kja

I love the feel of my 40Ds, too, and I not only have very small hands, but they are weak, too, thanks to a weird twist of genetic fate (as are my wrists). So you don't have to be super strong for this body to feel comfy. I don't find the 450D etc too small, though. I don't think I could comfortably hold a Mark series Canon or the bigger Niks and even the 5D is too much for long periods. Getting to fondle your choices is a definite bonus if you can - I've never had that luxury and just took a punt LOL

Wooohooo! New toys are always fun! Enjoy and make sure to post lots of photos :rolleyes:

Ah, just order it online. Harvey is almost always totally overpriced and I've yet to be in one that has anyone behind the desk who has a real clue anyway FWIW camera models get superseded usually at least once or twice a year and many retailers will tell you that a model is no longer available once they have cleared stock so they can get in the newer, higher priced models. Newer models sometimes aren't that much better (or better at all - sometimes they aren't as good!) and you'll never keep up with the ever changing digital race. Just find a camera that suits your needs now, grab it and get out there and have fun!

Sorry, weren't you looking at the S5? Seems available... S5 The G9 is also a pretty capable camera that you might want to consider...

Pretty much any of the Nikon or Canon offerings will be more than suitable for your needs and each brand has at least one body in your price range. I'd probably spend a little less on a body and a little more on some fast glass. It's really the lenses that are going to make a difference so spending a little bit more should give you greater capabilities. If you are going to shoot in lower light, you want to start saving up for lenses that are f2.8 or faster. As you are shooting dogs, you're going to want to head to some review sites for their take on how fast the auto focus is on various lenses (and to some extent, bodies - though most you are looking at are pretty good). www.fredmiranda.com has very good reviews on a huge array of lenses. Also have a look at some of the recent threads here as a couple of people have been looking for pretty much the same things and there's lots of great information.

The Canon compact cameras are awesome and you can't go wrong with their S, A or SD series. Go the S if you don't mind the extra size. Go the A if you want all of the manual controls (plus all of the auto modes so you can just totally point and shoot) in a smaller package (way smaller). There are hacks out there to add RAW to many of these models, if RAW is something that is important to you. Go the SD if you know you don't want any manual controls, want something that is as small as can be so it slips in any bag, pocket or purse. I love the SD range for a happy snappy camera - so tiny, really nice photos and just easy.

I have and love this lens but it's a heavy monster, so be warned. Luke's right on it's versatility for sure. The portraits from it are just dreamy But for me, it's the last one I pull from my bag on most portrait sessions coz I prefer the smaller lighter lenses! As I've said before, it really depends on what you want from your lens ... and unfortunately, eventually you have to just decide and then go with it! There's always ebay and more shopping to do hehehe FWIW - I have chosen not to spend the mega-bucks on the 1.2 versions of the 85 and the 50 after talking extensively with many of my pro friends who have and use both the 1.8 85, the 1.4 50 and the 1.2s. I about drove them and me crazy with discussions. Although they wouldn't give up their 1.2s to a single one said that the slightly slower of these particular lenses were just fantastic. Most of them still routinely use the slightly slower glass on assignments, too. I dunno, just passing on what I found when I was searching for the kit to suit me recently. For me & my shooting needs, that extra bit of low light capability would be a lovely thing to have, but not at the cost of a heavier lens AND more money right now. It's never easy unless you have unlimited funds to just buy one of everything! I have and love the 100 mm macro - a true 1:1 macro - and it does do nice portraits. I just don't use it much because it's heavy and I like my others better for portraits.

That 50 1.8mm is a great lens for the money. I still use mine all the time. I have now ordered the 50 1.4 and it should be here next week - so my 1.8 will be for sale The 85 1.8 is super but it's a bit long sometimes - which can be good or bad depending on your situation :D You might like this length as it's good for doggies who aren't up in your face, too. Another lens I'm digging, and I do use it for portraits when I want something a little wider but with no crazy distortion is the Sigma 30 1.4 You will find excellent examples and not so good examples from all of these lenses - just like most things with photography, it's the person behind the lens that really matters. All of these are viable options. Another option is the 17-55 2.8 IS by Canon. I use this at weddings and for portrait sessions. Fabulous to be able to go from fairly wide to a nice tight face with one lens. It's pricey though - almost $1000.

Yup mine are Canons Sorry to hear you didn't get any keepers, but it does sound like you are learning!

LOL that's too true... be aware that the Canon people there go a little over the top sometimes, too Fred Miranda is a great resource, but again, the people can get a little nutsy sometimes. Very good reviews and there are plenty of really helpful people, too. The forums at DPReview can get kinda nasty sometimes, but you might find a nugget... So what are you buying???

Pictures of the lenses themselves can be found on the manufacturer's websites (canon, nikon etc) You can also see ones that have been reviewed on www.dpreview.com If you want to check out the images from a particular lens, the Canon forum has an awesome archive thread Is that what you are looking for?

Great explanation, Tess! I think you're going to love the 450! It's a sweet camera The 18-55IS is a really nice lens ... very versatile and produces lovely images. I think it's a good choice to have in your bag. The 55-200IS is a bit better than the 75-300 but both are going to be able to produce fine results, so it's really a matter of if you need the longer reach of the 300. The 200 will likely focus a tad faster, but you do lose 100mm in reach - which can be frustrating! I like the slightly wider end of the 55-200 zoom as I find that 50 is actually a very useful length a lot of times and longer than that makes me back up more than I want to. Enough rambling - either lens will be great and should give you a good idea of what you really like to shoot so then you can choose to buy more glass (or not!) Cameras Direct in Brisbane is meant to be very good Ted's also gets high marks from some Quality Cameras... Discount Digital Photographics is another that many of my friends use regularly You can also buy from overseas and there are often much better prices available. B&H, Sigma4Less, Adorama are all very good to deal with as Australians. Camera bodies have "local" warranties and lenses have international warranties, so you might want to buy the body here but buy the lenses from somewhere else. You can also buy add-on warranties for your gear to extend the manufacturer warranty. I just bought a lens from Sigma4Less and chose the import lens (no warranty at all in this particular case) and added their Mack warranty - I did it this way because I got a longer warranty period and the total cost was cheaper than the non-import lens. The shipping back to the US should I ever need to use the warranty for my camera bodies (all bought from US) or lenses doesn't phase me at all, but might be a consideration for others. HTH Looking forward to seeing the photos

I know this might seem silly, but are you focusing the camera or are you just tripping the shutter? Autofocus doesn't mean that the camera just does it - you have to tell it to. With some lenses this actually takes a little time to achieve focus so you need to get a feel for your set up. Try focusing on non-moving subjects before you start shooting the doggies. Focus at something close then something farther - switch it up and see how long it takes to focus and if you can nail focus by simply moving your camera and using the half press (or *, whatever you are set up for). It's good practice to get the feel for things - you can always delete the shots as you're not doing it to get photos, just to learn your camera and lens. Faster focusing is why some lenses are way more expensive Many users leave the AF in the default which is a half press of the shutter button and then a full press to take the shot, but some cameras let you move the focus part to the back * button and then use the shutter just to take the shot when you are sure it's in focus. I use the * button almost all of the time, for some reason it just works better for me. Might be something else to try. Moving subjects - especially FAST doggies - are tough so shooting lots of frames is the best way to up your odds! You can also try putting it in shutter priority mode. Tv on Canons. In this mode you set the shutter so you can freeze the action (say 1/800 or higher) and then the camera chooses the aperture (which gives you the depth of field). Good luck!

How about any of the Canon A or SD series? If he wants manual controls, go the A...if he just wants to point and shoot, go the SD.

Ahhh, what a cutie pie!! I can't believe you haven't named him yet...isn't any name coming to you when you look at him, think about him? We had a short list (that got changed as we saw more of the pup) and the name just popped for us on all three of ours so far. Good luck with it - you gotta decide soon or he's going to get a complex and you'll be calling him "puppy" when he's 11! LOL Come to think of it, I called our first big girl "Darling Puppy" or her real name, Diva, all through her life...

MatildaLily, as sweet as she is, is still a mouthy dog. Dora was a mouthy dog for ages, too, but she eventually gave it up so I have high hopes. Problem is, I can't remember which types of bones we gave her when she was going through that stage and I'm not sure that the current thinking on what is good for dogs is the same five years ago. So, what types of bones are good for chewing on? They are Rhodesian Ridgebacks, if that helps. Til is 8 months and Dora is almost six years.

It's not a difference, it's just how the lens works. The "macro" allows you to shoot up close and get a good magnification ratio. You'd only see a difference using a different lens with the same focal length that didn't have the magnification (this one is 1:2.3, the Canon 60 macro is 1:1 or Canon's 28-105 has a ratio of 1:5.2, for instance). Does that make sense? If it will help, I can take some example shots and put them up...

You don't have to do anything, it just works as is. This lens does not do 1:1 macro which may be the cause of your confusion. I think it's ratio is 1:2.3 or something like that?

Kirislin - when you get a chance, I'd head out and buy a card reader to hook up to one of the USB ports on your computer. Then you just pop the card out of your camera and stick it in the card reader - the rest of the process is the same as when you hook your camera up. There are a couple of benefits in doing it this way...you can use your camera while the card is doing its thing (assuming you have a second card!) and its generally a faster download from the reader than the camera. Plus those benefits mentioned above But the way you are doing things works, so there's no hurry to get one. Always check your downloaded images to make sure they are complete before you format the card (or delete the images, whichever you prefer). I usually format my cards instead of deleting the images - it's just how I do it. On my baby compacts, I will often just delete because that option is easier in their menu systems...then once in a while when I think about it I format the card. Much of a muchness most of the time, really. I, too, back up to external hard drives (man, they are getting cheap now!) and to DVDs. Popular wisdom is that you need to double check your DVD copies now and again as time goes on as they can fail. I usually do it once a year or every 18 months ish - on a rainy day when I have nothing better to do LOL I'm not sure what Canon software you have, but I've heard that some of their software is pretty user friendly. I haven't installed any of the stuff that came with my cameras, so can't offer much first hand help there! A free software program that many people use is Picasa, download from the web...it's pretty powerful but really easy to use as things are clearly marked for the most part. Hope you're having a great time with your new camera!

Glad to hear you had good experiences with both companies. I love sigma4less and often recommend them. B&H always rocks, too! I find it amazing that I receive things ordered from these companies in less than half the time as I get things from the east coast of Australia.

A trip through Europe sounds awesome! If I could only have a single lens and was doing what you were doing, I would take a serious look at the Sigma 18-200 OS. It is one sweet lens and the focal range it covers is extremely handy as an all-rounder. This lens will be making the trek with me to South America/Antartica next year as it's a perfect size, great range and very nice IQ. I adore my Sigma 17-70 macro, too, and it's almost always just the ticket as a walk around...until I want more reach! This would be my second choice if I positively knew that I would not want the reach. But sometimes I'll be shooting something, say in the city, and want to zoom in on a detail without moving - for whatever reason. This is where the shortness of the reach is frustrating. It's not a deal breaker, but the 18-200 is just such a good solution. You'll need to double check that the lenses you are looking at are suitable for Pentax mounts, as I don't know off the top of my head.

Ripley - those are gorgeous portraits there Beautiful! Clover - action shots are tough, but if you keep trying you'll still be able to get some good stuff. Just takes a bit of trial and error, unfortunately! Do try shutter priority with a good shutter speed so you can try to freeze the action - you may find you need to bump your ISO up a little bit, but it will be worth it in the long run. What kind of action are you trying to shoot? Knowing what you are looking to achieve will help narrow your choices for a new lens. Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina have some great lenses in their line ups and they are often considerably cheaper than Nikon branded glass.

In addition to what has been said & suggested, what do they want to do with their photography? DSLR bodies are only the beginning and then each lens for a different purpose is more cash. They are also big and bulky and need a little more care in post and/or setup than most compacts to get the maximum benefit from them. There are a ton of excellent compact cameras with full manual controls (ISO, aperture, shutter) that are not only great value but easy, fun and as complex or simple as you'd like to use. They also are perfectly capable of really nice photos for printing and sharing. Really depends on what your friend hopes to achieve, how much he/she wants to spend (all up), what size he/she is willing to lug around and what he/she is going to be taking photos of mostly. With a little more info I think the great members here could help narrow some choices a little bit better.

Funky

I stumbled across this site while looking at some other things and remember that some of you have recently picked up the great book Understanding Exposure. Thought it might help...I found it useful even without the book in hand, actually. Hope it helps someone...