Tuesday, August 07, 2007

A Question for the Internet Photographers

I'm thinking of getting a camera. When I was in the Peace Corps, I had a really good Pentax SLR, with the bayonet mount and stuff, and a couple basic lenses. I took lots of pictures, some even pretty good ones. I played with black and white film and with double images. I had fun.

The Pentax is no longer, and for a long time I couldn't afford a camera. But now I can, and I have a pretty good reason (trip to Asia, birds, etc) to want to get one.

I'm thinking digital this time around. In an ideal world, I'd get a decent quality digital SLR with a couple basic lenses. And it would be light enough for me to carry around happily, so that I can take pictures wherever. It has to be light enough to take to Asia in January, at any rate.

I'm hoping to get it ahead of time to learn how to use it in the basic ways.

Suggestions, please?

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:53 PM

    I'm partial to the Canon A series.

    Digital Photography Review is an excellent resource.

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  2. Hey B,

    You should get to know my friend Confessing Mermaid: http://themermaidletters.blogspot.com

    She used to be a reporter/photographer on a local Eastern paper and is well-versed in camera lore. She has a list of groovy greats when it comes to cameras that might prove helpful!

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  3. Anonymous10:33 PM

    Hi there-
    Out of lurk mode to say hi and send virtual hugs: *massive hugs*.

    I'm in a few photography groups and probably the single thing they can agree on is that you really have to go try the cameras and hold the bodies in your hands and see what feels right. Some people are rabid Nikon fans, others prefer Canon. I have a digital Canon Rebel XT, and an 18-200 zoom lens and I really love it. It's a great camera for me, fits my hands well and I find the controls more intuitive than the Nikons. But that's just me. You can look through some of my photos taken with it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artbeco/. Just keep in mind that I'm not a real tech-head as far as photography goes, so technically I'm sure I could do much better if I applied myself and learned more of the camera's capabilities. I shoot mainly in various manual modes these days, but there are a lot of options to choose from. Flickr also has a ton of photo groups where you could go for advice.

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  4. Rev Dr. Mom just had a similar post, and a lot of people (me included) wrote our suggestions. I don't have time at the conference right now to reproduce it, so go take a look!

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  5. Xensen, Thanks for the suggestion! I'll look there.

    Amanda, Thanks! I'll check her out.

    Beck, /hugs back at you. For real. I think I'm going to have to break down and make a trip into the "big city" so I can actually see the things for real. Thanks for the suggestions :)

    Ianqui, Thanks :) I'll go check out the discussion!

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