Canon 350D Advice

[Syd]

Right, here goes................

Recentley purchased a Canon Ixus 800 and a photography book and have been on holiday, which gave me chance to mess around, learn some new things and read umpteen reviews on the Canon 350D, I have decided that I want one to replace my 'proper' camera which is a Fuji 602Zoom which I have been really happy with, with the 350d, so 1st question is what sort of money should I ask for this camera, boxed with Loewepro case and 512MB CF card?

More importantly is what is the best (price/flexibility important) lens to go for, A body only seems to be about £50 cheaper than with the kit lens, I have heard mixed things about the kit lens so I was thinking of maybe a lens with a range of 28 -80 ish, perhaps somthing like the Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8-4 DG (Canon AF) which is about £100 or a colleague recommends buying 2 'prime' fixed focal legnth lenses. The reason I like the idea of a zoom is that I have become so used to it!!

I will be using the camera mainly for landscapes/outdoor/low light activity as my compact will take care of going out and most indoor shooting for convenience. And I do fancy trying night photography, and macro if possible - or do I need a dedicated macro lens for that? I'm used to a macro button!!

I will buy other bit in future but probably not for 1st few months. The last question is how flexible are the older lenses, My dad has a Canon A1 film camera and a load of manual lenses - could I use those or auto lenses originally sold for film cameras on ebay?????


Any comments or help you can provide would be greatly appreciated by a potential n00b digital SLR user

[dancingmatt]

Hi

All I can tell you is I use a Canon 350D here at work, and it's absolutely fantastic. It was bought with a standard lens off Amazon, and we use it as it arrived. Would be nice to get a macro lens but frankly we can't justify it for work!

I'm no expert photographer, but I know which end of a camera to point at something (!) and the auto pics off this are great. Fiddle with the aperture etc. and it's constantly surprising me how good the pics are compared to everything else I've used.

So I know this doesn't directly answer your questions - just letting you know that you'll be really happy with a 350D however advanced or not you want to get with it.

DM

[noah]

350d is a great camera, but do consider the nikon d50 too as is is just as capable, has better ergonomics and is £100 less. go to a shop and hold both and see what you think.

macro wise, you need a macro lens for true macro 1:1 life size stuff, but some of the telephoto zooms have a macro funtion which lets you get 1:2 life size magnification which is enough for the occasional bit of fun for sure

[chrestomanci]

The old manual lenses from the Cannon A1 film camera will fit mecanicaly, but obvously not all auto features will be supported. Your best bet would be to take them to the camera shop to try them out, or to ask specific advice at the shop. Obvously auto focus will not work, but you may find that Auto Exposure does not either, and that will make photography a much more technical afair.

If the lenses are good quality or have expensive fetures such as long telephoto or large apeture, then it may be worth keeping them and putting up with the lack of automation. On the other had, if they are just consumer level medium zooms then it is probably not worth it.

It is also possible to get modchips for old lenses so that they will talk to your new body, but it will be quite expensive.

[Syd]

Thanks for the input guys,

Anyone have anything to say about lens choice, does anyone use the Sigma I mentioned??

More importantly is what is the best (price/flexibility important) lens to go for, A body only seems to be about £50 cheaper than with the kit lens, I have heard mixed things about the kit lens so I was thinking of maybe a lens with a range of 28 -80 ish, perhaps somthing like the Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8-4 DG (Canon AF) which is about £100 or a colleague recommends buying 2 'prime' fixed focal legnth lenses. The reason I like the idea of a zoom is that I have become so used to it!!

[noah]

i dont think those maual lenses will fit. unlike nikon and pentax, canon changed their mount a number of years ago. they should be canon FD mount, my AE-1 lenses all are. the new cameras use canon EOS mount. i expect adapters are available tho.

that sigma doesnt get good reviews from what i read. you can get the sigma 28-70 f2.8 which is very good for £175 secondhand or the older not so sharp version for under £100 sometimes.

[Syd]

reading more, the kit lens actually sounds like an ok lens for a digital SLR noobie, has anyone out there tried the kit combo with slow shutter low light photos, does it work ok??

[noah]

low light you're better of getting the 50mm f1.8, the kit lens will be ok, but you won't be able to hand hold it in really low light.

[Syd]

I take it , it would be ok for tripod use

[chrestomanci]

reading more, the kit lens actually sounds like an ok lens for a digital SLR noobie, has anyone out there tried the kit combo with slow shutter low light photos, does it work ok??

No reason why it should not work, unless you are planning on very long exposures (i.e. more than several seconds)

I recently came across this photo on The luminous-landscape website. It was taken over a Ten minute exposure in the middle of the night in Namibia. The streaks are stars. It show what can be acheved with long exposures.

[Syd]

That pictue is stunning !
I was hoping to mess around with vehicle light trails and night sky shots, what would be a good future upgrade lens for that kinda stuff - maybe the prime 50mm that was suggested before??

Sorry for the N00b questions.

[Bobster]

the kit lens isn't a bad lens.. i used it for 8 months before i was given a 70-200 by a band i regularly took picture of

the lens that is on my camera most is my 28-75 f2.8 Tamron, its a killer of a lens i want more fast lenses

[dancingmatt]

350d is a great camera, but do consider the nikon d50 too as is is just as capable, has better ergonomics and is £100 less. go to a shop and hold both and see what you think.

macro wise, you need a macro lens for true macro 1:1 life size stuff, but some of the telephoto zooms have a macro funtion which lets you get 1:2 life size magnification which is enough for the occasional bit of fun for sure

Think I've read some reviews in computer mags that thought the 350D just pipped the Nikon - but they weren't photography mags so I guess you'd be happy either way.

Noah, newbie question from me - why would you want to take 1:1 lifesize photo? I mean say you want to take a close up photo of an insect, you want it bigger right! What do you mean?

[dancingmatt]

I recently came across this photo on The luminous-landscape website. It was taken over a Ten minute exposure in the middle of the night in Namibia. The streaks are stars. It show what can be acheved with long exposures.

Could anyone suggest how on earth you take a picture like that? I don't expect the exact settings, obviously, but where do you start??

Ta

DM

[Bobster]

you get a tripod, you set up with mirror lockup, if there is too much light for an exposure of 10mins then you can either do lots of shorter exposures and place them together in PS or use density filters to drop the light coming into the lens

[Syd]

slight tangent, but how much do you need to spend on a tripod for general purpose use, and any recommendations?(for a DSLR)