total beginner, totally confused, needs help

[bantyhen]

Hi all
As the title says I’m a complete beginner when it comes to DSLR so thanks in advance for any help you can give,

I’ve enjoyed taking photos for years but all my cameras have been point and shoot except for my recent camera which is a Panasonic FZ20 but even that is set permanently on the idiot mode but now I am finally making the move to DSLR (my wife got feed up with me talking about it for years and as a surprise bought me a D300s for my 50th birthday), Unfortunately this turned out to be a grey import and was sent back for a refund,
While waiting for the refund I did some research on the D300s and the Canon 7d, I finally decided to buy the 7d and went into a local Currys store to check out the 7d while there the sales rep asked me some Questions

Q: Am I a professional photographer?
A: No
Q: Do I make money from my cameras?
A: No
Q: Do I take a lot of sports or action photography?
A: No
Q: Do I have existing lenses or loads of money to spend on good lenses?
A: No

He then asked me what sort of photography do I enjoy and as I am a complete beginner would I not be better spending less on the camera body and more on the lenses which would allow me to get out and enjoy learning and take better photos with better lenses, Good questions

This is where YOU come in, this is where I really need some advice and guidance:
The types of photography I enjoy are: Nature wildlife, birds plants etc, Travel people and places, Landscape especially sunrises and dawns, Old buildings churches etc both inside and out, Family occasions weddings children etc, as you can see a bit of everything,

My budget at present is £1500-£2000 to cover camera, lenses and accessories etc, so where I really need your advice is as follows:-

A: Do I go with the d300s and the Sigma 18-200 DC OS (my wife bought this when she got the d300s and it hasn’t been sent back yet) and save up for better lenses?

B: Do I go with the Canon 7d kit with 18-135 lens and save up for better lenses?

C: Do I go for maybe a Nikon d90 and the/or some of the following lenses
Wildlife- Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 GED IF (cost approx £350) or other?
Portrait – Nikon 50mm f1.8 or f1.4 ( cost approx £90, £200) or other?
Landscape - Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX AF (cost approx £400) or other?
Walkround – other than the sigma please suggest?

D: Do I go for a D90 keep the Sigma lens and buy a wildlife lens?

or E: something completely different from above?

Sorry my first post is so long I don’t normally ramble on this much but I want to get this right from the start so I can not just learn but also really enjoy my future photography,

Once again thanks in advance

Bantyhen

[gordon g]

I would first think how you want to output your images - that will define what you need from the sensor. So, if it is only web and small prints (less than A4), a 6MP sensor is loads of resolution. If it's A3+ prints, display boards, large files for demanding stock libraries, then you may need rather more.
Second - what do you need in terms of frame rate and autofocus. In other words, are you going to do a lot of fast action shooting or not. If not, then you dont need 9fps and blisteringly fast AF.
Third - metering. Do you need the selectiveness of spot metering to accurately expose the chosen part of the frame? Or will matrix metering do?
Fourth - ISO range (the sensitivity to light of the sensor; the higher the number the more sensitive, so less light needed to make an image). Do you really need iso 50-12800?
Fifth - the body. Does it need to be tank-like and environmentally sealed to keep it working in dust storms, sub-zero blizzards, floods and waves? Or will something a bit more mainstream do? Are the controls and menues in the right place and easy to use for you. Does it feel good in your hand.
All that should give you a spec for the body, so once you have that, look around for secondhand bodies that do all that you need.
Then consider the lenses. Buy the best lenses you can afford - again think about secondhand glass. Good glass really makes a difference to image quality, much more so than the differences between most bodies. Minolta (now Sony, I think) had excellent backwards compatibility and some of their old lenses are very good indeed and also cheap these days.
Also consider what focal ranges you are likely to use, for what sort of subject, and how much kit you are really going to want to carry around with you. If you dont know the answers yet, buy a good quality lens with a wide zoom range, until you get to know where your interests lie.
You are quite likely to want to change your camera body as you do more photography and discover what you are most interested in, the same goes for lenses too, although the tendency there is to add rather than replace for most people. These days, there are a lot of good systems around - it's not just canon or nikon - and remember third party lenses too.
Other items that will probably come to be essential are a tripod and head, possibly filters, a flash system...

[yelvertoft]

http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...ead.php?t=4587

[bantyhen]

Thanks Gordon
sound advice (you can't beat experiance) it's probably obvious to most people that I as a beginner i shouldn't even consider the D300s or the 7d,
Whats your opinion on the d90 (this camera seems to be more than enough for what I want at present but still allow me to grow) and maybe some of the specific leness I mentioned,
would the Sigma 18-200 DC OS be a good enough all round lens or would something like the Nikon 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR11 be better
Thanks

[andy153]

Hi there Bantyhen, can I suggest you start by reading all the thread posted by Duncan (yelvertoft) above, it has links in it and I suggest you follow those. I think this is one of the best pieces of advise on this question you will find anywhere. From a personal point of view, I would suggest the D300s and the Nikon 18-200 VRII as a starter kit. It may well be that you never buy anything else and that this will cover all your photographic needs for years to come. If you do get bitten by the bug then this is also an up to date semi pro body that will last you a long time, do not forget manufacturers upgrade their bodies every 18 months to two years. It may well be overkill for you now and you may never move out of program/automatic mode but the D300s has the capability of growing with you as you develop your skills. Never forget that it is the photographer who makes the pictures, NOT the camera. Also, if in future you wish to expand your horizons, ALWAYS buy the best lenses you can afford. Bodies change regularly - lenses can last for years - I'm using some 30 year old ones that cannot be beaten even today.
As for question C - you seem to have done quite a bit of research and for me you are on the right lines. A portrait lens is usually from 85 mm to 105 mm so I would drop the 50 1.8/1.4 - I have one, rarely use it. Your 18-200 covers this focal length anyway. I think you may find that the 18-200 is your walk about lens, when I had a D300 and D2x it was the lens I always had with me on one body. For wildlife 300 mm is probably the shortest you can get away with in good conditions. I use an old 500 mm f4P Nikkor. For the Landscape the Sigma 10-20 or the new Tamron 10 - 24 take some beating. There is also a new Tamron 18-270 which I would look at instead of the 18-200 and 70 -300 as the one lens more or less replaces both of the others.

[Alex1994]

Do you want to take nice pictures or learn about photography?

[miketoll]

Both the Nikon 300s and Canon 7D are superb cameras and at the top of the crop factor (smaller than 35mm film size sensor) tree and will more than satisfy your needs for years to come but may be over kill for what you need unless the bug bites deep and even then it would probably be a case of want rather than need. The Nikon D90 and Canon 500D would be cheaper and are both good cameras and as you still have the Nikon lens have a good look at the D90. It is important to actually go to a shop and handle the cameras and have a bit of a play to see which one feels better in your hands. The other thing I would say is do not rush to buy every thing at once but start off with one general lens and become comfortable with that and learn more about photography including the technical side like the whys and whens of speed, apertures, ISO focal length etc and then you will know where to go next in the sense of the type of photography you enjoy and the equipment you want/need to pursue it.

[walwyn]

I think you can spend an awful lot on kit, much of which you'll want but never need. I have a large bag of manual lens from my SLR days sitting up in the loft. For years a carried them about everywhere I went, but on each outing rarely used more than two of them. In later years the bag got left in the boot of the car or at home.

Personally I'd go with miketoll's advice above. Use a reasonable general purpose zoom lens and find your niche. Later when you know what kit you really need then go out to buy it.

My thing during the summer is macro and this example photo was taken with my 8 mpix Panasonic FZ30 with a £35 raynox DCR-250 clipped on the front of it. I've uploaded to my website at fullsize and you can take it down your local high street copy shop and ask them to print A3. Most will do it for you for under £2 and it will give you an idea of the sort of quality you can expect from an 8 meg camera:

http://professor-moriarty.com/images/pub/aeshna.jpg

Of course you may want to go out and spend £1500-2000 in which case best of luck.

[nirofo]

I agree with andy153, the D300s and the Nikkor 18-200 make a first class kit that will cover most needs, and as he says, it's a system that you can grow with. I don't see the point in buying a lesser/cheaper camera now only to want an upgrade in 6 months time. If in a few months you realise you want a longer lens for wildlife, then at least youll have a good camera body to put it on, (the D300s will take nearly all Nikons lenses going back years, not many other cameras can boast that) If you can afford it go for it, you won't regret it.

One thing I will say regardless of which system you go for, make sure you buy a good quality tripod and head to stand it on! Now tripods and heads, that's another subject to discuss!

nirofo.

[Canon Kid]

Spend your money on the best lens you can buy, you can always upgrade to a better camera that will take all your lens.