Camera Advice

[ness]

As far as learning, green or full program modes will make you stupid.

[Flysmallie]

Megapixels aren't nearly as important as the marketing would make you think.

Bingo!

My first dslr was 5mp. It took some beautiful pictures. Current camera is 12mp and I don't see any reason to go bigger for my use. I have a nice 20 x 30 print from that 12mps. 24mp wouldn't make it any better, but it would make file storage a lot more difficult than it already is.

And always remember that 12mp on a dslr is not the same as 12mp on a point and shoot.

[lee G.]

I am going out on a limb here, but, its been my experience that the longer lens gains you less, than cropping will, sooo, more mp would be better, big lens's are big money. Lot of money going from a 200mm to a 300mm to a 400mm.

And you are right about the lcd not telling you much, but in a dark room, glasses and zooming in on the pic, the lcd will tell you a lot, I can see the difference between pics without going to the puter.

Heres a pic 200 mm from my d40 6 mp cropped.

[Nick Williams]

Megapixels aren't nearly as important as the marketing would make you think. In fact, there are downsides to a lot of megapixels.

Here's an example -- the first screen shot includes a picture I took. It's at a usable size on a monitor. But if I show it full-sized you see how much bigger the real picture is. Too big for a monitor, so the program basically throws away information to make it fit.

Unless you're planning on very large prints, or looking at the stuff on a very large screen, there's not a lot of benefit to the extra MP. And, you're going to use up card/disk space faster and download times will be slower. Just not a lot of benefit to big megapixels for the vast majority of people.

I didn't look too closely at the specs on the two cameras, but I suspect you could sum it up by saying the extra 12 MP cost you the second lens and $50. Decent bodies -- I'd say look for better lenses.

That picture looks fantastically clear though! I didn't think about the download times and disk space though, that's a very good point! How many MP was that that picture taken with?

So what camera body would you recommend right now? And I assume it is cheaper to buy a package like that, but probably not always beneficial to great photos. What I don't know is how do i know if a body or lens are good quality and worth me checking in to, or just leaving alone.

[lee G.]

I think 6 mp to 12 mp or 14 mp will do me fine, If I was making money as a photographer, i might buy more stuff, but, the d 40 is better than i am, lol

[ness]

Yeah -- you're right more MP allows you to use a smaller portion of the full picture with better detail. Kinda the inverse of the point I was making, but certainly valid.

The zoom range covered -- 18 to 200 -- is great. The quality of the lenses, not so much. My son has the 18-55 and while it's fine, the difference in sharpness is noticeable versus my 18-70. I'll see if I can give a couple examples when I get home.

[Nick Williams]

These photos are from my iPhone, it was a 4 at the time I've since then upgraded, but they are pretty clear. Is that because my MP were just a good for for the picture or something else? It's been over a year and a half since I took these, but I don't remember editing them in anyway. They're just sitting on my camera roll. I hope I am clear in what I'm asking...

[Flysmallie]

Heres a pic 200 mm from my d40 6 mp cropped.

Alright I lied. The first dslr I ever owned was 6mp. It was a D40.

Nice pic Lee. Now get you a Micro lens and look at the fun you can have.

[ness]

That picture looks fantastically clear though! I didn't think about the download times and disk space though, that's a very good point! How many MP was that that picture taken with?

So what camera body would you recommend right now? And I assume it is cheaper to buy a package like that, but probably not always beneficial to great photos. What I don't know is how do i know if a body or lens are good quality and worth me checking in to, or just leaving alone.

Just a lowly 10 MP camera there. But, with a pretty sharp lens set on f/2.8 to get the nice background blur.

I don't know what your budget is, but for just starting out that 14 MP with two lenses would sure get you going. You can upgrade lenses later if you really want. Here's an option:

http://www.keh.com/search?store=camera&brand=Brand&category=Class&k=nikon%2018-70&s=1&bcode=Brand&ccode=Class&grade=Grade&sprice=0&eprice=0&r=SE&e

[lee G.]

Funny, I been looking at Macro's the last few days, and ness you are spot on about the kit lens, they are ok, but the higher priced ones are much better!

Just wish I had a extra 3000 or so! lol