Im interested in getting a camera to take pics of surfing from beach. any advice on equipment will be helpful thank you. was looking at a canon dslr
not really wurth taykin pix uv wrongisland surf, but if u still wanna, what's ur price range? we'll go from here...
around 2- 3000. i was looking at a canon eos rebel i think and canon EF 100-400mm lense, but not sure if i need all that or if other things would be better for tsking pics from beach. camera will also be traveling too. thanks
camera any DSLR will be a good starting point. The lens attachment will allow you to zoom in close enough from shore. Stick with cannon or nikon they are the most widely used which means there is a lot of stuff available. Do your research, and go to a camera store, not a best buy and hold, feel, try the camera before you by it. Make sure its comfortable and you can easily use the functions. If you haven't done so already take some photography courses or browse the web for ideas photography "assignments" it will help to open up the possibilities of the camera.
Definitiely stay away from Best buy and do NOT trust any online camera stores where their prices are drastically lower than the MSRP. If you live in NY go to B&H if you live in MA go to Calumet. I shoot with Nikon and love my camera. Your price range is good but realize when you get to upper level DSLRs there are no automatic modes so you need an understanding of the relationship between Aperature, Shutter Speed and ISO. If these terms sound greek I suggest going with a lower end DSLR to learn on. Your lenes matter more than your body and will go with you when you upgrade your body so do not cheap out on good glass. If I were in the market for a camera today I would be looking at the Nikon D700 or D300 depending on budget. If money is no option I would go with the D3 but that is no starter camera. In reality the D700 and 300 are not starter cameras either.
A great starter body is the Canon 7D... it has a reasonably fast motor drive, a good image processing engine and wont set you back a fortune. The lens is what will set you back the bank... shooting from the beach generally requires 400 mm or longer. You might get away with using a 100-400 mm, though that lens isn't super sharp. You will also want to shoot off of a tripod...it all adds up in a hurry. Otherwise think about getting a housing and swimming... way more fun than hanging on the beach. Cheers, Lex
RID makes a great point..I shot Nikon while in the Navy as a photojournalist. I would find a refurbished body and save your money for long glass..look up the sunny 16 rule, that will help with manual exposure..
There are so many variables that go into making the choice of which camera to buy and given that money doesn't seem to be the big issue, I'll give my personal experiences and you'll have some options available. I started with a simple Pentax DSLR and a typical 70-300 lens to see if it was something I might want to really get into. It does take some time to play with the different settings and figure out what your doing, but thats the big plus to digital photography, you can easily delete. I have since upgraded to the Canon 60d with a 70-200 2.8 and it's an incredible set-up, I also shoot from the beach and I'm considering adding the 2x extender but for Ocean City it's not really needed. If you're like me and live a good distance away from quality camera stores then you have to rely on the web for information, I used dpreview.com to do a side-by-side comparison before making my choice, you also want to look into which camera will have the extras you might want later, like a battery grip and additional lenses. As for which lenses to get, yes the good lenses can be expensive but I rented the 70-200 2.8 from borrowlenses.com to shoot The Dew Tour last summer and after using it, I had to get one! There are some good camera stores like B&H and Adorama that have stores on eBay as well as good websites. You can always check the camera manufacturers sites because sometimes they will have great deals on refurbished equipment as well as packages. If you have any questions please dont hesitate to send me a direct question to my inbox, Ive found some photographers don't like to help people that are starting out and I have no problem lending information. I know that was a lot to digest but it was really just the tip of the iceberg of what I wanted to write.
Whatever you wind up buying, just remember that when you "buy into" a system, you're likely to be with that system. http://www.bhphotovideo.com has perhaps the benchmark pricing for most equipment, and above all else, I've found them extremely reliable. I can't say the same for Adorama. I've been Nikon because of their optics since I started out 40 years ago, and I'm a happy camper, but hardly what you might call a "professional." Do your research, and be your own best teacher.
If I had 2-3k to spend I would get the 40D or 7D. Not the 60D. Here's why. The 40D body is made of metal. shoots @ 6.5 fps. The 60D body is made of plastic. shoots @ 5.3 fps. The 7D body is made of metal. shoots @ 8 fps. (machine gun) I travel a lot too. So having a metal body keeps my mind at rest a little. I recently upgraded from the 40D to the 7D. I completely skipped the 60D for the simple fact it shot at 5.3 fps which is less then the previous 40D and it's made of plastic. Lenses you will not want to cheap on. Get yourself a used fixed lens. 300mm is all you need. I would stay away from the 100mm-400mm EF as you will need lots of light. I believe the aperture on that is 4.5/5.6. If you want great pictures you will need to get a 2.8/3.2 lens. I had a 75mm-300mm EF. It was decent...but on cloudy days @ 300mm you will get grainy pictures, regardless of your ISO settings. My 2 cents....
I got my first "dslr" recently and went a different route: sony. It's actually not a true dslr, (and not one of the mirrorless cameras either) but rather sony calls it a single lens translucent camera. It's pretty good for shooting at high speeds for a $600 camera. There are less lens options out there for sony compared to canon and nikon, but with the ability to use most minolta lenses, the difference isn't too bad. Also, be prepared for canon and nikon fans to scoff at you for not having a real camera (to be fair, it isn't). One other thing I'll add: get Adobe Lightroom. It retails for $300, but it's easy enough to find it for about $100 if you look. Great way to "develop" and organize your photos. Has very good noise reduction too, which has resurrected it's fair share of pictures for me.
Like a lot of posters are saying, find a used body in good condition and save the money for a top-notch lens. Great sites to follow: dpreview.com imaging-resource.com fredmiranda.com I scooped up a 50d off of fredmiranda for a pretty good price (50d is very similar to the 40d). As far as Nikon v. Canon, it's a pick 'em. Sure there are some subtle differences between the platforms but nothing significant to deter a beginner one way or the other. Use the search function as well since this topic has probably been discussed extensively.
check out the nikon d7000- great video too. If you have the $$$ and your serious... you will not be sorry!
A pro photog/AV guy recommended the Canon 60D to me and I am super happy with it. You get pro quality capabilities without having to be a photography expert. You can shoot in autofocus and manual focus as well as JPEG & RAW (get the training DVD and decent photo editing software for best results). B&H Photo in NY has a great website and the most supply. The 60D is in your price range with a decent lens. Yeah, as aguaholic noted, the body is plastic and the fps is slightly less than the others but it's easy to use and shoots the same sick HD video. It's a matter of personal preference but my experience with fps is mixed because these cameras give you the capability to fire a machine gun when sometimes the best shot is taken with a sniper rifle. I use this camera regularly for surf photography and have had no problems with durability.
dude if you want to go cannon definitly get a 7d. Those cameras are amazing. they are also weather sealed so if you get cought in a little shower it wont mess with the canmera. although you would also need a weather seald lens. and for that price range i would go canon 7d ($1350 body only) or (1500 with 28-135mm lens) and the canon 70-200 l lens 2.8 ($1200-$1500)
