kja

Nice find, Iluv. Did not know that about the NikD200. I love my Sigma 17-70, too (and I loved my Sigma 10-20 before it went swimming with the fishies one day) And my Tokina 11-16 2.8 and my Tokina 11-17 fisheye... Yay, third party lenses

Ooo, I love black and white and Lightroom ROCKS for getting just the right BW for a shot...I often have to stop myself from doing big groups of BW when I know some should really be in color LOL If this becomes the challenge, it would be great if we could - where possible - include settings and techniques in our chosen editing program.

Wow, what a pretty birdie!! Thanks for the kind words. TLC I hardly open PS usually, almost all of my editing is done in Lightroom. One day I do need to get back in to PS and actually learn stuff, but Lightroom makes my life so easy I don't bother!

She's a snob. Of course you can put other lenses on a body, jeesh. Some of the third party lenses - Tamron, Sigma, Tokina - rock the house and are a fraction of the cost of what a Nik or Canon version would be. Sometimes you can't get the Nik or Canon version at all...like the excellent Tokina 11-16 2.8. I know lots of 'togs using third party lenses with perfectly fine results. Not all lenses are the same, of course, and there may be tradeoffs in build quality or IQ, but often the IQ trade off is really only visible to basement dwelling pixel peepers. Do a little searching in the real life reviews of what togs think about one lens or another and you'll be able to weed out the problems more or less. I have a Sigma 50-150 2.8 that I bought before my Canon 70-200 2.8 IS because I could afford it and it got pretty good reviews. My thought was to sell it when I got the Canon, but it's such a workhorse AND I actually love the range for some things, that I've kept it. It also makes a heck of a backup should my Canon ever go phooey and need to go in for repairs. I go on...but short answer, she's wrong

I haven't had much of a chance to do anything not work, but hubby and I went to the beach evening before last and I took a shot of a cool tree branch. Would like to go back out there and play around, but probably won't get a chance... Anyway, my one pathetic April shot LOL Canon A720

I love my 40D It's a great value and an excellent work horse, imho.

Love the 450, can't go wrong. The kit lenses will get you started no problem. If you find a good deal with the body and kit lens/lenses go for it. The 18-55 is a particularly good kit lens.

You can't go too wrong with either Canon or Nikon as they both make very nice cameras. If you can, head in to a local camera shop and hold them both, try em both out and see if one feels particularly better to you. Both companies make great glass and the third party people (Sigma, Tokina etc) support them both. I adore the Canon 450 (or even the 400) as it's a powerhouse for a good price and capable of keeping you learning for ages. You might also check some used models like the 30D or 40D ... there are some good deals to be had on those. I have two 40Ds and love them. I don't use Nikon and get their model numbers mixed up, but they have a range of choices, too. Their newest offerings are leaps and bounds ahead of their older offerings in terms of high ISO and low light capabilities, so I would probably head to those instead of something that was two or three models back (the Canon you can go back to the 20D and still get very workable ISO800 and above). Nikon has one range that doesn't work with all of their glass - something about the AF system...you'll need a Nikon user to weigh in on that. It's not a huge deal, just something you need to know before you buy that model. The body itself is still good. Here in Australia and working on my own experience and that of three friends who last year had to send various and sundry gear in to our manufacturers...Canon still whips Nikon on service. One of my friends had his camera back to Nikon 3 times for a total of 8 months and they still didn't fix the problem properly. It can happen to any manufacturer and any body/lens, I know, but the it's the same thing I was hearing when I first moved to DSLR a few years ago and it was the shove that pushed me to Canon though at that time I had far more friends shooting Nik. Maybe not a deal breaker, but just another tidbit. Almost all of the models have a P mode and a green box mode. These are your "point and shoot" modes and they work very well in quite a few shooting circumstances. They all have the ability for you to move on to aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual, too. So you don't need to feel overwhelmed when you first start, but you can also experiment and try new things easily. That's not much help, I know! But I say, find a price you like on one of the models on your short list and go for it...there's really no *bad* choice.

Love the shots. These are such great lenses. I used my 50 1.4 at my last wedding for the whole reception and it never missed a beat, even in the suckalicious lighting conditions. I was very happy...and not a little surprised that it didn't hunt more than it did.

That sucks!!

Wow, you guys are rocking April! I've only had time to pop back a few pages but I'm loving the doggies shots, the pp experiments and the "month of medicine"! April has been insane for me and it's been rare for me to have even picked up my camera outside of work stuff. I've only been out on two days of diving and last year April saw me get out quite a bit...very sad for me LOL Keep it up, Guys! You're making me jealous!

If you want to stay on P mode, you can make your camera do what you want with exposure (more or less) by "tricking" it. Point your camera at an area that you want properly exposed and that is at the same distance as your subject. Try to fill the centre of your viewfinder with what you want properly exposed. Half press and hold the shutter. Keep holding the half press, recompose and then shoot. Your subject should be properly exposed as the camera's meter won't be fooled by the stuff you don't want. This method works with point and shoots, too

but shopping is FUN :rolleyes:

As you haven't printed them simply make a "border" around your photo. The "border" then is what is on the outside of the mounting frame and what is face up and showing is your whole image. Easy :rolleyes:

OK, those aren't nearly as bad as you think The third one looks pretty spot on for focus. The middle one isn't sharp where you want it but you can see that; I think the focus is more on the metal bit, not the dog. The first one is *almost* sharp where you want it but it looks like the focus is on the body and not right on the eye (which is usually where you want it). Monitor calibration is really important if you want to really see what you have. RAW is totally easy - you just flip the switch on your camera. Then you need Lightroom or Photoshop or even the DPP that came with your camera to process it. The files are larger because there is so much more information inside them than with jpeg (which throws away anything your camera doesn't think you need). One of the benefits of RAW is that because there is more information, tweaking is easier and your end result is better. You still have to get it as right as possible in camera, but for the fluff ups and for those images that need some extra loving (especially in the shadows and highlights) RAW is a godsend. Leaving your file type for now - just experiment and see which you prefer - have a look at your settings when you are using Av. What is your shutter speed? With the 60 you can drop your shutter way way down BUT only if you are shooting something that doesn't move much. If you are shooting doggies, usually they're going to swing their heads around or otherwise attempt to screw up your shot So you'll need to keep a reasonable shutter. It might be a good time to practice manual settings. Again, try a few things to see what works. At the very least it will help you get a feel for which situations your camera nails everything in Av and also get a feel for when you need to jump in and give it a little helping hand. With your camera body, you should be perfectly fine shooting up to ISO 400. ISO 800 is also pretty good, but does tend to get a little noisy in the shadows if you don't nail your exposure perfectly; 800 can only take a tiny tweak. Shooting in RAW will also give you a little more room to work. HTH

FWIW in case anyone thought I was saying a certain model was "crappy", I wasn't. I was making a general point Can you post an example or three of what you are seeing with the muddy colours? It could be your exposure, it could be your processing, it could be something else. Examples will help us troubleshoot. Also, what are you doing when you process and are you shooting RAW or jpeg? Focus being soft could be a whole host of things: - slow shutter - simply missing focus due to lack of contrast in your subject - missing focus due to not having your technique down yet - your lens could be off (there are lens focus test charts on the web that you can download and test your lens) - camera shake due to slow shutter and/or your technique The 60mm is a great lens. If you are shooting wide open (2.8 ... or really anything under about 7.1) you have a very narrow depth of field (the bits in sharp focus) so you could simply be missing the sweet focus spot with a narrow DOF. The closer you are to your subject with this lens, the tougher it is to get a crisp shot when you are shooting wide open. What mode are you shooting? Tv, Av, M, P, Green box?

Don't you shoot RAW? If so, those settings only show up on the jpeg preview. The RAW file can still be mucked with any way you want including resetting everything back to neutral (or to Vivid).

YES. Glass is king. Good glass will last forever and be WOW. Great glass on a mediocre body will give you better results, usually. NO. A crappy body will limit your options so much that no matter what glass you have you won't be able to get the results you want. MAYBE. Depends on what you like to shoot and what your needs are. And great photographers can create images with impact with a disposable so some of it depends on how hard you are willing to work for those images! I'm lazy, so I buy the best I can afford from the options that will suit my needs as it makes my job easier You have the 400D now ... what is it not giving you that you feel you need? There are two things that body would make me know I needed to upgrade: high ISO performance and AF accuracy and speed. But if you don't need the higher ISO capabilities and if you feel you are getting the shots you want in focus (and better glass will also help with this - look for a fast lens like 1.4, 1.8, 2.8 etc), then stick with your body and spend on more glass. Or, go to the 40D and get more glass, too.

At 17, quite a lot if you aren't careful. Keep the ppl from the edges and near the centre for the least distortion; keep the camera "flat" on helps, too. I use my 17-55 TONS for portrait sessions, so it certainly can be done and I love the fast options that range provides. I am moving to a longer focal length for many things now though as I find that most people I've encountered do relax faster and more with a tad more space between the camera lens and them. I just used my 50 extensively the other night for the first time in a people heavy environment. I didn't notice any distortion. I was on a 1.3 crop sensor. 50mm was always the people "standard" lens on film bodies.

Just be aware that with shorter lenses you can get some distortion that is unattractive when shooting people. And backing off with a 50, 85 or even 135 will most often get more natural looking faces than shorter lenses when you are all up in their space.

LOL clearly I suck at cut & paste

Hmm, you had it printed but they didn't mount it? I have mine stretched on a wooden frame before delivery and then they simply hang on the wall. It's classic for fine art canvas and photo canvas. There's also a "new" acrylic mount option where the canvas is pressed between two sheets of acrylic. Looks awesome and sleek. But again, I have those done all together. I'm sure a frame shop would be able to help you with options now that you already have the printed canvas ready...

40D and spend the extra on lenses. Hands down. The micro-adjust isn't worth it, imho.

It's pretty customary to give something to your subject when YOU are asking them to do things for you. High res files are not out of the question as the person is helping you out. And "high res" can mean a lot of things - most people don't really understand. You don't have to give huge files, just make sure they are ready for printing up to something 8x12 ... and say larger prints need extra tlc and can be ordered through you. You might want to specify a number ... say 3 or 10 (or whatever) files suitable for printing. When I've done a session to practice something new or for another reason that is about ME, I give them some images on disk and/or prints - depending on what the value to me is for the shoot. I'd also make sure that I gave them some web ready files with your details (whatever you decide those will be) on them and in the agreement state that these are the ones to be used on FB and emailing and on their own web pages etc. Encourage them to get them out there coz they have your contact details on 'em! Or if you don't want to give files, do the same thing with prints - offer a set number of poses/prints and sizes. I'd think more than one but no more than 10 is reasonable. I'd probably stick with 3 or 5? I'd also make sure that I gave them some web ready files with your details (whatever you decide those will be) on them and in the agreement state that these are the ones to be used on FB and emailing and on their own web pages etc. Encourage them to get them out there coz they have your contact details on 'em!

Awesome Glad you got it sold.