Help with study,understanding tech issues,help with starting out with new camera etc etc etc....

[BeckyJohno]

Hi all,

right sit back with a cuppa & get your helpful thinking caps on PLEASE....now where to start???

A wee bit of background info, I have a canon 7D with only lens at the moment (15mm-85mm) which I've had for less than 12 months & before that a film camera & a little canon point & shoot so a HUGE learning curve. Also I have recently started studying * removed. members with less than 50 posts cannot discuss commercial companies* ( :eek: I know a lot of you just groaned thinking why'd she bother but it is because I live in a remote area with two toddlers at home with a busy husband so getting away from house minus kids is next to impossible!so this was my only option).
I take a lot of shots of the kids (obviously), friends & family, my husband plays rugby, we water ski, we have cattle property's, mates weddings etc.

Anyway there are a few issues that I need to make sure I am on the right side of the track for! so any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

1) the conversion of lens focal lengths from a full frame sensor to the APS (my cameras rate is 1.6) have I gone the right way? :confused013

ffs aps
20mm - 32mm
24mm - 38mm
35mm - 56mm
50mm - 80mm
80mm - 128mm
100mm - 160mm
135mm - 218mm
200mm - 320mm
300mm - 480mm
400mm - 640mm


2) what things do you think are essential to get asap? filters, speedlite, extra battery, extra card, tripod etc?

3) what settings would you use when photographing a rugby game late arvo (usually kick off is 4pm), I usually stand on the side line with the sun behind/to the left of me? they have two lots of lights at each end of the field... I know TV but what minimum shutter speed & ISO?

4) I am thinking of getting a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, will it be a good all rounder for my 7D? then also if I one day ever upgrade to a full sensor body? next part would you buy a second hand one or one off eBay??? alternately what safe website do you buy your camera equipment off? (Australian or overseas???)

5) can you recommend any good books that point out what lens & extra equipment is best to use in certain situations, i.e. taking shots of models or weddings or footy matches etc

I think that's all for now, hope everyone has a good weekend & thanks in advance for your help...more questions to come no doubt.

Cheers BeckyJohno

[brindyman]

well ill give my thoughts on the stuff i feel i can contribute sooo


2) what things do you think are essential to get asap? filters, speedlite, extra battery, extra card, tripod etc?

battery grip :) helps the stability and will help when you buy
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, will it be a good all rounder for my 7D? fantastic lens by the way

those two would set you well on the way :)

have a look here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=838247) to see what you can do with the lens you are after :)

hope that helps

[colinbm]

The Library in the links bar above has everything & some more :th3:
Col

[ricktas]

i moved your thread from the NTP, as you want help on issues that do not relate to our NTP learning centre. I also removed the name of your course as you breached the site rules by posting that.

Now you have been a member here since March, you could have used AP to learn a lot in that time. So I suggest you start joining in more, that way you will learn by interacting rather than just coming on here and asking us stuff when it suits your needs.

[MarkChap]

Wow lots of questions, very hard to answer them all in any detail.

First thing I will do is correct a long held myth that focal length changes, it does NOT, a 50mm lens is ALWAYS a 50mm lens.
What changes is the field of view, for any given focal length, when used in conjunction with an APS-c Canon DSLR you will have the field of view equivalent to a lens 1.6x longer.
So a 50mm lens on an APS-c Canon will have the same field of view as an 80mm lens on a 35mm sized sensor (ie- 5D MkII), but it is still a 50mm lens with them same perspective as a 50mm lens.

Focal Length DOES NOT change

[Luna-blu]

Hi Beckyjohno,

The best accessory you can have is an AP membership, so welcome!

You've got your lens conversions right, some bird and sports folk prefer the apsc sensor for the extra reach it gives so a good choice for your sports photos.

Accessories is a debatable issue, but I think filters are a good idea, I don't use mine all the time but I do down the beach or when in dusty conditions.
Speedlite yes, your 7D has built in commander mode so it will control a canon speedlite off camera, which is the best place to have it, check out the strobist forum for more info.
Extra battery and cards are always good, tripod is good for landscapes add a trigger head and it'll be good for sports with a big lens.

The best book and probably the photographers bible is "understanding exposure" by brian petersen, as for lens choice have look at the blogs of your favourite photographers, Scott Kelby has a list of gear he uses. (his books are excellent too)

As to specific lens choice for portraits -
85mm and up has a slimming effect,
fast appertures are great for shallow depth of field which will make your subject "jump" out from the background
Rounded appertures will give (more blades) will give a more pleasing "bokeh"

sports I have little experience of so I'll leave that to others.

Ebay, personally I wouldn't, I've only bought one thing second hand (lens) and that was off a forum member who I had known and trusted for a while.
New from ebay, not a body for warranty reasons.

This is just my opinion but I hope it helps,

[fillum]

1). What Mark said. But you don't really need to know this stuff, what's more important is to understand what is wide angle, what's 'normal' and what is telephoto on your camera and how each of those affect the look of your image.

2). Don't be in a rush or feel the need that you have to buy something. Work out what and how you want to shoot and then see what accessories will contribute to what you are trying to achieve. Regarding some of the things you mentioned. A second card is a good idea especially as a backup in case one fails - I prefer 2 smaller cards than one big one. A flash sounds useful for the type of stuff you mentioned (kids, family, etc). A spare battery is useful if you shoot for long sessions or travel a lot - I have one but hardly ever use it. You will probably want a tripod eventually, but unless you want to shoot low light landscapes now I'd have this down the list somewhere (although a tripod is useful in many other situations). Similarly I wouldn't be worried about filters just yet.

3). Different people use different settings that work for them. I use aperture priority (Av) at maximum aperture (f/4 on my gear) and use auto-ISO with a minimum shutter speed of 1/1000 (so the ISO changes automatically as needed). I don't know how auto-ISO works on the 7D so this might not work for you. Having said that, settings are really only a starting point - the best thing to do (as Rick pointed out) is to take a few shots and post them in the Sport forum where you'll get plenty of good advice specific to what things you need to adjust.

4). Can't give specific comments on this lens as I shoot Nikon, but in general a 70-200 f/2.8 is considered a 'bread and butter' lens and should be ideal for the type of things you are shooting. They are expensive but extremely useful and will provide good service for a long, long time.

5). Before rushing to spend money on books have a look through the 'Library' and 'New To Photography' sections here, as well as the theme-specific forums. There is also plenty of stuff elsewhere online such as youtube, etc. As far as books go you might like to check out "Scott Kelby's Digital Photography' which comes in 3 volumes, but is available much cheaper as a boxed set. I don't know where mine is (:o) but from memory there are sections on various types of photography with each page showing an image with details of how to shoot that type of image. You might want to consider using fishpond (http://www.fishpond.com.au/index.php?ref=2628&affiliate_banner_id=51) which are a site sponsor.


Cheers.

Edit: BTW, I hadn't seen Luna-blu's post before I posted, my mention of Kelby was independent

[BeckyJohno]

Thanks for that Ben, any feedback is a big help, I hadn't really looked that deeply into the lens & hadn't come across that site so thanks, many more thoughts for me to read, hope my brain still has room for more info!!! Cheers & thanks for your time :)

[BeckyJohno]

Rick,

Sorry for putting this thread it in the wrong spot, I did think pretty hard about where to put it but confused myself & obviously got it wrong.
Also I am very sorry about that breach, as I have mentioned it before on another post I obviously didn't think twice about it.

I am truly sorry if I have offended you by not using this site by joining in more but as I mentioned before I have two kids & live 1300kms from any family, so I barely get 10 minutes to myself & by night time my brain doesn't work, so contributing & posting photo's etc is a bit much at the moment. I will endeavor to figure out how to put photo's on here but please do not hold your breath! :o .yes I know where to get the info from just have not had time to attempt it.

As for just coming on here and asking stuff when it suits my needs, I have actually read almost everything in the Library & spent lots of time reading forums on topics I need help coming to terms with, I just have not put my thoughts down, as I have had a pretty rough 3 months. As I was struggling with the course I actually got an extra module, a primer, to help me get a firm grip with the technical side of photography. the reason I put the above thread on is because I have been stuck on these things for a while & I wanted to make double sure I was on the right track.

So again Rick my sincerest apologies for all the problems I have caused. BeckJohno :(

[BeckyJohno]

Mark, thank you so much for clearing that up I defiantly worded the question wrong (baby brain). the reason I wanted to double check is because it is actually from a table I have that goes on to say what type of lens they are i.e., wide angle, normal, telephoto etc and the uses for those lenses. So I guess what my issue was when I was converting them (as I have an ASP sensor) as to what uses I should not go into i.e. a wide angle lens (20mm & 24mm) uses are landscape,interior & architecture. not close up work as it distorts & with a person's face generally the nose??? have I got that right, man like I said baby brain..... thanks again Mark.:)

[BeckyJohno]

Luna-blu, wow thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it. you have given me a lot to think about and research some more into, Thanks for those couple of authors/photographers, that will be a great help. did not even think of blogs, (not that internet savvy :o ) but I will try to find some, I know some photographers down south so I will see if they have them. Again thank you very much for all your opinion's they have been very helpful! :)

[BeckyJohno]

Phil, my gosh thank you very much, you have given me so much to think about, I hope I did not waste too much of your time, you have helped out a lot! I try not to rush into anything I love to research & read up on pretty much everything I need to know, research should be my middle name, but unfortunately I sometimes get all confused & that's how I ended up here. thanks again for your help. :)

[KeeFy]

70-200 will not cut it as a daily lens as with the 1.6 crop factor, it's just too long. Unless you do primarily street sniping. It really boils down to your style of shooting at the end of the day.

Coming from film you should have good basics on photography (unless you were the auto film kind). Try looking around for Scott Kelby's books, pretty useful.

[Tjfrnds]

I think it's difficult when you're just starting out with a dslr to try to stop yourself from buying everything you may possibly need:) As I newbie, when I first bought mine, I was immediately searching for the right lens for this and right settings for that. I then realised it wasn't that simple and now spend my time getting to know my camera, trying different techniques and understanding lighting, exposure, composition etc and I am still learning every day. I agree with all above, your needs will be specific to your style of shooting, budget, and knowledge. I'd suggest spending some time understanding all your camera has to offer, figure out your shooting style, and then look at accessories which will compliment your style. And most importantly, practice, practice, practice:) You will learn a lot from actively being involved on AP, I know I am!:D