Which DSLR do you recommend?

[carpy]

A lighter camera is not necessarily better. I prefer heavier cameras, which take the 'jitter' out of your hands.

yes, sometimes i agree, but i will be taking this camera with me to costa rica (lets hope i dont get robbed or shot, i am going with british army rucksack and trousers, and other little bits and bobs, and an expensive camera) and i will already be carrying a 40 odd kilo bag, so i wanna be able to keep the weight down a bit.

Alex

 

[John]

For general photography I'm not going to fault your 55-200 mm but since money seems to be an issue, I would have said that's 120 squids towards the Tamron .

And you're welcome!

 

[carpy]

hmm, i am getting it tomorrow, so will spend the entire night contemplating whether to get the 55-200 or not.

so is the general consensus that the 55-200 is not great at closeup newt/sal/fish/wildlife photos?

 

[John]

Wildlife: it doesn't focus fast enough to be reliable when you must have a shot right then and there. However in a zoo, for example, and for casual use it should suit you fine. I'm a lens snob so you must temper my advice with your own expectations of use.

Newts etc: I think you'll be using the 18-55 for this more. In any case, neither's going to get close enough to let you take impressive photos of larvae or eggs.

 

[carpy]

yes, i was thinking of how good they would be with larvae and eggs, i suppose that has answered that one!

i think i will be mainly focusing on adults, and larger larvae anyway, so i will get the 18-55, then make a snap decision while i am there whether i will get the 55-200 or not, and then get the tamron 90mm macro some time next year.

thsnks again for all the input,

Alex

 

[carpy]

well, i have my camera, and i have chosen not to go for the 55-200 lens. it will be going towards a macro lens.

this tamron 90mm macro lens, generally i was under the impression that most close zoom macro lenses are around 25mm?!?
any other macro lenses worth looking at??

Alex

 

[John]

this tamron 90mm macro lens, generally i was under the impression that most close zoom macro lenses are around 25mm?!?

Nope. This isn't a zoom any way. A zoom lens is like your 18-55 mm.

any other macro lenses worth looking at??

I have Nikon's 60mm micro but it's not as good as the Tamron. It's a teensy bit cheaper if I recall correctly but it's not competitive with the Tamron.

 

[michael]

What is a good book or on line source to learn more about how to use a dslr. All this is new to me. I have acanaon powershot a70 and a very old mamiya sekor slr. The slr takes the best shots but the digital is so much easier and cheaper to use. I'm thinking of making the jump but am very much an ametuer. My main interest is taking amphibian pictures.

 

[John]

If you get a Nikon, I recommend Thom Hogan's ebooks: http://www.bythom.com

 

[John]

Alex I was reading about your new camera. Looks like the Tamron is out for you because the D40/D40x doesn't have its own screw motor. That means you'll have to get lenses that are AFS (i.e. have their own super fast motor) in order to use them. That limits your macro capabilities somewhat. The only AFS macro lens I know of off the top of my head is the Nikon 108 mm f/2.8 AFS VR.

 

[carpy]

ok john, that should be fine.

by the way, the camera is great, have taken alot of pictures on it, from pitcher plants at the chelsea flower show, to my fish, so salamanders. will try and get some pics on the galleries soon!

Alex

 

[slippery42]

hey

one thing you want to check is the weight of the camera. i got a new dslr a couple of days ago and its an olympus e400 from currys. 10.0 mp, very light. its £350 at the moment or you can buy the upgrade package. i spent £532.....got 17.5-55mm lense that comes with it, case, 1gb card, 45-150mm lense, a half price uv protector and £49 4 your cover against it going wrong or me breaking it. includes the lenses.

took this pic of fraggle with the 17.5-55mm and i think the quality is great.

I'm surprised that the weight of a camera comes in to it and why would you look for a lighter one?

My two Nikon D200's are heavy but very strong and able to be put up with being bashed in the field.

I dont take particularly good care of them as I look on them as tools.

Unlike on of the previous comments I see very little problem with either the Nikon 60mm Micro or the 105mm Micro which are spectacular lenses.

This is an example of a HAND held from last week.

 

[coendeurloo]

Alex I was reading about your new camera. Looks like the Tamron is out for you because the D40/D40x doesn't have its own screw motor. That means you'll have to get lenses that are AFS (i.e. have their own super fast motor) in order to use them. That limits your macro capabilities somewhat. The only AFS macro lens I know of off the top of my head is the Nikon 108 mm f/2.8 AFS VR.

I have recently bought the Nikon D40 and I am looking for a proper macro lens too, though I can´t seem to find the 108 mm lens you are mentioning. I am quite new at this so I don´t know how to search for a proper AFS lens either. Do you maybe have a link to a page about this lens?

 

[Ed]

We are looking at the Pentax K10D (partly because I have a bunch of Pentax compatabile lenses already from my SLR)

Ed

 

[Neurus]

how macro are you looking to go? i have everything from simple 18mm lens setups to adapted 50mm lenses to this setup that i use for axie eggs

 

[Daniel]

I would definitely like to see some photos you did with this construcion!
I think you might have a problem with the light with this long tube, don't you Neurus? What do you do on that - a longer shutter-time?

 

[Neurus]

I would definitely like to see some photos you did with this construcion!
I think you might have a problem with the light with this long tube, don't you Neurus? What do you do on that - a longer shutter-time?

Good question, first of all i use a lot of halogen 500w lighting, i obtain focus with the apeture wide open and then move the f stop to about 8 - 11 and then a long exposure of about 1 sec is usually sufficient.

 

[coendeurloo]

I have recently learned that lenzes without the AF motor could be compatible with the D40 as well. I would not care about autofocus in macrophotography...when will you actually use this?

BTW...I'm still looking for a good lens, maybe the Tamron would be a good choice... Sigma seems to create proper lenzes too

 

[John]

I always see people knocking AF in macro photography - "serious" macrophotographers don't use AF.... Well sometimes things happen quickly that you can't control when you take photos of moving animals instead of flowers, and AF is better than no F when time is a factor.

 

[dad of axle]

Hi I am new to digital photography but bought a Canon 600D with 18-55mm kit and then some macro lenses and filters. The Camera has image stabilization built in apparanently( still have to learn how to use it)
and I am now looking at whether I should get a 70-300 telephoto lens kit or will the individual macro lenses be sufficient?
I want to take photos of my axolotl and other small animals, as well as scenic photography.