TheByte

Mirage77

It's joy to use. Right from the start I instantly felt the disorientation moving from a digital point and shoot camera to a DSLR. The skills that you need in photography is very different and requires a higher level of understanding about optics, lenses and a little of physics. But I find it very interesting to pick up, and in no time I was already playing with all the settings like aperture, ISO and all, and I'm still getting used to it. My favourite is manual focus, which gives you the power to take really nice macro shots without ever needing to rely on the autofocus which sometimes makes mistakes.

I think my lenses are wide-angle ones, they can't zoom in very much. Anyway, they are lenses that came with the camera. Do you guys recommend any lenses I should buy? I know very little about lenses except you use each lens for different situations and shots.

One thing though, and I need help from all of you who own 300Ds (or SLRs) before, my autofocus seems to be broken. I was taking pictures at the carshow like there's no tomorrow and then suddenly, when I wanted to take a 1/4 view of the 599, the camera refuses to take action. I checked it again and again, and nope, it didn't want to take the picture. I don't know what happened and I tried another angle again. This time it works.

Then a short while later, while focusing on the Zonda S, the view suddenly seemed blur. I tried focusing again, and it refuses to focus clearly. It tried to do so but fails miserably. I switched over to manual focus and continued my shots, luckily without any hiccups.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong, have you guys experienced problems like these before? I've contacted the seller already and I'm now waiting for his reply.

Anyway, I'm really impressed with the 300D. With such an attractive price I don't know if I can find a camera as good as this within this price bracket.

Rob

No your auto focus is not broken James. It is set to take the shot only when the CPU has determined the image is in focus. You should be able to change the setting to a continuous mode (AI Servo AF) -- this means you will be able to take the picture even if the CPU does not "agree" that the image is properly focused.

Personally, I have always preferred to manually focus my images.

BTW, Nice camera you have

BMW_Dude

Good to see you're enjoying your new camera!

I was seriously thinking of getting a 400D, but decided on a G7 instead because I wanted something I could put in my pocket. Athough I have done loads of research on SLRs so know quite a bit. If you want a nice tele lens, I think something like an 18-200 would be great, I don't know what lens you have, but that could replace a few of them, and means you have the wide and tele lens on you all the time. Also I would recommend getting a fast prime lens for macro work, and possibly a 2X converter if you want a really long lens to stick on the 18-200. Personally, with your wide angle lens, those are the only lens I'd get!

Mirage77

Wow, that's a lot of technical jargon... What's a tele lens?

I'm not sure what lens I have, I'm ranting off all the numbers I see:

EFS 18-55mm
Macro 0.28m

Does that make sense?

BMW_Dude

A tele lens one a err long one, meaning a good zoom lens!

Oh right, the 18-55mm is the stand lens which comes with the camera, it's the kit lens, it's alright to start with but isn't great.

You can get cheap or expensive glass, the really good stuff is called L lens. Then there are IS lens with resist shaking. I don't know much about this, but got all my knowledge off the dpreview forums, if you read them, you'll learn a lot.

Here's a link to the 300D forum: Canon EOS 400D/350D/300D Forum: Digital Photography Review

The thing about lens, is basically you can spend as much as you want, thousands of pounds if you really want, there are no limits. That was one of the reasons why I didn't get an SLR, because I knew I would waste my money on a load of lenses, when I could buy a much cheaper camera which had a great lens!

Mirage77

Thanks Will. I will pick up as I go along.

I don't think I will get more than 3 lenses... I mean, they are pretty versatile right? My current basic lenses are actually rather satisfactory already.

BMW_Dude

I think the lens kit is a good one to start on, but as you get better, you will realise it's limitations and know what you want!

Personally, for the moment I'd get to know what you have, and take time to decide where to go next!

notic

-get one wide angle 10-20mm (you'll have a lot of fun with this)
-one telephoto (means more zoom)...this lens will take some getting used to, especially if you don't have stability built into the lens.
-get one prime lens (means it doesn't zoom in and out). they are usually focus faster than zoom lenses. i have a 50mm f1.8. these are great for portraits or low light photography. i'll try and post some links that explain aperture if i come across any.


for me it took some time to go from point and shoot to slr, but after you're used to it you'll never want to go back to point and shoots again. look forward to seeing your pictures

Mirage77

Wow thanks for that, certainly cleared some things up!

A polarising filter seems useful too, is it useful to get?

notic

it should be quite useful for outdoor photography in broad day light. good for photos like these: Very Peaceful Lake on Flickr - Photo Sharing!