Mal

FUCK YEAH I HELPED SOMEONE. LOOK AT HOW AWESOME I AM EVERYONE.

I am glad to have been of assistance. What kind of DSLR are you working with? Do you own or use your schools?

01purple

I'm currently using a Canon Rebel. I'm borrowing it from the school and can only use it on campus, which sucks, considering that I only have that class for 50 minutes a day.

Oh, I found an old Pentax SLR film camera in my house yesterday with four different lenses... I'm not too familiar with film cameras, so I'm not sure how this works, but when I set it to manual focus, I have to turn the Av dial on the lens to adjust the aperture, but for some reason the rest of the camera's functions won't work unless the Av dial is set to "auto". Which is a pain in the ass. Do you know how to fix this problem?

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Mal

I'm really not too knowledgeable about film cameras either. If it's not too old though it may just have aperture controls on the camera, I have an older lens with an aperture ring but it only works on my DSLR when it's on "Auto" as well. I might be more helpful if you can post pics of the lens and camera in question.

Have you tried using any other brands of DSLR? Nikon, Sony, Pentax? I've got a (now broken) Nikon myself, I personally found it much more comfortable to hold and to have better menus than Canon.

01purple

I'll try to do so, because I really have no idea how to fix it.

I used a lame Lumix DSLR, and it wasn't anything special, nor very easy to use. I haven't used anything other than the Rebel so far. Ah, I've heard that from a few people, actually. When comparing the two brands with point-and-shoots (I have a little Nikon Coolpix S6300 and a Canon Powershot A2200) I actually liked the Canon menu layout more than the Nikon's, but of course I can't decide which I like better until I use an actual DSLR in both brands. I'm saving up to get a camera this summer, but I'm still not sure which to choose from.

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ACt

Psh. I have a jar full of nickels for being helpful. You just have capslock.

So purple was being a teenager? OK. cool. Nothing new there - happy you're outgrowing it.

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It's amazing to me that, unlike in the real world, people on the internet will wear "everyone thinks I'm a moron" as a badge of honour.

Spiegel

His photography books are amazing. I was lucky enough to take a typography class at the World Photoshop Convention taught by Scott Kelby personally. Also took a photo retouching class via Lightroom and Photoshop by the man. He's pretty cool in person.

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*Ex-Kakashi87*

Mal

What kind of price range do you think you'll be going for?

01purple

Yes, precisely. And being a poser is only fun to an extent, so around last year I realized how shockingly dumb it is to pretend to be someone else. Besides, I was like 13 or 14 when I joined this forum so it makes sense that I was a retard. XD

Spiegel: You actually got to MEET him? Woah, that's seriously fantastic. He seems like he'd be a really fun person to hang around with. He writes so casually, it makes it 98707352 easier to understand things while also making his books seem inviting. I wish I could take a REAL photo class... Though I get four college credits out of this class at the end of the year, so that's pretty great.

Mal: It depends on whether or not I can get the job I've applied for. If I get hired, I want to get something maybe in the $500-$800 range, plus whatever I need to set aside to get a bit of gear to start with and possibly another lens. I'm very willing to invest in an expensive camera, but if I don't start making real money soon I'll probably be in or less than the $200~$400 price range, which likely would have to cover everything else I get as well. I still need to decide on a camera though, and I'm not too sure how much the good ones run for.

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~Holo

Mal

Well I'm trying to save up for the $3,000 Nikon D800, but I know people who have the D3100 and D5100, which are about $300-$500 so you can get a decent camera for a nice price. That's probably a good place to start, but keep in mind that the newer, less expensive Nikons won't support auto focus on older lenses. Some of those old lenses are really nice, so I would still recommend going with Nikon and eventually getting a nicer camera like the D7000 (or it's eventual replacement) if you really get into photography.

01purple

Oh, that IS a nice price... And it would probably be a good idea for me to start with something that isn't terribly fancy until I have a good foundation and enough knowledge to really use a nicer, more expensive model. I'll definitely look into the Nikons when I begin my camera hunt. Why can't the newer cameras support older lenses? I thought one of the best charms of DSLRs was the interchangeable lenses, so you'd think people would be upset that they have to buy new lenses as well as the new camera... Thanks for the tips! Online sources are helpful but I personally learn a lot more from actually speaking to someone. I'm really interested in photography and would like to make a career out of it if possible, if I don't go into a science field.

Oh wow, I just looked up the D7000. Expensive, but rightfully so! That's a gorgeous piece of camera. ;w;

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Mal

The D800 is essentially the D7000 but with a larger sensor, meaning higher imagine quality and significantly improved low-light performance.

As for the lenses, older AF lenses had the gearing but used a motor built into the camera. However, newer AF-S have the autofocus motor built into the lens so the newer cameras don't have the motor built into them anymore. As a result, you have to manually focus some lenses on some cameras, but other than that most standard Nikon lenses will work on newer cameras regardless of age.

01purple

I looked up the D800 as well. I like that one even more... $3,000! That is probably the next step up after I buy and learn how to use a camera well. Are there any other benefits to a larger sensor? If one was taking more outdoor shots in good daylight, would that be a benefit?

Ah, I see. Is focusing manually a bad thing? The Pentax camera I found has an AF function, but most of the focusing was done by turning the dials on the actual lens and pushing a ring up and down to zoom (which is a lot of fun!). Do newer DSLR's do that also, or is it all autofocus?

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Mal

A larger sensor basically just gets you more detail and more light. Extra detail is usually translated into extra mega pixels, which is useful for landscape photography or for large prints. Generally landscapes are done at a narrow aperture (f8-f11) so extra light can be useful if you're doing late evening/night landscape photography.

Autofocus does a really good job of getting sharp focus really quickly, so it's more accurate and significantly quicker than focusing manually. Zoom is always operated manually with the lens ring, and manual focusing can be done as well if you want. Some lenses have set focus gearing and an auto/manual switch, but some have gearing set up so you can use auto focus and then manually adjust the focus with no need for a switch.

01purple

Ohh, okay. So, do cameras with larger sensors always take better quality photos than those with smaller ones, or does it depend on what the other settings are? Also, while further meddling with my Pentax, no matter what I tried, the image was ALWAYS underexposed. I couldn't get it to brighten up at all. I tried changing the ISO and shutter speed and it still did nothing.

I can see why the autofocus would be convenient, then... Especially if there wasn't enough time to focus manually and you needed to shoot fast, I'd imagine. Does photo quality go down when you zoom in to the subject? Suppose there's a bird on a roof that's so far away you have to zoom in to the maximum. Would there be a lot of noise or would it look the same as if it wasn't zoomed in? When using little point-and-shoot cameras the quality does seem to go down slightly, but I haven't tested this on a DSLR, so perhaps it's different?

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Mal

Larger sensors are stupid expensive, no manufacturer will bother putting a larger sensor into a camera that will take shitty photos.

Zooming way in on point-and-shoot cameras usually means you go into digital zoom, which is just like zooming in with Photoshop. Doesn't work. Zooming with DSLRs is entirely optical so the worst you can expect is a little bit of distortion, mostly around the edges of the image, but it depends on te quality of the lens.