canon600D or ____
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- watchamakalit
i'm planning to get a canon600D, do yousuggest any other options on that budget.. I might get into wedding concerts or events..need some inputs pls.
- jaylarson0
just get fast prime lenses, and you should be good.
- thanks mate...what do you suggest for a lense?watchamakalit
- 50 1.8 or the 50 1.4. these'll get your lips wet with shallow depth of field.jaylarson
- also good with low light for focusing and not using flashjaylarson
- CyBrainX0
Why do the prime lenses always have such lower f-stops?
- they are much easier to engineer. A zoom lens has so many focal lengths to consider its just not feasible it to be wider.Hombre_Lobo
- inteliboy0
agreed, definitely spend your cash on good glass.
cybrain - large apertures require precise engineering to create an acceptable/sharp/contrasty image. to do so in a zoom would be far too complicated (expensive) and the lenses would be massssive.
- Hombre_Lobo0
Probably the best value can you get.
If video is your priority though, consider a Lumix GH2. It had much higher video resolution sharpness and detail. But for both still and video the 600d is fantastic.
- vaxorcist0
Try before you buy.....
I'd consider a Nikon D5100, a camera I've become a fan of after borrowing a friends and finding it is very similar in image quality to my lovely Nikon D7000. Note only that the D5100 needs the 50 1.8 AF-G lens for $200, not the 50 1.8AF-D lens for $125...
Nikon also has a very nice 35mm 1.8 lens for crop-frame cameras that's $225 or so.. I like these $200 lenses a great deal, it's not so $1500 or nothing like it is with some Canon L primes....
also check out DXOmark for sensor ratings....
- Hombre_Lobo0
^excellent advice
On the lens differences, people forget that some nikon lenses rely on the in-body autofocus motor (like on d90, d7000 etc) while others just have the in-lens autofocus motor.
and from what ive seen the d5100 images are indistinguishable from d7000.
And DXOmark is essential. Choosing a camera and looking at high iso images side by side means nothing unless you know the actual ISO the camera chooses. Your camera might say iso 800, but it could really be 500 for one brand and 1000 another.
the iso 500 would require a longer shutter, but sadly reviewers dont post shutter speeds needed to achieve correct exposure.
Without this 'actual iso' ratings (or shutter speeds) you cant gauge how good a camera really is in low light / high iso.
- many websites unfortunately compare JPEGS, not RAW... therefore useless comparison for me......vaxorcist
- Shooting in jpg is criminal. What a useless review.CyBrainX
- yeh vax, dpreview do RAW which is good.
Jpeg is great for snaps, but pro work RAW all the way.Hombre_Lobo
- moniker0
I think what everyone is saying is... give up now.
- photography will eat, corrupt, and destroy what little of a soul you may have leftjaylarson
- LOL @ bothHombre_Lobo
- vaxorcist0
not really.... just try stuff.... you can always return it or sell it on ebay.... the kit lenses are not fun indoors in the dark with no flash...
I'd really say get a camera body, get a 50mm 1.8 lens, shoot a ton, learn a bunch, shoot RAW if can spare the time processing....
Weddings and concerts are actually demanding on high ISO performance, almost any camera can give nice images in the hands of somebody good in bright sunlight....
If you really plan to shoot weddings for cash, I'd also get a bouncable flash, learn how to bounce it off walls and cielings, and/or handheld reflectors, the results can be amazingly un-flash-looking once you're good at bounce flash....
In any case, if you're shooting a LOT of weddings and concerts, you may want to rent a higher end zoom, like a 70-200 F2,8 stabilized lens if you have to shoot from far away in the dark.... these are often $35 for a weekend... worth it in my opinion sometimes rather than forking over $2200 for a lens like that....
- the kit lenses are okay for wedding group shots outdoors in the shade....vaxorcist
- CyBrainX0
I still use my Vivitar bounce flash from the 80s. The thing is scratched and has seen it's battles, but still acts like new and gives off a great light if the angle is right. It takes some practice though.
- it does take practice.. and a wall or cieling... but it can give oh such creamy skintones...vaxorcist
- vaxorcist0
you may want to read:
http://www.digitalreview.ca/cont…
I agree, but no need to start a religions war, the Canon T2i's good too.... the Nikon 18-55 kit lens is SLIGHTLY better than the Canon 18-55 kit lens....
- Ranger0
I'm not sure if this is the case with the 600D but worth checking out. I got the 450D a few years back and didn't realise it had a smaller sensor than others, half the size I think. As a result it is pretty shit in low light. Wish I'd known and I would've carried on looking. It's a great camera in good daylight situations though.
- HAYZ1LLLA0
@Jaylarson This the type of lens you mean?
http://www.google.co.uk/products…- looks like thats the mark 1 version. There is a mark II version, how much better im unsure.Hombre_Lobo
- yep, just get a more recent version.jaylarson
- vaxorcist0
yes, those 50mm 1.8 Canon's are optically pretty good....
Some photographers call them the "plastic fantastic lover" ...
I've broken one, and caused annother one to get wobbly and buzzy.... if you bump your camera/lens into a door frame, this lens may not survive a few bumps.... so for corporate events and weddings, I'd buy 2....
The $225 Nikon 50mm 1.8 AF-G lens seems better built at double the price....
- F/1.4 is a step up though, even my cousin who is a total amateur didn't want to go back to 1.8 once she tried it.raf
- watchamakalit0
now im more confused...might get this...canon600D 50mm/1.8 plus a tamron AF 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 Di LD Macro
- vaxorcist0
argh, that Tamron may drive you crazy.... lenses like that are ok for tripod use, landscapes, birds, etc....
I've used a similar 75-300 F4-F5.6 lens to shoot a concert .... and it was much harder than I wished... I had to pull out the 50mm 1.8 in order to get anything....as the F4-5.6 lens gave me shutter speeds in the 1/15th range..... the Image Stabilizer didn't help because the musicians were moving a lot....
I switched to a 80-200 F2.8 and it was waay nicer... unless you shoot everything at 12000 ISO, concerts require fast lenses....
Also, an 85 F1.8 is a DREAM to shoot in a dark concert hall.....
Canon has a VERY nice 70-200 F4 USM L lens, it's $600, but insanely nice... go to a store and try one before you spend $200 on something you may regret....
Or just rent a 70-200 F2.8 IS for a weekend.... compare that to a 70-300 F4-F5.6 and you'll never look back...
- vaxorcist0
I'd get a 50mm 1.8, practice a TON, shoot a lot... learn how to zoom with your feet. Shoot a TON at F1.8 to F2.8 to get used to how it works with narrow depth of field... use Aperture Priority(AV),etc...
Okay, the aperture and concert thing:
Shooting a Concert is usually rather dark, unless it's a HUGE act with a HUGE stage budget...
So, you're likely to shoot ISO 1200 to ISO 3200, with a 50 F.1.8 lens you will be getting shutter speeds like 1/60th to 1/125th at F1.8 to F2.8....
If you use a 70-300 F4.5-5.6 lens in the same location, same lighting, you will get blurry slow shutter speeds like 1/15th and the Autofocus will crank back and forth till you miss the shot and it finally locks on.... this drives you crazy....
RE: a 50 F1.8 as leaning how to be a better photographer:
Getting used to walking around and pre-visualising your camera angle, subject and background before you pick up the camera is a great skill that's easier to learn with a non-zoom lens than with a zoom lens.... this skill will help you in weddings and concerts....
you can often see photographers who never learned this, they often stand in one place and zoom a lot, missing all sorts of shots..
I might Possibly pick up an 18-55, but use it only for wide shots, people outdoors,etc.... they can be useful.... but not that usable for indoor work without a bounce flash....
A nicer reasonably cheap canon zoom is the 28-135, often available used for $250 or so, it has USM and IS, the F3.5 -F5.6 makes it not so great for concerts, but with a bounce flash, like the Sunpak PZX42x or the Canon 430ex, it's a useable wedding lens....
Canon's cheaper telephotos tend to have VERY slow autofocus...
Canon's discontinued 100-300 F4.5 - F5.6 has VERY fast USM autofocus, it's a nice lens for things like outdoor sports....
http://www.the-digital-picture.c…
http://www.fredmiranda.com/revie…
Amazon's vendor system has some used 100-300's...
- autoflavour0
get the 1dx