My Christmas wish list?

Christmas is coming up and my husband has asked me what I would like.

Originally it was an iPod but then I got my 400D

I bought the kit and a bag so that's all I have right now.

What things could be good for a newbie like me to have? Lens? Tripod? Remote? Software? Books? New camera?

Jen

You will definately want some sort of photo editing software, i.e. Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, etc...

All depends what you wish you had most. How do you shoot, where do you shoot, what do you do with the pics when you are done? All things that will help with a recommendation.

Lens wise? Well get a nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8 II) which are dirt cheap and a really good "bang for buck" lens.

Get a book called Understanding Exposure which is a good book to read up. As for the camera itself, read the book that came with it but DO NOT get into the habit of using Full Auto (Green Box) mode.

sadowsk2 wrote in post #4262968
You will definately want some sort of photo editing software, i.e. Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, etc...

Oh ya, forgot to mention I've got photoshop 7 already... although I don't know how to use it fully, yet.

I've got the Understand Exposure book reserved from the library - I'll probably pick that up myself soon.

I got the camera to do portraits, mostly of my daughter and family.

elysium wrote in post #4263013
Lens wise? Well get a nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8 II) which are dirt cheap and a really good "bang for buck" lens.

Get a book called Understanding Exposure which is a good book to read up. As for the camera itself, read the book that came with it but DO NOT get into the habit of using Full Auto (Green Box) mode.

I was thinking getting that lens would be a good start too.

Auto mode is faster but I've only used it once... I must like the frustration

mai_lin wrote in post #4263038
I was thinking getting that lens would be a good start too.

Auto mode is faster but I've only used it once... I must like the frustration

Rome was never built in a day Its good try out but I would try and learn how to use manual mode, Av and Tv.

- Tv mode will let you set the shutter speed and keep it constant.
- Av mode will let you set the aperture and keep it constant.
- M mode is full manual which means you can adjust the shutter speed and aperture accordingly for you shot to get the desired results.

Mai Lin, well family portraits and such. How fun. Well, I would definitely look at getting a couple things.

- Buy the Understanding Exposure book, your photography will improve remarkably as a result.

- Get a faster lens for indoor shooting. The 50 f/1.8 mentioned above is a great lens at a great value. For 70 bucks you cannot find a better lens and many tripple the price lenses aren't as good. You may come to find this lens to be a bit long indoors and thus you'll want a wider lens like a 35mm but don't rush there. I would start with the 50mm and see how it fits your shooting needs.

- I'm assuming you are shooting in JPEG, which is fine, but you may want to consider a software package to help you manage your images. I know you have PS7, but I would recommend something like Photoshop Elements 6, very affordable and provides you a organization utility for cataloging images, etc. It also offers a nice editing tool which I'm sure will cover all your needs.

Best of luck and keep the questions coming.

All comes down to budget. Less than $100 is really going to limit your choices to a few accoutrements or the 50mm f/1.8. Less than $300 and there are a couple of lenses that you may want to look at like the 50mm f/1.4 or the 85mm f/1.8 both good portrait lenses. Less than $500 opens up a whole lot more.
You might also consider a external flash like the 430EX or the 580II EX.

I think the 50 f/1.8 is a given...

I'm shooting in RAW right now because I do some editing in PS (run actions is all right now). I'm thinking about elements too... but what is the advantage of elements over photoshop? I'm comfortable with PS as I've used it for nearly 8 years now, I could upgrade to CS3 for $200 (not a christmas gift, that'll have to be a 'save up to buy' gift, like my camera was) - but will elements provide an added benefit beyond photoshop? Cataloging pictures is something I do myself as I don't have a ton of harddrive space so everything is burned to DVDs fairly quickly...

I'm currently using the kit lense off my old EOS300 as my main lense on my 350d so I have asked for the sigma 17-70mm... i'll be dead chuffed if i get it.

Eoghan

The 24-85MM f3.5-4.5 served me well. Look on the web for some good deals from places like Adaroma, B&H Photo, and KEH. They have very good used lenses and other stuff at good prices. Get shooting.

mai_lin wrote in post #4262906
Christmas is coming up and my husband has asked me what I would like.

Originally it was an iPod but then I got my 400D

I bought the kit and a bag so that's all I have right now.

What things could be good for a newbie like me to have? Lens? Tripod? Remote? Software? Books? New camera?
Jen

If it were me....I'd ask for the following in that order:
1. Flash (430EX...580EX if you can swing it)
2. Vertical grip and handstrap
3. 50mm 1.8 and I'd add a UV filter to that and maybe even a cheap hood

All of the above are reasonably priced for a gift, individually. For less than $500 you can have all of them.

Alex

I agree with dubti completely. The 50mm f1.8 and the 430 EX flash would be a great start. Once you shoot with the flashes (external) you will really be surprised. Good luck and hope Santa fulfills your want list. LOL By the way you can find the 50mm used and the 430 EX used and the ones I found are just like new.

First, congrats on the camera! It'll take nice pics and if you've been using a compact point-and-shoot camera up 'till now you'll be very happy with the increased abilities!

mai_lin wrote in post #4263401
I think the 50 f/1.8 is a given...

I'm shooting in RAW right now because I do some editing in PS (run actions is all right now). I'm thinking about elements too... but what is the advantage of elements over photoshop? I'm comfortable with PS as I've used it for nearly 8 years now, I could upgrade to CS3 for $200 (not a christmas gift, that'll have to be a 'save up to buy' gift, like my camera was) - but will elements provide an added benefit beyond photoshop? Cataloging pictures is something I do myself as I don't have a ton of harddrive space so everything is burned to DVDs fairly quickly...

If you can upgrade to CS3 for $200 that would likely make you very happy, because there are a lot of new and improved things in Photoshop -- if you do that, it would help to buy a good book by a photoshop expert such as Martin Evening or Scott Kelby that will help you to work through the features. These books are in stores such as Borders as well as online. There are several magazines that have "tips and tricks" discussions in every issue.

Since you want to do family pics, a good flash is a good suggestion, as others have mentioned, and I'd read up as much as you can on indoor flash photography so that you can get pics that look great. A tripod will also be a sooner-rather-than-later thing to look for.

Lenses will be your never-ending wish-list. Depending on what kind of photography you are drawn to as the days go by, you want to carefully consider your glass needs. Remember that as a whole, you get what you pay for and you want to get the best you can afford. The 50mm f/1.8 is kind of a gift in that it costs so little and yet is sharp and reasonably fast; beyond that every lens worth saving for will cost a chunk. So, take a lot of pics and get a feel of what is most important to you and plan accordingly!

One thing that you want to include in your plans is storage. You say you are burning things to DVDs and you should continue that, but for $100 you can get a 500 gigabyte external hard drive to store your working pictures on, and for another $100 you can get a second one to back your pics up. This will in time be important, because DVDs can get very inconvenient as well as damaged just in the handling. They're great as part of your back-up system, but the more pics you take and the more important those pics are to you the more you'll need to invest in how you store and back them up.

It sounds like you are on the right track, go for it, and have fun!