Friday, November 13, 2015

Photography Tips: Selecting your first real camera

It is a whole different world owning a point and shoot camera and a single lens reflex (SLR) camera. Point and shoot cameras are lightweight, they fit in the pocket and they shoot pretty good pictures, especially when light conditions are good. SLR cameras are heavy, big, expensive, but they shoot a lot better and sharper pictures, especially in dim light conditions (evening, clouds, mist etc). They also have a lot more functions than a point and shoot camera. Some of them I would like to highlight later.

The selection of your first real digital SLR camera can be complicated, especially since you need to choose two parts, the body and the lense. Yes, SLR cameras, in contrast to point and shoot cameras, are usually sold without a lens. The lens has to be selected and bought separately and it is both the most important part of the the picture quality and the most expensive part of the camera.

Selecting a camera body is challenging, because this binds you to the lenses. You can't mount Nikon lenses on a Canon body and vice versa. Therefore many of the times the decision of the body depends on the decision of a lens that you like.  My first SLR camera was a Nikon, since Michael, my friend who introduced me to SLR photography, had a Nikon and I could lend lenses from him. It turned out that I didn't lend so many times lenses from him, but I still have Nikon cameras, since  all my Nikon lenses would be otherwise useless.

Generally for an SLR camera I would go either for Nikon or Canon. The debate Canon vs Nikon is an old debate where many pro photographers are fighting over technical details that a regular person would not understand. However I have seen brilliant pictures with both Nikon and Canon cameras, if the lens used was good.

Regardless of brand, the first choice you need to make is if you buy a full frame digital SLR camera or a crop sensor camera. The sensor is the most expensive part of the camera and it is the one that captures the image and replaces the traditional chemical film of the analog camera. The bigger the sensor the better, so if your wallet can afford it go for a full frame SLR camera.  This defines also the lens that you will buy, since there are full frame (expensive) lenses and crop frame (cheaper) lenses. If you choose to go for crop frame, then you need to know that a crop frame (cheaper) lens is not suitable for a full frame camera. Full frame lenses can fit everywhere.

A very good site that can help you choose is this one: http://www.dpreview.com/

My personal favorite cameras are (both full-frame):
Nikon D810: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7947009894/high-end-full-frame-roundup/12
Canon EOS 5D Mark III: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7947009894/high-end-full-frame-roundup/11

A good comparison of full frame DSLR cameras can be found here:
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7947009894/high-end-full-frame-roundup?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu

Going to the lens topic:

The main challenge for the lenses is that the zoom factor. The millimeter (mm) number that comes with every lens defines the focal length, meaning how much you can zoom with that lens.  A low mm number means a wide angle lens and a high mm number means a telephoto lens. This means that with a 300mm lens you can zoom to that clock in the church tower from far away , but with a 24mm lens you can shoot the entire church, even if you are very near to it. The eye's focal length is equivalent to 45mm of a full-frame SLR camera. Everything below that value is wider angle than your eye can see and above that value is zoomed compared to what you can see.

When choosing a lens you need to know how bright is the lens. This is measured in its aperture, which is the f-value that is in the lens specifications. The lower this value, the brighter and more expensive the lens. This means that you can shoot better pictures even in lower light conditions.

Also when choosing lenses avoid general purpose lenses that cover all focal lengths. My first lens was a 28mm-300mm f5.6 lens. I used it for my first 5 years of shooting and then I packed it away together with the pictures I shot with it (now I judge them as low quality). My second lens was a brilliant fixed 50mm lens with aperture of f1.8. The difference in the pictures is immense. The same 50mm lens in f1.4 costs three times more, just for this 0.4 difference in its aperture. However this small difference is noticeable in the pictures you shoot. Therefore a rule of thumb for the lens is to choose the lowest f-value you can afford!

Finally, here is a picture I shot with my Nikon D-700 DSLR camera and my 70-200mm f2.8 Nikon lens:


This is a picture that can only be shot with an SLR camera. Notice the focused drops on the leaf in the middle and the out of focus drops in the back. This dramatic effect requires a zoom lens (more than 70mm) and a low aperture (less than f4.5). Also the clarity of the image is to be attributed to the quality of the lens.

Hope I helped! If you have questions please comment this post and I will be happy to answer them.






























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