I am considering purchasing a digital SLR camera for our trip to Italy. I am a raw beginner in this field. Can anyone recommend good websites/books to help me get my head around SLR photography and what to look for in a digital SLR camera. Of course, any personal experiences/tips would also be gratefully received.

Hi dell...

I usually check these following websites - for camera reviews and their forum boards (which I've found helpful):

http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

I too am in the hunt for a digital SLR camera - though I'm still not sure if I want to make the jump. I currently have a Canon S2IS and was thinking of getting the new Canon S5IS. Friends have advised that I should just take the leap and get a digital SLR, so I've been researching and am currently looking at the Canon Rebel XTi (which I believe is also known as the Canon EOS 400D). As you can see, I'm a Canon fan..

Good luck in your search!
Vera

Hi there, I have researchd the digital slr's extensively and have too decided on the Canon 400d. Can't wait to get it hopefully in the next month. I was also talking to a professional photographer who had switch to this from a $20,000 camera and far prefers it so must be pretty good. Happy clicking.

Since you are in Australia, the following will be of direct use to you. Thee are Australian sites I have bought off, including my current SLR (the Canon EOS 300D, the current model of which is the 400D):

http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/index.htm These guys seem to have the best overall prices for camera in Australia. They are Sydney based and have a store you can visit there is required. Their memory card prices are the best I've seen except when computer retailers have clearouts. Their prices for compact cameras are typically 20% less than other stores (which means $100 for a $500 camera!). My Father bought his most recent camera from here, and I've bought a lot of misc gear, including memory, tripods...etc

http://centre.net.au/ These guys seem to be grey importers, but they have a great range of accessories (eg: need an obscure filter, lens cover, cleaners...etc). I've bought a lot of accessories from here, and dealt with them over the phone to adjust orders when something was backordered.

http://www.camerastore.com.au/ I've used this for SLR gear particularly - dunno how their prices compare with compact cameras. SA based. I bought my SLR from here.

If you haven't used an SLR before, so look at the other threads here about cameras on tours. Weight will be a big issue if you aren't prepared for it, and you'll also want to spend a LOT of time practicing beforehand - go on a couple of weekend trips at least. You will want to be *very* familiar with changing settings like ASA/speeds when you go in and out of churches where flash isn't allowed.

You will also need one spare battery - I find the battery life of the Canons to be superlative, but you don't want to be caught out.

And make sure you immediately buy a UV filter for your first lens - NEVER use an SLR lens without one as it first and foremost acts as a lens protector - better that gets scratched by clumsy handling than an expensive lens... A good one will only cost about $20.

Thanks so much for the links. This will help a great deal in making my decision. I would probably stick with Canon as our current digital camera (Powershot A75) is a Canon.

I have a couple more questions.

The Canon 400D kit is currently sold with an 18-55mm lense. There is also a twin lense kit which includes a 75-300mm lense. Would the 75-300mm be a suitable travelling lense (it appears to be quite big). If not that size, what size would people recommend as a second lense to travel with.

As far as memory cards go, is it a case of a memory card is a memory card, or is it best to go with a "brand name" such as ScanDisk?

Thanks!

Dell,

As far as travel goes, avoid carrying multiple lens'. Its not only lighter, but changing lenses increases the likelihood of sensor dust.

75-300, umm...chances are you will not be using it much, unless you are into animal/bird photography. You will be using the wide angle almost 85-90% of the time. On a tour, few occasions will lend themselves to the 75-300.

My suggestion would be to go in for a good walkabout lens, something which is wide and also has some appreciable telephoto. I opted to go in for the Sigma 18-200 for my Canon 350D.

Memory cards...I have found them to be almost the same. Some are faster, some slower. Go in for the (second) fastest card you can, the fastest usually aren't worth it unless you do a lot of RAW. I have Sandisk, Kingston, UMax and some other no-name ones and all of them are satisfactory (at least when you compare to what I paid for them).

I've read that the Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS is a good walkaround lens/travel lens, and is an upgrade from the kit lens included with the Canon 400D.

I've outgrown my S2IS (though I love its zoom and IS), and since I"m a newbie when it comes to DSLR - I think the above lens is a good starter for me (I'll skip the kit lens). I also wouldn't want to be changing lenses when I'm touring, so it makes sense for me to take one lens that would satisfy most of my photography needs while travelling.

I found this website today about Canon EOS cameras (aimed towards beginners) - it's helpful and gave me lots to think about.... http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/

Vera

As soon as you start talking SLR lenses you are in for copious religious bunfights The reason there are soo many lenses is because everyone likes doing different things - and has different sized bankrolls.

Your choice is on the money however. I went for a similar lens myself - the Canon 28-135 USM IS (about AUS$660) the image stabiliser is the key thing here - it allows you to shoot at extremely low speeds without a tripod - ideal for indoors in dark buildings or museums when Flash isn't permitted. The above lens is pretty much the only one I use now - its only weakness is that it occasionally isn't wide angle enough - the 17-85 is a newer lens complementing it for people who want the same thing, but with a preference for more wide angle rather than zoom.

Aside from DTreview which was already mentioned, lens review sites incude: http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html

General help and info: http://www.photodo.com/

Hi Dell,

Where I live one of the big photography/camera stores offers a wide range of workshops to learn how to use cameras. I don't know if you have that type of opportunity where you are or enough time before your trip. I found the workshops to be very helpful and if I had not already purchased a camera would have been in a better position to make a decision. At the very least, I enjoy going into legitimate camera stores and conversing with the sales staff.

If you are a raw beginning and do decide to buy a digital SLR for your trip, I hope you have lots of time to learn how to use it before you go!

quote:

Originally posted by ZeldaSue:
If you are a raw beginning and do decide to buy a digital SLR for your trip, I hope you have lots of time to learn how to use it before you go!

Dell, just to elaborate a bit on what ZeldaSue said.

DSLR photography (as you must be finding out) is very different from the regular P&S stuff. What is required is for you to understand what you are doing, in terms on tweaking the camera's shooting properties; exposure, white balance, etc. A little understanding will go a long way in minimizing the percentage of "bad" shots.

One can spend days/weeks/months in trying to go the "lets see what happens if.." approach when you tweak some parameter, take a picture and then inspect it. A better approach is to understand what you are tweaking, then conjure up a mental picture on what change you should expect in the output and then compare it to the actual output. This will help you understand better on how things are actually working and be better at estimating the output in the field. Spend a few minutes every day under different lighting conditions and you will see that your competency with a DSLR rises much faster.

Something which I usually avoid is using the Auto or the Program modes. I typically operate the camera on Aperture Priority about 75%, Shutter Priority 20% and the other 5% (at best) may be in Auto or manual mode mode.

Coming back to lenses...I find the IS lenses to be quite expensive (and also not easily available in India). Here is my 0.02 on IS lenses. If your telephoto is 135 mm (200mm in 35 equivalent) I dont think you should need IS unless you are doing low-light shooting. Evaluate what you will be shooting MOST of the time. I went in for the 18-200 lens primarily due to the fact that I wanted the zoom capability, I do a bit of bird photography in my spare time (which isn't much anyway ) and of course the price. On my trip, I intend to use some manual IS, a cheapo monopod.

If you plan to do a lot of macro and/or low lighting photography, then IS will be suitable for you. If you are looking for a lens for your trip, then I dare to say that your kit lens will be more than what you require since you will be using wide-aperture most of the time.