ejchem101

<p>Ugh, what a horrible experience. Good luck replacing your gear! I would be horribly distraught if my gear came up missing.</p>

<p>I personally went the route of going all EF lenses when I had a crop body. In the back of my mind I always knew that I would be upgrading to FF some day, I guess just because I understood the science of it a little, and also grew up on film. Having to change the focal lengths in my head drove me nuts.</p>

<p>Remember that even an L lens will not last a lifetime if it is not taken care of properly. On the opposite end, a non-L lens will also last a lifetime if it is cared for properly.</p>

<p>As another suggestion. You say that you are not able to afford anything out of the rebel line, even used is this good deal on the T1i... $400, $500? </p>

<p>Currently on the used market you could get a 20D for around $300 (8mp, 5fps I believe) a 40D will run you around...$500-600. I would need to look at the specifics but I personally prefer the xxD line over the rebel line, as overall the Dials help with faster setting changes, and I feel that they fit my hand much better.</p>

<p>As others have said, it will really come down to your personal decision.</p>

<p>There are really only a few areas where IQ would be effected. #2 and #3 would be your biggest IQ upgrades. If you would use spot meter... then maybe that would help you out.</p>

<p>The Clear, sharper, larger LCD would only help you on live view.</p>

<p>For myself and my uses of a camera, I don't think these things would warrant an upgrade... Now if it was regarding a 50D, 7D or 5DII you would have some jumps that may be more worthy.</p>

<p>Don't forget that there are digital SLR's that with the right lenses would be very compact. </p>

<p>I know pentaxians love their pancakes! The smallest SLR setup you could get would be one of the rebels with a 50 or 35mm lens on the front. I wouldn't think this could be much bigger / heavier than some of the 4/3 stuff that is out there. I even think of my 5D as fairly handy when it's got a normal prime lens on it.</p>

<p>I understand what you are saying Jon, often you have this great camera and you think that an "inexpensive" lens might not give you the results you would like. </p>

<p>Sure... there are some "inexpensive" lenses out there that may not live up to your standards. I feel this way even when I put my 50 1.8 on my 5D, sometimes I think... what a cheap plastic piece of crap. But I have gotten some of my favorite photos with that lens.</p>

<p>Dont worry so much about the lenses as the photos! Have fun.</p>

<p>well since you asked about getting the best shots with your current equipment, I'll stay away form equipment recommendations.</p>

<p>As far as composition, try and get both the ball, and the face of participants.</p>

<p>Set your shutter speed as high as possible with the available light (this will reduce blur due to movement of players). I would recommend a shutter speed of 1/400th or faster to reduce movement blur.<br>

With that lens you will want to get as close to the action as possible (I would forget about action on the other end of the field due to 55 not having much of a reach.</p>

<p>I just picked up a used 5D myself. I'm not sure that I would go the ebay route, unless it seems to be a very clean camera.</p>

<p>You also have to remember... yes that 5D was *new* 5 years ago, but was still in production into 2008. The camera I picked up was one of the last produced, so it is only about 2 years old.</p>

<p>I think that I will probably never move up to a 5D II, I don't see the need, I've printed excellent large prints with the 5D already, and I've only had it 6months.</p>

<p>It doesn't make sense to me that a crop sensor would cause you to need to change your shutter speed to have sharp photos.</p>

<p>The image is going to be the same size coming from the lens on the cropped sensor as it would on the FF. The only difference is that it is not taking the entire image.</p>

<p>The mistake that too many people make is that a cropped sensor does not change the focal length of the lens. A 50mm lens is still a 50mm lens, the sensor just crops that image down to the angle of view of a 80mm lens. That being said technically you will get the same "amount" of blur with a ff or a cropped sensor at the same shutter speed. The difference is, that blur may be a larger percentage of the image due to the cropping. If you cropped the FF image down to the same size, you should see the same amount of blur.</p>

 

<p>Maybe a beginner category? Kind of like the forum, but for photos :)</p>

<p>I would help out but, i'm not much of a Intel person. Why are you having someone else build it? I would recommend finding a friend that knows a little about computer hardware. They are very easy to put together... Buying compatible parts is the most difficult part.<br>

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.</p>

<p>I agree with Kelly. I think it is something that has always been a question. And professional photographers will always stand above and beyond the amateurs no matter what gear they might have.</p>

<p>I am an amateur, and have a 5D and a few pieces of L glass. Why am I not a professional?</p>

<p>I don't have the time. I am a full time teacher who coaches multiple sports in a year. In the summer I work construction. I am ecstatic to just have any time to pursue photography as a hobby.</p>

<p>Could I be a professional? Probably, if I decided that is what I wanted as my profession, I would invest time and money into the learning required, make connections, do the advertising etc etc. Oh wait... I guess I could be considered a semi-professional? Because I donated some photos that sold at a charity auction?</p>

<p>What really makes me laugh is a friend of mine all of a sudden says to me "I'm starting a photography buisness". She has no photography experience, asked me what an F-stop was, what ISO means, what lenses etc etc.</p>

<p>So I asked "really? how did you think of that Idea?". She responds with "I just bought a Nikon D90, and heard it takes good enough pictures to be a professional". All of this while I am seeing only... the D90 and kit lens. I just felt bad and kept my mouth shut.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>The camera does not make professional photos, the professional photographer does.</p>

<p>For fast subjects you need to have a fast shutter (as John has said). A tripod will not help with a fast moving object, only fast shutter speeds will stop it.</p>

<p>This might mean you have to increase your ISO in order to have a fast enough shutter speed and enough light.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Don't be afraid to look at good condition but used 40D's. They are fairly reasonable... some even breaking under $500 I believe.</p>

<p>The best way that I have found is to use a Graduated Neutral Density Filter. You place the dark part over the sky and the light part over the ground.</p>

<p>However, sometimes this could leave the top of your green mountains looking dark... so ... there is also a technique called HDR. It can be a challenge to get HDR correct, and if done badly... makes everything look very unnatural.</p>

<p>Good Luck!<br>

<br />EJ</p>

<p>If you are still considering wanting to go full frame, you may want to look at some used 5D mark I. You can find them ranging in price from 900-1200 used depending on the seller.</p>

<p>The only problem with using my lenses on a film body is that it caused me to want a FF dslr that much more.</p>

<p>thanks for the input guys, Dave, good Idea of just leaving them on the disks. I think I upload my images to my computer too often. I do need to start using some of the size that today's modern cf cards allow.</p>

<p>Linda, on a budget of $700 I would actually stay away from zooms. Especially for hockey (even in a well lighted rink) you will probably want a 2.8 lens or faster. A 70-200 2.8 zoom is already going to be over your budget... just for the lens.</p>

<p>Anyway, I would look for a used camera body (something along the lines of a canon 20D (about 300 used) or a 40D (like 4-500ish used). And then find a prime lens in the focal length that you are looking for (probably either a 50mm, 80mm or 100mm). That will get you enough light to stop the action.</p>

<p>A quick note is to make sure you know the 5dII can not take EF-S lenses, therefore your 10-22 would need to go.</p>

<p>From the sounds of it... even though I think that both of these cameras sound great, if you are happy with the photos you are getting from your 40D, I would have to say for you to look carefully into a video camera. While both the 7D and 5D II are amazing cameras (from what I hear) if you are not going to be making huge enlargements, I dont know that you would see drastic differences in IQ from the 40D.</p>

<p>Now, if you aren't happy with the photos from your 40D... that may be a different story (a 5d II and trading that 10-22 for a 24-105 f4 would sound aweful enticing).</p>

<p>I believe a HD camcorder does a very good job at video however :) Just dont let your wife read this as you may just want a new dslr, and video is a good excuse to get it.</p>

<p>Edit: Don't forget the T2i also has video.</p>

<p>I did a little bit of searching and didn't completely find my answer on here so I'll go ahead and ask it.</p>

<p>I am wanting to make sure that my best photos are backed up. There are many posts on what most people do, but my question is:</p>

<p>For an amateur photographer, as a last resort would you be ok with backups from photo.net or similar sites incase of a catastrophe?</p>

<p>I do normally back up my photos as follows:</p>

<p>Copy from CF card to my 1TB dedicated photo HD.<br>

About 1x a month copy new files from HD onto DVDs.<br>

I'm ok with the fact that hard drive could crash and I could be out a month or so worth of photos, if I was a wedding photographer I understand that I would need to be more redundant, but i'm not.</p>

<p>What are your opinions? sorry if this post is a little vague.</p>

<p>Gerry, I am in the process of transitioning from a 20D to a 5D.</p>

<p>I think there are a few good points that have been made already on this post.</p>

<p>First off make sure you have a sound reason for going FF, like Dan has already said there are certain ways that a 5D may be superior to a crop sensor, but there are many crops out there now where the detail is greater than the 5D.</p>

<p>My choice was made in part due to the lenses that I have in my collection. In terms of quality photos... there is a learning curve that you need to be prepared for if you never shot film with your current lenses.</p>

 

<p>I know that the flash will work with older canon EOS cameras. It will just meter in TTL instead of ETTL or ETTL II like it would with your digital cameras. So basically it just acts like the older canon speedlights would have.</p>

<p>I have no idea about trying to mix it with a Holga or a Hassie.</p>

On the canon side of things you could be looking for a rebel t2i if you want video a t1i or even an older digital rebel. You

could also look for something used along the lines of a 20d or better. If you wanted a very cheap intro camera you could

pick up a 10d or d60 the cheapest but... A 20d will only cost you around 300 used.

<p>I am one of those people who saved his pennies for the FF kool-aid (just aquired a 5D original). For me I had this specific goal in mind for many years. It all depends on your type of shooting. I do very little sports shooting. If I do, it is for the local school to help their yearbook. 3fps is fine.</p>

<p>Most of my shots are deliberately set up, portraits, animals, candids, where the AF speed and burst rate of the 7D is just overkill for me.</p>

<p>I was able to get a very nice condition 5D for about $300 less than a 7D... not a very big difference, and yes the original 5D is getting older in it's technology but: Had I stayed with APS sensors a couple of things were really bugging me:</p>

<p>#1: The lack of my 50mm lens ... being a normal 50mm lens. 80mm is just too close for comfort in too many situations. To get the normal perspective I would need to buy a 30mm lens.</p>

<p>#2: I would need to buy an extra lens (the 10-22) in order to get the extra wide coverage which I already have in 17-40.</p>

<p>So for me and my lens line-up, a FF just made sense. What really put the last nail in the coffin was when I began using my old film camera with my lenses... I started burning through film like no tomorrow, and the price of the Used FF would have soon been reached with the price of film.</p>

<p>I would consider this guy to be a APS extremist, just blow it off if your 5DII works for your needs.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Love this camera. Borrowed from a relative and have had it for a few months now. Mine is just the A2 not the A2e, but it picks up the correct focus point quickly anyway. Very light, I just finished a roll of Ektar 100 as well, I'll post some of my results to add to the post when I get them back.</p>