Equipment

[aussiebryan]

I have just bought a canon eos 300d. It came with the standard lens 18-55mm and I also bought another lens a 55-200mm. This was due to an insurance claim. Now what I would like to know is what lenses and equipment would members recommend that I purchase to give me a good range of equipment for photography. I would be shooting people, landscapes, sport action, and wildlife.
Thanks Aussiebryan

[Cadwell]

Mmmm... that's a wide range of subjects which will need a wide range of lenses. You'd best give some indication of budget otherwise you'll get recommendations that will run into the 10,000s in whatever currency you care to think about ;)

[aussiebryan]

Well I would say I want to try and get just the basic of equipment as to shoot general photos. I am no pro no way, so just for general gear for general photos

[unners]

canon 70-200 f4L: AU$1300
canon 17-40 f4L: AU$1300
canon 50 f1.8: AU$150
tamron 28-75 f2.8: AU$500

that ought to get u started :)

[aussiebryan]

What type of flash would you reccomend also memeory card?

[Jesper]

If you want an external flash, the Canon EX-series flash is what fits best with a Canon DSLR.

The 420 EX is nice, not too expensive and not too large, but the disadvantage is that it only works in automatic mode - i.e., you can't set the flash output manually. That's especially a disadvantage on the 300D, because that camera itself also doesn't provide FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation) on the camera.

The 550 EX is very good, it's a bit more expensive and bigger than the 420 EX, but yout can set it manually to have more control over the flash output.

The 580 EX is Canon's new top of the line flash, which is the successor to the 550 EX. It has some new features that work especially on the 20D (and 1D Mark II) such as communication about the colour temperature between the flash and the camera, so that the camera can take the flash into account when determining the white balance. The 580 EX is quite expensive.

Memory cards: Just buy any good CF card. You can get CF cards in different speeds, but on the 300D you won't notice much difference between slower and faster cards. Well-known brands include Lexar and SanDisk.

[aussiebryan]

Thanks to all those that have replied to my post its grea knowledge and I shall go check out the different gear. This is a great web site for canon users and am so glad I found it.

[aussiebryan]

I clicked on your links but the page wouldnt open
http://cadwell.fotopic.net/

[Jesper]

I clicked on your links but the page wouldnt open
http://cadwell.fotopic.net/

Looks like fotopic.net is down at the moment, my page ( http://jesper.fotopic.net ) also doesn't work right now.... :roll:

[aussiebryan]

I will go and visiti your site also when it gets back online. How long have you been into photography? Any sites good for a beginner like myself?

[Olegis]

Start with Sandisk CF Ultra II 1GB card, you can find some nice deals on it across the internet. Also, I would recommend some kind of additional portable storage to copy your pictures to, when the CF card gets full. I use the X-Drive with 20GB HDD, here is the link - http://www.vosonic.co.uk/vp2030.html .

About the internet site for your personal galleries - I use www.pbase.com for about two years now and it's great. VERY easy to use, fast and full of nice features for gallery editing / photo presenting. Costs $23 for 1 year and 200MB of storage.

[aussiebryan]

I just went and checked your photos on your website, they are very good indeed. A question for you. How do you put your name in the frame of your photo's? What program do you use to do that?

[Olegis]

Thanks.
This question was asked and answered several times in the Post-Processing forum. Personally, I use a Photoshop action, which I created based on this tutorial (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/LearningGalleries/Gallery%20Frame%20Effect/GalleryFrameEffect.htm).

[robertwgross]

The 580 EX is Canon's new top of the line flash, which is the successor to the 550 EX. It has some new features that work especially on the 20D (and 1D Mark II) such as communication about the colour temperature between the flash and the camera, so that the camera can take the flash into account when determining the white balance. The 580 EX is quite expensive.


The camera will take the flash into account for determining white balance regardless of whether it is a 580EX or not.

---Bob Gross---

[Cadwell]

I clicked on your links but the page wouldnt open
http://cadwell.fotopic.net/

Yeah, it looks like fotopic was having another moment. That's happening rather a lot lately. Thanks for mentioning it though :)

[Headcase650]

Sigma 24-60 f2.8 EX $390 at adorama
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 EX HSM $680 at adorma
Sigma 1.4 ex apo tele-converter $170

That would cover an effictive view from 38.4mm-448mm with fast sharpglass

Canon 550EX Flash $300 imported/$330 USA
Sandisk Ultra II 1 Gig card $100
Tripod Manfroto 728B $114
Lowpro Backpack various modles varying from $100-$200
A few filters for you lenses, UV, Polarized, maby a skylight, $100-$200
Couple extra 1500 mAh BP511 batterys less than $20 off ebay
remote shutter reliese for the rebel RS-60E3 $26

Total $2030 and you could do just about anything except shoot sports cause the rebel sucks at shooting fast moving subjects, If you want to shoot fast sports or cars take the camera back and trade it in for a 20D.

[nosquare2003]

If you want an external flash, the Canon EX-series flash is what fits best with a Canon DSLR.



If it is a ETTL II DSLR, get any one of the EX flashes without doubt.

For a ETTL camera, Metz flash is superior to Canon EX-series flash IMHO.