Digital SLR Camera recommendations?
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- ddavisrisd
I am an art school student who wants to buy a digital SLR camera appropriate for photographing my portfolio of graphic design work. It will be my first slr camera and I don't want to spend more than $500. Any recommendations?
- vaxorcist0
Camera is less important than technique, tripod and light.... but I can also say that $500 is a tight budget... you may have to get last years model,etc.... Also, if you can wait a month, new cameras are often released in September, stores clear out stocks...
Camera...
I'd consider a Nikon D5000, as they're on sale now and have a good score on DXOmark, a sensor-ranking system that ranks things like color range rather than pure megapixels.... Note that the Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens will not Autofocus on the Nikon D5000, but the 35mm 1.8 will.... and the Nikon 18-55 kit lens is pretty good, probably better than most of it's competitors from Canon,etc...
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php…
Sony A380 ranks well and is also not too pricey, and you can use old minolta 50mm lenses sold cheaply used or on ebay, as Sony DSLR's use either Sony or Minolta AF lenses...
An Older Canon 30D may work well for you too... I have one and love it.... not so many megapixels, but megapixels are the least important thing to me when it comes to artwork, as color depth and range matters most to me.... I also have an OLD Nikon 50D, and it's pretty good with prime lenses... a 24mm F2.8 and a 50mm F1.8....
non-zoom lenses usually have much less distortion than zooms, many 18-55 zooms have barrell distortion at the wide end and pincushion distortion at the zoomed end, usually not an issue for people pix, but you may notice if you shoot framed artwork on a wall...
Good luck...
NOTE: I'd consider borrowing a few of your friends to get used to them.. if you can use a tripod, and get a non-zoom lens, like the 50mm F1.8 lenses for $100 or so, you will probably get better results than with a hand-held camera using a kit zoom lens....
Many cameras do have grid-lines in the viewfinder as a custom function, this helps you line stuff up, if you have to rotate it later in photoshop, you may lose some sharpness....
I'd also consider using a USB cable and shooting tethered to your computer, so you can immediately see if you're getting a good shot.
A manual flash with a rotatable head, set to 1/4 or 1/2 power, bounced off a wall behind you or a ceiling above you, with a lens at F5.6, ISO 200, shutter at 125th will often give good hand-held results.
http://www.amazon.com/SunPak-383…- best piece of advice i've ever read on QBN!_me_
- that was quite shit-togethery.CyBrain
- thank you so much for your thoughtful and thorough advice!ddavisrisd
- desmo0
Go with the Nikon d5000. Fits your budget and needs.
- vaxorcist0
If you really want color accuracy I would also budget for one of these, and/or borrow one from a photo student/photo dept....
http://www.amazon.com/X-Rite-M50…
1.setup lights and tripod/camera.
2. shoot a RAW test shot of this color card, where your artwork would be
3. load test shot into computer, set white balance in photoshop/lightroom using inkdropper tool, and check accuracy of other colors the same way.... a calibrated computer lab monitor can help too...
4. shoot all the pix of the artwork....
- 3030
You will have to spend more on lenses. DSLR is just the beginning ;)
- Projectile0
If you want to look fairly far into the future as well, maybe go for a Nikon D90. it's what I've had since they came out and I swear by it. It doesn't have a full frame sensor, but it will work with proper lenses. If in the beginning you are limited to consumer level lenses, you'll always only have that in yr kitbag.
That being said, I recently bought that 35mm 1.8 lens as the 50mm was just too zoomed in, I spent my days walking backwards all the bloody time. it is my new fav!!
if you go D90, you can slowly build a nice pile of proper lenses and splash out on a nice body when you have some extra dosh. but of course for the first while you'll miss out on a couple of features like video and.. well.. i think that's about it.
- D90 should be dropping in price soon now that the D95 is rumored to be around the corner.mg33
- mg330
Projectile,
I really want the 35mm 1.8 as well for the exact same reasons. I also have a D90. I just want something wider on there if I just want to walk around without my 17-50 Tamron on there.
- vaxorcist0
Nikon 35mm 1.8 is very sweet....
If you're photographing artwork like artists books, a D5000 with the flip viewfinder works well on a copy stand like this one:
The D90 has almost the same imaging chipset as the D5000, but no flip-out viewfinder... the D90 does have AF for old-style AF-D lenses, but for non-moving artwork, manual focus should be fine... and the 35 F1.8 as well as the 18-55 work in AF with the D5000....
Also, the Pentax K-X has a good DXOmark sensor ranking... and Pentax non-zoom lenses are sharp and not too pricey either... the body with image-stabilizer built-in is nice... but if you want to borrow lenses, the Nikon/Canon duopoly is always there...
Some of the Sony's have flip viewfinders....
