any photographers in the house?

[morethanworts]

Have you considered going old skool and looking out for some old manual lenses. You can pair them with an inexpensive adaptor and get some great results. I use a Sony NEX-7 (like a DSLR but without the mirror), I have a 50mm f1.8 Canon FD lens, it is a great lens for portraits, comes out at 80mm effective with the crop of my sensor and the shallow depth of field at f1.8 is amazing. There are some bargains out there but they have a bit of dirt or fungus in the lens. You can get a small manual lens stripped and cleaned for less than £100. I have not cleaned mine but the adaptor was less than £20 and the lens was £30, for £50 you couldn't go out and get a good prime lens.

Being able to manually open and close the aperture and focus is certainly more fun than point and shoot.

I learnt on an old Praktica SLR, then a Canon film SLR. I wanted to take my pre-digital lenses with me to the Canon DSLR, but I found that although they fitted and worked to an extent, they were subject to back or front-focusing. I've heard since that this is because the reflection of the sensor in the glass on non-digital lenses can trick the focusing system. New-generation lenses are apparently better built to avoid this. I can't be sure that's true, but my pre-digital lenses certainly focused badly enough on the DSLR to make them useless. I'd check any second-hand old lenses carefully with a focus chart, and then at long distance too, on the PC screen, before investing.

Now, if you're talking manual focus as well, then remember that old SLRs generally had MUCH bigger and brighter viewfinders than consumer DSLRs today. I don't know the Nikons, but see how easy or tricky focusing is on yours. I wouldn't want to be relying on my 400D's viewfinder to focus manually!

 

[Titch]

this photography lark is nearly as expensive as shiny brewing kit

think ill skip the prime just now as a work friend has let me play with his 50mm 1.18 d manual focus but i can play

so think ill spend my cash on a wide angle

 

[mikeyjay84]

you can buy adapters for a few quid on ebay that will allow you to use older lenses on new dslr's :thumb:

 

[Titch]

bought a 35mm 1.8 to be going on with

reduced at john leiws £149.99

going to have some fun and work towards a ultra wide angle next

 

[BicesterTerrier]

Now, if you're talking manual focus as well, then remember that old SLRs generally had MUCH bigger and brighter viewfinders than consumer DSLRs today. I don't know the Nikons, but see how easy or tricky focusing is on yours. I wouldn't want to be relying on my 400D's viewfinder to focus manually!

Fully manual, focus and aperture. The adaptor rings you can buy generally place them far enough in front of the lens to focus the same as the original camera fit.

As for focusing, I have a Sony NEX with an EVF, the NEX range has a great feature called focus peaking, it colours the edges in focus with a yellow/white/red fringe. Plus you can rely on the markings on the lens ring in some cases.

 

[alawlor66430]

I'm interested in getting into photography and would like to get a camera as my phone and digital camera just doesn't capture what I'm actually looking at in the way I want to, but I don't want to throw to much money into it straight away, so whats a good camera to start with that won't break the bank, I'm a very outdoors kind of guy and some of the things I see are just unbelievable and I'd love to capture some quality pics.

 

[Duncs]

Now, if you're talking manual focus as well, then remember that old SLRs generally had MUCH bigger and brighter viewfinders than consumer DSLRs today. I don't know the Nikons, but see how easy or tricky focusing is on yours. I wouldn't want to be relying on my 400D's viewfinder to focus manually!

You don't have to rely on the viewfinder to focus manually, if you half press the shutter and manually focus, when it's in focus the red focus light lights up on your focus point.

Have I said 'focus' enough there?

 

[anthonyUK]

I'm interested in getting into photography and would like to get a camera as my phone and digital camera just doesn't capture what I'm actually looking at in the way I want to, but I don't want to throw to much money into it straight away, so whats a good camera to start with that won't break the bank, I'm a very outdoors kind of guy and some of the things I see are just unbelievable and I'd love to capture some quality pics.

The D3100 that is mentioned by the OP is available on Amazon with an 18-55mm lens for £289 which is a steal and more camera than 90% of people will ever need.

 

[graysalchemy]

I am looking for a canon 450d or 550d I think just need to convince my finance director that it would be good for my business. ( I don't think I could become a secret photographer:lol: :lol: )

 

[alawlor66430]

I'm interested in getting into photography and would like to get a camera as my phone and digital camera just doesn't capture what I'm actually looking at in the way I want to, but I don't want to throw to much money into it straight away, so whats a good camera to start with that won't break the bank, I'm a very outdoors kind of guy and some of the things I see are just unbelievable and I'd love to capture some quality pics.

The D3100 that is mentioned by the OP is available on Amazon with an 18-55mm lens for £289 which is a steal and more camera than 90% of people will ever need.

£300 seems like a good investment if its something I'm not gonna have to upgrade, I'm going on to have a look now, cheers !!

 

[anthonyUK]

When looking at cameras I like to have a look at some examples that other people have taken on flickr using them.

For the D3100 - http://www.flickr.com/cameras/nikon/d3100/ - It just gives an idea of what is possible but you have to accept that some may have been digitally enhanced.

 

[graysalchemy]

You all got me looking at d3200 now :evil: :evil:

 

[Titch]

and nikon are giving cashback on certain models

 

[morethanworts]

Now, if you're talking manual focus as well, then remember that old SLRs generally had MUCH bigger and brighter viewfinders than consumer DSLRs today. I don't know the Nikons, but see how easy or tricky focusing is on yours. I wouldn't want to be relying on my 400D's viewfinder to focus manually!

You don't have to rely on the viewfinder to focus manually, if you half press the shutter and manually focus, when it's in focus the red focus light lights up on your focus point.

Have I said 'focus' enough there?

If you're using the focus points then you're not really focusing manually. You may be turning the lens by hand, but it's still the camera judging it. I don't think that would change anything.

I should point out, I don't pretend to fully understand why pre-digital lenses sometimes cause front or back focus issues on DSLRs, but it was my experience, and it was something I recall being flagged up on the photography forums.

 

[alawlor66430]

I've just bought a Pentax mv1 on eBay! Any good ?

 

[anthonyUK]

You all got me looking at d3200 now :evil: :evil:

That is what I have just bought for my daughter.
It is unbeatable for the price. 24MP of awesomeness.
Some of the slowmo video on youtube is impressive - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emho-nMnMiA

 

[anthonyUK]

Now, if you're talking manual focus as well, then remember that old SLRs generally had MUCH bigger and brighter viewfinders than consumer DSLRs today. I don't know the Nikons, but see how easy or tricky focusing is on yours. I wouldn't want to be relying on my 400D's viewfinder to focus manually!

You don't have to rely on the viewfinder to focus manually, if you half press the shutter and manually focus, when it's in focus the red focus light lights up on your focus point.

Have I said 'focus' enough there?

If you're using the focus points then you're not really focusing manually. You may be turning the lens by hand, but it's still the camera judging it. I don't think that would change anything.

I should point out, I don't pretend to fully understand why pre-digital lenses sometimes cause front or back focus issues on DSLRs, but it was my experience, and it was something I recall being flagged up on the photography forums.

If it is a manual lens then you are focusing, the camera is 'just checking'
On my old SLR you still used a 'split screen' so it is not so different.
On Nikons, the lens doesn't go far enough back into the body which is why they often can't focus at infinity.

 

[RobWalker]

well, i've got instagram on my phone and i can take photos of sunsets and ominous park benches, so yeah i'd say i'm basically a professional photographer these days.

 

[fbsf]

I've got a Canon 600d with an 18-135 lens. But I also have a 50mm lens which is great for portraits on a "crop" sensor (which most budget DSLRs have). Both Canon and Nikon have a budget 50mm lens that punches well above its price - if you have a spare £100, I would suggest it; if only for the low-light performance and ultra-shallow depth of field.

Take a portrait in a wheat field and the results are stunning...

But saying that, the kit lenses (and I include my 18-135 in that) are remarkably capable for most amateur photographers, and you only really notice the difference between them and higher-quality lenses when blowing them up past A3 size.