What DSLR?

  I’m often asked by people for my advice about what camera they should buy as their first DSLR. The advice I give is usually the same no matter who I‘m talking to, so I thought it might be useful to write it up on my blog.

The process of buying a DSLR is not a quick decision, once you’ve made you mind up on what manufacturer you going to buy you will most likely remain with them for the rest of your photography life. The reason behind this is you’re making an investment, camera equipment is not cheap and once you’ve bought the body you’re going to have to invest in lenses. A basic body, 2 lenses and a memory card is going to cost between £1000 - £1500 and the only part of this that might be interchangeable between manufactures will be the memory card. If you ever decide to switch, you’re going to have to sell all your gear and start again.

The first question I ask is have you ever had a SLR or DSLR in the past? If the answer is yes and you enjoyed using the camera, than I’d say to go with the same manufacturer. If your answer is no or yes but you didn’t enjoy using it then I would say to goto a camera shop and have a play with the different manufacturers bottom to mid range camera’s. The key thing is for the camera to feel comfortably in your hands, if the camera doesn’t feel right then you won’t pick it up as often to use and it will become more difficult to learn how to use it. If it just feels right in your hands then using the camera settings will start to become instinct, an extension of yourself.

A digital SLR can come with different size sensors, these are usually full frame or APS-C. The latter is more often than not cheaper, full frame is the equivalent of a 35mm film camera and APS-C can be around 40% smaller When your starting out the it doesn’t matter about this so much just as long as you realise the difference. Where you need to put some more thought is the lenses, the reason being is that if a lens has been specifically designed for an APS-C sensor then it will not work on a full frame camera. If your wanting to take photography up as a light hobby I wouldn’t worry about this to much. But if your intending to take a more serious interest then I wouldn’t buy APS-C lenses otherwise when you upgrade your body your going to have to upgrade your lenses to.

If your new to photography you most likely wont have a specialist subject you like to photograph. This means that when it comes to lenses it can make the decisions difficult on what to buy. If your on a tight budget and can only afford one lens then I would go for a 50mm lens as most manufacturers make cheap, good quality versions. Also a 50mm is always a useful lens to have in your kit bag, at this point I will say it’s the one lens I really need to get for myself. If you are in the position that you can afford 2 lenses then I would advise that you look to cover between 28mm to 200mm, this will give you plenty of lens options covering a variety of price points. It will also mean that you can cover a wide amount of subjects while your learning to use your equipment and will still be useful if you find your photography going in direction.

I hope this is of some help, what I didn’t want to do was go into to much detail as then it is not as relevant to everyone. If you have any questions that you’d like to ask me then feel free to contact me, I’m always happy to try and help.



Texture

Those who know me already will be aware of my great interest in photography, if you know me and you didn't then you've done well to avoid being bored by hearing me go on. Anyway I've started a new project this evening looking at textures close up, it always fascinates me to see small detail of an object. It will also mean that my macro lens starts to feel wanted again, I think it might of been sulking in the bottom of my camera bag.

The above image is of an item connected to another love of mine football, it's a scarf . I really liked the contrast in the colour and the difference in the pattern of how the acrylic has been knitted. I took the shot with the scarf hanging down and with the lens wide open hence why only part of the image appears to be in focus. The effect of this gives a good sense of close up detail and what you see from a distance. Feel free to tell me what you think.