DSLR Camera

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Zodiac

Zodiac

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,200
14
craigslist is where i bought all mine but I dunno how often the sony lenses come up
 
D

Draegan_sl

2 Minutes Hate
10,034
3
I actually want a decent telescopic lense and I was looking around for that 210mm lense that sony has. I can find some on ebay for 200-300 or so, but I was seeing if I can find others.
 
Falstaff

Falstaff

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,435
3,380
I ended up getting a brand new NEX 5N on ebay for $450 yesterday.

any recommendations for photo editing software?
 
Ronaan

Ronaan

Molten Core Raider
1,092
436
Photoshop Elements is reasonably cheap and should cover anything us amateurs want/need. I bought it and barely spent 30 minutes using it in ~a year. Bummer =/
 
mkopec

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
26,374
40,233
I would get a basic book on picture taking. Or some websites that teach the crap. Learning about shit like aperture and shudder speed and how they relate to one another to produce desired effects in pictures is invaluable. Also learning about basic shit like the rule of 3rds and other crap like that will make you 100% better at taking pictures.
 
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Neph_sl

shitlord
1,635
0
Read the manual front to back. There's a lot of esoteric stuff in these cameras, so getting to know the ins and outs from the manufacturer is super helpful.
 
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Draegan_sl

2 Minutes Hate
10,034
3
For the NEX5N, I just made sure I knew the how to switch between AF and MF and DMF, then display Apeture and shutter speed on bottom of the view screen. The rest is fluff as far as I know.

Also the 1080 video on this thing is amazing.
 
Falstaff

Falstaff

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,435
3,380
Lightroom it is, thanks! And they have a student/teacher edition... wonder if I can use my old graduate school ID that has no date on it. Or just have my wife register it since she's a teacher.

I'm a manual junkie so I was planning on reading it cover to cover anyways, but I'd take any book/website recommendations for learning more if you have them, mkopec.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
I actually found a (at the time) free Kindle book by Tony Northrup titled "How to Create Stunning Digital Photography" which actually was a pretty good read. It really did a great job at helping me understand lighting in ways I never caught on to when I took classes. It may not be free now, but it was a good read.

As far as tackling your manual, what I find works really well for learning your camera is picking a feature and work on using it until it becomes second nature. Slowly work through the manual feature-by-feature this way. You should get to the point where you can adjust to whatever setting you want on the fly while never taking your eye off the viewfinder.
 
mkopec

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
26,374
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Zodiac_sl said:
Great book for beginners:
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-.../dp/0817439390

If you don't buy it, look for the PDF version.
Click to expand...
LOL, I actually have that one. Except its an older version.

I just used to buy the books while I was at the book store fucking around, so if it looked good I bought it. There are also websites that teach the stuff, although it escapes me now since its been a while that I was into that kind of stuff.

Alot of the stuff you will simply not do, like take light meters along with you wen you are taking pictures. But just understanding the basic principles of how aperture and shutter speed affects the picture will make you a better photog. You dont necessarily have to be a master, it just exposes some of the "magic" that can be done with a camera at the right setting.

Here is one, just by a quick google search...

http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-t...rect-exposure/You can see just by the samples there, you can get a wide variety of effects by the correct use of aperture and shutter speed.

The great thing about digital is you get immediate results, with your settings attached to every image so you can see WTF you did to get the effect right there and then. If it didnt work like you expected it to, you can try again until you achieve the desired effect. Back in the day when I was trying to learn this stuff, digital was in its infancy so I had to wait for results from the film studio. Also taking notes on the different shots.... Which I never did...

Here is another one that deals with basic composition...http://digital-photography-school.co...mposition-tipsEven taking 1/4 of what they say there and applying it to your photography will instantly make you a better picture taker.
 
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Tango_Down_sl

shitlord
5
0
One of the best ways to learn about photography, I found, was this course here:

http://www.creativelive.com/courses/digitalphotography

It's the, "Fundamentals of Digital Photography," by John Greengo. Yeah, that's the legit version, but you could probably find a copy of it somewhere on the net if you tried. It's probably one of the quickest/most thorough courses you can take and you can easily do it within a week if your schedule permits.

After that it's just a matter of time before you decide what you like to shoot. Then you should have a pretty good idea of what type of lens you need to buy.

Incidentally, does anyone have experience with low-light photography?
 
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