rik1471

Just upgraded my Fuji Finepix 2800 to a Dimage 7i.

Paid £449.99 from Argos (!).

Does anyone have any decent web resources for the beginner to SLR digital photography??

Cheers in advance.

Rik.

Avi

Rik

Look Here:

http://www.photo.net/

I had a look when i first got mine .. seemed to be quite a few interesting articles.

Bed now, prepare myself for the marathon Shot Downing session we have tomorrow. All 8 Of them

[Edited by Avi - 12/19/2002 11:46:07 PM]

rik1471

9!!!!!!!!!!!!

9
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9

*******

chiark

I don't know how familiar you are with PC graphics, but I found that I didn't really need help on that. It was the photography side that I needed help with, so I bought Starting Photography by Michael Langford.

Check out DPReview.com for forums that are helpful, too

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

As Chiark says, DPReview is a good place to start, although the forums are primarily equipment focused which may or may not be of interest to you.

www.photo.net is a good site on which to see lots of excellent photos, although I actually find it a bit daunting. There are some superb - and obsessive - photographers there, whose work is outstanding but who can also be highly critical of anything they don't like.

A good site for general hints & tips is http://www.photographytips.com - it's written clearly in plain English, and is much better suited to someone starting out in the field and looking for inspiration.

If you don't mind paying to subscribe, I've heard good things said about http://www.ukphotographics.co.uk/. I don't subscribe myself, though.

Other sites worth a look are www.megapixel.net for the odd interesting article, www.dlcphotography.net (the site of one of my favourite photographers, truly stunning wildlife shots), www.robgalbraith.com (aimed at professional photojournalists).

Finally, remember that you'll learn a lot more by going out and taking photos than you ever will sitting at a PC. I should know - although it's so cold and dull right now that going outside is the last thing I want to do. I took a lot of pictures of my cats and Christmas tree last week!

Andy.

rik1471

Cheers, i'll take a look.

S55 HOT

£449 from Argos - bargain !

Just checked theirwebsite and it's there.

They won't last long at that price !

[Edited by S55 HOT - 12/20/2002 4:38:00 PM]

Pavlo

Sites mentioned above are good.

Books wise most decent photographic books will cover proper lighting and so on, the most upto date stuff for digital is on the web.

If you take it quite seriously, then I would recommend http://www.bbdigital.co.uk/ as a good source for digital manipulation stuff. Also "Photoshop 6 for photographers - Martin Evening" is an excellent reference.

The forums at DPReview are a god source of info for photography, and the reviews are a useful reference when buying.

I get anything decent printed by Photobox as they consistently give excellent quality and next day service.

Have fun.

paul

Toonman1

YOU could do worse than check out your local College of FE. I'm Course Leader in Digital Imaging and Photography at a College in the North East. Our courses are very successful. I'm sure there'll be something in your area.

Cheers

Mike

ADP

that is a cheap camera!

I bought a FUJI S602 Pro, havent figured out how to use it properly yet though. Would have gone for one of these at that price though.

AP

@Dean

Bugger... Argos have run out ! Jessops were doing a price match but now Argos have no stock they've put it back to £600 odd. DOH!

S55 HOT

Just been out and bought a D60 - I can't wait to get home & play with it.......

Jessops did a price match for me, so I got the body, a second battery and a grip for £1918 which I thought was OK.

Now all I need is a decent memory card - any ideas where the cheapest place is ?

SiCotty

Don't know about the 7i but practice and pre focus/exposure check works wonders when doing motorsport photography. Taking photos at a track day I attended I practiced the tracking shot and towards the end of the day I got the following pic which I think for a begineer is rarther good. Camera is Finepix 6900z.

www.beezling.freeserve.co.uk/12.jpg

Si

TopBanana

Scan are doing 1Gb IBM Microdrives for £154.51 incl.

Look under Hard Drives here

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

S55: Congratulations - you have a wonderful toy there. Do beware that it's the start of a slippery slope, that starts with a spare battery and ends up with a collection of 'L' lenses, flash, tripod, portable hard disc... you get the idea

The 1GB Microdrive is a very useful thing to have, provided that you trust it (there are stories of them failing prematurely) and can be sure you won't drop it. Otherwise, I can recommend Ridata cards, which are cheap from www.powerinnumbers.com.au - I have a pair of 256MB cards which are very fast and work flawlessly.

Have fun!

Andy.

S.B.

alledegly r kelly is.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

???

S55 HOT

Thanks Andy,

I've got an EOS 5 already so I know some of the temptations - I have been relatively controlled to date, but I expect that I will use the D60 way way more than I ever used the EOS 5 so will no doubt be buying many more toys......

Some of those L lenses look really nice and being a bit of a shiny kit monster I'm sure it won't be too long before my current stuff finds its way on to eBay

I took the advice of one of my colleagues and have ordered a 512mb Sandisk Ultra compact flash on next day delivery. Apparently microdrives are slower, less reliable and heavier on the battery. I'll check out that Aussie site though - 30x sounds impressive !

Al

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Microdrives probably are (slightly) slower, less reliable and heavier on the battery. They're a lot cheaper, though!

I don't notice much difference in battery life - I have the battery grip BG-ED3, and so the two batteries last all day regardless. The limiting factor on transfer speed is the camera's CF interface, so I doubt you'll see much difference between any of the good, high performance cards. DPReview have done tests with some of the common camera/card combinations, and the Microdrive does come out well.

A.

se6b

Oh no!!! I've been looking for a 7i for the last month now...cheapest I have found is £650! Damn you Argos!!!!

Mossman

SiCotty, great pic!!! Nice one!
Mossman

S55 HOT

Thanks Andy - I bought the grip and a couple of batteries so good to know they'll last.

I may end up with a microdrive as well then ! Though the new 1Gb CF cards look attractive too........

I had a play with the camera last night and based on that very short time it exceeded my expectations ! I can't wait to get more time to experiment.

A major part of my (self) justification is that I will learn loads more about photography if I can see instant results and can experiment a bit !

I was particularly impressed that it handles just like a 'real' camera - the shutter release is instant unlike all the other digital cameras I've played with.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I have the 7i, and bought a "cheapy" storage card of 256MB. The camera did NOT like it, and I e-mailed Minolta to find out why. They were very good, and sent me a a list of ones that are defo compatible.
I returned the offending one, and had another, better one by return of post from "Digital First".
DO be careful what you buy for it, cheapest is not always suitable.
Alcazar

SiCotty

chears Mossman, was chuffed to bits when I got home and looked at it on the PC, got a few more but the focus is a off on either the front or the back of the car.

Si

S55 HOT

Well the D60 is so awesome that I've just had to buy it a little present already ! Welcome a 550 EX flash

I also can't believe how many piccies I've taken this weekend ! It's just so tempting to take bursts of 8 and sort them out later. When Andy said I'd want a portable disk I thought no way - I'm seriously thinking about it already !!!

If you want to learn about photography, then digital has to be the way to go - I've already been experimenting - how would that picture look if I did this instead, what about if I change this setting to that etc. Had loads of fun with the flash, fill in, bouncing at different angles etc.

I can't recomend this enough - my EOS 5 was a great camera, but this is a different world !

rik1471

I've had the IBM microdrive for a while now, not noticably slower than my CF cards, and at £79.90 for a 512MB card, the value for money is second to none.

springbok

Hi Rik1471,
Can you tell me where you got a 512M at that price,
Cheers, Grahame

Daryl

They were that price from www.DigitalDepot.co.uk a few weeks ago, but they seem to have gone up to 90 odd quid now.

Esoteric Beast

I Also have a Canon D60 and at low light level its is outstanding for a Digital Camera

RussP

If only th bl**dy thing would focus in low light!