Advice re DSLR and Lens.

[laffinorse]

Pondering,

I will have about £600 to spend shortly. What to buy???.
At present Fuji film S5000 zoom with 10 optical zoom and TCON 1.7. been looking at the
Fuji 9600 so I can use the TCon.
I have been reading a lot of Posts re Cannon 400d,but I am confused with the extra lens etc.
Using the Fuji use Aperture and Shutter speeds within the camera zoom in or out with or without Tcon take Photo.

With the Cannon and extra lenses, how do these work, are there Aperture and Shutter speeds within the camera as with the Fuji.

With addition lenses, what would be the best lens to get, re zoom, or would I need a combination. and will I have enough ££££££££:

Could the TCON1.7 be used with any lenses, obtained for the Cannon.

I am looking to keep any purchase for a reasonable time without having to replace

Lots of advice needed

Cheers

[glsammy]

I think your a bit confused with your camera types.
The TCON converter, is to use with Compact digital cameras, with fixed lenses.
The 400D is a DSLR, which uses interchangeable lenses, so the TCON couldn't be used with them.
The 400D offers all the aperture and shutter control that the Fuji does, in fact even more so, but to get the equivalent lens as your 10X, you'll need to spend a lot more money on additional lenses.

I wouldn't recommend the S9500, I've had one and I wasn't impressed.

[carlj]

Les,

Consider your fuji to be a one-box dslr. Much of the adjustments a dslr can do are replicated within your fuji. Now the difficult bit. A dslr offers variable lens length depending on your purchases. IE, a 70-300mm zoom equates to 450mm equivalent on 35mm. Now not sure on the Fuji, but the panasonic FZ range reach 436mm - therefore in terms of reach, the two are matched. But the Fuji is fixed to the body and cannot be replaced - except by use of the tcon you have. This is not compatible with the dslr (unless someone knows any different), though teleconverters are available.

Hope this helps a little!

Carl

[laffinorse]

Originally Posted by glsammy

I think your a bit confused with your camera types.
The TCON converter, is to use with Compact digital cameras, with fixed lenses.
The 400D is a DSLR, which uses interchangeable lenses, so the TCON couldn't be used with them.
The 400D offers all the aperture and shutter control that the Fuji does, in fact even more so, but to get the equivalent lens as your 10X, you'll need to spend a lot more money on additional lenses.

I wouldn't recommend the S9500, I've had one and I wasn't impressed.

Thanks for reply,
Is there a cheaper option Camera on the DSLR That would give me a least the 10 optical Zoom as a capable place to start with DSLR
Happy with the Fuji 5000 zoom and TCON set up but want to upgrade and keep the Fuji.
Cheers

[Jon]

Originally Posted by laffinorse

Pondering,

I will have about £600 to spend shortly. What to buy???.
At present Fuji film S5000 zoom with 10 optical zoom and TCON 1.7. been looking at the
Fuji 9600 so I can use the TCon.
I have been reading a lot of Posts re Cannon 400d,but I am confused with the extra lens etc.
Using the Fuji use Aperture and Shutter speeds within the camera zoom in or out with or without Tcon take Photo.

With the Cannon and extra lenses, how do these work, are there Aperture and Shutter speeds within the camera as with the Fuji.

With addition lenses, what would be the best lens to get, re zoom, or would I need a combination. and will I have enough ££££££££:

Could the TCON1.7 be used with any lenses, obtained for the Cannon.

I am looking to keep any purchase for a reasonable time without having to replace

Lots of advice needed

Cheers

The first thing to consider is what do you want to photograph? Having decided that the next thing is which lens. If you have decided upon the body then you have not got a lot left. This being the case I would certainly consider a second hand lens. If you are interested in birds and insects you may want to consider a zoom something in the region of 100-400mm with a close up or " macro" facility, I use the term macro loosely.
It is all about compromise, there are lenses for general and say family /landscape phtography , there are lenses for more distant e.g. bird photography and lenses for say insects. Each category has a specialised lens but manufacturers have produced lenses that span the different categories. The more you spend the better the lens and in some cases the more specialised. If you are looking at macro I would suggest any big camera make or Sigma or Tamron, you can't really go wrong. In terms of longer lenses again the manufacturer lens or Sigma, Tamrom or Tokina are good. My only reserve is that sometimes if you buy cheap then you end up buying dear. Ask yourself how long does the lens have to last, ,one year two or three or say ten or even twenty? The big thing is to decide what is your primary interest. Jon

[laffinorse]

Originally Posted by Jon

The first thing to consider is what do you want to photograph? Having decided that the next thing is which lens. If you have decided upon the body then you have not got a lot left. This being the case I would certainly consider a second hand lens. If you are interested in birds and insects you may want to consider a zoom something in the region of 100-400mm with a close up or " macro" facility, I use the term macro loosely.
It is all about compromise, there are lenses for general and say family /landscape phtography , there are lenses for more distant e.g. bird photography and lenses for say insects. Each category has a specialised lens but manufacturers have produced lenses that span the different categories. The more you spend the better the lens and in some cases the more specialised. If you are looking at macro I would suggest any big camera make or Sigma or Tamron, you can't really go wrong. In terms of longer lenses again the manufacturer lens or Sigma, Tamrom or Tokina are good. My only reserve is that sometimes if you buy cheap then you end up buying dear. Ask yourself how long does the lens have to last, ,one year two or three or say ten or even twenty? The big thing is to decide what is your primary interest. Jon

Thanks Jon

At moment, mainly landscapes, and various close ups of different things, but would like to
capture, more bird photos, Just seen on Warehouse express in Practical Photography Jan 2007. A Nikon D40, with a 18 to 55 and 55 to 200 lens just short of £600.
Any comments on Nikon.

Cheers

[Jon]

Originally Posted by laffinorse

Thanks Jon

At moment, mainly landscapes, and various close ups of different things, but would like to
capture, more bird photos, Just seen on Warehouse express in Practical Photography Jan 2007. A Nikon D40, with a 18 to 55 and 55 to 200 lens just short of £600.
Any comments on Nikon.

Cheers

Nikon are good - so is Canon and Olympus, I am a Canon man but that is just a personal preference. The deal you outline sounds like a lot of kit for little outlay. You will certainly be covered for landscapes and some close up work. Regards birds, you have a 200mm which will be increased by a factor of about 1.5 or 1.6, i.e. say 300mm in old SLR terms. Provided you can get fairly close to the birds - say in a hide you will be OK. I think you will soon find yourself wishing you had a longer zoom. It might be worth enquiring if they would do a good deal on a 300mm zoom instead of the 200mm. 400 or even 500mm would be better but I think you will find a big difference in cost. A lot of people have recently been discussing the sigma approx 75 - 400mm zoom which is competitively priced and is capable of producing really good results. One thing to remember with a long lens keep it STILL, few things will improve the image more than a still camera and a fast shutter speed if possible. Jon

[laffinorse]

Originally Posted by Jon

Nikon are good - so is Canon and Olympus, I am a Canon man but that is just a personal preference. The deal you outline sounds like a lot of kit for little outlay. You will certainly be covered for landscapes and some close up work. Regards birds, you have a 200mm which will be increased by a factor of about 1.5 or 1.6, i.e. say 300mm in old SLR terms. Provided you can get fairly close to the birds - say in a hide you will be OK. I think you will soon find yourself wishing you had a longer zoom. It might be worth enquiring if they would do a good deal on a 300mm zoom instead of the 200mm. 400 or even 500mm would be better but I think you will find a big difference in cost. A lot of people have recently been discussing the sigma approx 75 - 400mm zoom which is competitively priced and is capable of producing really good results. One thing to remember with a long lens keep it STILL, few things will improve the image more than a still camera and a fast shutter speed if possible. Jon

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.
Whats the difference in these Sigma lens
Telephoto Zoom Lens
70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro

Telephoto Zoom Lens
70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro

Standard Zoom Lens
28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DG MACRO
Think I might forget this Dslr thing and stick with the Fuji 9600


Head spinning,

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by laffinorse

Think I might forget this Dslr thing and stick with the Fuji 9600

Head spinning,

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

If I was buying a new system then I'd probably go for a Canon 400D body and upgrade the standard 18 - 55mm zoom lens to the 17 - 85mm Zoom instead. You probably need to learn how to use this first before deciding on your next lens purchase. If you go for it all at once you might end up with something that has to be replaced anyway.

Next step if your going for macro stuff either a Tamron or Sigma Macro lens and for telephoto work one of the better Sigma telephoto zooms or a fixed 300mm or 400mm telephoto. For all my images (see my photos in the Gallery) I use only three lenses a Canon 17-85mm Zoom, a 150mm Sigma Macro and a Canon 400mm f5.6 Telephoto.

Persevere the results are worth it.

[FungiJohn]

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.

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