New Camera....Questions:

New user....Rookie questions

A little about us... Wife and I were both SLR users , back in the day......wife still has and occassionally uses an AE1.

We have both 3.1 mp and 5.1 mp digitial point an shot cameras we have used the past several years and have been fairly happy with the results the wife has gotten working in Photoshop.

We decided now was the time to move to Digitial SLR as we felt we could get a good starter set up for around 1k

So we have purchased a Rebel XT - EOS 350Dwith a pair of Tamron Lenses:
Tamron 28-80/3.5-5.6 ASPHERICAL
Tamron 75-300 LD F4-5.6 FS=62

So, two quick questions;

1. Can we use the flash my wife has for AE1, it is a Hanimex Tz1*34, or do we need to buy a new speedlite...not trying to be cheap, just economical...if we need to buy the sppedlite we will

2. We have always (past 5 years) used ACDsee for managing our pictures and see that they now have a "pro" version, has anyone used it, my wife (before we married) was a color reader at a large professional lab so she plans to use RAW and is looking forward to working witht he images, I always like ACDsee for is management functionality.

Thanks All!!

I can certainly understand your choice of the 350D being that you are working with a $1000 budget. It's a nice inexpensive camera. You can buy the camera from a reputable mail order dealer (B&H, Adorama, Beach) for less than $750 and that is with the 18-55mm kit lens. Plus, you get a $100 rebate from Canon. Without the lens it would be about $675 less the rebate (and no sales tax if you live outside NY State). 28mm is not wide enough for many if not most photographers when dealing with a 1.6 crop factor camera such as the 350D. 28mm on that camera is the same field of view and prospective as a 45mm on a 35mm film camera. The lenses you list are really kinda slow (smallish maxium apertures). The 350D has a smaller and dimmer viewfinder than your wife's AE1 and so the view with f/4-f/5.6 will be kinda dim to my way of thinking. Sigma and Tamron both make a f/2.8 lens in the 24/28-70/75ish range that you can get for about $365. That would give you a really nice camera/lens combo and the kit lens should you need an 18mm (29mm in 35mm film) option. The Hanimex flash won't work.

why won't the flash work? If you have a voltmeter, charge it up and measure the voltage across it. If its less than 250V then it won't damage the camera.

It will most likely only work in manual mode, but if your prepared to work in manual mode with the flash, then thats ok (Not camera-manual, but flash-manual).

I don't think you need to get faster lenses yet. Wait until you know what your missing in lenses before you buy more although you do have a large gap in the 15-28 area. You could plug that with an ultrawide (the tokina 12-24 is meant to be good) or an overlap (sigma 17-70 type thing).

I find ACDsee has become very memory-hogging. I havn't settled down on an image management program, although I've found in the past that Pixmantec's raw shooter essentials is very good, and I use Picasa (from google) to manage images.

Anyway, have fun with your new gear

Leo

Okay... scrap the plans...

Let's anlayze this for what it is...

Good camera for two people... EOS 20D (reduced in price... buy it)
Good lens for 20D: Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Covers most of the bases, doesn't weigh much
Good Flash for this: Canon 430 Speedlight. Meant for this use... provides decent range.

Now we're talkin'... growth potential. Take anything else back. Believe it, this system will work the bases. Some may say different... I say: "What's new?"

The trigger voltage is too high and could/would damage the 350D.

Enjoy your camera and lenses. If you find that they are holding you back in any way then post again and people will offer advice. Seems you're both experienced users and so you should get good results. RAW is an excellent format and a well exposed shot will need little post processing. Check out RawShooter Premium for that unless you are already happy with Photoshop. I tried ACDSee a couple of years ago and didn't take to it myself, but if you are used to it and like it then keep using it.

I agree with Condyk. Enjoy you new setup and have fun. You should be able also to us ACDsee for your raw images if that is the cheapest approach. If not, look into what the prevoius post suggested like "pro shooter"... i've used them all and personally have settled using the standard canon programs and photoshop CS2.

The 350d is a great camera.. Even though i have several above that, i would never get rid of mine.

The great thing about canon is that you will be able to grow the system as your needs grow. What's funny is that you and your wife will most likely be fighting over the camera so then you'll have to get another one. haha... good luck.