New to Photography

[yas1320]

Hi Guys,

 

I am after some advice!

 

I am just starting to get into photography and currently taking photos from my Samsung S6 edge+.  I like taking pictures of landscape and light trails.  I was wondering what would be the cheapest dslr camera I can start off with as a beginner.  I don't mind getting a camera that is a few years old and second hand. 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[ShadowCaptain]

8 minutes ago, yas1320 said:

SNIP

 

 

Something like a Nikon D3300

but really it depends on budget and needs etc

[chris76816]

Canon 1200D is a great dslr thats really cheap. The new 1300d is more expensive but only has wifi and nfc added so I recommend just buying the 1200d.

[yas1320]

6 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

 

Something like a Nikon D3300

but really it depends on budget and needs etc

Thanks for your reply @shadowcaptain.  My current budget is £300.  I thought for landscape photography you needed a FX camera?

[ShadowCaptain]

2 minutes ago, yas1320 said:

Thanks for your reply @shadowcaptain.  My current budget is £300.  I thought for landscape photography you needed a FX camera?

Why would you need full frame for landscape?

 

Plenty of people do landscape on APSC 

[ALwin]

4 minutes ago, yas1320 said:

I thought for landscape photography you needed a FX camera?

Technique, some appropriate glass for the type of landscape you want to capture, and some accessories like a tripod, remote shutter release, perhaps some assortment of ND filters are more important for landscape photography than whether the camera is full frame or cropped.

 

Oh and the willingness to travel around, wake up or stay up till odd hours, skip a few regular meal times.

 

1 minute ago, ShadowCaptain said:

Why would you need full frame for landscape?

 

Plenty of people do landscape on APSC 

This.

[yas1320]

1 minute ago, ShadowCaptain said:

Why would you need full frame for landscape?

 

Plenty of people do landscape on APSC 

I was speaking to someone yesterday regarding landscape photography and they were saying i would need a full frame camera.  If you're saying APSC is fine for landscape then that's cool, because the Full frame camera seem awfully expensive.

[yas1320]

1 minute ago, ALwin said:

Technique, some appropriate glass for the type of landscape you want to capture, and some accessories like a tripod, remote shutter release, perhaps some assortment of ND filters are more important for landscape photography than whether the camera is full frame or cropped.

 

Oh and the willingness to travel around, wake up or stay up till odd hours, skip a few regular meal times.

 

This.

@ALwin thanks for the tips!

[yas1320]

Am i right in thinking AF-P 18-55 Non-VR Lens Kit would be ok for landscape?

[ALwin]

4 minutes ago, yas1320 said:

Am i right in thinking AF-P 18-55 Non-VR Lens Kit would be ok for landscape?

For a starter, sure it can be alright.  Look around various camera stores in your area, see what stuff they have on sale second hand.  You might even find a gem of a lens.

[ShadowCaptain]

Just now, yas1320 said:

I was speaking to someone yesterday regarding landscape photography and they were saying i would need a full frame camera.  If you're saying APSC is fine for landscape then that's cool, because the Full frame camera seem awfully expensive.

I mean, full frame has its advantages in that you can get insanely wide shots, but you can still get very wide on ASPC with the right glass

At the end of the day, you take photos with what you can afford, and an APSC will work fine, you could always take panorama shots and stitch shots together if you really want something crazy

 

3 minutes ago, yas1320 said:

Am i right in thinking AF-P 18-55 Non-VR Lens Kit would be ok for landscape?

the kit lens is ok, but nothing special you can get much wider glass like 10mm
 

[Abhiwar]

I do landscape photography on my 5 year old Canon 1100D with 18-55 kit lens , No need to go for an expensive Full Frame camera . First get your basics right and then buy and expensive full Frame camera .   

 

See if canon 700D fits into your budget , its the best camera with tons of features like HDR an all . 

[PLovrin]

I'm still using Canon EOS 40D which is really old but still does a great job for everything I put it through, heck, even my EOS 400D still provides great image quality for it's age. You will be fine with using APS-C sensor camera. The only thing with using crop sensor is that every focal length is multiplied usually by 1.6 on APS-C sensors. So for example 18-55 on FF becomes 28.8-88 on APS-C. But don't worry, this is still great, I've been shooting landscapes with Tamron 17-50 for many many years and when I saved some money I got 10-22 mm to expand my horizon.

 

I would suggest squeezing a tripod in your budget, it will be really useful in many situations, specially landscape. Usually for landscape you want a large depth of field so you'll need to close aperture and having a tripod makes sure you'll get nice and sharp image without bumping up the ISO.

[LaundyGoggles]

You could get a refurbished Canon SL1 with the kit lens, or you could on the ebay route and get an older camera, but still have money leftover to put towards glass, filters, etc.

[FoxyOrange]

Bodies have already been mentioned, I'd suggest you go into a camera store and try out the more basic APS-C Canon and Nikon bodies and see which of the two feels better in your hands, menus, buttons, etc. Ignore sales pitches and fanboy bullshit between brands and go with whatever feels good with you. If you can find a good deal used you could save money on the body and have more budget for your lens options which are more important IMO. A higher end crop body or FF isn't a necessity, it can be a nice thing but I wouldn't say you would need it any time soon. Money is better spent on lenses, a good tripod (really important actually. Have used budget tripods and they're so bad I'd rather hand hold a 30 second exposure than deal with them) and travel costs to locations for your shots. 

I don't know mirrorless offerings too well, couldn't hurt to try whatever cheaper options from something like Sony or Fuji, so long as it has interchangeable lenses.

18-55 kit lenses are fine enough for a start, distortion and vignette can be fixed in post easily. A lens with wider focal lengths can be more desirable though, as it'll let you get more of the scene in shot. Here's a video which puts a whole bunch of APS-C ultra-wides in comparison if you want to know some options: 

I'd also suggest looking into RAW processing, Adobe have a photographer tier CC sub which is just Photoshop and Lightroom. Jpegs from a camera are the result of the body making its own decisions on how it thinks the end image should look. RAW files may be large and learning how to process them may be difficult but it's worth it in the end as the camera doesn't always make the right decision and you can end up with significantly better images in the end. This youtube channel has some helpful videos regarding camera settings, image processing, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/user/VistaClues
 

[yas1320]

Wow, thank you to all of you!  You have given me some great advice.

 

[yas1320]

On 9/7/2016 at 8:40 AM, FoxyOrange said:

Bodies have already been mentioned, I'd suggest you go into a camera store and try out the more basic APS-C Canon and Nikon bodies and see which of the two feels better in your hands, menus, buttons, etc. Ignore sales pitches and fanboy bullshit between brands and go with whatever feels good with you. If you can find a good deal used you could save money on the body and have more budget for your lens options which are more important IMO. A higher end crop body or FF isn't a necessity, it can be a nice thing but I wouldn't say you would need it any time soon. Money is better spent on lenses, a good tripod (really important actually. Have used budget tripods and they're so bad I'd rather hand hold a 30 second exposure than deal with them) and travel costs to locations for your shots. 

I don't know mirrorless offerings too well, couldn't hurt to try whatever cheaper options from something like Sony or Fuji, so long as it has interchangeable lenses.

18-55 kit lenses are fine enough for a start, distortion and vignette can be fixed in post easily. A lens with wider focal lengths can be more desirable though, as it'll let you get more of the scene in shot. Here's a video which puts a whole bunch of APS-C ultra-wides in comparison if you want to know some options: 

I'd also suggest looking into RAW processing, Adobe have a photographer tier CC sub which is just Photoshop and Lightroom. Jpegs from a camera are the result of the body making its own decisions on how it thinks the end image should look. RAW files may be large and learning how to process them may be difficult but it's worth it in the end as the camera doesn't always make the right decision and you can end up with significantly better images in the end. This youtube channel has some helpful videos regarding camera settings, image processing, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/user/VistaClues
 

some very good detailed advice.  Thanks @FoxyOrange.  I've been following Tony and Chelsea for a few weeks and have found their videos very useful.

[yas1320]

Guys, I've been looking at the suggested models of DSLR you've have given.  What i need to know is how important is the megapixel on a camera?  The models im looking at range between 18-24 megapixel.  Sorry if its an obvious question.

[ALwin]

1 hour ago, yas1320 said:

Guys, I've been looking at the suggested models of DSLR you've have given.  What i need to know is how important is the megapixel on a camera?  The models im looking at range between 18-24 megapixel.  Sorry if its an obvious question.

18-24 is more than enough, you can even get by with a 12MP sensor.  These days, with cameras having more than 12MP the discussion over more MP is (hopefully) over.

[yas1320]

53 minutes ago, ALwin said:

18-24 is more than enough, you can even get by with a 12MP sensor.  These days, with cameras having more than 12MP the discussion over more MP is (hopefully) over.

Brilliant, thanks for the clarification.

[StrangeChaos]

buy whatever feels most comfortable in your hands and see which one feels easiest to navigate.  when i bought my first dslr i didn't know anything but but the reason i bought the one i did was the grip felt easier to hold and the menu system looked simple to me.  doesn't make sense buying a camera  that feels awkward in the hand.  could result in you not wanting to use it as much.

[mihir286]

The book understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson is a great read. It explains all the different settings with lots of different photos as examples. 

Also I would suggest getting lightroom really fun to play around with, so you can make your photos look more interesting.

[yas1320]

On 9/12/2016 at 10:29 AM, mihir286 said:

The book understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson is a great read. It explains all the different settings with lots of different photos as examples. 

Also I would suggest getting lightroom really fun to play around with, so you can make your photos look more interesting.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look this one up.

[geomi neun babo]

10 hours ago, yas1320 said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look this one up.

You can also check out a book written by Scott Kelby with tutorials and tips/tricks for using Lightroom.  I also saw ALwin recommending some nice books in another topic.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Photoshop-Lightroom-Digital-Photographers-Voices/dp/0133979792/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473882612&sr=8-2&keywords=lightroom

 

 

On 9/13/2016 at 8:38 PM, ALwin said:

Understanding Exposure, Fourth Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera  (this is the Bryan Peterson book)

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Fourth-Photographs-Camera/dp/1607748509/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EJBMX092QFT54QKZF98Q

 

Learning to See Creatively, Third Edition: Design, Color, and Composition in Photography

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-See-Creatively-Third-Composition/dp/1607748274/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EJBMX092QFT54QKZF98Q

 

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos  (this is one of my favorite books)

https://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Eye-Composition-Design-Digital/dp/0240809343/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EJBMX092QFT54QKZF98Q

 

Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision (2nd Edition) (Voices That Matter)

https://www.amazon.com/Within-Frame-Journey-Photographic-Vision/dp/0134288629/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EJBMX092QFT54QKZF98Q

 

You can also find free tutorials and tips from PHlearn and Julieanne Kost on their websites on editing images in Lightroom and Photoshop.

https://phlearn.com/  (a lot of free videos on this YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PhlearnLLC )

http://www.jkost.com/  ( https://www.youtube.com/user/julieannekost2011 )

[yas1320]

14 hours ago, geomi neun babo said:

You can also check out a book written by Scott Kelby with tutorials and tips/tricks for using Lightroom.  I also saw ALwin recommending some nice books in another topic.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Photoshop-Lightroom-Digital-Photographers-Voices/dp/0133979792/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473882612&sr=8-2&keywords=lightroom

 

 

 

You can also find free tutorials and tips from PHlearn and Julieanne Kost on their websites on editing images in Lightroom and Photoshop.

https://phlearn.com/  (a lot of free videos on this YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PhlearnLLC )

http://www.jkost.com/  ( https://www.youtube.com/user/julieannekost2011 )

Wow, thanks very much.  You've given me some excellent information here.  Cheers