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*** DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY *** - DSLR Users?


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well, im been going back and forth, my business uses/used until recently stolen, an olympus DSLR, i didnt much care for its menus and things so was deciding between a nikon and a canon. i have always had creat luck with canon photo printers and professional printers so i went with the canon like a lazy schmuck. i got the Eos Digital Rebel XTI , in black, and will have it shortly. it comes with the standard lens, and i am looking to get a few extra lenses for it.

along side my design company and printing business, i am looking to start a photography branch, over the next 12-24 months myself and my wife will be taking some classes and courses to get better aquainted with the DSLR world, lenses and so on. so i figured the XTI was a good stepping stone from the lazy point and shoot I have been using into the real world.



so i ask.

anyone using DSLR camera? if so what kind? ever used the xti? if so, thoughts?


the XTI will likely become my "game" camera once we branch into more expensive units for business, so i need a decent zoom lens, the xti has 3x ish built in and there is a 75-300 III lens, DC version is much cheaper just louder im told, any recommendations for those who have done indoor or overcast sports shots?

canon has a program called canon digital photo professional which has many tutorials and great features, so i will be doing my best to learn as much as i can in a short time...


i would love to keep an open discussion on photography here...


feel free to chime in and go into other topics.. figured i would open the floor and learn afew things...


thanks!
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Not sure how much I can help. I have a Sony Alpha...

Here's a handy tip:

If you're working with a tripod, turn off any image stabilizers. They tend to look for stuff to stabilize even when you're perfectly still, and can slightly blur pictures that are already stabilized by the tripod.
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Nikon D70 user here. I have two lenses - the one which came with the starting outfit, and a telephoto lens. As you may know, the D70 was going strong a couple years ago when I bought it; that was the last time I really shopped around for these things. I looked at a Canon model, but elected to go with the Nikon because it was, at that time, the faster model; I didn't like how the Canon took like 7 seconds to boot up when turned on, and the Nikon seemed more like the SLR I was used to with its instant startup. That has probably changed in the meantime, though.

As far as I'm concerned, the most important hardware you need to look after besides the camera is a good monitor to view and/or do your editing. If you get really serious, you may need to get a calibration device to 'true' your monitor. I have a crappy 5-year-old laptop screen which makes my pics look simply awful, and when I view them on a CRT I'm always greatly relieved that the pics aren't rubbish. When I edit the photos to look good on the LCD, they end up looking like junk on most other monitors. For my money, I prefer CRTs to LCDs for image editing, although LCDs with glossy screens help a lot (mine is matte).
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I too have a Sony Alpha 100.

I assume your system has image stabilization. Is it in the camera or the lens? If it is in the camera, you can save a lot of money buying off brand lenses. I know Tamron makes great lenses that work well with Sony. If your image stabilizer is in the lens you might want to stick with the Canon lenses.
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I have an Olympus E-500 with a 14-45mm and a 40-150mm lenses. I was torn between a Sony or Olympus- Olympus won out due to Sony overpricing their products. Love the camera, and yes, Go, the menu is complicated. I will never buy a Canon product after having many problems with a Multi-Function printer several years ago. Probably the most important thing to have besides the camera is good photo-editing software to crop pictures and a good photo printer to print them, IMO.
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[quote name='GoBengals' post='536877' date='Aug 30 2007, 12:09 AM']well, im been going back and forth, my business uses/used until recently stolen, an olympus DSLR, i didnt much care for its menus and things so was deciding between a nikon and a canon. i have always had creat luck with canon photo printers and professional printers so i went with the canon like a lazy schmuck. i got the Eos Digital Rebel XTI , in black, and will have it shortly. it comes with the standard lens, and i am looking to get a few extra lenses for it.

along side my design company and printing business, i am looking to start a photography branch, over the next 12-24 months myself and my wife will be taking some classes and courses to get better aquainted with the DSLR world, lenses and so on. so i figured the XTI was a good stepping stone from the lazy point and shoot I have been using into the real world.
so i ask.

anyone using DSLR camera? if so what kind? ever used the xti? if so, thoughts?
the XTI will likely become my "game" camera once we branch into more expensive units for business, so i need a decent zoom lens, the xti has 3x ish built in and there is a 75-300 III lens, DC version is much cheaper just louder im told, any recommendations for those who have done indoor or overcast sports shots?

canon has a program called canon digital photo professional which has many tutorials and great features, so i will be doing my best to learn as much as i can in a short time...
i would love to keep an open discussion on photography here...
feel free to chime in and go into other topics.. figured i would open the floor and learn afew things...
thanks![/quote]

You'll definitely start using that XTi as a game / play around once you start getting serious. I purchased a 30D almost a year ago have the 18-55 snub-nose that came standard with it, and a 75-300 zoom lens. 580EXII lens with a stroboframe flash, studio umbrella lights, etc. I love it - with just the auto settings you get the 5 frames / second on the sport setting - makes for great panoramic shots of a ball sailing through the air or kids running.

The XTi is a plastic case camera which has nothing wrong other than you won't want to put a lengthy lens on it as it can have issues supporting the weight. the 20D, 30D, and 5D all are metal case so they can handle the weight with no trouble.

I absolutely love my camera - I've gotten into doing sporting events on the weekends and doing instant prints with thermal dye-sublimation printers. I can do anything from a 2 1/2" button up to an 8 1/2 x 11 photo that looks just like it came from a photo lab. Baseball tournaments, car shows, etc.

I'd really like to get one of those extra length telephoto lenses that will pull in like 120-130 yards but they're pricey so that'll have to wait. Also, when you go the 75-300 lens it gets tricky because you need to make sure that your film speed is at least as fast as your zoom. If you're at 300 feet you'll need to be at least at 300 film speed. The issue is that if you need the flash when you go to it the film speed automatically reduces down to 125 or 150 (I don't remember which) so if you're not careful your heavy zoom shots won't be nice and crisp. I enjoy the shit out of my camera and am working to get into doing league team photos for whole ballparks etc. because I just enjoy doing that sort of thing. A guy I work with has a very similar setup 30D, etc. and does about 2-3 weddings a month.

You'll work with the auto settings for awhile, but pretty soon you'll want to get into the settings where you control aperture, film speed, etc.

Feel free to ask any other questions you want to.


[quote name='Bengals_12th_Man' post='536945' date='Aug 30 2007, 08:43 AM']Sorry to stray a little here but... Is it better/cheaper to print your own photos? Do they have printers that can print larger pics like 11x14 or 16x20?[/quote]
I use a website www.yorkphoto.com and have had really good success with them. I know 4x6 prints are like 9 cents a piece and shipping is in bulk. They'll do the larger poster sizes (just be careful when you took the photo you were well into 8megapixel at least). I've been very happy with the quality of the photos I've sent them.
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I am a member of a digital photography forum. They have a lot of VERY knowledgeable people there, and it's a good place to learn.

Link: [url="http://www.photozo.com/forum/index.php?sid=0deda4f9556b4a8f90d428d1966dc407"]http://www.photozo.com/forum/index.php?sid...0d428d1966dc407[/url]
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[quote name='mongo' post='536887' date='Aug 30 2007, 12:25 AM']Not sure how much I can help. I have a Sony Alpha...

Here's a handy tip:

If you're working with a tripod, turn off any image stabilizers. They tend to look for stuff to stabilize even when you're perfectly still, and can slightly blur pictures that are already stabilized by the tripod.[/quote]

i woulda never thought of that... makes sense ....

[quote name='Go Tory Go!' post='536892' date='Aug 30 2007, 12:41 AM']Nikon D70 user here. I have two lenses - the one which came with the starting outfit, and a telephoto lens. As you may know, the D70 was going strong a couple years ago when I bought it; that was the last time I really shopped around for these things. I looked at a Canon model, but elected to go with the Nikon because it was, at that time, the faster model; I didn't like how the Canon took like 7 seconds to boot up when turned on, and the Nikon seemed more like the SLR I was used to with its instant startup. That has probably changed in the meantime, though.

As far as I'm concerned, the most important hardware you need to look after besides the camera is a good monitor to view and/or do your editing. If you get really serious, you may need to get a calibration device to 'true' your monitor. I have a crappy 5-year-old laptop screen which makes my pics look simply awful, and when I view them on a CRT I'm always greatly relieved that the pics aren't rubbish. When I edit the photos to look good on the LCD, they end up looking like junk on most other monitors. For my money, I prefer CRTs to LCDs for image editing, although LCDs with glossy screens help a lot (mine is matte).[/quote]


yea the old xt and the newer xti have made tremendous changes, its almost like a bug fix release, took all teh complaints and fixed them.


[quote name='Jason' post='536929' date='Aug 30 2007, 07:02 AM']I too have a Sony Alpha 100.

I assume your system has image stabilization. Is it in the camera or the lens? If it is in the camera, you can save a lot of money buying off brand lenses. I know Tamron makes great lenses that work well with Sony. If your image stabilizer is in the lens you might want to stick with the Canon lenses.[/quote]
from the quick view i just did it seesmthe xti doesnt have IS built in, but i could be wrong im workin so i didnt have time to search too much. i thought it did. but i never thought about the off brand lenses, we ahve some tamron lenses for the stolen olympus...

[quote name='The Entertainer' post='536930' date='Aug 30 2007, 07:13 AM']I have an Olympus E-500 with a 14-45mm and a 40-150mm lenses. I was torn between a Sony or Olympus- Olympus won out due to Sony overpricing their products. Love the camera, and yes, Go, the menu is complicated. I will never buy a Canon product after having many problems with a Multi-Function printer several years ago. Probably the most important thing to have besides the camera is good photo-editing software to crop pictures and a good photo printer to print them, IMO.[/quote]

i use photoshop and will be tinkering with digital photo professional when it arrives. i skipped sonty cause i dislike the sony memory sticks and just got better ratingas and more feedback from the canon nikon and olympus crowds.. but it may be more trrend than fact.

[quote name='Vol_Bengal' post='536988' date='Aug 30 2007, 10:49 AM']You'll definitely start using that XTi as a game / play around once you start getting serious. I purchased a 30D almost a year ago have the 18-55 snub-nose that came standard with it, and a 75-300 zoom lens. 580EXII lens with a stroboframe flash, studio umbrella lights, etc. I love it - with just the auto settings you get the 5 frames / second on the sport setting - makes for great panoramic shots of a ball sailing through the air or kids running.

The XTi is a plastic case camera which has nothing wrong other than you won't want to put a lengthy lens on it as it can have issues supporting the weight. the 20D, 30D, and 5D all are metal case so they can handle the weight with no trouble.

I absolutely love my camera - I've gotten into doing sporting events on the weekends and doing instant prints with thermal dye-sublimation printers. I can do anything from a 2 1/2" button up to an 8 1/2 x 11 photo that looks just like it came from a photo lab. Baseball tournaments, car shows, etc.

I'd really like to get one of those extra length telephoto lenses that will pull in like 120-130 yards but they're pricey so that'll have to wait. Also, when you go the 75-300 lens it gets tricky because you need to make sure that your film speed is at least as fast as your zoom. If you're at 300 feet you'll need to be at least at 300 film speed. The issue is that if you need the flash when you go to it the film speed automatically reduces down to 125 or 150 (I don't remember which) so if you're not careful your heavy zoom shots won't be nice and crisp. I enjoy the shit out of my camera and am working to get into doing league team photos for whole ballparks etc. because I just enjoy doing that sort of thing. A guy I work with has a very similar setup 30D, etc. and does about 2-3 weddings a month.

You'll work with the auto settings for awhile, but pretty soon you'll want to get into the settings where you control aperture, film speed, etc.

Feel free to ask any other questions you want to.
I use a website www.yorkphoto.com and have had really good success with them. I know 4x6 prints are like 9 cents a piece and shipping is in bulk. They'll do the larger poster sizes (just be careful when you took the photo you were well into 8megapixel at least). I've been very happy with the quality of the photos I've sent them.[/quote]


[quote name='Jason' post='536990' date='Aug 30 2007, 10:51 AM']I am a member of a digital photography forum. They have a lot of VERY knowledgeable people there, and it's a good place to learn.

Link: [url="http://www.photozo.com/forum/index.php?sid=0deda4f9556b4a8f90d428d1966dc407"]http://www.photozo.com/forum/index.php?sid...0d428d1966dc407[/url][/quote]


great info, thanks, i should get it tomorrow, probably not in time for the game, but i should toy with it over the weekend and will deffinetly have more questions im sure... tho i will only ahve the standard lens to work with off the bat.
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looks like i wont be getting this in hand until next week sometime... probably NEXT friday..

ebay sucks as far as reliability... but it saved me $400 on the thing so i guess i can wait a week... 3 days from cali seemed too good to be true5-7 business days it is.... :sigh:
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i got a cheap set of umbrellas in the past, they seemed to do nothing, i dunno if it was cheap bulbs they sent me or crap umbrellas, they are shiney silver like...


any recomendations for lighting kits? price to spend and what to get? need something for portraits... and maybe a light box for up close items.
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[quote name='GoBengals' post='537112' date='Aug 30 2007, 02:31 PM']12th. i have a canon s9000 works great, it does 13 x 19 borderless printng... you can get one cheap on ebay and print heads are cheap now too so a new print head makes it print like new again.

there are many newer miodels im about to upgrade...[/quote]


Cool. Thanks for the advice. Is that the best for the price? Are you going to sell yours when you upgrade?
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[quote name='Bengals_12th_Man' post='537365' date='Aug 31 2007, 08:45 AM']Cool. Thanks for the advice. Is that the best for the price? Are you going to sell yours when you upgrade?[/quote]

as far as i could tell price wise it was the better model. i will deffinetly sell mine when i upgrade. but i few lenses are likely infront of the newer printer.. purchase wise
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[quote name='GoBengals' post='537373' date='Aug 31 2007, 09:06 AM']as far as i could tell price wise it was the better model. i will deffinetly sell mine when i upgrade. but i few lenses are likely infront of the newer printer.. purchase wise[/quote]


Ahh, I see. Well shoot me a line when you upgrade. I may be in the market still.
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  • 3 weeks later...
[quote name='GoBengals' post='538794' date='Sep 2 2007, 01:18 AM']the XTI does not ahve image stabalization built into the unit, so its gonna be lens based.
which seems to make the lens ohhhhh 3 times as much.. at least...

is this standard? recommendations? comments?[/quote]


the xti does not have image stablization built in the body its built in the lens...

you are going to want to pick up a few spare extreme III CF cards because they are becoming harder and harder to find (in stores)

I would have suggested you go Nikon or Panasonic. (I work with slr's daily) one because the Nikon's are now using sd memory and the color quality is much more vibrant and true IMO, and Panasonic slr's use Leica lenses which are top notch. However if i were going to buy a Canon I would buy the XTI because of its self cleaning engine after shutting off the camera.

Im currently using a Nikon D40x and love it but will be upgrading to the D80 or D200 soon.
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[quote name='NASTYNATI' post='553616' date='Sep 21 2007, 11:52 AM']the xti does not have image stablization built in the body its built in the lens...

you are going to want to pick up a few spare extreme III CF cards because they are becoming harder and harder to find (in stores)

I would have suggested you go Nikon or Panasonic. (I work with slr's daily) one because the Nikon's are now using sd memory and the color quality is much more vibrant and true IMO, and Panasonic slr's use Leica lenses which are top notch. However if i were going to buy a Canon I would buy the XTI because of its self cleaning engine after shutting off the camera.

Im currently using a Nikon D40x and love it but will be upgrading to the D80 or D200 soon.[/quote]

thanks for the info, i pondered nikon long and hard, i got some feedback about panasonic that they are like sony and are limited on third party lenses and other stuff, but not much info overall, everyone seems to be on the nikon/canon kick... i have always been happy with the canon printers i have so i went that route.

i got some 133x PNY memory cards that seem to work fabulously. the read speed isnt the best but write speed is great. so i can snap non stop and they work well.


anyone now good cheap place for lenses,? prices seem pretty steady across the board online and in stores.
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[quote name='GoBengals' post='553702' date='Sep 21 2007, 02:22 PM']thanks for the info, i pondered nikon long and hard, i got some feedback about panasonic that they are like sony and are limited on third party lenses and other stuff, but not much info overall, everyone seems to be on the nikon/canon kick... i have always been happy with the canon printers i have so i went that route.

i got some 133x PNY memory cards that seem to work fabulously. the read speed isnt the best but write speed is great. so i can snap non stop and they work well.
anyone now good cheap place for lenses,? prices seem pretty steady across the board online and in stores.[/quote]


Are you still in your return period? if so consider it!
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