Hey AZers, I didn't realize there was a photog section until it was mentioned in the Bay Area thread. Most of the time I'm in the Wash & Wax section offering advice where I can.

Anyway, I just received my first DSLR, Canon XSi, courtesy of the girlfriend. I have the standard kit lens (even though my gf only purchased the body; my sister gave me her extra kit lens) 18-55mm. I thought about getting some sort of plastic screen protector for my LCD and was sort of looking to your guys' opinion as to what to get. I'm also window shopping for a decent gear bag to hold the body and a couple lenses, as well as a tripod.

So, anyone care to chime in? I've been doing research on a daily basis and tons of reading (purchased some books from Border's and B&N) but I'm looking more for guidance/experience/opinions here. Thanks in advance!

 

I wrote a post on the basics of exposure here:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...42&postcount=2

 

Pick up Digital Field Guide for canon xsi. Its great for begginners and has examples and pictures to help!

 

I was in pretty much the same boat as you a few years back when we got our Rebel. First thing I did was get familiar with all of the controls, and took a ton of shots with the kit lens. After that, I kinda got an idea of what I liked taking pictures of and started to explore. Eventually you'll get hit with the lens and accessories bug, probably sooner rather than later.

Bag and tripod are a good starting place. Maybe an extra SD card and battery while you are at it. There's a lot of bags out there, folks here hold the Crumpler's in high regard. Tripod, you can't go wrong investing in a nicer Bogen Manfrotto.

As for technique, there's a ton of places to go on the 'net, and the field guide book is a good start as well. You can always pick up a few nice pointers here on AZ too.

 

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

Yeah, I plan on familiarizing myself with the camera and the kit lens for the meantime so I really get a feel for it. I'm pretty sure I have the lens/accessories bug already but I don't feel comfortable purchasing items I don't fully understand just yet.

I have no idea what bag and tripod to get so I'll start with the Crumpler and Bogen Manfrotto, respectively. I already purchased a 32GB SD card from eBay (since pretty much all flash memories are made by quality companies regardless of the lack of the labels) and was thinking of purchasing a battery grip sometime down the road for those extended photoshoot sessions.

I've been trying to be so resourceful when it comes to research by viewing most of the information on the net. I use PotN and always reference dpreview when I need to and I plan on picking up the field guide book pretty soon from my local bookstore.

 

It's true that most memory manufacturers produce the same product. The problem is that some stuff on ebay is counterfeit and thus not made by any quality company.

Here's an ebay writeup on the problem:

http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-SanDisk...00000001456539

 

I think once you get the dfg book, youll have a good understanding and its a great reference when you want to go back to it.

I bought the first book for my xti and d80, then i stopped buying them. Just went to the store and read about new features in my d300.

Look into a 50mm 1.8 it will be a great lens to start with for low light stuff, portraits, shallow depth of field.

 

join photography-on-the.net (POTN) keep your wallet out of reach.

Now that signed up, read articles and start shooting.
Find out what you like better, are you shooting wide, or are you always wishing you could zoom in a bit more. That will help you decide what lens you'll want.

every photo style has a good lens for it. POTN will help you find the right lens for you. and let you improve your technique.

also don't forget about AZ, we'll give you a hand as well.

 

I'm also thinking about picking up the XSi or Sony's A350 (maybe A300).... but most likely the Canon XSi

(it'll be my first dSLR as well)

 

Yeah, I didn't bother with falsely-advertised SD cards. I just went with the generic SD card. The speed may be slightly better with the brand name flash cards but this will have to do for now. In case you were wondering what card I purchased, it was this one.

 

i like how it has no brand name.



btw its generally a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket.

 

uhhhhhhhhh.................................

 

What do you mean in one basket? It could mean several things, LoL.

?

 

Better to get something like 4 8GB cards than a massive 32GB is what mizouse meant.

I don't know if the others would agree, but I'd rather have two of these than one of those 32GB cards.
http://www.staples.com/office/suppli...194526&cmArea=

 

Why so? Are flash cards prone to failure or is just nice to have them separated just in case they get lost?

 

They aren't prone to failure (a good one anyway), but it does happen. Sometimes the file system gets corrupt and only a format can fix it.

I would rather format and lose a portion of the pictures than all of them.

However, since you are just a casual photographer, it depends on your comfort level.

When I am doing a photography job, I only use 2 gb cards. I have a single 8 gb that I throw in there for casual photos.

 

yea what he said.

 

Buy name brand stuff from reputable places.

Otherwise...

 

http://www.adorama.com/IDSSD2GE35P.html

 

Yeah that makes sense. I forgot to mention that I already have a 2 GB card that I was using for my old Treo and it's not a generic SD card. As per everyone's advice, I'll stick to smaller cards but I'll probably just use the 32 GB as general storage or backup storage.

So should I just stick to 2 GB cards and just have several? I know I'm still a casual photographer but I want to keep consideration for the future.

Thanks again for all the advice so far fellas. I really appreciate it.

 

Never ever, ever, ever have a single huge card!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust me!!!

Go with several 4GB cards. They are cheap as hell, like $10 ea. at sam's club.

My advice is to hone in your photography skills before going all out on gear. It will get very expensive very fast. I had about $5,200 in all of my pentax stuff at one point.

Photography is kind of like driving a car fast on a race track. You can have all the mods (or photography gear) in the world, and if you aren't a good driver (or have a good grasp on photography concepts and techniques), and it will all be for crap. So take your time now, browse a ton of websites (my favorites are luminous landscapes, nikonians, photo.net, fred miranda), read some books, and take your kit lens and have fun.

 

Yeah, I'm working on seeing if I can return that 32GB card that I purchased. I currently have a 2GB card so that's what I'm going to work with for now with my XSi and kit lens.

Like you suggested, I'm not planning on making any other purchases (well, maybe the 50 1.8 since it's so cheap, comparatively) and will hone my skills before making any other purchases on lenses. However, I'm still thinking of purchasing a tripod and gear bag since I think those are pretty essential but other than that, nothing more.

I'll add the sites you recommended on my list of sites to read. I have quite a bit of reading to do, LoL.

 

Some good news... I was able to return the eBay purchase that I made and ended up going with the 5-pack of SD cards that Mizouse linked. I've done quite a bit of reading and I think I understand the interplay between exposure/shutter speed, aperture/f-stop and ISO/noise. I was also at Infineon Raceway earlier today and took some shots that I think I'm happy with for where I'm at.

Thanks for guiding me in the right direction guys... I really appreciate everything.