Portrait vs. ya'll

[tug2]

Hello!

I've been thinking about getting this D-60. I'm taking portraits of seniors and children mostly. I read about the color problems, white balance, and use of RAW files many people seem to be having.

What type of pictures are most of you taking? Portraits, Landscapes etc.????

If I'm taking portraits, I'm kinda worried about going digital. Any advice?

Tug2

[Longwatcher]

I may not count as I am only semi-professional (I take pictures for a business, but do not directly get money for the photography). I usually take portraits and full-body shots and thoughly like the D60 results I have gotten to date. The only catch was I had to back up 3-5 feet from where I normally take pictures from, because of the x1.6 factor of the D60. Lens was very important though. When I used a Tamron lens I got bad results, using the Canon lens I use now resulted in what I consider good quality studio pictures. I currently use the 28-135mm IS zoom, but am looking at a fixed 24mm so that I can maybe move up a bit. I don't like fixed lenses as they don't give me the flexability I like, but it would probably be a good idea if I was regularly doing portraits professionally. The IS is probably overkill for studio work, but I occasionally shoot outdoors and the IS system sure comes in handy for my unsteady hand. As to white and color balance, I feel going digital makes it easier, since I know I will be procesing the image on a computer and can correct it there if needed, but I have had only minor problems to date and those are mostly me needing more practice. While I prefer RAW mode from a technical perspective, I usually use Jpeg-lg-fine since I get more pictures on a card and there is not a significant difference up to 8x10. If you are doing larger prints though, you probably want to use RAW format and convert to .tif or other lossless format before printing.

Just my experience so far.

[tug2]

Thanks for the reply. I might take the plunge and buy the camera today! My local shop has 1 in stock. I just want to make sure that if I'm going digital, my customers will be happy. With digital I can create really neat senior packages with their names on the pictures etc.

I'm also interested in converting it to Black & white and then coloring with a program. I have Photoshop 6 but it's WAY too advanced for me right now. Would a lesser version of Photoshop or something else be suitable for a beginner? Any suggestions? How about the software that comes with the Canon?

Thanks for your input.

ES

[henkbos]

Go for the D30/60. Have a D60 myself and love it! There will always be people who will put anything under the microscope and find something wrong. Does it bother the majority of the users? Don't know. As for PS don't go lower, just don't use everything yet. Buy a book and study, study, study.

[tug2]

I did it. Put that baby on a credit card - on Monday I'll apply to one of those 0% interest cards and transfer the note for a year. I figure without buying film and the cheaper unit print prices it'll pay for itself in no time.

Played with it for a little bit. Am waiting for the battery to charge before really playing.

Any advice on "extras" that are really needed (like another batter, cf card reader, etc.)?

Thanks,

es

[Morden]

tug2 wrote:
Any advice on "extras" that are really needed (like another batter, cf card reader, etc.)?


I would strongly suggest having at least two bateries. And plenty of room on your CF cards (plural).

I'm using two 1GB microdrives, and it very nice to know that I have the space to carry on shooting. :)

You may also consider finding a crock of gold at the end of some rainbow, to cover the costs of this expensive dSLR kit!

Neil D
http://www.planet-zhadum.com
http://www.jedichefs.com

[henkbos]

I found the card reader very useful. Straight from the camera into the PC without opening that flimsy piece of rubber. second battery is a must, just like a spare tire! So far I had sufficient space on 2 256 cards, but will add a 512 soon.

[Jerry White]

I have the D60 and love it (so far). I jumped in with both feet and did two 60 student day care sessions this week with only the D60. (left my mamiya at home so I wouldn't get cold feet at the last minute )

Photos were great but I do need to play with the exposure a bit. Head and shoulder prints (up to 8x10) rival anthing I did with the medium format. I showed an 8x10, shot with the D60 and printed on my Epson 2200 to another photographer and he was amazed. He actually could not pick the digital out of a group of like images without looking at the back of the print to see the paper it was printed on.

I definitely suggest a second battery (I hate having to plug that big charger in to use AC) and two or more 256 CF cards.

I also found that a card reader is a must if you occassionally screw up and ever need to use PhotoRescue to try and retrieve info that you have overwritten or erased. It only works on CF cards.
I learned one important post processing step yesterday. After downloading the images to the HD, I will now burn all of the original images to CD before I touch them for post processing. Yesterday, after downloading to my computer and then formatting the CF card I accidently overwrote my group shots while downsizing to view. Now I'm waiting for Comp USA to open so I can buy a reader and try to retreive from the CF Card. I've formated, refilled and then formatted again so I'm not real optomistic but I bought PhotoRescue last night and it's supposed to be able to work miracles
Hope this helps.

Jerry

[Dan_mobile]

Dear Tug2:

I still consider myself an amateur photographer. Nevertheless, I have taken hundreds of portrait photos using artificial lighting in my home studio. I don’t use film equipment anymore for portrait work. Film is too limiting with color temperature concerns whereas my D60 in raw mode allows me to adjust white balance and many other parameters during the post processing. Furthermore, I have changed my workflow using the D60. I no longer have concerns with the cost of each individual image. With digital I just shoot away and toss out the unacceptable images during the post processing. Using inexpensive software like Breeze Browser (http://www.breezesys.com/) helps with the workflow. All images on my website are from my D60 and most used artificial lighting: http://www.dpcg.com/photo I included the lighting diagrams on the portfolio examples.
Dan