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Camera And Lenses Advice Please


glendabenda
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What sort of photography are you wanting to do? Since I do alot of wildlife, long reach is fairly important :banghead: If on the other hand, you will be doing more portraits etc, you'll want different lenses. I have a canon 500d and it is awesome so Im sure you will love the 50 :banghead:

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well I'm willing to save up for a while if need be, $1000 - $2000 :grouphug:

I also have been looking on the B & H (new york) website at a couple of cameras and lenses. Its it a OK to order from overseas? and what are the pros's and con's and would I need to pay tax on this.

I bought a nikon SLR in 1999 (not digital) with a basic lens and was starting to get into it, then came along the children and work commitments and it's been put on hold for a few yeas now.

http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html I did find this info about cannon lenses etc

Edited by glendabenda
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I'm sure others will have different suggestions, but here's mine. This [$135], this [$1389] and if the budget will stretch, either this [$899] or this [$1549]. If that's too much money, a much cheaper telephoto is this [$749]. That's my preferred retailer, but you might find cheaper prices elsewhere :laugh:

Edited by ruthless
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a thing to consider is also whether your body is full frame or crop sensor, I think the 50D is a crop sensor, so for landscape, I would be going a nice wide angle (on my full frame I use the 16-35 L, but you might want the 10-22 EFS mount, which will give the same range on your crop sensor), and would go a telephoto 70-200. For portrait, I love my 135L, 85L, 50 1.4 & 24-70, which one I use depends whether I am doing stuff inside or outside - at shows it is mostl the 135 or for closeups the 50, as that way I am not distorting face shapes, and for people, love my 24-70 and 85

Depending on your budget though, you might want to start off small & work up - the 50 is a great way to start on portraits, and just foot zoom instead, but I prefer the 1.4 to the 1.8, the 1.8 is a plastic mount and a lot harder to get a good copy of it, as it has a higher tolerance for bad glass that gets let through compared to the 1.4 or the 1.2

(I have owned both, and noticed a dramatic difference between them)

As for shipping, I have bought from BH a lot, and recommend them. th only thing you need to watch is customs duties, which you need to pay once the total hits over $1000 AUD (this includes the shipping - so at the moment if it is around $850 US including the shipping, you should be fine, once over that, you will pay the GST (10%), and customs duties, and customs will collect that from you before they will release the parcel.

I would go for as good as you can afford - good glass is never a bad expense, whereas if you skimp and buy cheap, you will generally find you upgrade anyway, and have lost out on the initial expense, and it is harder to get back resell value on 3rd party lens (eg Tamron, Sigma etc) than on manufacturer ones (eg Canon or Nikon)

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Once I done my sums etc could I order in 2 batches from B&H if need be and if both are under $1000 would I dodge the tax ??? I would also have to calculate in the extra postage.

I could just get the camera and then maybe buy the lenses in Australia, so much to think about :laugh:

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Yes, as long as the total of your order is under $1000 you are good to go.

To pick your first lens, what are the first things, off the top of your head, that you really really want to shoot. The first TWO things only now...

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Yes will have to have a good think about it all, the camera body (cannon 50d) once converted to aus $ is around $1130 that's including postage, will then have to add 10% tax onto that.

The lenses add up to $363.

Cannon zoom EF 75-300 mm f/4.0 - 5.6 III & Cannon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II is what I am thinking about at the moment.

Edited by glendabenda
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I'm also interested in hearing what people think the best zoom lens is to upgrade from the kit lens. Mind you I don't have thousands!

How much zoom range do you want? Do you want an "all in one" zoom? Do you want something nice and long for things far away? Do you want something wide so you have to get up close? Do you want just a walk-around that has can do reasonable macro, portraits, a bit of "landscape" type stuff? What?

You guys gotta give us some help here :thumbsup: I love to spend your money!

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Once I done my sums etc could I order in 2 batches from B&H if need be and if both are under $1000 would I dodge the tax ??? I would also have to calculate in the extra postage.

I could just get the camera and then maybe buy the lenses in Australia, so much to think about :thumbsup:

Better off the other way round, buy camera in Australia and lenses online.

DWI http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/index.asp seem to be comparable to buying from the US. I haven't bought from them but I sure am thinking about it if/when I get another lens.

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Yes will have to have a good think about it all, the camera body (cannon 50d) once converted to aus $ is around $1130 that's including postage, will then have to add 10% tax onto that.

The lenses add up to $363.

Cannon zoom EF 75-300 mm f/4.0 - 5.6 III & Cannon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II is what I am thinking about at the moment.

this is from DWI, the 75-300mm http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/...?idProduct=2216 and the 50 1.8 http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/...sp?idProduct=63 = $286.03

Oh and if you want the camera as well an extra $980 :thumbsup:

You also have to factor in postage on those prices.

Edited by Kirislin
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Once I done my sums etc could I order in 2 batches from B&H if need be and if both are under $1000 would I dodge the tax ??? I would also have to calculate in the extra postage.

I could just get the camera and then maybe buy the lenses in Australia, so much to think about :(

Better off the other way round, buy camera in Australia and lenses online.

DWI http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/index.asp seem to be comparable to buying from the US. I haven't bought from them but I sure am thinking about it if/when I get another lens.

Cheers that looks like the place to buy the camera and the lenses :thumbsup:

Edited by glendabenda
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I replaced my crappy canon kit lenses with these two :thumbsup:

http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/...?idProduct=1959

http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/...p?idProduct=163

At first I missed the extra "reach" going from 300 down to 200, but with the better quality lens both in clarity and stability, I can crop down to get the extra "reach" without loss of integrity.

Next on my list is the Canon 7D (it has fallen another $140 so is getting close), as I am in desperate need of higher ISO :(

Edited by anniek
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