rubiton

Nice clear pic heasapandabear you can nearly feel the texture in the fur - and make sure you get or already have a filter for that lens! For Canon stuff I buy from quality Camera Sales in Perth - sure some things may be a little cheaper from overseas but the bloke who runs it replies to emailed enquiries very quickly even late on the Sunday afternoon, the prices are pretty good compared to other bigger places in Aust and its good to help Aust small businesses along when you can. Stuff is also delivered within 48 hours.

Hope you are taking photos for profit buying the 100-400mm. Expensive lens but wow produces fantastic images (but then I bought it for the photography business its a bit pricy for personal pics).

I use Skylight filters - for outdoor sports photos they are aparently better than the UV filters but only a little. If you buy cheap lens don't worry about filters BUT if you can't afford to replace the lens (and remember some of us have paid over $2000 for lenses) your best defence against scratches are filters. They do not make a huge amount of difference to the 'picture quality' - maybe they do something for artsy in studio images but who here is only taking photos inside a spotless studio? If you outside with the lens look after it and get a filter Skylight or UV.

For publication images need to be at least about 1 Megabyte in size. Sometime they will be OK with 600-700kb if the image will only be used in a small size. Most point and shoot cameras even on their highest setting will struggle to have files that big. It is possible to make an image bigger in photoshop bit by bit but sometimes even that doesn't work if the original image is too small. Email wont change an image unless you have it set to shrink images but you go through several steps so you'd know if you were shrinking it rather than just attaching. SLRs on the biggest jpeg setting will take about 3-4mb per image (or bigger depending on teh camera).

I take everything on manual settings (when it gets darker the light meter in the viewfinder is very accurate) and if I've done my job right all I need to do is crop as needed. I've never used curves either I only crop and if its under exposed use the Brightness Contrast and the Highlights and Shadows options in photoshop. As with film the photo when taken should be as close as possible to what you want the final product to be. I don't edit any more than I really need to - you don't lose quality and size through opening the file (you apparently lose the quality through opening saving then opening and saving that version then opening doing something and saving again etc etc all to the same original file). If I work on an image such as to remove something I'll save it as a different name and version. But usually its open, crop save elsewhere for printing. The folders get burnt to CD, DVD and an external drive with images in their original state. If I'm printing the image I'll crop etc and save that version somewhere else for printing. I usually print up to 12x18 inch but have gone to 20x30 inch and thats about the stage when the 10D files were starting to be at their limit HOWEVER the 40D image files are a lot bigger and are fine even when you crop quite sharply. TIFF files - I'm told these do not act the same as the jpegs when you edit and save over a few times. All my scanned negs were saved as tiff files and that is a big file (when then saved as a jpeg it shrinks a lot such as when you want to get an image printed).

For an auto setting youd want it on shutter speed priority (where you set a high shutter speed and it changes the aperture to suit). Set it on at least 1/1000th (I assume the weather will be sunny or at least bright). And make sure the focus setting is AI Servo - this will following the object you are panning with with the focus especially if you take a few shots at a time.

Camera salesman - some are good in good camera places and some are well ........ We were in melb couple of years ago and looking just for a little point and shoot nothing too fancy. Asked to look at one that was roughly what we were looking for and bloke tried to sell us this tiny credit card thing (might b good for teenagers who WANT to tie it around their neck at prties but not for older people who need to actually see the buttons). Then happened to see the 300D as was the consumer version at the time and compared it to the 10D in size etc (which I had) well the guy says 'so what do you take pics of' reply is professional horse sports etc and then he informs m that obviously not as the true professional sports photographers have nothing less than the 1D (ie the 10,000 + camera). I tell him he is mistaken as I also know other full time professionals usin gthe same camera 'oh no they cant be'. Pratt. Unfortunately only camera shop we could find the camera we ultimately decided on (little canon point and shoot which is still going strong).

Dee Al - I've been using the digital SLR for 5 1/2 years for professional photos and I've NEVER taken one photo in RAW (just havent got around to it). Dont worry about having to have certain software you only need something to edit jpegs to start with. You can save images in TIFF if you want a 'better' storage file. No one has to use the RAW format especially when you are starting out.

Have you checked quotes from other sellers like D&D and Quality camera Sales (and the warranties)just to see if the price is good bad or indifferent (I'd also ask a few questions about what on earth a third party warranty is and check it with Canon Aust just to be on the safe side)? But then I get worried on the rare occasion paying over $100 for stuff on ebay. And remember if you buy a 5D you'll need to buy a flash too at some stage as it doesn't have one inbuilt like all the other models.

I use paintshop Pro for any sort of border - very quick and easy.

Wow was unaware of that DC - sounds a bit like the early pentax DSLR tht was only compatible (auto focus wise) with a small group of new lens not 'backward' compatible to the older lens everyone had.

Are you saying Delta charlie that the tamron lens dont have auto focus or that the d40 Nikons dont 'talk' to the lens to autofocus?

I'd always go the 100-300mm from that choice as the other is too close for anything I do (you get 'big head' syndrome in horses for anything under 50mm - not sure how dogs etc go ) but then I guess for landscapes etc the smaller lens is better? Yes if I try to have the 10D and battery grip my hands just automatically head downwards late in the day and so hav not used it for years now with th e 40d have the new lens and gonna have to build up the arm muscles before taking it each day to big events like the ROyal and Horse trials. Photos were fantastic from yesterday but too heavey adn too much trouble with the monopod for every week use (maybe big days but then I'd hve to build up the shoulders they were so sore yesterday!)

What are the choices? The 'kit' lens that come with the camera kits are usually not the best you can get but provide a 'starter' kit for someone who wants to use the camera instead of having to them go out and spend up big on really nice lens. Took the 100-400 IS canon lens out today - wow photos are fantastic (as theyd want to be for that price) BUT I can't use the thing without a monopod and its too big for the racecourse I was at for every week. Maybe the other course would be OK but will have to serious grow arm muscles before the Royal gets here (which is one of the events it was actually bought for).

Thanks for the explanation GayleK - I too had wondered why its called an unsharp mask. I haven't found any problems with the image getting darker though - to me the image gets a little grainier (but it does help on enlargements of an image thats 95 per cent ok and looks fine small but not as good bigger).

Got to 800 ISO at least - 400 is something you use on sunny days outside (for sports pics). However the trick is to make sure the image is exposed correctly - you will get noise at 400ISO if you underexpose the image. Not sure you will able to stop the droplets of water as that woudl take at least 1/1000th and it sounds that inside will be too dark for that. Put your focus on AI Servo (if it has that setting - the 350D does) as whatever you focus on it will adjust the focus to follow. Open the aperture setting as far as you can and see what the fastest speed is that you can take a pic of the pool & a kid (doesn't need to be a race - check what the pic looks like on the screen and if the colour looks the same as real life - Im assuming the screen is set to the right brightness). Without a flash it makes it hard - pan with the kid you are taking a photo of too as that helps the subject stay in focus on teh slower shutter speeds(ie under 1/1000)

Grey ones - big and heavy. Black ones lighter made of plastic so not as heavy nor as expensive. (my 70-200 is black not the grey L version). Grey ones big and heavy as I think they actually have glass rather than plastic and therefore produce a higher quality image. But most are not going to truly notice the difference between the consumer black lens and professional grey L lens in pictures of most subjects. However if you have the money and the muscle strength go for the L lens. I plan to buy an L lens soon THEN I'll know the difference properly!

For years I've been using a canon 90-300mm lens. Has always done a good job. Cost about $350 at thetime. Costs a little more now but under 700. Currentl have been using a 70-200mm lens and also doe a very very good job (40D seems to like it more than the other lens for some reason but might just be the bigger lens needs cleaning!) L series are the big grey IS type lens that cost about the same or more than the camera.

Not photoshop what about Photoshop Elements - does a lot of the more common stuff PS does but not as expensive. Another is Paint SHop Pro.

www.mrsite.co.uk Very easy and because its based in the UK they are there evenings our time to help (Friday evening I asked for help had it all fixed within the hour!)

Had a quick check on the 350D - it stayed on 400 ISO when I swtiched it to an auto mode. What sort of photos were you taking - ie was the background a light colour? Wasthere a window or something bright anywhere behind the subjects? Just wondering if the auto sensor picked up on something other than teh subject (eg if the subject is dark but the sensor pick up on the sky it will set the settings for the sky not the dark object.

Another handy tip is to carry a towel. I went through using plastic bags and trying to buy a cover and found that while the pastic would keep the water off initially it bounced it back the second you moved. Wrapping the camera in a towel when you are out taking photos in the rain keeps it nice and dry (well as long as the camera isn't actually outside (coat, bag) for longer than necessary as the towel will soak up a fair bit of water. And if you carry a second one you can dry off too. Learnt that trick from people in Melbourne (where they can get rain on a day that starts nice and sunny!)

kja - unless you are taking photos inside a nice clean spotless studio you NEED to protect your lenses especially if they are expensive ones. Taking professional sporting photos with all the dust that is floating around I always have filters on my lenses if possible. For the last couple of weeks I've been trying out a new lens I bought a while back but when I get a chance I'll be putting a filter on it (just need to clean the spare filter). YOu never know when you might accidentally bump something with the lens causing some kind of a scratch. Gear is tough but it only takes one little tiny lens scratch to stuff the entire lens. Better safe than sorry. Any 'degrading' of images would hardly be noticable - I certainly didnt notice any difference for the week I used the camera after the filter fell off (it the car it eventually turned up) and I couldn't get a new one.

If you plan to do outdoor stuff a skylight 1B filter does exactly the same job as the UV filter (ie protect the lens). There is often a price difference between the two.

That photo is the first post is way too light overall. It's better is the dog is a little on the dark side and you usethe 'highlight' tool in photoshop to lighten the dark areas without blowing out the light areas. To take pics of black dogs is hard and you need to have them well lit from the right angles - so earlier in the day or later in the afternoon when you have longer shadows on the ground once the sun goes closer to overhead the dark shadowed areas of the dog will lose detail.