Ok So I Took The Plunge !

[lilfritzy]

Hi everyone I finally took the plunge and purchased the Canon T4i, hopefully I made the right decision over the Nikon D3200. I figured I would play with it a bit and if I felt it was a little to hard for me to use I could return it and go with the Nikon. I've read a lot of reviews on both cameras and the both have some very nice features. My only question is if I made the wrong decision going with a 18mp rather than the 24mp, any thoughts? It really was a hard decision because I liked both of the cameras but for some reason I liked the feel of the canon better.

My next question to all of you, what type of SD cards are the best to use with that camera ? How fast should they write (ex: 20mb, 30mb or 35mb) ? Also when I go to F&G Festival in march I would like to get some close ups of some of the flowers, what type lens would be good for that purpose ? Thanks for the help.

 

[maryszhi]

Hi everyone I finally took the plunge and purchased the Canon T4i, hopefully I made the right decision over the Nikon D3200. I figured I would play with it a bit and if I felt it was a little to hard for me to use I could return it and go with the Nikon. I've read a lot of reviews on both cameras and the both have some very nice features. My only question is if I made the wrong decision going with a 18mp rather than the 24mp, any thoughts? It really was a hard decision because I liked both of the cameras but for some reason I liked the feel of the canon better.

My next question to all of you, what type of SD cards are the best to use with that camera ? How fast should they write (ex: 20mgb, 30mgb or 35mgb) ? Also when I go to F&GF in march I would like to get some close ups of some of the flowers, what type lens would be good for that purpose ? Thanks for the help.

yay! that is a big purchase but well worth it also read the manual because they have a lot of information and tips in regards to the sd cards and which lens to use for what type of photos

 

[Allen C]

My next question to all of you, what type of SD cards are the best to use with that camera ? How fast should they write (ex: 20mgb, 30mgb or 35mgb) ? Also when I go to F&GF in march I would like to get some close ups of some of the flowers, what type lens would be good for that purpose ? Thanks for the help.

I've used SanDisk Extreme HD Class 10 cards - 8GB and 16GB - with no problems so far since I got a DSLR in 2010. I usually have 2x16GB in the camera then I carry 2 more in reserve. I never run out of storage space when I'm in the parks even when shooting a lot of RAW brackets. (The Nikon D7000 has dual SD slots.) Others may have different preferences.

I've been to the last 2 F&G Festivals and I must say Epcot just begs to be photographed during this time.

If you want to take flower close ups then you might be in the market for a dedicated macro lens. There are different macro lenses available for a Canon at different focal lengths and price ranges. Using a shorter focal length lens (such as the 50mm) just means you have to get closer to the subject. Having a longer focal length (such as the 100mm) means you can shoot from further back - useful for the butterfly tent!

I just had my regular zoom at the time - a 28mm - 300mm. I now have a 100mm macro which I'll be bringing next March.

These were from this year's F&GF:

 

[lilfritzy]

Thanks for the help and the beautiful picutres !

 

[ddbowdoin]

Don't worry about the MP's... Plenty of resolution in 18MP. I would say the only negative of going canon is some of the glass, I don't believe they make an affordable macro lens. Other than that go ahead and have fun!

Thanks for the help and the beautiful picutres !

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

Two years ago when I bought my T2i I decided to take a photography class at the local community college so I could learn how to use it. The instructor was a professional photographers and was very helpful and the class was fun.

 

[wiigirl]

Beautiful pictures!

 

[lilfritzy]

So I've had My T4i for a few weeks and I'm really enjoying it. I've been playing with it in manual mode (I've refused to put it into Auto I feel I have a point and shoot for that, lol). Here are a couple pictures so far that I've been playing around with shutter speed, ISO and aperture. They're not great but it's a start.

 

[lilfritzy]

Now that I have a DSLR I'ts amazing the difference between a P&S and this camera it's like night and day. As you all know there is so much more I'm able to do, everything that I wanted my Nikon L100 to do but couldn't this one can. I really am so pleased and I'm sure as a learn more about the camera and photography in general I'm sure my pictures will get better. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your help and your forthcoming help because I'm certainly going to be aking for it in the coming months.

 

[lilfritzy]

Ok so I've had my Canon for a while and I absolutely love it but what I'm also finding out now is that all of you were right it is the photographer and not so much the camera. Now that I've had a few months to do some reading on photography I'm starting to see all the mistakes I've made and that I could have done a lot more with my P&S cameras. I've realized that it is extremely difficult if not impossible to get either a close up shot of something or a picture of fireworks without a tripod. (I know some of you are probably thinking....duh !!! lol, I know I am.) All I kept thinking was I needed a better camera.
I've also realized that what I thought was an old useless camera at 3.2 mp, can do a lot more that I thought it could. I have Minolta Dimage Z1 which I didn't realize had a manual setting, It doesn't do what my Canon can do but I can adjust the f-stop and the shutter speed. So needless to say I will be bringing that with me as well in conjunction with my Nikon L100 to play around with when I go back down in April. I did always like that camera it did take some really nice shots.

Here is a few from '08 trip Taken with my Minolta

 

[Kristia]

I have a Canon Rebel series DSLR. I have taken a few classes to better understand my camera which were really helpful. One thing that may help is that you can let the camera pick some of the settings without going fully auto. There is no shame in this lol. If you are looking to take a photo where depth of field is more important, use the AV setting on the dial. You can change the aperture and the camera will choose the proper shutter speed for light conditions. If you are taking a photo where shutter speed is the more important aspect, such as a sporting or action shot, choose TV setting on the dial and the camera will pick the proper aperture. I then used the change the exposure compensation if the exposure isn't satisfactory. Another useful tip I was taught is to take advantage of the histogram that can be displayed when reviewing your photos on the camera. You can set it so the histogram displays as soon as your picture is taken. It is sometimes hard to see the exposure of your photo on screen when reviewing it especially if you are in bright light. The histogram will tell you if you have areas that are under or over-exposed. Looks like you are doing great so far!

 

[lilfritzy]

Thanks for the tips ! I have read through the camera manual about 3 times, lol. I refuse to put it into auto, lol so I have been playing with those setting you mentioned. I also have been taking pictures of my fireplace just to play around with different settings. I haven't yet used the histogram I did read about using that for adjustments but I keep forgetting. My Canon Is such a great camera that the more I use it the more I like it. What I also like about it is that I can change the flash exposure which was great when I take indoor night shots. I was taking picutres of Thanksgiving and I was able to adjust the flash so I wouldn't get that blaring light in the photo.

 

[Kristia]

You're welcome! I love my Canon too although it is an older model now. I got it about 5 years ago and technology just keeps getting better! Another thing to experiment with is the white balance. That can make a great difference in your pics too. If I am not shooting in RAW mode, a lot of times I will set the white balance to shade or cloudy because it just gives the photos a better tone than the sunny white balance. The colors look warmer. In RAW mode, you can change the white balance to your liking in post-processing.

 

[lilfritzy]

I haven't been brave enough to shoot in RAW yet ! Lol, but I have played around with white balance. I never realized how fun shooting pictures can be once you understand the basics of it.

 

[BigRedDad]

People will make all types of recommendations on cameras, lenses, gear, this and that. One thing to think about though is Ansel Adams was one of the greatest photographers. With GPS locationing and the best gear made by man cannot reproduce what he did 70-80+ years ago.

The best piece of equipment is the person using the camera as a tool.