Another newbie DSLR buying suggestion thread

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Konquerror

Konquerror

Forerunner
Well I went out for Mumbai "Darshan" on Saturday night with my parents in night. We went to Marine Drive, Gateway of India etc. and I took my Canon A480 point and shoot. Well the pics I took were horrible and it ruined my mood as well as the night. Hence looking forward for a better cam.

Well I can see that since DSLRs are costly, I infer that they must be taking excellent pics in all conditions: night, macro, landscape etc. etc. I am completely noob in case of DSLRs. Till now I have used only Point and Shoots from Sony and Canon for indoor photography and they usually performed well. Now moving forward I need a DSLR which should take damn good pics in night, indoors and outdoors. My budget is around 30k for everything (cam+lens kit). I am little bent towards Canon (1000D or 500D).

Also one of my friends is in USA right now so I can get the cam from US too but I would like to buy it in India with warranty. If price difference is huge then I can consider the US option. Please suggest me which cam should I buy?
 
Konquerror said:
Well I went out for Mumbai "Darshan" on Saturday night with my parents in night. We went to Marine Drive, Gateway of India etc. and I took my Canon A480 point and shoot. Well the pics I took were horrible and it ruined my mood as well as the night. Hence looking forward for a better cam.

Well I can see that since DSLRs are costly, I infer that they must be taking excellent pics in all conditions: night, macro, landscape etc. etc. I am completely noob in case of DSLRs. Till now I have used only Point and Shoots from Sony and Canon for indoor photography and they usually performed well. Now moving forward I need a DSLR which should take damn good pics in night, indoors and outdoors. My budget is around 30k for everything (cam+lens kit). I am little bent towards Canon (1000D or 500D).

Also one of my friends is in USA right now so I can get the cam from US too but I would like to buy it in India with warranty. If price difference is huge then I can consider the US option. Please suggest me which cam should I buy?
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Are you sure the camera was the problem, and not you? I have used a Canon P&S before, the S2IS, and they are generally excellent.

When you say horrible, what do you mean? Can you post some photos here?

I assume you know the basics of exposure, shutter speed and ISO.. rest assured, a DSLR is NOT a universal panacea for bad photos. They are complex, difficult to use in any mode other than Auto, and do not have one lens suitable for all purposes. E.g., if you want to take macros, a good macro lens will probably cost as much as your camera body.

So why not upload some pics from your Mumbai Darshan and post them here for us to critique?
 
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You should buy a dslr only if you are willing to give time to it. A dslr wont give you superb pics unless you know how to use it completely.I ll suggest you to go through main entry level dslr thread to get idea about dslr.

There are several compacts available that can give you wonderful pics.do a bit of study and then decide.
 
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Get the Nikon D3100 its the latest from Nikon I'm not sure of the price. I saw in a US website for 700$

@Techhead: And the canon A series is not exactly noteworthy of its picture quality. Its the very basic of all canon models.

And as alex says you can consider going for another compact probably the premium ones which also can give good pics close to DSLR quality.
 
TechHead said:
Are you sure the camera was the problem, and not you? I have used a Canon P&S before, the S2IS, and they are generally excellent.

When you say horrible, what do you mean? Can you post some photos here?

I assume you know the basics of exposure, shutter speed and ISO.. rest assured, a DSLR is NOT a universal panacea for bad photos. They are complex, difficult to use in any mode other than Auto, and do not have one lens suitable for all purposes. E.g., if you want to take macros, a good macro lens will probably cost as much as your camera body.

So why not upload some pics from your Mumbai Darshan and post them here for us to critique?
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Well Canon A480 doesn't provide manual option for setting exposure and shutter speed. ISO we can set. However I tried with auto mode only and haven't played with cam's other setting. Will upload pics in evening as I'm in office right now. Also I am using P&S for past 5 years and I think it's time to move on :). That's why thinking of getting a good entry level DSLR. Also I am more inclined towards Canon 1000D + Lens kit. I would generally like to take pics of Landscape, People and sometimes Macro. So please suggest me accordingly.
 
Basic DSLR will not give u much advantage if any over other camera especially in night photography unless ur well invested in good lenses and flash and knowledge.. and DSLR dont work like bridge, buy one and be done with it.. u need to keep buying lenses and other stuff for it.. so think about it once more before deciding..
 
Konquerror said:
Well Canon A480 doesn't provide manual option for setting exposure and shutter speed. ISO we can set. However I tried with auto mode only and haven't played with cam's other setting. Will upload pics in evening as I'm in office right now. Also I am using P&S for past 5 years and I think it's time to move on :). That's why thinking of getting a good entry level DSLR. Also I am more inclined towards Canon 1000D + Lens kit. I would generally like to take pics of Landscape, People and sometimes Macro. So please suggest me accordingly.
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U are having a P&S for 5 years and not tried anything other than auto mode...:huh: well this could be disastrous....

I guess, not getting good photo in Mumbai darshan, should not conclude U to take a DSLR...
as told by Tech Head, DSLR could not be a easy affair in many case... also once U get a DSLR U arent that comfortable in making family shot across the road in marine drive..:P (Human brain sophistication )

Sharing some of those *Horrible pics* here could help more..

BTW, for the problems U r facing; the solution could be Canon G12, S90 or some other from nikon or other camp....
 
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^^ Yep as he said, basically you will need additional lens for all modes of photography. But yeah the manual settings on the DSLR are a boon.

EDIT: That Ken Rockwell fellow is heavily biased with Nikon, I wouldnt touch his reviews with a pole. However, his articles on photography (especially composition and framing) is a must read for newbies.
 
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So Canon 1000D+ Lens kit would be a good idea...right? Canon 500D is kind of getting out of my budget. And I would like to explore photography and do some experiment also with Focus, Aperture, ISOs and all other manual settings :).
 
Aces170 said:
EDIT: That Ken Rockwell fellow is heavily biased with Nikon, I wouldnt touch his reviews with a pole. However, his articles on photography (especially composition and framing) is a must read for newbies.
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Agreed. Personally it came down to the control layout and grip, and I found the D5000 better than the 500D. But of course, you cant go wrong with the 500D, it's a great camera.
 
Actually I can easily sympathize with the OP.

I had a Fuji S5600 P&S which took awesome pics in bright light.

I was looking through some old pics taken with the S5600 on my PC yesterday and I marveled at how similar they were to my current DSLR.

However all the indoor non flash shots were horrible ! Noise everywhere even at ISO 400. Colour bleeding was also prevalent in all the snaps.

Small P&S sensors struggle with noise even at ISO 400. His Canon is no exception to the rule.

That said DSLR is not an easy solution.

You need to work with it in order to get better images.
 
Konquerror said:
Well here are the pics which I took at that night using my Canon A480

ImageShack Album - 7 images
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Sorry, but to me - nothing seems wrong with the camera.. Rather there is something wrong with your camera basics...

U used flash for all photos and the exif said it to be 1/60sec with f/3to 4... ISO 400

Things to be noted is -

1> flash has a very limited range (more limited in P&S).. Hence U cannot lit a monument far away from you with a flash (not even in case of DSLR)

2> The shutter speed was 1/60 sec.. this is too fast for night.. light can barely get in from shutter for a well exposed shot..

3> at ISO 400 performance wasnt bad.. U can always increase the ISO but why to do so when U can slower the Shutter speed to get more exposure..

4> U wont get a monument and people infront of it equally lighted with a flash.. to do so U need to sync flash with a slower shutter speed..

So, if U are blaming camera for poor photos, that wont be a right thing..

A tripod+camera and better photography skills could had made better photos..



Dont feel bad about my words.. even I had made these mistakes earlier.. and those poor photos are still in my HDD

All I mean to say is that getting DSLR wont be a solution (rather it could be a bigger problem)

Cameras are out for casual shooters who want better IQ.. things like Canon G12, S90 etc...
 
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For this peice of info... i thank you..

2> The shutter speed was 1/60 sec.. this is too fast for night.. light can barely get in from shutter for a well exposed shot..

3> at ISO 400 performance wasnt bad.. U can always increase the ISO but why to do so when U can slower the Shutter speed to get more exposure..
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Yepp, thanks for the notes ashvarybabul! I am a noob too when it comes to photography and just got gifted a DSLR! Will put it up in Show-off section :)
 
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