However, if you are looking to become a professional, you will be looking to optimise your talent with the help of one or all of the following: standard telephoto, wide angle/mid-range zoom and ultra wide angle.

A standard telephoto lens is advisable for taking portraits. It will give you excellent definition in both head and shoulders shots and in close ups. If you take portraits regularly, you will see the difference in clarity between even an excellent zoom and a standard telephoto lens. It is also good for wedding and party photography when you want close ups taken discreetly.

For group shots and wedding photography, a mid-range wide angle lens is excellent especially with a zoom that will let you alter the focal range when the group size increases or diminishes.

An ultra-wide lens is essential when taking shots of the inside of a church during a wedding service and similarly for large group shots. Some landscape shots benefit from an ultra-wide lens too.

For interiors and architectural photography, an ultra wide angle and a wide angle zoom will help you get as much in the frame as possible. However, you may get distortions, so it's worth bearing in mind that a standard 16mm lens on a normal film SLR, with cropping to take out any distortion, can be perfect for interiors, and therefore preferable to your digital camera.

Nature and sports photography tends to involve motion - fast-moving animals or sports people or vehicles, and usually some distance between the subject and the camera. Dealing with the first issue of rapid movement requires a lens which allows in plenty of light, flash, faster film or high ISO settings if using a digital camera. However there are issues with each. Letting in plenty of light can be a problem with the long telephoto lens you might need for a close up, yet your flash may not provide sufficient illumination, especially if there is a fair distance between camera and subject. A fast lenses can be heavy, large and expensive, and lastly using fast film or high ISO settings can mean diminished picture quality.

So, get the fastest (i.e. largest aperture) lens affordable, alongside a long telephoto zoom, be prepared to crop, but not too much as this can diminish resolution in digital, use image stabilization, use fast film or high ISO settings to minimise shutter speeds (although this too can affect picture quality) and use a camera with fast focus and minimum lag time.

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5 Things to Consider Before Buying a New Camera

When considering buying a digital camera there are potentially many reasons you should consider before you go ahead and buy your digital camera. Whether you are buying your first camera or you are a seasoned professional in photography. Purchasing a digital camera should include conducting your own research so you can make the best buying decision before you go ahead and buy that digital camera. here are 5 things you should consider before you buy a digital camera.

1. Digital SLR or Point and Shoot Cameras

There are many reason why you would want a digital SLR camera, and there are also many other reason why you would want to consider on a point and shoot camera. Digital SLR cameras are becoming more affordable than ever before, however Digital SLR cameras are complex, and sometimes very confusing on how to work. In addition to having removable lens these cameras are not necessarily ideal for everyone.

Point and shoot cameras are a bit more compact and are easier to work, because digital SLR cameras are heavier and have more moving parts then point and shoot cameras. However point and shoot will be ideal for traveling, family get together's, or if you need a quick shot.

Of course both do have their ups and downs. Digital SLR cameras will give you the best possible images available and if you are considering a profession in photography then a SLR digital camera will be essential for your success. While at the same time point and shoot cameras can give you high quality images in a compact design. It is all a matter of choice and what your photography needs are.

2. Consider what you want

What do you need a digital camera for?What type of digital photography will you be doing?What environment will you be most likely photographing in?Will you most likely stay in auto mode or will you want to learn the art of photography?What experience level do you have with digital cameras?What type of features are you looking for?How important is size and portability to you?What is your budget that you are looking to spend?

3. Do you have digital camera accessories from another camera that will be compatible with your new one?

To save extra money and even time it is a good idea to use previous accessories from other cameras to use with your new one. For instance you can use extra flashes, tripods, software packages, memory cards, or other accessories that will be used or is compatible with your new camera. This can both save you time and money in the long run.

4. Optical zooms and Digital zooms

There is essentially two types of zooms on cameras, there are optical zooms and there are digital zooms. I highly recommend only considering optical zoom cameras. The reason is digital zooms will typically add more noise to your pictures by enlarging the pixel quality of your images which will cause your images to diminish the higher you zoom in. Whereas optical zooms essentially will use a focus in the lens that allows your images to focus in without losing quality in the images you create.

5. Be wary of extra accessories

Many times when your purchasing a new digital camera you will more than likely need extra accessories, this is almost always the case when you are purchasing a new digital camera for the first time or a new model for the first time. Extra accessories that you may need to take into consideration may include -

Digital Camera CaseDigital Memory Cards/SticksSpare Batteries/Rechargeable BatteriesLenses (if you are getting a DSLR Camera)Filters (and other lens attachments)Tripods/MonopodsExternal FlashesReflectors

When you are considering buying a digital camera make sure you conduct research on the type of camera, the features, and you identify what your needs will be for your new digital camera. Make sure you check out the latest review on the model and brand of camera you are considering purchasing and also take time to read some of the digital photography magazines for more guidelines.

I hope this article has helped you understand the benefits of buying a digital camera so that you will make an informed decision when you decide to buy yourself a new camera.

To find out more about digital photography and other issues related to photography visit my blog for more detailed information about what happens to be one of my most favorite past times, which is digital photography. Take a look and find out more about digital photography http://photography-how-to-guide.blogspot.com/

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