I 
got a new gadget yesterday: a digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera, or, to photo enthusiasts, a “real” camera. I’ve never owned one before, always sticking with the simple point-and-shoot cameras. In fact, until yesterday, I’ve been using a 2 megapixel compact jobby and have never attempted anything beyond snapshots of cool vistas and people I know. I absolutely love where I live though (Mill Valley, California) and I decided it was time I had a camera capable of taking some nice pictures of it, once I learn something about what I’m doing.
In aid of this, I took Nixon for a hike this afternoon (I often take the late afternoon off and then work until midnight or so) and tried out the new camera. It’s already easy for me to see why serious camera fans value SLRs. First of all, there’s very little shutter lag. Massive shutter lag was the top thing that made my point and shoot less-than-fun to use. Second, I can already see the advantages of the increased options on the SLR. Controlling depth of field, in particular, is important to me.
I opened a Flickr account, and although I took 217 photos during my 2 hour hike today, I’m too embarassed of 212 of them to show you. So, here are 5 of them that I liked. Please don’t be too harsh. I am a total photo n00b.
Incidentally, I’m shooting with a Canon EOS Rebel XT with a 18-55mm EF-S lens. I think I used a polarizing lens on a couple of the photos as well. I’m already pretty sure I’m going to want at least a 200mm telephoto lense and some sort of ‘macro’ lense for taking up-close shots of plants, flowers, insects, and so on.
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December 20th, 2006 at 3:17 am
Sulka Haro
Welcome to the world of photography!
One lesson I learned the hard way: rather than getting cheap optics, consider saving for a bit longer and getting as high quality lenses as possible. High quality optics give you shots with more “ooomph”.
For macro, get the Canon 100mm f/2.8 lens. It’s very sharp and it’s much nicer to handle than optically comparable competitors.
For the telephoto up to 200mm range, the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens is just superb. This baby doesn’t come cheap though and it weighs a ton. The new f/4.0 model is cheaper and much smaller but you lose a stop of light which sometimes is the key to making the shot.
If you’ll be in for portraiture and low-light indoors shooting, check out the the Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. My wife just got the XT and she’s using this lens almost exclusively. The 50mm f/1.8 lens is optically almost as good but the handling difference between these two is big enough to warrant getting the more expensive f/1.4 version.
sulka
December 20th, 2006 at 4:00 am
Angaril
I’ve seen pictures of the area you live in and I’d love to take a camera like the Hasselblad X-pan out there. It looks like a great place for interesting wide angle shots.
Infra-red film with a deep red lens filter would be fun too.
December 20th, 2006 at 6:45 am
Chris Humphries
My two megapixel point and shoot camera just died recently. I’ve been shopping around, and thinking of getting a D50 or D70. I really love to take pictures and would love to be able to focus in on a single thing instead focus on everything at once.
Hope to be into photography as a hobby when I get a new camera.
Nice pictures! Now to get them printed, matted and framed, eh?
December 20th, 2006 at 10:54 am
Matt
Thanks for the advice Sulka, and the feedback from the others! I looked at a D40, Chris, but Best Buy was out of them when I arrived, so I bought the XT instead (at $100 more expensive, unfortunately). Those D80s also looked very nice, but way too pricey given what I know about photography at this point (little).
–matt
December 20th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Pentharian
I just need one that is waterproof to 50 metres. I was snorkeling off Key Largo today, and although it was terribly windy and not too sunny, I’d expect that if I had a “real camera” some of my shots would have come out, whereas I’m suspecting when I get the 15 dollar walmart thing developed, I’m not going to see the sharks, rainbow parrotfish, or any of the other cool things I saw.
Maybe I’ll wrap a film SLR Minolta in glad-wrap and try that