LightChasers Photography » gear

The Beginner’s Guide to Buying a DSLR

Luis — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:30:31 +0000

What DSLR should I get? That is one of the most common questions I hear, and with this post, I’m hoping to help you answer that question.

If you already have a DLSR and you’re looking for an upgrade, you can probably skip this. Then again, you might as well read this – somebody is bound to ask you the same question some day.

Getting back to the point, if you’re buying your first DSLR, which one should you get? To answer that, you have to ask yourself quite a few more questions. Keep in mind that we won’t be discussing any specific brand or model. Instead, we’ll be asking questions that will help you figure out which camera to get.

Also keep in mind that image quality probably won’t be an issue here. Almost all DSLRs in the market today will perform similarly. Yes, some will be better than others, but if this is your first DSLR, the biggest issue will be how much better it performs than your current point-and-shoot.

How much are you willing to spend immediately?

I’ll ask the question again, how much are you willing to spend immediately? When you buy a DSLR, you’re not just buying a camera – you’re buying into a whole system of lenses, lights, and other gear. A camera and a lens are all you may be getting now, but eventually, you’ll be spending quite a bit more on two or three lenses, a flash or two, and quite a few other things. That being said, we’re trying to figure out which kit you’ll be getting now.

Put simply – if you can’t afford it, then don’t even consider buying it. On the other hand, if you can afford it, it’s something you should probably consider.

Check online. Check your local retailers. Check the 2nd hand market. Find out what options you have available and list them down. DSLRs don’t come cheap, so finding out what your options are is definitely a good idea.

Once you know what your options are, then you can ask yourself the next question.

How big are your hands?

I know it might seem like a strange question, but let me explain first.

Twee by Amanda M Hatfield

CC-BY

The major players in the industry have DSLRs that come in different sizes. One player seems to be focused on making smaller cameras, but for the most part, cameras come in three basic sizes: small, medium, and large. Quite conveniently, these sizes usually correspond to three classes of cameras: entry-level or consumer, enthusiast (sometimes called pro-sumer), and professional. Not surprisingly, their prices also fit into similar categories: expensive, very expensive, and I-can-buy-a-@$#%-car-for-that-price.

If you’ve got tiny hands, then you’ll probably end up with a small, entry-level camera. You might be able to afford something better, but if that’s what feels comfortable in your hands, it’s likely the one you’ll enjoy using more. It may not have the latest and greatest set of features, but since technology trickles down, the latest entry-level camera still has quite a few tricks up its sleeve.

If you’ve got big hands and a small budget, don’t fret. If you want the latest model but can only afford a small camera, squeezing a little more out of your budget to add a battery grip could work for you. If you’re willing to buy used or refurbished, you can upgrade to one of the bigger cameras – you won’t have the latest technology, but you’ll have something that feels comfortable in your hands.

Look around and check out a few camera stores. Get your hands on some different cameras and see how they feel. At this point, size is pretty much your main concern – you want to figure out which cameras feel right in your hands, as well as your budget. When you figure this out, then you can come up with a shortlist.

What do others say about your choices?

You know which cameras feel good in your hands, but you don’t know how well they actually work yet. This is when you gather reviews from others. Ask your friends, check online, bug your neighbor, harass your local camera store clerk, and check out the local photography club. Others can tell you what they like and don’t like about the cameras on your list. Of course, you should still take whatever they say with a grain of salt.

You can also check out, not just what people say, but what they do with the cameras you want. Flickr has a nifty little tool they call the Camera Finder which lets you look for images taken by a certain brand or model of camera. You probably won’t see any significant differences between different cameras, but it will definitely prove one thing – not getting the latest and greatest model won’t keep you from taking great images. Like I mentioned earlier, practically all DSLRs today will give you much better image quality than your current camera.

This is very important – what systems are your friends and family using?

equipment by Marc Lacoste

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Like I mentioned, when you buy an SLR, you’re not just buying a camera. I strongly suggest getting something that lets you share equipment with people in your circle. You’ll probably start out with only one body and one lens, but if you buy the same brand that some of your friends have, then you immediately have quite a few toys to play with. Of course, this assumes that they trust you enough to be lend you some of their toys.

Of course, you won’t always be mooching off others. Eventually, you’ll fill up your gear bag with other goodies that you can share with them too. Before that though, comes another advantage of sharing a system with friends and family: the chance to test gear out before buying. If, for example, one of your colleagues at work has a new wide-angle lens that you’ve been reading about, you can try it out yourself before you decide to buy one. If you don’t want to go that far, you can at least grill him extensively about how well a certain piece of equipment performs – online reviews can only say so much, after all.

Yet another advantage of sharing a system with others is the potential for sales and trades. You can see your friends treat their equipment, and they can see how you care for your gear too. Should a friend decide to sell a lens you’ve been thinking about buying, you can get a pretty good idea of the condition it’s in, and consequently, how much it’s really worth. You could also get a friend’s discount, or maybe some other deal. Also, if you decide to unload any of your gear, you might have some ready buyers immediately.

At this point you’ve probably trimmed your list down to one or two choices, and this is the point where I give you some actual advice on what gear to get. Here it is: whatever model you choose, get the kit lens.

Yes, I know there are some who will argue that the kit lens isn’t that great. They will insist on getting expensive lenses that, admittedly, perform significantly better than the usual kit lens. I’m telling you to ignore them.

Right now, you don’t know what the kit lens can do yet, so don’t knock it. Right now, you don’t know what kind of lenses you’ll want. Heck, right now, you don’t know what you can do with your (future) DSLR yet. What the kit lens will do is allow you to do a little bit of everything. It won’t be that great at anything, but it’ll still do a pretty good job. It’s not the fastest lens, but it’ll work for most of your needs. It’s just wide enough to give you a wide angle, and just long enough to give you a little telephoto. When you learn what you want that your kit lens isn’t giving you, then you spend more on other gear. For now though, stick with the kit.

equipment by A A Photography

CC-BY-ND

Ok, I’ll backtrack a little on this point. One lens you might want to consider getting immediately is a nifty-fifty. Most manufacturers, or at least the two biggest players, have a 50mm f/1.8 (we’ll get to lens nomenclature some other time) that’s just cheap enough to be worth buying immediately. Aside from this though, I’m telling you – stick with the kit lens!

I think that pretty much covers it. To those of you thinking of buying a DSLR, I hope I helped you out.

To the rest of you, if you’ve got some tips that I missed, please leave a comment and tell me about it.

Who Says DIY Gear Looks Cheap?

Luis — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:37:15 +0000

Some time back, I made some grids for my flash. If you follow the link, you can see that while they worked pretty well, they weren’t exactly very pretty. In other words, they did the job, but definitely looked home-made. That was not good.

That’s why I recently embarked on another wave of DIY projects. My goal this time was to come up with lighting mods that not only worked well, but looked good – or at the very least didn’t look like 3rd-grade art projects

The images below are the results of this DIY spree. You want instructions? I’ve also posted several links below. I didn’t follow them completely, but I definitely used them as guides for my own projects.

For Strobists, here’s some lighting info:
With the exception of the grids, everything was lit with an SB-800 on one side and a bounce card (i.e. a piece of white cardboard) on the other. The grids were lit by the said SB-800 and the 430EX you see.

How to get your own lighting mods:

speed strap / cinch strap
If you don’t want to build your own straps, you can get a LumiQuest® Cinch Strap or a HonlPhoto Speed Strap. Since I don’t mount the straps on the edge of my flash – I need the room for my grids – I recommend the Lumiquest version. The wider HonlPhoto straps give you a lot more space to attach your mods, but are so wide they have to go to the edge of the flash.

If, on the other hand, you want to make your own straps, check out the links below. I pretty much combined ideas from both sets of tutorials. On this note, I should make a disclaimer – I use a baller ID to keep the strap in place. I place it around the flash, then wrap the strap around it, and the strap stays in place. This rubber band (that’s what it is, essentially) also serves another purpose – it keeps my gel holder in place.

grids
I already linked to some instructions in a previous post on DIY grids, but I’ll list them again here:

I pretty much used the black straw (colored) tutorial, with some differences. One is that I added a little tab with some hook tape to latch it onto the speed strap on my flash. The critical difference however, is that I didn’t use cardboard. I’m pretty sure you can tell what material I used based on the images above, but all I’ll say about it is this – doesn’t it look so much better than cardboard or duct tape?

bounce card
My bounce card here is pretty much a stiff version of ABetterBounceCard.com with hook & loop tape. As you can see, it’s white on one side (it’s a bounce card after all) and black on the other (so the people behind me don’t go blind).

You want to see the bounce card itself? See two more (not so glamorous) images below. If you still want a tutorial after seeing this, leave a comment telling me so. I think the images are pretty clear though.

gel holder
This one item stymied me for quite a while. I didn’t particularly like David Hobby’s way of attaching gels. For one thing, it left the gels prone to more wear and tear than necessary. On top of that, the the Roscolux gels I had didn’t leave me with much room to attach some hook & loop tape.

The HonlPhoto Rosco Gel Kit didn’t look that much better either – without some modifications (i.e. adding hooks on the other side), there was no way of stacking gels or attaching bounce cards, gobos, and other wonderful lighting mods.

The LumiQuest FX, Gel Set with Holder looked interesting, but also looked too bulky. I don’t think I could put my bounce card on with that gel holder on. A DIY gel holder (plus a snoot and gobo too) by Thomas Schwenger caught my eye, but fell out of favor too – I thought the gel holder was a bit too flimsy.

I then saw this DIY gel holder over at DIYPhotography.net which almost, but didn’t quite fit the bill. One line in the post caught my eye though:

This got me thinking on alternatives to gel holders and the thing that popped to mind was name tag pockets. Those are pretty cheap and once you place on over your flash, you can freely insert and remove colorful gels.

After a short trip to the local bookstore (or rather, a conversation with my girlfriend, who then took it upon herself to go to the bookstore), a bit of thinking, a fair amount of cutting, and some experimentation, I ended up with the little contraption you see on the right.

It looks a bit like the acrylic gel holder mentioned over at DIYPhotography.net, but it’s significantly lighter, nowhere near as bulky, and basically smaller. It slides in under my DIY speed / cinch strap (under the baller ID I mentioned), and it’s small enough not to interfere with most other mods, so it can stay on my flash practically all the time. I only remove this when I put on my grids, which have their own gel holders built in.

So, are you ready to start work on your own lighting mods?

RadioPoppers on the Loose

Luis — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:29:40 +0000

I got the heads up from David Hobby’s little site, but the lucky bastards guys that got to play with these little babies talked about it over here. I wish I had a pair (or more) of these things in my kit, but for now, I’m just drooling over this description:

With TTL radio transmission, I can fire the flash from across the hall, around corners, harsh daylights, and 1/8000th aft high speed sync at f2.8. So, all the limitations that I’ve encountered in the past are gone.

I’m not that excited about the full TTL functionality – yeah, it’s great to have, but I’m used to shooting in manual. It’s useful when shooting events, but still, it’s a bonus. What I’m really excited about is the ability to kill daylight. That 1/8000s sync speed is real – I’ve tried it with my 430EX and a borrowed ST-E2 – and it can literally turn midday into midnight. Sure, it’ll suck juice faster than a thirsty elephant (where the hell did that come from?), it makes your flash that much more powerful.

I’m almost ready to give away my Poverty Wizards, and I’m not even looking at Pocket Wizards. I want to get my hands on some RadioPoppers.

update 2008.03.23: It looks like Master Strobist David Hobby, amazing wedding photographers Matt Adcock and Sol Tamargo (who blog over at FlashFlavor), as well as Ed Pingol have all been popping away with these poppers that have suddenly popped up in their hands. I’m really green with envy now.

Items You Must Have in Your Camera Bag

Luis — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:48:46 +0000

Some of the items you should keep in your camera bag aren’t available in most camera stores. You can find them in supermarkets, hardware stores, toy stores, drug stores, and a bunch of other places, but that doesn’t mean they don’t belong in your photography kit. On top of this, they all cost under $10 – so there’s no reason for you not to have them.

Want to know what they are? Read on.

Keep an eye out for:

velcro ties: You’ve probably got several different cables in your bag for chargers, connectors, and other things. Velcro ties will help keep them from gettting all tangled up in your bag.
battery case: If you’re a Strobist like me, you’ve probably carry several rechargeable batteries in your bag. Some people have recommended using your batteries in groups to extend their life. One way to do that is by labeling your batteries. I do that, and use a battery case similar to this to help keep my battery groups together. I also use them to differentiate the spent cells from the charged ones.
dessicant: Water and electronics usually don’t mix well – that’s why it’s so important to keep your gear dry. Getting an all-weather bag (I use the LowePro Slingshot 200) helps keep moisture from getting in during downpours, but making sure the inside always stays dry requires more than just waterproofing. These little pillow-like things suck the moisture out of the air – helping keep your gear dry. On this note, if you’re really feeling cheap, just grab some dessicants from packs of nori, bottles of vitamins, and other items that usually have some silica gel included. They might be a bit small, but enough of these things can still make a difference.
flashlight: I’m the type of guy that carries a flashlight all the time – I have flashlights in my pocket, my bag, my car, my room, and basically everywhere. That being said, I can probably bore you with way too many reasons to keep a flashlight in your camera bag. A few photographic reasons, however, are getting perfect focus on a self-portrait, light painting (see amazing examples here and here), and simply so you have a light source whenever you need one. Not yet convinced? I don’t care – just get one.
adhesive putty: It looks and feels like clay, but it works like glue. Even better, it’s reusable and it leaves no residue. Adhesive putty is perfect for sticking a reflector on a wall, propping up a small mirror, keeping your subject still, and basically making sure things stay in place.
oil blotting paper: Oil makes faces shinier, and shiny skin tends to blow out under lighting – that’s why people on TV usually wear makeup. Now, unless you can afford to have a stylist with you for all your shoots, you need to find another way to combat oil. Besides, not everybody will be too happy about putting stuff on their face. Oil blotting paper usually does the trick. Of course, you can also have your subjects wash their faces, but you can’t exactly fit a sink in your pack, can you?

I’m sure you can think of dozens of other items to pack in your bag. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments below.

6 Gifts for Photographers Under $25

Luis — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:05:54 +0000

Knowing what a photographer wants for the holidays is easy. There’s always a new body, lens, light, or other piece of equipment that he (or she) is lusting after. Actually being able to afford that item is whole other matter.

Don’t worry about blowing your whole budget on one person though – I’ve got several gift ideas for photographers under $25. Intrigued? Read on.

Give the Gift of Flickr – $24.95: Flickr is one of the most popular photo sharing sites around – heck, I daresay it is the best photo sharing site. I admit, their free account is already loaded with features, but a pro Flickr account is something any photographer, whether beginner or pro, will appreciate. I should know – I want one too.
Ease Their Load – $20~: Unless your shutterbug friend is a die-hard fan of one camera brand, he’s probably willing to part with the strap that originally came with his camera. Aside from offering better padding and other nifty features, third-party camera straps aren’t usually plastered with their manufacturers’ logo. I personally use the LowePro Voyager C ($24.95) and love the quick-release buckles and built-in (but still removable) memory card wallet. I also recommend LowePro’s Voyager S and Transporter models.
Set Them Straight – $19.95: Spirit or bubble levels can help get that camera perfectly level – coming in handy for landscape, architecture, and even portrait photography. Just slip it into your hot shoe and say goodbye to slanted photos.
Help Them Remember – $10 and up: A photographer can never have enough memory. With megapixel counts are still climbing and raw shooters multiplying, the need for larger memory cards has also grown. Whether they use, CF, SD, XD, MS or some other digital media, extra memory cards are always welcome.
Charge Them Up – $8 and up: Like memory, a photographer can never have too much power. If your photographer uses an external flash, chances are he’s using AA batteries to power them. If he’s not already using rechargeable batteries, he should – they are better than alkalines in just about every way. He’ll save quite a bit on alkalines, and he’ll thank you for it.
Clean Them Up – $2 and up: Cameras and dust are mortal enemies – that’s why there are so many products for cleaning photography gear: air blowers, lens pens, microfiber cloths, sensor swabs, and a bunch of other things. Some have even put together complete cleaning kits. Now there’s no excuse for having dirty gear.

I hope this helps you check off some shutterbugs from your holiday shopping list. In case I’m on that list, let me throw in one last item:

The Ultimate Charger – $39.99: I won’t say much about this item except that I want it. I think DH can explain why.

Enjoy shopping!

Testing My DIY Grid Spot

Luis — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:34:13 +0000

edit: I’ve replaced these grids with more aesthetically pleasing versions. The new grids function exactly the same – I simply transplanted the innards (the straws) into a better-looking exterior. It’s still a DIY project, but it doesn’t look cheap anymore.

In the whole Strobist spirit of finding inexpensive ways of playing with light, I made some grid spots for my flash. So far, I’ve seen two versions of the DIY grid spots – the cardboard or coroplast version, and the drinking straw version. As you can see from the image off to the left, I opted for the straws.

If you’re looking for instructions on making these little babies, stop right now. Look back up and click on some of the links in the first paragraph. On the other hand, if you’re looking for examples of how these grids work, read on.

The three shots below show how the beam from your flash spreads out. These examples show from left to right, a bare flash, a flash with a 2cm grid, and one with a 5cm grid. I’ve included the disc off to the right as a reference – those flashes are roughly five inches away from the wall.

Notice how the light comes out as a nice little circle with virtually no spill. If you want to light your subject and nothing else, these gridspots are great for that.

I’ve got another example for you – this time with a model. Our model in this set is somebody most of you probably know: Street Fighter’s Ryu – or at least a 6″ version of him. Again, the examples show a bare flash, a 2cm grid, and a 5cm grid.

You can see the setup for these shots here, but the basic idea is that Ryu was lit from roughly a 45 degree angle off camera right.

If you’ve noticed, the gridded lights pretty much focused all the light where they were pointed. There’s no light bouncing all over the place – only light on the subject. Want to add a rim light or back light that won’t flare into the camera, put a grid on it. Want to light your subject while keeping the background dark, grid your light.

Now, if only I could make a larger grid…

Cactus PT-04 RF Triggers

Luis — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:27:01 +0000

About a month ago, I got some Cactus PT-04 v2s triggers from Gadget Infinity along with fellow blogger and photographer Markku Seguerra. Having played around with them for a while, I’ll say this much – they’re no Pocket Wizards, but for the price, they sure do some magic.

Questions have been raised about their quality, usability, and reliability. I can tell you now that they really don’t look very expensive – but that’s because they really aren’t. They sell for under $50 – what do you expect?

You want to talk about performance? Trigger range right out of the box is pegged at 20 to 30 feet – not exactly very far. On top of this, I tested them and got a 75% trigger rate – a flash would fail to fire once every four or so frames. Suddenly, these little babies seem to have lost some of their magic.

With some minor modification though, the triggers act like they’ve got a fresh sprinkling of fairy dust. With a new antenna, range has gone up tenfold to over 300 feet, and that’s not the only improvement. With the mod, trigger rates are now well above 90% – not bad at all.

No, the Cactus PT-04 triggers might not look like much, but who cares? I want triggers that work, and these babies work pretty damn well.