• LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

Photography Photography Thread vs. BL Shutterbugs unite!

m4gnus - i honestly don't know much about my equipment and carry as little as possible. i just like documenting my life and prefer the quality an slr gives.

i'd much rather have a small point-and-shoot in my back pocket but the results aren't nearly as nice. i do have one that's dust/water/shockproof for occasions that i don't feel comfortable carrying my slr (burning man, block parties with water guns :D)
 
hey all,

i'm in the market for a digital slr camera. i would be using this almost exclusively to document my large drawings. these drawings are getting to be about wall size, 5'x8' or larger.

my budget tops out at about 500$.

can anyone point me in the right direction for the right piece of equipment for this sort of copy work?
 
hey all,

i'm in the market for a digital slr camera. i would be using this almost exclusively to document my large drawings. these drawings are getting to be about wall size, 5'x8' or larger.

my budget tops out at about 500$.

can anyone point me in the right direction for the right piece of equipment for this sort of copy work?

there is not much in the DSLR range for $500 bucks. I would check out a high end point and shoot like a Canon G12 or something.
 
I know we have some pros here (or people who might as well be pros!) so I'd love to hear from you guys :) I've been looking into getting a nice camera. I was looking at Nikon D7000, which is obviously a very nice piece of equipment, but also kind of expensive. Theres also Nikon D3100, which also looks very nice, but is about half the price of the D7000. What is the difference in the cameras that causes such a huge price difference? Is it quality of the photos, or features of the camera, or both? I dont care so much about camera features as long as the photo quality is good... Also, do people have a preference between canon and nikon? Is there another brand you prefer? Suggestions, please! :D
 
I know we have some pros here (or people who might as well be pros!) so I'd love to hear from you guys :) I've been looking into getting a nice camera. I was looking at Nikon D7000, which is obviously a very nice piece of equipment, but also kind of expensive. Theres also Nikon D3100, which also looks very nice, but is about half the price of the D7000. What is the difference in the cameras that causes such a huge price difference? Is it quality of the photos, or features of the camera, or both? I dont care so much about camera features as long as the photo quality is good... Also, do people have a preference between canon and nikon? Is there another brand you prefer? Suggestions, please! :D

The main differences that I can see.

Mega pixels - 7000 has 16.2 the 3100 has 14.2

add to that the ISO settings (light absorbtion) and shooting speed is nearly double that of the 3100 then if you can afford it I would go for the 7000.

Im between both of those with the D90- I know that IF I added a decent physical zoom to my camera I would get some better close up photos. At the moment Im using a software to zoom in so I lose a lot of the quality.
 
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Wow, thanks!! Thats great info. I'll have to look into the D90. If the price is between those two as well, I may go for that. Thank you Bear! :D
 
fizzle, you need to get some www.dpreview.com into your life.

and "dp" stands for digital photography, you dirty girl. :|

btw i'm in the Canon camp. i keep thinking about upgrading my 450D for a 550D for the HD video capability, but dunno if it's worth it. total extravagance no doubt. 8)
 
8o felix that site is amazing!! I havent been able to pull away from it for like an hour now... in fact I was going to make this response earlier but got distracted with it haha. Thank you so much! <3 Thats a huge help.
 
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btw i'm in the Canon camp. i keep thinking about upgrading my 450D for a 550D for the HD video capability, but dunno if it's worth it. total extravagance no doubt. 8)

Lol can you remember when I was asking about Canon - I had been debating which one to buy for months. My other half had been away for a few days and came home with a Nikon :D
 
That dpreview site has this fun little comparison and you can see that the canon provides a much crisper picture, at least at those magnifications. It captures detail just incredibly! But the picture comparisons as a whole (if you look at sample photos) I think I like the colors better that the nikon produces. They are warmer somehow, and just seem to give an overall nicer feel to the photo. So now I'm stuck! :( Its also hard to tell if thats just those pictures they've provided, or if its really a difference in how the cameras capture color. But I've been having fun doing a lot of camera research lately. :D
 
I'm thinking about picking up a small digicam to travel with. The SLR, while I love it, takes up so much room and stands out a lot. It's an internal debate and I haven't quite decided.
 
That dpreview site has this fun little comparison and you can see that the canon provides a much crisper picture, at least at those magnifications. It captures detail just incredibly! But the picture comparisons as a whole (if you look at sample photos) I think I like the colors better that the nikon produces. They are warmer somehow, and just seem to give an overall nicer feel to the photo. So now I'm stuck! :( Its also hard to tell if thats just those pictures they've provided, or if its really a difference in how the cameras capture color. But I've been having fun doing a lot of camera research lately. :D

Specifications are simply that - If you can set both a nikon and a canon camera to the same specs you will get the exact same photo (IMHO).

I really want a few new toys for my camera this year though - Im going to get a decent macro lens and Im also going to buy a telescope so I can attach it to my camera and get some shots of the moon.
 
^Wow, I cant wait to see the moon photos :D I hope you post them here when you get them!

Im so stoked about trying to do some astrophotography - did you see my moon photos in the Mod section? They were pretty good for a standard camera (If I say so myself :D) so I can only imagine the results when I hook my camera to a telescope.
 
Got a free Polaroid the other day, very happy with that, I don't think it's ever been out the box. :)

Going to order the Nikon 50mm 1.4 this week. Still waiting for that D700 replacement before I upgrade the body, seems it's been in the works for years. Forever delayed. :(
 
*bump* I'm in need of a new camera in the next month befoore I do a little traveling. Can anyone recommend something (or two or three options) at around $1000 or under, DSLR, single lens is fine for now. Seem to be a lot of Canon fans here, anyone into olympus, leica, nikon etc?

Many thanks :)

belarki
 
I'm in the same boat, Belarki - i'm tossing up between a Canon 550D and a Nikon D5000. I posted the question on fb and got about 30 replies - divided almost down the middle (15/15) with Nikon and Canon recommendations! So confusing.
 
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