just bought a620 - help me blast money on accessories!

[photomonster]

brand new to the forum, first of all hib everyone, i've seen some remarkably good photo's over the past few days, soon i hope to be posting some of my own work

im relatively new to photography so not up to speed on a lot of the techno talk, but getting there, so, ok, what do i need help with?

just bought a brand new a620 to try my hand at some manual shooting, particularly portraits of my 10 week old little boy, and some close up macro work.

Now in terms of accessories, i've already bought the basics, sandisk 1gb ultra 2 for peak camera performance, nice case, batteries and whatnot.

I also purchased the canon adaptor ring, now I need help with what to get next.

I was considering getting the 250D close up lens, as i've read this is great for budget macro work. Is this lens threaded on the outside, i.e. would I be able to connect the lens to the adaptor, and then attach a uv filter to the lens for protection, or would this distort the image?

Also, I have read that the adaptor may affect the flash at the wide angle, would this include macro mode? If so I could pick up the HF-DC1 flash (i know there are better alternatives but i like to stay all canon and nice and compact.

Would the HF-DC! benefit portrait photos of my family also?

Also, can somebody recommend a good uv filter, ive read its good practice to shoot outdoors with nothing less than the lens adaptor + uv filter for general protection and a cleaner image, or is that all crap and am I wasting money?

Sorry for the long winded post, i just have so many questions I only have limited money and want to make the right choice

[Stefan A]

If there is one thing this forum is good at, it's helping people blast their money :). Seriously though, you should be able to get lots of help around here.

If you will be venturing into manual mode, at some point you will try slow shutter speeds. In which case you will need a tripod. That where I would start. But I am a beginner as well and I don't know anything about filters and such. But it seems to me a tripod is a pretty essential tool.

Stefan

[photomonster]

i was going to buy a canon mini tripod, just a ;table top' class tripod i think it is, but i couldn't determine if it had the ability to pan the camera up and down. It looked as though once attached the only way to adjust the direction of the camera lens was up or down (height wise).

I liked the idea of it being portable as I ideally want everything to fit in a small rucksack for when I go mountain biking, so compact gear is important.

Anyone have experience with the canon mini tripod or other small tripods?

Thanks in advance for any help! :D

[nwyman]

I'm going on a hiking adventure come late summer, so recently acquired a portable tripod for same.

It's a Slik Sprint Pro 3Way GM - comes with a 3 way ball head - whole things weighs in at 2.2 lb. and is capable of supporting a camera of about 4.4 lb. Goes from 6.8" to 64", and folds to 18.9 inches. Came with a carrybag.
Came last week, and I got to use it the day before the snow fell - I like it a lot, so far. I think it will be perfect for travel.

Got it from B&H Photovideo, online.

[Moppie]

People use UV filters usualy to protect the lens on SLR cameras, not something you need to worry about.
They can be useful when shooting landscapes if there is a lot of atmospheric haze in the distance, but they are not something I have felt I have needed on my A80.


For your portrait work, if you need a flash to provide enough light, then you really need something that will work off camera.
A cheap vivitar slave would be good, and you could use 2 or 3 to properly light the subject. You would just have to make a little plastic or card deflector to go over the cameras flash so it is only visable to the slave flashs, and does not light your subject.
Direct light from a flash close to the lens is how you get red eye.

You also might want to consider a couple of ND filters if you ever want to do long exposures, as F8 isn't really that small an apature.

[photomonster]

what about a poloriser, i have seen images, particularly summer time of coasts and beaxchlines and the sky as well as the water looks great with a poloriser.

I have noticed two types, linear and circular, can somebody please help explain the difference and which one I should choose. A recommended brand would also be welcome.

Thanks for all the help guys!:)

[Stefan A]

According to the book, "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson, a polarizer is essential for photography. For shots when you are 90 degrees to the sun. I think he said the circular polarizer is what you want to get. That's about all I know - I don't have one.

Stefan

[nwyman]

I have one (circular polarizer).
I also have a vision problem which is maybe why I can't see any difference in the viewfinder when using it. I remember almost falling into the water last summer, trying to line up at a ninety degree angle. <g>
And I might be wrong about this, but can't one produce the same effect when editing the pictures?
Anyway, I don't think it's anything you have to have right off the bat.

[gardengirl13]

I tried the 250D on my 35mm and didn't like it. Couldn't get close enough. With my A610 I can get about .5" away, nice and close, with nothing extra. But when using macro use a tripod.

[photomonster]

i beleive that the a620 can focus in macro as close as 1cm from the lens, by attaching the 250D closeup lens, does that mean essentially I could gain the same effect but have my camera physically further away, i.e. 10cm away with the effect of being 1cm away from subject?