Boosted Falcon

I love this photo, i want to frame it

Im looking to get into photgraphy just as a hobbie. What is a base to start from and what prices would i be looking at??

BNG - get a Canon 450d BODY ONLY and an EF 50mm f/1.8 MKII as a starting point

Then work out what you want to do in future glass/flash etc wise. This setup shouldn't sting too much more than $1300. It's basic as you don't get any zoom but the offset of that is that the 50mm f/1.8 is light, cheap to replace if damaged, and fast (meaning it handles low light really well) plus because it's a prime it has less glass which means better pictures. Go to flickr.com and searhc for Canon 50mm F/1.8 and you should find heaps of sample pics.

I wouldn't recommend starting off with a prime - 50mm on a 1.6x crop is too long.

Start with a 450D kit, the kit lens isn't actually that bad, fairly versatile for most things. Upgrade when you need it, not at the beginning - that way you understand exactly why you are upgrading.

tangcla - have you actually taken a 50mm and used it as a walkaround lens? They are fine. I have a 10-22 EFS, 50mm f/1.4 and generally use the 50mm f/1.4 all the time only swapping out to the 10-22 very rarely. I still have my kit lenses but they are crap. I have sold three of my workmates 450d's with 50/1.8s and not one has had an issue with the focal length. 50mm doesn't distort what you are photographing either (even though it is the same area of shot as 85mm on an APS-C sensor, the optical distortion is still the same as a 50mm on APS-C, so a 50mm can still be called the "Standard Lens")

[edit: I shoot with a 400d]

SNR wrote:tangcla - have you actually taken a 50mm and used it as a walkaround lens?

Of course I have... I started off with an APS-C 1.6x crop body as well, before getting fullframe and APS-H 1.3x

I'm not saying it's not possible, but for an absolute beginner, I'd highly recommend a zoom. 'foot zoom' is fairly daunting, especially the minimum focusing distance that the 50mm has. Totally different, coming from any point and shoot camera.
Of course, it depends on what you shoot. The 85L on my 5D Mark II is quite a long lens - having said that, the MFD is double on the 85L to the 50/1.8.

If anything, buy the kit lens as well as the 50/1.8 (it's cheap anyway) to use together.

I think I've had more bodies and lenses than you have

5D MKII... drool

If on a complete budget i'd start with 50f/1.8 then save for a better quality lens than the kit one that covers a similar range - 17-80 or similar or a 17-40L + 70-200L; if they are planning on getting serious this saves wasting money on the kit lens when all you really get is crap glass (at least the kit lenses on the 400d were crap?)

SNR wrote:5D MKII... drool

If on a complete budget i'd start with 50f/1.8 then save for a better quality lens than the kit one that covers a similar range - 17-80 or similar or a 17-40L + 70-200L; if they are planning on getting serious this saves wasting money on the kit lens when all you really get is crap glass (at least the kit lenses on the 400d were crap?)

Same kit lens on 400D and 450D (18-55m f/3.5-4.5, but there's an option for an IS model)

The kit lens isn't bad, to be honest. It's not super-sharp wide open, but at f/8 onwards, it's pretty sharp. And plus, what you pay for it when you buy the kit over the body-only.. you can sell the kit lens for that price

So where are the shots from your 5D MKII?

My kit lens may have just been an exceptionally bad one but it had very bad Chromatic Abberation at the edges. Having to shoot at f/8 doesn't really suit a camera like the 400/450d which doesn't have the best high ISO performance either as it limits the time of day you can effectively shoot.

I do occasionally find I want something wider than 50mm but not as wide as 10-22 --- I'm thinking either a 35 f/2 or a 17-40L. Trying to decide between 200mm F/2.8L, 70-200 F/4 L IS and 70-200 F/2.8 L (non IS) now as I think I need zoom more than wide.

SNR wrote:So where are the shots from your 5D MKII?

See the link in my sig http://www.tangcla.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

f/8 is usable during the day, or tripod at night - hence the statement I made, it depends on what sort of photography is intended. There's no 'universal' best lens, it depends entirely on what they intend on shooting, in what conditions. NO point spending money on an f/2.8 (or faster - mmm love my 85mm f/1.2L ) if it's never going to be used, may as well save the money (and weight!) and get an f/4 lens.

Do you do this professionally or just as a hobby? Some neat pics on the site

SNR wrote:Do you do this professionally or just as a hobby? Some neat pics on the site

Thanks... after-hours photographer, I have a fulltime job that's not photography related

i have to agree with tangcla a 50mm lens is not really a lens you would want to start out with. i ended up with mine as the salesman chucked it in for a good price. it sat in my bag for the first few months while i got to grips with the kit lenses.

now the 50mm is my most used lens, since i work nightshift the only real spare time i get for photos is my nights off.

i am looking at a new lens now, the 450d body lacks alot of features but it is still doing me just fine i just want to upgrade to a lens with similar low light abilitys but to be able to be alot closer to the car than i can with the 50mm lens. any sugestions tangcla?

for this shot i did of mine and my gf's car i had to be about 40m away to fit both cars in, and try focusing at 1am 40m away in a dark carpark. it just doesnt happen.



i am started to get some better shots though, atleast ones i am happy with. on the same night i did a couple of her car this one is my favourite



and a few more





as a comparison here is a photo with no lighting and straight from the camera



and one that is edited in adobe lightroom and with lighting

I see much improvement, well done last shot is good.
Lens - hard to say. I really liked the 28mm f/1.8 USM on both crop and fullframe. MFD of 30cm I used thus a lot during my night clubbing photos era.
I'm in the process of building a custom light source for myself

cheers tangcla,

i havnt decided yet between the sigma 20mm f/1.8 or canon 28mm f/1.8

or maybe something like a tamron 28-105 f/2.8 for some more flexability

I'm not a huge fan of Sigma lenses, their quality is hit and miss. Some have had great success with their Sigma lenses though, so take a chance I suppose

What's your budget - other option would be Canon 17-5mm f/2.8 IS.

Hey guys... Finally got my butt into gear and got a DSLR.
Budget allowed a 450D, twin lens kit (IS), 2 clear filters, 4 year extended warranty, lowepro sling bag and a 16gb card.
That should keep me busy for a while i think! New to all this, will be a steep (fun) learning curve.

how much are these cameras worth?

450d body only is around $1000, but then you need lenses. IMO better to go this way though as the Canon kit lenses are shite. You can get a 50mm f/1.8 lens on ebay new from HK for about $130 posted and they are a good, fast, lightweight lens - but no zoom so they can be a bit restrictive. I shoot with a 50mm f/1.4 and just live with not having zoom; and my photos turn out ok

Next on the list is a 35mm f/2 or 200mm f/1.8 for me.

eb5speed wrote:i have to agree with tangcla a 50mm lens is not really a lens you would want to start out with. i ended up with mine as the salesman chucked it in for a good price. it sat in my bag for the first few months while i got to grips with the kit lenses.

now the 50mm is my most used lens, since i work nightshift the only real spare time i get for photos is my nights off.

i am looking at a new lens now, the 450d body lacks alot of features but it is still doing me just fine i just want to upgrade to a lens with similar low light abilitys but to be able to be alot closer to the car than i can with the 50mm lens. any sugestions tangcla?

for this shot i did of mine and my gf's car i had to be about 40m away to fit both cars in, and try focusing at 1am 40m away in a dark carpark. it just doesnt happen.



i am started to get some better shots though, atleast ones i am happy with. on the same night i did a couple of her car this one is my favourite



and a few more





as a comparison here is a photo with no lighting and straight from the camera



and one that is edited in adobe lightroom and with lighting

Hey man, the side on picture of ur car, how did you get from such a dark photo to a light photo?? did you take two different pictures one in the day and the night one, then morphed them together?

-ash

From what I can gather, a long exposure then walking around the car with a fluro/led torch

I picked up my 450 with Single 18-55mm lens, extended 3 year warrently, 4gb card for $1100 online. (not ebay) Bought a Bag and a couple other little things off ebay for about $50.

skewy_33 wrote:how much are these cameras worth?

The 450D with a twin lens kit will be about $1200-1300, perhaps a bit less with some good bargaining at your local JB or Harvey Norman. I found a heap online for a little cheaper but i like having a 'store' to return to if some issues occur.
My setup cost as listed below cost $1500 with a fair bit of bargaining between a few shops. No doubt i will see a cheaper price in a few months but thats life.. I took in quite a few peoples' advice (including SNR) but opted against just a camera only. Effectively for $1200 i have a body and two lenses i can learn with, both with zoom and will do me fine for ages.

nothin suss wrote:Hey guys... Finally got my butt into gear and got a DSLR.
Budget allowed a 450D, twin lens kit (IS), 2 clear filters, 4 year extended warranty, lowepro sling bag and a 16gb card.
That should keep me busy for a while i think! New to all this, will be a steep (fun) learning curve.

Now the fun part, learning!

SNR wrote:From what I can gather, a long exposure then walking around the car with a fluro/led torch

thats exactly it, but you can use any light really. these guys use softboxes (i think thats what they are called)

Well, took my camera and tripod out for a play before. Thought i would pull out my led torch and have a play too. Alot of improvment needed but thats all part of the fun hey! I will have to go along to one of there shoots and see how Tangcla does it.
Whats a good soft box setup to begin with? Anything 12v or battery powered?

how long an exposure are we talking here?

nstg8a wrote:how long an exposure are we talking here?

20-30 secs mine were.. Not sure if im doing it right?? Need a decent bright light that doesn't reflect on the panel.

the lights we have are mounted inside the softbox, the softbox spreads the light out instead of having a solid beam of light.

i should update this site more often. it has been awhile since i have been here.

i found lightpainting an easy way to get into photography. photography has now become a major hobby for me, with me spending more money on it than my car.

it helped my start and promote ignition images, which is my very small based photography business. which seems to be going ok for the present time. most of my nights off are used by either searching for new locations or shooting cars.

i have brought 3 vivitar 285hv strobes and have been trying to sort out strobist photos, i havnt really had the time though. i want to focus on strobist style photoshoots in the new year and slowly let the lightpainting shoots die off.

here is a photo with 2 of the strobes, really should of used the 3rd for the front of the car, but ohwell you learn as you go on.


that is about all for now,

Well done with the pics eb5speed. All great pics, love the backdrops of the VN and VX..
The lightpainting effect has been done to death really but it looks so good hey? Good luck with the strobe photography. Are they basically remote flashes with a diffuser?

Any tips on camera settings for my nightime lightpainting work? I have been just putting the camera in 'TV' mode and ramping the exposure time up.

What is the most portable softbox i could make or buy for starting some photography?

Thanks!

with the strobist photos they are mulitple flashes, triggered by radio recievers. from what i have seen most people are just using them bare.

as for some camera settings put it in full manual mode, go for the highest exposure time (normally 30 sec, longer works better but you will probably need a remote timer for this) i normally had my f/stop between 7-9. iso at 200 if it is too dark bump it up to 400 i wouldnt go over 400 iso though. at 400 you can normally reduce alot of the "noise" at 100% some is still visable but barely noticeable.

after that is all comes down to editing to make the pictures look how you want to.

search softbox on ebay, that is where i brought mine from. between $40 - $60 will get you one.

Quick play tonight... 15sec exp, ISO 400 and fstop 8 i think?
Dad informed me he still has all his old 70's photography equipment, remote flashers, diffusers, filters for flashes, other stuff. Some thing that mirrors stuff in the frame. Will have to check it all out when i see him next.

found this pic, would have to be one of the first 5 pics i took of my car when i got my camera (canon 450D) about 8 months ago. no-one has told me anything and i just keep playing with the camera and trying new things.



they are some great pics eb5speed, i needa get my hands on a softbox now.

Nice black EB! haha, been playing around a bit with my camera on my phone, seeing as my digital shit itself.
Pics up 2morrow in new thread.

Nice Pics everyone!

im on my old computer currently so i can update with any of my new ones, but there photos are all from this year.
they are all on my facebook page though. so if you wanted to check them out search for "IGNITION IMAGES" on facebook.


a few months ago i upgraded and brought a canon 7d, im looking at some new lenses for it now.