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I finally took the plunge and bought a DSLR

I've been contemplating buying a DSLR, taking a few classes, and getting more serious about photography for a year or so now.

While in Target last night, I stumbled on this: http://www.target.com/p/canon-eos-r...m-lenses-memory-card-bag-and-dvd/-/A-14959423. It seems this was a black Friday deal at $650, plus a $150 Target gift card.

However, it was labeled as an "online item", and was reduced to $450. I had $175 of Target gift cards anyway, and thought, "what the heck. It's easier to buy it, change my mind, and return it, than to miss an opportunity on a deal."

From what I've read, the camera is well-reviewed for a consumer model, and the selling point seems to be its size. I've also seen several people comment that the 75-300mm lens doesn't have many practical uses for most.

If my habits hold true, I will primarily be shooting landscapes, action shots of pets, family, neat things I see at the zoo or out in the woods, etc.

Any and all guidance would be appreciated!

I guess I'm just wanting to confirm this is a decent deal, a good beginner camera, etc. The size isn't a big selling point to me, I had just been casually looking for a new camera, and thought I would jump at the chance for a good deal on a well-reviewed model. Also, does anyone have recommendations on sources of online tutorials, must read books, etc.?

I know the 18-55mm lens is a "kit lens". Is there a general jack of all trades lens that would be good for a beginner?
 
From what I've heard, that is a great camera. I think you will be surprised how much you will use the 75-300mm lens. Sounds like a great deal too. The one thing you will notice is you will not have the shutter lag you had with point and shoot cameras.
 
That is a very good camera for a DSLR beginner, and that is a very good lens for action shots, the zoo, sporting events (during the daytime) and general purpose portraits. It is not an idea lens for landscapes, the 18-55 is much better for that.

With those two lenses you pretty much have everything covered, especially for a beginner.

I'm a Nikon guy, but Canon is comparable.
 
If you want to do a lot of portrait work, think about getting a dedicated prime portrait lens, like an 85mm or 105mm.

Many minimalists like to use a fast 50mm for everything.

35mm prime is a very sharp all purpose lens too, and good for landscapes.
 
35mm on an APS-C is a bit long for landscape, in my opinion. As a walk around on an APS-C, I love the 28mm prime.

I used to have a Tokina 20-35 on my 30D, but that is a very old lens already. I love Tokina coatings though.
 
I like a 50 f/1.8 (35mm film lens, so 75mm on APS-C sensor) because its cheap, ultra sharp, the effective focal length is great for portrait and still life or indoors and fast enough for low light.

For learning check out Ken Rockwell (be forewarned, he is rather biased and read his material with an open mind), adoramaTV on youtube, magic lantern guides are good, strobist.com, but most of all, just go shoot as much as possible! Venture out of auto mode and play around with settings. Learn which settings are good for certain shots, like metering, focus mode, iso, etc.

Have fun!


-Xander
 
+1!

My only slight objection against the Canon EF 50 f/1,8 is that it has a bit harsh bokeh. But if you have a good copy, it is brilliantly sharp. It is a fun lens for a great price.
 
I never buy a lens based on its out of focus abilities, but its hard to go wrong with most any of the 50's out there. I'm a nikon/leica shooter, so I don't really pay attention to Canon stuff.


-X
 
I never buy a lens based on its out of focus abilities, but its hard to go wrong with most any of the 50's out there. I'm a nikon/leica shooter, so I don't really pay attention to Canon stuff.


-X

I'm a Nikon guy too (I love Leicas, but don't have one presently) and I have an older f/1.8 50mm D lens that I use on my D7100 that is my favorite lens. I have done everything with it, yes, even landscapes.

I think it is an excellent portrait lens, especially. Here is a sampling of mine with the 50.





 
I've got the 700D which is the same camera in a larger body. Great camera with enough capability to satisfy the serious amateur (enthusiast as Canon call them). The new STM kit lenses are pretty good as others have said, but I bought just the body and use my primes mainly with the odd telephoto when needed. I don't mind the kit lenses at all but they're just not to the same standard.

The 50mm 1.8 as others have said (aka the nifty fifty) is a fantastic cheap lens which will take tack sharp pictures. The bokeh can be a bit harsh but it's superb for the price.

Fantastic at buy at that price! Enjoy your new camera :thumbup:
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for their helpful replies. I definitely have some learning ahead of me, but look forward to checking out the resources you all have mentioned, and for some halfway decent weather to get outside and start shooting!
 
If that 75-300 has a macro end like my Tamron, you're going to use it a LOT.

My biggest problem shooting macro used to be that I was so close to what I was shooting, that the lens would shadow the subject from the flash.
I picked up the Tamron 70-300, and it's awesome with a 1.5 macro at 300mm. I haven't set up and stored any macro shots with it yet, but as a test photo, I took one of my rear lens cap where the cap more than filled the image and "NIKON" was extremely detailed... standing about 5 feet away.

18-55 is a great all-around lens and you will spend most of your time with it.
The inclusion of the 75-300 with the kit is great, but it can be nice to have something to fill that gap between 55 and 75.

I agree with the above comments on a dedicated prime in the 85-105 range, and even up to 150mm for portraits.
Too often, people will use too wide of a lens and then move in too tight on the subject. The problem is our perception. Our brains recognize faces from a "stored image" that is from a perspective of around 10-15ft away.
Here is Ken's take on portrait lenses: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/portrait-lenses.htm
Basically, shooting at 15ft, you capture the full height of a 6ft person with a 50mm prime on a cropped sensor, a 70mm lens does the same with a full-frame digital or film camera.
If you use a 35mm lens and then move in close enough for the subject's face and shoulders to fill the image, their nose begins to grow, and their ears begin to shrink and hide behind their head.

A 50mm is the shortest that I would use for portraits, and you can see that Alden is getting great results with his.

Personally, my kit includes a cheap Vivitar 8mm fisheye, the Nikon D3100 kit 18-55, Nikon 55-200, Tamron 70-300, and Tamron 200-500... plus I have a no-name ebay 2x teleconvertor.
 
Well ... wide lenses force you to think about composition. That is why I like them.

But wide lenses can be difficult indeed.
 
I'll put it this way, if I buy a new camera system, I always buy a 50. I have a 50 for every camera with changeable lenses I own. They are that good and inpexpensive


-X
 
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Best advice I can give... use the camera and find out what you think. If you believe that you are "missing out" in one area which is important to you, we should be able to help with some ideas.

I agree that the idea of a cheap fixed focal length lens is a good one, but I would be tempted to spend the cash on learning more about photography.
 
I'll put it this way, if I buy a new camera system, I always buy a 50. I have a 50 for every camera with changeable lenses I own. They are that good and inpexpensive

True ... my only remark is that a 50mm is no longer a 'normal lens' for an APS-C camera. But everyone "should" have a 50mm indeed.

(a normal lens for a 35mm camera is approx. 44mm ... 50mm is close enough. For an APS-C, it is around 28mm)
 
True ... my only remark is that a 50mm is no longer a 'normal lens' for an APS-C camera. But everyone "should" have a 50mm indeed.
(a normal lens for a 35mm camera is approx. 44mm ... 50mm is close enough. For an APS-C, it is around 28mm)

I think for the OP's sake, we owe him a quick tutorial on APS-C and it's impact on focal length.


Jones...
A 35mm film camera captures an image that is 35mm x 24mm.
The more expensive DSLR bodies like the D700 also have a sensor that is this size.

Most modern digital cameras (all "consumer" level) have a "cropped" sensor. The sensor cold be any number of sizes, Canon has 2 sizes, Nikon has one.
What's the difference?
The full-frame sensor is going to be more sensitive to light. In the case of Nikon's 1.5DX imager, the difference is about 2 stops.
Maybe they are both 12mp or 14mp, but the imager's pixels are larger on the full-frame, so they are more sensitive to light.

It also means that the camera effectively has a "digital zoom" factor built in.
Yes, the image is still 14mp and is a very high resolution, but since the sensor is smaller than the image that the lens is projecting on the curtain, it only captures the center part of the image.
It would be like if you took a 35mm negative and cropped it down to 23mm x 16mm, then enlarged that to the same print size as the 35x24.

So since the camera body actually "crops" the image, it has the effect of providing an apparent increase in focal length. For a Nikon body, a 200mm lens will provide the same "magnification" as a 300mm lens on a film camera. At the other end of the spectrum, the same thing happens with wide angle and fisheye lenses. A $200 8mm Samyang fisheye provides a distorted, but nicely square image on a Nikon cropped sensor.
The same lens, on a full-frame, produces a circular image. The distortion is no different, it just displays a wider field.... and that is where the focal length conversion is not entirely accurate, as the same on the long end, the zoom compression is not reduced.... you just get a 50% larger field of view.

Canon imagers are either full frame, 1.3, or 1.6 (a little tighter than Nikon's 1.5).
Olympus has one that is 2.0... half the size of a 35mm negative, a 150mm lens would provide a similar image as a 300mm.

This is what Johant is referring to. A 50mm lens on a 35mm body would needs to be in the 31mm to 36mm range on a cropped sensor (25mm on the Olympus).
 
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