Advice re DSLR and Lens.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by laffinorse

Thanks Jon,
Still not sure about these lens 75 to 400mm etc, what it means, as I am a novice, only really used My s5000 on auto mode. but are looking to upgrade to either the S9600,
but really leaning toward the Cannon 400d. spoke to Jessops today they said for about
£650 they could do basic kit as advertised and a Sigma 300mm zoom.

Head spinning,

To make things a little clearer, (I hope!) On a compact, such as Fuji, I think their maximum zoom takes it to around 420mm? The Bigma lens is a 500mm lens, but you have to allow for the crop factor, which with the E500 is 2X, so a 500mm becomes a 1000mm, i.e. subjects will look more than twice as close as with the Fuji.
With a Canon, such as the 400D the crop factor is 1.6, so the 500mm becomes a 800mm.

[matt_xyz]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

Don't - the extra quality of a Digital SLR over fixed lens compacts or even 'bridge cameras' has to be seen to be believed.

I agree with that to an extent Rob, but the quality of some bridge cameras is very high. I suppose it depends on what the user wants to do with the images and how keen a photographer he is. If he is mainly planning to make 6x4 or 7x5 prints and post images on the web then I think there will be little difference in quality between a DSLR image and a good bridge camera. In that situtation the convenience of a bridge camera may compensate for the slight loss of quality. I've compared shots taken with my Canon 400D and 400mm prime lens with those of my Panasonic FZ30 and the difference in quality is sometimes only really noticeable when viewed at 100% (although this does make the images more 'croppable' which can be very useful). The Panasonic images are more noisy but this can be controlled very effectively.

I'm still glad I made the step-up to a DSLR, but the £1000 upgrade is probably only worth it if you're a very dedicated and keen photographer. I suspect many beginners buy a DSLR and never fully learn how to use it. They may therefore have been better off with a a good bridge camera.

I think my advice to Les would be to learn the ropes with the Fuji that you currently own before thinking about upgrading. Familiarise yourself with shutter speeds, apertures, ISO values etc. Once you've mastered these then you will be in a much better position to judge whether the Fuji meets your needs or not.

Matt

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Not quite in all cases! although I do agree in principal.

I recently purchased a Nikon D80 and Sigma 105 to replace my Olympus C8080 for fungi photography. After nearly 3 months and hundreds of images taken by both cameras I have decided that the Olympus is far better for this type of macro photography.

When the fungi season slows down a little I'll carry out more thorough tests with the Nikon but for now any reference images will taken using the Olympus ... I suppose its a case of horses for courses!

John

Co-incidently I was looking at some of your fungi Gallery shots and thought how good they were - most of my fungi shots have been associated with pleas for help identifying things - like this one



What is it in particular that you prefer about the C8080 for fungi shots?

[laffinorse]

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

I agree with that to an extent Rob, but the quality of some bridge cameras is very high. I suppose it depends on what the user wants to do with the images and how keen a photographer he is. If he is mainly planning to make 6x4 or 7x5 prints and post images on the web then I think there will be little difference in quality between a DSLR image and a good bridge camera. In that situtation the convenience of a bridge camera may compensate for the slight loss of quality. I've compared shots taken with my Canon 400D and 400mm prime lens with those of my Panasonic FZ30 and the difference in quality is sometimes only really noticeable when viewed at 100% (although this does make the images more 'croppable' which can be very useful). The Panasonic images are more noisy but this can be controlled very effectively.

I'm still glad I made the step-up to a DSLR, but the £1000 upgrade is probably only worth it if you're a very dedicated and keen photographer. I suspect many beginners buy a DSLR and never fully learn how to use it. They may therefore have been better off with a a good bridge camera.

I think my advice to Les would be to learn the ropes with the Fuji that you currently own before thinking about upgrading. Familiarise yourself with shutter speeds, apertures, ISO values etc. Once you've mastered these then you will be in a much better position to judge whether the Fuji meets your needs or not.

Matt

Thanks Matt,

Spot on, been surfing and cost of The Canon plus lens, and maybe zoom lens, around
£700 to £800, that's with a cheaper, zoom lens and probably extravagant.
The reason I want to upgrade is that My Fuji s5000 has no manual focus, well it has but
you have to hold the EV button and press the motorised zoom buttons,also motorised zoom.
Been using manual settings etc.
Probably right depends on what you do with the Camera.!
Think I will go for the Fuji9600, I have seen them at just under £300 and are UK Specs,
and have the TCON 1.7 already.
Will work on settings etc, then maybe later progress to DSLR.

Thanks everyone for advice

Cheers

[Jon]

Originally Posted by laffinorse

Thanks Jon,
Still not sure about these lens 75 to 400mm etc, what it means, as I am a novice, only really used My s5000 on auto mode. but are looking to upgrade to either the S9600,
but really leaning toward the Cannon 400d. spoke to Jessops today they said for about
£650 they could do basic kit as advertised and a Sigma 300mm zoom.
Looked at Sigma web site and there are Zooms and Telephoto Zooms what is the difference
some start at £150 and one about £220, then the skies the limit. Also what is crop zoom.
Not sure what crop zoom means unless it refers to the fact that a lens on most digital cameras is in effect 1.6 or 1.6 times longer when placed on a digital body as opposed to a 35mm film camera body.
Zoom just means the lens covers a range of focal lengths, a Telephoto zoom is a zoom tht goes from say 135mm upwards.

Whats the difference in these Sigma lens
Telephoto Zoom Lens
70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro
The APO bit means the glass is less likely to exhibit dispersion and other optical flaws, it is to all intent the same as the other lens but a better quality I would be tempted by this one having seen the results - I think Boddie has one..
Telephoto Zoom Lens
70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro
As i said OK but t'other is better


Standard Zoom Lens
28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DG MACRO
This lens goes from fairly wide angle through to telephoto, very flexible but not one I would go for myself as the 200mm is likely to be a bit short for birds.
Think I might forget this Dslr thing and stick with the Fuji 9600
It depends do you want the convenience of a single camera with a lens that covers most of your requirements or are you more interested in quality than convenience. I am not saying the Fuji is no good but I think you will find an SLR better.


Head spinning,

I hope iIcan put your mind at rest, I have replied above directly to your questions, Jon

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by laffinorse

Thanks Matt,

Think I will go for the Fuji9600, I have seen them at just under £300 and are UK Specs,
and have the TCON 1.7 already.
Will work on settings etc, then maybe later progress to DSLR.

Thanks everyone for advice

Cheers

I'm not sure of the differences between the Fuji 9500 and the 9600, but I urge you to get somewhere where you can try the camera. I had a 9500 for a week, it went back in favour of a Panasonic FZ30.
The FZ30 was streets ahead of the 9500 in many ways. It handled far better, was faster in use and in saving images to memory. For instance the fuji, if shooting continuous, would shoot at about 1.5 frames per second for not many frames, and then took over 15 seconds to write them to memory, during which you couldn't use the camera. The FZ30 was faster, could shoot until the card was full, with no delay.
There were plenty of other things I didn't like about the 9500. Try and use one and see how you get on with it first.

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

Co-incidently I was looking at some of your fungi Gallery shots and thought how good they were - most of my fungi shots have been associated with pleas for help identifying things - like this one



What is it in particular that you prefer about the C8080 for fungi shots?

Hi Rob

It might help if I explain why I photograph fungi in the way I do.

About 20 years ago I attended my first fungi foray. My initial photographs were taken using a Nikon FM and Olympus OM1/2’s. However when I tried to identify them using existing books I found it very difficult. Often the book pictures looked vastly different to mine.

About 5 years ago, after learning more about fungi I realised that many fungi exhibit different characteristics according to age, location, weather conditions, bruising, habitat etc. Unfortunately many standard fungi reference books still had IMO poor quality photographs to aid the fungi hunter in a more accurate identification without use of chemical or microscopic analysis (btw smell is the next most important characteristic). Two years later I embarked upon writing my own book (Yes, I’m still writing it ).

Early digital cameras simply did not have the capabilities / functionality to record the information as did traditional SLR’s. When the Olympus C8080 came along it was a dream come true regarding quality (8MP) and camera functionality, in particular adjustable angle finder and remote shutter release. I found myself shooting 300 excellent images a day rather than 50 mediocre ones.

I tend to go for technical detail rather than “arty” images but I do take both …. And why not! They are very photogenic in their own right! Referring to your image, which is a fine shot but “arty” rather than technical, which makes identification that much more difficult i.e. is it White Milking Bonnet - Mycena galopus var. candida or is it inclinata or filopes or …? Plus I do examine the whole fungi, substrate and take samples for microscope examination.

In the end, even if we can’t id a species we have a collection of beautiful fungi images for all to enjoy!

Anyway, going back to the original thread … the fungi DSLR is not yet available

Best Wishes - John

[laffinorse]

Originally Posted by laffinorse

Thanks Matt,

Spot on, been surfing and cost of The Canon plus lens, and maybe zoom lens, around
£700 to £800, that's with a cheaper, zoom lens and probably extravagant.
The reason I want to upgrade is that My Fuji s5000 has no manual focus, well it has but
you have to hold the EV button and press the motorised zoom buttons,also motorised zoom.
Been using manual settings etc.
Probably right depends on what you do with the Camera.!
Think I will go for the Fuji9600, I have seen them at just under £300 and are UK Specs,
and have the TCON 1.7 already.
Will work on settings etc, then maybe later progress to DSLR.

Thanks everyone for advice

Cheers

Well Matt,

Went out today to look at cameras, Fuji 9600, Nikon D40, Fuji s6500FD,

Fuji 9600 felt uncomfortable
Nikon D40 Out of stock! (I fancied that one from the reading )
Fuji S6500fd only 6megepixels and I don't take many Portraits for the Face Detection to be worth it.

Guess what!!!

Bought Canon EOS 400d Kit, and a 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG Macro Sigma. after all I had driven 130 mile round trip to the nearest Camera Shop, Jessops, couldn't come away empty handed.(they threw in a 1gig cf card, drove like a madman home, to have a play,Put the battery In, Cf Card, attached the 18-55 EF-S lens switched on CF FAULT!!!!!!! ****, maybe faulty card,
drove 8miles to Currys to buy another, Same Problem CF FAULT. rang Jessops, bring it back,
again 130mile round trip, The changed it Fault on one of the pins in the CF compartment it was bent.
Been playing about with it tonight, what difference to my S5000, easy to use, auto focus
very fast, the auto setting is far superior.very good manual,I have learnt more tonight by experimenting and reading the manual than over the past few months, with the Fuji.

It was a lot of money to spend, but I think it will be worth it,rekindled my interest in learning
more of the manual settings.
Not Tried the Sigma yet

Cheers

[speckled wood]

Good choice, you will have a lot of fun and you have something that you can build on. just keep experimenting.