Canon flash and lenses

girlone

Hi all,

Hoping some photographers can help me with a couple of questions.

I am a complete newbie to photography - well, apart from the point-and-shoot holiday type stuff - but I am enrolling in a 3 month photography course beginning in Feb.

The requirements of the course are that I have a camera and a portable flash.

I have done some research about the camera that I need, and I like the Canon 400D (although I am open to suggestions).

My questions are - what kind of lense/lenses do I need to buy? And what type of portable flash? And as this is all going to cost quite a lot of money, how do I prioritise these purchases?

I am mostly interested in travel photography and portraiture.

Thanks,
G1

tasuray

Take one prosumer type digital camera. Think about Kodak Easyshare Z612,Canon powershot S3 IS etc.Otherwise you can opt for Digital SLR viz. Nikon D200 etc.if you take first one then there will be no need of any extra lens. 10X or 12X zoom what they provide is sufficient for you.If you go for DSLR then mainly three lenses are recommended :1)50mm (normal), 2)28mm (wide)& 3)135/200mm (tele).These three will cover almost all the requirements of travel as well as potraits.Off course DSLRs are costly affair than the previous one.Any flash of good company which have guide no.100 onwords will do.

Tapestry

You should check with your course instructor to see if they require a fixed lens. Your canon 350D or 400D will come with the 18-55mm lens, but it is possible that for your course you would need a fixed 50mm lens. That would be somewhere between $70 and $100 depending on what country you buy it in. An external flash would be about the same.

Unless you have a lot of money to lay out right away, you should probably put off the thought of any more lenses (zoom or wide angle) until you're comfortable with your camera and ready for a new investment. New lenses can be pretty costly.

Otherwise for the course the only lens they might require in addition to your standard 18-55mm lens would be the fixed lens.

New-South-Welshman

I've got a Canon 400D and I got two lenses for free, including the 18-55mm. With the flash, a very good flash can be a bit expensive, so it's probably best to buy a second hand one, or a cheap new one.

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girlone

Thanks for the tips.

Tapestry, what is a fixed 50mm lens used for?
And an 18-55mm lens? Sorry to sound daft!
And no, I don't have loads of cash to outlay, unfortunately, so thanks for the advice. My idea is to just buy the basic stuff now and add to it later on, if and when I need to.

NSW-man - how do you find the 400D? Sounds like you got a good deal with the two included. When you say a good flash can be expensive, how much are we talking?
I will be back home in Sydney for christmas (first time in over 3 years!!!) so I might make my purchase then. Recommend a good store?

G1

New-South-Welshman

Well, this is the offer I bought when the 400D first came out. http://www.teds.com.au/www/6/1001102..._1005803_.html

You can get it for cheaper, but being the first time I bought an SLR myself, I opted for this. You can get it from Ted's camera store on Pitt Street in Sydney, near Sydney Tower. Try going to places like Harvey Norman first before you buy it at Ted's, but it won't be that much cheaper. On the site you can also check out the flash guns they have for sale at Teds. They're a decent store, but just a tad bit over priced.

New-South-Welshman

Oh yes, and you can choose either between silver and black as well. I chose black, obviously.

Tapestry

Girlone,

The 50mm lens is great for portraits. The 18-55mm would be your everyday shooting lens. Not too wide, not too much zoom. It's versatile and it comes with the camera. It looks like this kit that NSW bought also has a 75-300mm zoom lens, which would be a great addition to the package, and that would give you a lot more zoom. But your day-to-day lens would be your 18-55mm.

girlone

Thanks NSW, I haven't heard of the store but I will check it out. Canon has a cashback offer at the moment, so I will try them too.

Tapestry, ta for the explanation. I will check with the course convenor about the 50mm - sounds like a useful addition to have. Might have to wait a while though!
G1

girlone

By the way, that Canon 400D is quite a sexy little piece, isn't it?!

New-South-Welshman

Well, to me it's an instrument. I find cricket bats, and women, sexy. In that order...

Bhaswaran

Hi Girlone,

The Canon EOS 400D (10 megapixel) is a nice camera. it comes with a 18-55 kit lens (27-80 mm). it has in built dust removal system which is very effective if you continously change lenses.

The Canon EOS 400D with the kit lens will cover most of (about 90%) photographic situations as this zoom range is the most needed focal length in general photography, be it travel or protrait. It is good value for money, and if you are a beginer, a good choice and the possibility of expanding with accessories.

You can also consider the Nikon D80 (10 megapixel) which comes with a 18-135 kit lens (27-200 mm zoom) but the price is only a little higher than the Canon, but you will get a good zoom range, better than the Canon kit lens.

Both are nice cameras.

Personally, I use both Canon and Nikon, and if in your situation, would opt for the Nikon D80.

regards,

Bhaswaran

crvlvr

Unfortunately the old flashes do not work with the canon digital SLRs

tasuray

Actually angle of vision of a human eye is 62 degree and if you convert the angle in focal length it will be 50mm.on other words a lens with 50mm focal length gives the angle of vision of 62 degree.So 50 mm lens is called normal lens.A lens with a fixed focal length is called fixed lens and variable focal length lens is called zoom lens.

Almoraboy

hiii,

i had bought a 350d some few months ago in chennai. it also comes with the standard 18-55 mm lens. i have also got a 200 mm fixed focal length lens (from jessops in UK) a few days ago. with the canon cameras, u can attach any of the EF series lenses. so i can easily remove the 18-55 lens and put on the 200 lens, as the situation demands.

the fixed focal length lenses (prime lenses) are of a superior quality coz the manufacturer can make more precise instruments keeping the focal length fixed. the longer lenght lens can be used for shooting far away subjects like mountains, etc. or if u want to shoot some small objects like squirrels and birds..then also u can use them to zoom into the small subject. due to the high quality of a prime lens, there is a visible difference in the image quality. i have done some practice shooting in the parks of central london and southend sea beach..just to practice a bit before a trip to the himalayas. the results from a prime lens are very good as compared to a variable focal length lens. will try to post some pics later...can't access the net from home right now.

also, the lens specifications are written on the lens. so L series will mean that is a "luxury" series and instead of normal glass, they use fluorite crystals.

"U" would mean that the lens has an ultrasonic motor...don't know technically, but that is supposed to be a good motor

try this canon page: http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/enjoydslr/index.html

it has got some good tutorials on how a digital slr actually allows u to control your camera..in a way that u cannot do with a normal camera.

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