Help for beginners....

[slrfreak]

Hi everybody,
This is my first thread on this forum. I have just moved from Digital Compact cameras to D-SLR category. I have a Canon EOS 500D. As a beginner i thought of starting with something simple, hence the 500D. My dad purchased the camera and i purchased a zoom lens from my own pocket money.
Currently my photography kit has:
- Canon EOS 500D
- EF-S 18-55mm IS lens
- EF-S 55-250mm IS lens
- UV filter
- Large carry case

I know this is all the basic stuff, nothing professional but i think its pretty fair for me to start with. I have a lot of questions to start with:

1) Is this kit sufficient? If not what else do i need considering the present situation?
I was recommended by a friend to buy fout other accessories.
A tripod: Thats cheap so i don't mind.
Polarizing filter: Its a little costly where i live.
External flash: Very Costly.
A wide angle lens: Not possible at the moment. Have to wait for my B'day.

2) I was amazed at the amount of creative stuff i could do with a D-SLR. I have got many excellent shots but recently while photographing at a car show, i noticed that the reflection and glares of the spotlight ruined some of my pictures. However due to proper angling a few pictures came excellent. Any methods to reduce the glaring effect, make photos look more sharper?

3) I have learned to use my camera in the full manual mode and i also have a DVD for the photography course. I know about aperture, shutter speeds, ISO speed and a few things like the rule of thirds. I am learning and extremely interested, so a few tips for beginners would be appreciated.

4) For learning what are the best subjects for beginners? Where should i try out photography?

5) How to get correct timings. Pressing the shutter button a little late has ruined some photos. Any tips for for perfect timing or getting a perfect photo so i don't miss the opportunity.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks in advance...

[RichardTaylor]

Welcome to the forums.

-----------------------------

(1) Is this kit sufficient?

Depends on the photography do are doing.
For general purpose travel/scenery/portraits/close ops/action (up to a point) all in reasonable light your kit is fine.
You will know when it is not - eg; Hand held low light shooting.

With tripods you get exactly what you pay for and with cheap ones you get an extra - mainly an unstable shooting platform.
A cheap tripod is exactly that, however after you have purchased a few of them it doesn't work out so cheap.
A good one can be a once in a life time purchase. I use one that was purchased new in 1968 (It was very expensive at the time)

(2) Re the glare.
Try removing the UV filter and use lens hoods.
In some cases a polariser may help.

(3) Just have a look through some of the tutes on this site.

(4) What are your other interests?
When learning try shooting subjects that interest you, after a while you may find your photography horizons expanding.

(5) Catching the moment does take a bit of practice.
It mainly means learning to anticipate (know your subject) and also never remove your eye from the viewfinder
This tute, on this site, may help.

Capturing the "moment" (1)

[tlake55]

Originally Posted by slrfreak

Hi everybody,
This is my first thread on this forum. I have just moved from Digital Compact cameras to D-SLR category. I have a Canon EOS 500D. As a beginner i thought of starting with something simple, hence the 500D. My dad purchased the camera and i purchased a zoom lens from my own pocket money.
Currently my photography kit has:
- Canon EOS 500D
- EF-S 18-55mm IS lens
- EF-S 55-250mm IS lens
- UV filter
- Large carry case

I know this is all the basic stuff, nothing professional but i think its pretty fair for me to start with. I have a lot of questions to start with:

1) Is this kit sufficient? If not what else do i need considering the present situation?
I was recommended by a friend to buy fout other accessories.
A tripod: Thats cheap so i don't mind.
Polarizing filter: Its a little costly where i live.
External flash: Very Costly.
A wide angle lens: Not possible at the moment. Have to wait for my B'day.

2) I was amazed at the amount of creative stuff i could do with a D-SLR. I have got many excellent shots but recently while photographing at a car show, i noticed that the reflection and glares of the spotlight ruined some of my pictures. However due to proper angling a few pictures came excellent. Any methods to reduce the glaring effect, make photos look more sharper?

3) I have learned to use my camera in the full manual mode and i also have a DVD for the photography course. I know about aperture, shutter speeds, ISO speed and a few things like the rule of thirds. I am learning and extremely interested, so a few tips for beginners would be appreciated.

4) For learning what are the best subjects for beginners? Where should i try out photography?

5) How to get correct timings. Pressing the shutter button a little late has ruined some photos. Any tips for for perfect timing or getting a perfect photo so i don't miss the opportunity.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks in advance...

1) Looks like you have a pretty good starter kit...you have a wide focus range covered. I would wait on the "extras" until you find yourself actually NEEDING those "extras"...after shooting for awhile you will quickly determine what you NEED.

2) Glare?...I suggest changing the angle of your shot and/or moving around.

3) Tips: SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT! Try the different "modes" on your camera, shoot the same thing in different modes, shoot the same thing with different combinations of aperture, speed, and ISO. The great thing about digital is you can shoot away and delete later

4) Best subjects: EVERYTHING! Again...shoot, shoot, shoot. Bring your camera with you everywhere...to work/school, to the grocery store, to the doctors office...you never know when you will get a "photo opportunity". Plan a day to go somewhere like the beach, a park, the zoo, etc. Go somewhere on an unusual type of day, for example...the beach in the winter (very cool photo opportunities).

5) Correct timing?...practice. Also, try setting your camera to continuous shooting and start pressing the shutter button early and fire away...you then have a chance of getting the shot somewhere in the middle?

HAPPY SHOOTING

[mrteacherdude]

The two responses above say pretty much the same thing I would say.

I can perhaps add by saying -

Lenses. I started my DSLR adventure pretty much the same way you did about 3 years ago; same lenses as you, but the body is a few years older (obviously). I "made due" with the kit lenses for a couple of years because they took pretty good pictures, were light and easy to use as far as I was concerned and they were great for learning with. I also wasn't afraid to baby them because I knew if I screwed up somehow, it wasn't going to cost me a paycheck or more to replace it. I have thousands of images from two trips to the Caribbean, one trip to Yellowstone, numerous trips to the mountains, desert, etc. and all of the stuff I shoot around my home. Many of those images are now hanging on my walls in my home. With a little post-processing, the images can come out looking pretty darn good - in my opinion. The kits lenses are great to learn with and develop a sense of style and determine what you are really interested in before you start investing serious money into better glass. When you do get to that point, you will have likely researched what types of lenses would best suit your needs at that time.

Tripod. I already had a light duty tripod that I had been using for many many years, and have found it to be invaluable. I definitely recommend one if you are planning on doing any kind of landscape shots, still photography, or you want to include yourself in the shot and want to retain total control over how the image has been composed. I have pretty much worn mine out from not only being used to provide a relatively stable platform for my camera, but also from its multitasking use as a walking stick while hiking (not a recommended use however), and carrying along in areas where I suspect I might encounter hostile dogs (protection, too much stuff in the hands to manage when carrying around a tripod and a hockey stick). The one that I have now is really not stable enough, but it was a gift from my Dad a long time ago. I'm currently doing as RichardTaylor suggested, shopping for a new heavier duty tripod. Not only will it be a more useful platform, but I will feel more confident in its abilities to fend off hostile dogs.

Polarizing Filter. Great for reducing glare off of reflective surfaces such as water, foilage, peoples' skin and making skies appear really blue. I have found mine to be a really good investment and use it frequently. Do be aware that under some circumstances they make photos look bad. Good to read up about proper usage, and experiment of course

Shoot! Shoot like a crazy person and drive everyone around you nuts. This has already been suggested, but I'm just reiterating the importance of this for learning purposes. Along with that I would suggest reviewing all of your photos carefully after you take them. Not necessarily right after you take them, but days, weeks, months, years after you take them. Don't be afraid to throw away the really crappy ones (out of focus, blurry, not what you intended at all) and keep the better ones. I find that I continue to learn from my own photos as well as others from a continual process of review of composition, camera settings, and so on. I also find that I look at my own work differently after I have "let it rest for awhile."

Continuous mode. You mentioned that you have don't always catch what you think you want to catch. I almost always have my camera in continuous mode and regularly find myself shooting 2 to 10 frames to increase the probability of getting what I want. It's easy to throw away the junk. A lot of people also suggest bracketing exposures to increase the probability of getting a correct exposure if your original settings weren't quite right.

Hope this helps some too. Have fun!

[slrfreak]

Thanks you everybody for the help,
So exactly at the moment i could do with the lenses i have with me and later when needed, i could purchase a new one. As for the tripod, i meant that, i don't mind paying 50-100$ or up to 300QR in my currency because i have that much in my pocket right now.
And, yes continuous mode is a good option which i didn't check out earlier.

Even though at the moment, i am not buying any lenses i would like to ask a few questions.

First : Why are certain lenses extremely expensive? i have a telephoto zoom which is 55-250mm and aperture of f/4-5.6. There are a few others in the same range which go upto 2000$ !!
Why is that? Is it due to the construction of the lens?

Second question: There is a good lineup of lenses in canon. But the ones i have are the EF-S lenses which i found to be just a little cheaper than the EF lens. Now i want to ask is what is the main difference between them? Why are EF lenses so costly??

[RichardTaylor]

@slrfreak

(1) "Why are certain lenses extremely expensive?"

They usually have a lot better image quality, especially wide open.
They focus faster.
They may have wider maximum apertures.
They may be weather proof.
They have a lot better build quality and will stand up to heavy use.


(2) EF-S lenses are for "crop" cameras only. They cannot be used on 1 and 5 series cameras. They are physically smaller.

EF lenses can be used on all Canon DSLRS

They are not necessarily more expensive, although some (the real good ones) will be.

[slrfreak]

Thank you RichardTaylor,
That was really helpful. I hope you don't mind me asking a few more questions.
I am getting good shots and are printable up to A3 size is taken correctly. Although when i zoom into the image for about 75% or above, i start seeing some blurs and noise. Its not noticeable even at 50% but nearly 80% its quiet visible. Now the ISO is never above 400 so i don't think noise could be because of that and the camera is considerably new so the sensor is also not the problem. Is it due to the lens, because as you said the costlier EF lenses give good picture clarity compared to the EF-S?

[RichardTaylor]

That's when you will really notice the difference.

How do they look at normal viewing distances?

Are you sharpening when PPing?

I have a couple of good lenses and you can pick the difference as soon as you see the pictures on the screen. The just have a clarity & punch you don't see with some other lenses.
They also need less PPing to make pics look good.
I only print out at A4 (~10x8)

[mrteacherdude]

Be careful that you don't equate EF-S with poorer quality than EF lenses. There are different grade lenses in each of the two different types. Canon has been putting together some EF-S lenses that are apparently very high quality. I don't currently own any of those because the price tag can run somewhere around $1000 US (and maybe even more).

To reiterate what RichardTaylor said - EF-S lenses are designed to work specifically with crop sensor cameras. EF lenses can be used with all (I think) Canon bodies however. I have a couple of mid-grade EF primes that work great on my aging Rebel.

You haven't supplied a lot of data about the settings on your camera other than ISO, but something you may want to look at is your aperture settings. Most lenses have a "sweet spot" for sharpness that is at least a stop or two more than maximum for that lens. I have found that my 18-55mm generally performs best between f8 and f11, and I get similar results with my 55-250mm lens. Aperture can make a huge difference believe it or not.

Better grade glass tends to be less sensitive that way, but the general rule is one stop higher than wide open is better than wide open; it can (does) make a visible difference at times. Do note that it is possible to get lousy pictures with good glass; I know this from personal experience. I still highly recommend getting very familiar with your existing equipment and learn how to get the most out of it. I'm often surprised at how good some of the photos are that I've taken with the kit lenses; not anywhere close to L glass on a full-frame body, but for the cost pretty darn good.

If you want to spend some time educating yourself about lenses, there are a couple of sites that I have used to just read about them, look at sample pics, and so on.

The-Digital-Picture.com. The guy who maintains this site has quite a number of reviews of Canon lenses and Canon Cameras. I have compared what he writes to what others write and they are generally pretty consistent. To me he seems very informative.

Lens Rentals. An online lens and photography equipment rental service. Each lens available for rental has a description of the lens, but what I find helpful, and often very amusing, is many of the lenses have a "Roger's Take" description associated with them. This is Roger's personal assessment of the lens based on his experience using the lens. In another forum thread on this site, Inkista mentioned that if Roger says it's good, it must be good (or something like that). You will not find any assessments there of entry level gear though, like the kit lenses. You can get information about those from the link above, and the link below though.

SLRGear.com. This site has a lot of technical data as well as comparative reviews of many different lenses. You can quickly get an idea of what the likely optical characteristics are for any lens they have tested. I looked at the data in this site to get an idea of what tests suggested were the best settings for the lenses I currently own. One has a tendency to get a feel for this over time anyway, but looking at test data accelerates this knowledge.

The Motley Pixel. Many lenses have a brief statement about the lens from a photographer or two, and then a posting of some sample photos.

I'm sure there are many other sites out there and I know I've seen some other ones, these just happen to be the ones I use frequently when I'm lusting over lenses. But check out your aperture settings first and see if maybe that is what is contributing to some of your noise and softness.

[slrfreak]

Thanks again everybody,
@mrteacherdude, I'm sorry I didn't mention the aperture and shutter settings. It was on full manual, aperture f4, shutter 1/80, ISO 200. It was shot indoors, handheld, without flash so for the higher shutter i had to compensate with the aperture. Anyways the shot was not that bad but i am looking to buy a good tripod so that i will have little more freedom with the aperture.

Today i was checking out the custom settings in the C.fn menu. I know there will not be any optimized setting, it may vary from composition to composition. But first I found the ISO expansion setting. I set it on. Now the ISO goes up to 12800. Not a very good tool but it will be helpful when necessary that extra bit of ISO.

So are there any other good settings which you might have found out and thought it to be helpful, they don't need it to be general, it can be related even to a particular type of composition. I really want to extract the full out of manual mode using my preferred settings.