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Beginner Photographer?

okay, so here goes- one month ago(when I turned 14) I asked for a digital 33mm camera and lens(the type that professional photographers use). My mom told me that they were too expensive, and that I didn't know anything about photography. So I went out and bought a book about it, learned how cameras worked, and asked for one again. We went out and looked at them, but still they were too expensive! Now I have a job (and enough money to buy a camera and lens), but I still hardly know the first thing about photography. I have a digital snap-and-shoot camera, the type that most paople have, but I really want to get a professional grade camera so that I can get into photography. any advice on what camera to get, or what lens? Or just about anything about photography?

Public Comments

1. www.cnet.com has an excellent section on what to look for in a digital camera, and how to select the camera that is best for you. the various cameras are also rated. It also allows you to comparison shop various on-line retailers to find the best price.
2. OK, you may hate me for this, but as you are very new, you do not want a digital SLR. If you get a manual 35mm FIlm SLR it will be much easier for you to understand fstop, DOF, Film Speed, Shutter Speed and all that stuff. You will be able to see all th ebits and pieces moving around. Believe me, I learned on digital and it took me twice as long. I had $3000 worth of video camera that I couldn't understand until I got a $50 slr. You should be able to get one at your local shop cheaply, less than 50 bucks, or try online auctions. Joe
3. Don't just look at digital! I'm a graphic designer, but I took some photography classes in college. I have a Pentax K 1000 which is a totally manual SLR film camera. It's virtually indestructible, takes beautiful pictures, and a great camera to learn on! They can still be expensive, mine cost $500 for the body and lens, but that was way back in 2001! If you call around to used camera shops, you might be able to pick up one pretty cheap since digital as taken off. Yes you will have the cost of developing film, but this may be the best way to at least learn how to operate a manual camera; since you don't always want to use the pre programmed settings in the digital or the automated film cameras. While your at or calling various camera shops, ask them about any classes they might offer, or know about. They may also know about groups that meet up and share their knowlage of photography. http://www.meetup.com/ This web site is a good resource for finding groups in your area, and remember to search Yahoo! Groups as well. Oh and the best color film I've ever used is Fuji Film! It generally cheaper than Kodack too! Camera shops often offer different packages or let you buy in bulk too!
4. I think you are going about it the wrong way. As a beginner you really only need a point and shoot (P&S) camera which has all the advanced features to learn how to take photos. The camera you want to buy should have the ability to change aperature (AV setting), shutter speed (TV setting), and have manual ISO overide. All cameras from the basics to the most advanced uses these settings, but the basic P&S really mask these settings and make them automated. The more advanced P&S and SLRs make you work more in adjusting these settings which gives you more control over your pictures. I would suggest you stay with the P&S category of cameras. An SLR is indeed quite too expensive for a beginner. You also could do just as well with an advanced P&S that is a fraction of the price. Some good quality digital P&S that have advanced capabilities and I would recommend include: 1) Canon G7 2) Canon A630 3) Olympus SP550 4) Kodak P880
5. I started out at age 11 with a 35mm SLR - A Canon AE-1 Program for you history buffs out there and I learned alot with the camera body and a good zoom lense. Today I pack a Canon 20D with the 17-85mm EF-S kit lense, a 28-135mm EF and a 50mm EF lense. A few tripods, shutter release, filters, cleaning goods. My next lense is a 100-400mm EF for airshows. If you want to get into photography I would sugest: A used Canon Rebel body off of E-bay or Amazon,com with the 17-85mm kit lense and at least a 1 GB memory card. Digital is the best way to learn SLR photography because you are more free to experament with settings. With film you have the developing costs and the delay from taking the picture to viewing the picture - allot of the art of film is in the dark room and that is not practical for a beginer - but you have a computer and that is the digital dark room. Digital will also encode your camera settings and you can learn what works and what dosen't and why. If you get into photography keep an eye out for a film camera that works with your lenses and play with film after you know what your doing with an SLR. This is a low cost way to get into photography. And there are things you can do with SLR that a point and shoot won't do. Anyone can snap a picture with a point and shoot or even the SLR's of today - Photography is about learning to capture the image you want and that takes contol. You can learn a great deal with point and shoot camera but there is no way to learn about SLR photography without an SLR. If you don't like it sell it. If you like it but don't love it keep the camera and use it on vacations etc. If you love it and want more lenses be sure to get EF not EF-S lenses. The EF-S lense series only work with small CCD collector camera bodies which are not going to be what you next SLR is likley to be. It's fine for your Rebel but if you invest in lenses get the EF and pas on the EF-S. You see things different through a camera lense - If you like what you see and enjoy it it is a great hobby or a rewarding profession.
6. my suggestion go to yahoo shopping digital cameras digital camera GUIDE be sure to check titles on the left side the guide should answer your questions
7. Ok, you may not be happy with me for this but here goes. First of all photography these days is a three part exercise, there is the technical side of life, f-stops, shutter speeds, ISO etc. There is the creative side of it, composing an image to portray something in the manner you see and feel it. There is the software side that is both technical and creative. Since you have a point and shoot camera already, I'd say concentrate on the creative and the software side for now. It's amazing some of the things you can do with Photoshop that make up for what your camera can't do at the moment. So spending time with Photoshop and trying to make lovely pictures with what you have already will pay you a lot of dividends in the end. Concentrating on the creative side at the moment is also important. You can have the best most professional camera in the world and still take lousy pictures if you don't learn how to compose effectively. The camera won't make you creative, you have to do that for yourself. At some point however (maybe now already?) it is time for a more sophisticated camera. While you can create miracles with a point and shoot, there's also a limit to what you are able to do. They have limited controls and capabilities and most have pathetic lenses too. When you feel it's time for a real camera, I'd look at the midrange of the Nikon SLRs (I'm a Nikon user) such as the D80. That camera is highly sophisticated while still being reasonably affordable. Canon also has a similar mid range capability at a similar price that is affordable too. I tend to stay away from Canon for a variety of good reasons but that shouldn't stop you from considering them too. The only thing you have to keep in mind when you buy an SLR is that it's like a marriage, it's for life. Over time you'll add lenses and other accessories that eventually make it impossible to change brands, so choose wisely with an SLR because it's going to be with you for a very long time. Once you have an SLR you'll discover very quickly that it's like a point and shoot, you can set it to fully automatic and it will do everything for you. The only real immediate advantage you have is a superlative lens and the capability for adding more lenses and a big flash. If you use that camera in automatic mode however, you've wasted a lot of money and you won't get any better. An SLR is a committment to learn the technical side of photography. Forget the automatic settings and use it only in manual. You could do that with a film SLR which is likely cheaper to buy but that is a hell of an expensive way to learn. Film isn't cheap and you also have to wait to see what your settings produced. A digital, while more expensive to buy, is cheap to operate and you see instantly what your settings produce. If you work in manual mode only you're get a hell of a lot of bad pictures of course but gradually as you begin to learn the technical side you'll be able to create effects that are astonishing and at that point you'll be on the road to super pictures. I'd also suggest you take a course so that you can learn the technical side. That at least helps you to understand your camera manual. I remember when I started in photography the manual made absolutely no sense to me at all, that was in the days when cameras were only manual and film based. It took quite a while before I understood the concepts and even longer before I was able to finally use the concepts to create what I wanted to create. Be patient with yourself as you go through this learning curve. At first you'll feel belwildered like hell trying to balance all kinds of different issues in your mind. But it's just like driving. When you first try to drive a car you get assaulted with all kinds of demands too making you wonder how anyone could ever master driving. Yet eventually it becomes automatic and simple. So will mastering using a camera manually. I use a sophisticated SLR and I actually use it in automatic mode once in a while when I'm just doing snapshots. For the most part though I use it in manual mode so that I can control all the factors to get exactly the effect I am trying to portray. It's an exciting wonderful way to capture your world and to illustrate how you see the world. The other thing I'll caution you about is that it won't take you long to master the concepts, probably a year of practice and they start to make sense. What will take you a very long time, perhaps years in fact, is learning how to see photographically. When a composer is creating a symphony the composer hears the music in his or her mind and is able to take that music and transcribe it to paper. Similarly when you have mastered photography, you are able to look at a subject and see it in your mind as you want it portrayed and you'll know immediately, intuitively, what you have to do in terms of camera settings as well as lighting and angle to achieve what you have in your mind. When you are able to do that you will have made it photographically and from there you will be a true artist. At this point you are ready for a professional camera body and as long as you stay with the same brand you'll still be able to use all the lenses and the flash that you bought while gaining even more control over your images. Probably by then the professional cameras will also be a lot more affordable too. When digital photography first started they cost about $50,000, now they're down to about $5,000. In time they should be even lower. Oh yes, and in terms of your question of a lens, the Nikon D80 usually comes with an 18mm to 70 mm zoom which gives you a reasonable wide angle to a moderate telephoto. You could add a 70mm to 300mm at the same time or add it later on, that lens gives you a range from a moderate telephoto to a fairly powerful one. Between those two lenses you can cover just about everything you want to do. An alternative is the Tamron 18mm to 250mm which takes you from a reasonable wide angle all the way to a fairly powerful telephoto and it happens in one lens negating the need to constantly change lenses as you adjust your perspective. Either choice should make you happy for years. Either choice is also not excessively expensive. Later as you become more sophisticated you won't have to ask for lens recommendations, you'll know yourself what else you may need. Good Luck!
8. I personally use Nikon, my POV will be from that love. Cannons are good too . . .I guess. Film Cameras: If you're looking for film camera a good way to go is Nikon N90s, F6 or F100. They are a pretty good proce for professional to start. Digital Cameras: MP and memory are everything. For this if you can, I recommend the Nilkon D200. D80 and D40x are good alternatives. All are 10 MP cameras. There is a D40 (no x) that is a 6Mp camera. For lenses, Ideally you want to get f/2.8. The f/3.5-5.6 are ok to start with. Get the Nikorr lenses or at least a Tamron version for Nikon. Stay away form anything else. Also you might want to get a sky filter. Something to gov over your expensive lens to protect it from getting scratched. The lens cover is not eneough Just take off the filter when you shoot. I recommend Scandisk memory cards, about 2GB. They have good Extreme III and Extreme IV cards. You can check www.samys.com They have good info. on their products, good repsonse time on answering e-mails, and for some $$$amounts have free shipping. If you have any questions about photography you can ask me. I've been shooting for over 15 years and learned on film before there were digital cameras.