Which DSLR

[ggill]

Hi guys I am pretty backwards when it comes to photography but my girlfriend is in fashion and needs a DSLR for her blog and portfolio. If you could help direct her to the best place to buy and more importantly which brand that would be great! From advice she has been given it is between a Canon and a Nikon and her budget is £500 max so your input is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[Rob (NZ)]

Plenty of sites doing reviews, it will mainly come down to personal preference (there are no really really bad DSLR's made).

http://www.dpreview.com/

http://www.fredmiranda.com/

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

http://www.imaging-resource.com/

Rob.

[Mutling]

http://www.fredmiranda.com/

Is where I go for camera information

[langtoft lad]

Hi guys I am pretty backwards when it comes to photography but my girlfriend is in fashion and needs a DSLR for her blog and portfolio.
Cheers

Needs ??? Why ???

For a portfolio - get a professional to take the pictures - it will be worth it in the long term.
For a blog - get a cheap & cheerful compact... easy to handle, easy to carry, point & shoot.

...unless of course, it's not about the photographs nor the use they'll be put to but more about the "image" of having a "proper" camera hung around her neck - in which case it doesn't matter as long it is boldly labeled 'Nikon'.

[pastrana72]

I think this is good advice, if you take your budget and have a look at a serious compact camera, You can find it will be a stunning and impressive tool for your girlfriend.

SLR's are usefull, but if you want something easier to carry, easier to use but still with lots of manual controls and funky settings, you need to consider this sector too in your search for a camera.

I use a Panasonic Lumix LX3, which produces fantastic results, but the cannon G10 and G11 are pretty good too at this too.

Worth a thought, good luck in your search, if you do a camera results search on flickr, it will enable yourself and your girlfriend see, what a said camera is capable of producing image wise, there will be plenty of examples for each model, I expect there may even bee a fashion application.

[Mutling]

I have a Canon 5D plus a couple of lenses (70 - 210 2.8 IS on most of the time) but get way more use out of my Panasonic Lumix TZ3

[Loddonite]

I read rather a lot on this subject a while ago and it all boiled down to setting a budget, considering all makes and buying either the Nikon or the Canon in your price range.
(that may seem rather off-hand, but I'm being serious for once)

[Saint-Just]

I read rather a lot on this subject a while ago and it all boiled down to setting a budget, considering all makes and buying either the Nikon or the Canon in your price range.
(that may seem rather off-hand, but I'm being serious for once)

+10!

[ggill]

Cheers for the site/model suggestions I'll pass these on. The flickr suggestion is really smart, did not think of this!

Needs ??? Why ???

For a portfolio - get a professional to take the pictures - it will be worth it in the long term.
For a blog - get a cheap & cheerful compact... easy to handle, easy to carry, point & shoot.

...unless of course, it's not about the photographs nor the use they'll be put to but more about the "image" of having a "proper" camera hung around her neck - in which case it doesn't matter as long it is boldly labeled 'Nikon'.

Just to clarify she's not a model but a journalist and stylist so having a DSLR is needed for sending hi res images and achieving different shots with an adjustable lens, which are sometimes taken on an ad-hoc basis. She already has the new Canon Digital IXUS 200 and drawn to making use of both.

[Fschwep]

Olympus E-30 with a 12-60 mm f/2.8-4.0 zoom plus a 50 mm f/2.0 macro. Very good lenses that are not too expensive given their image quality, and a good high-end prosumer body with built-in stabilisation that works with any lens.
However, if she needs to send in files to studios and the like, chances are that people there will look at the EXIF data of the image - and some so-called graphic professionals and agencies have been known to 'discriminate' against anything that is not shot with a Canon or a Nikon. They also tend to ask for extremely hi-res images: 300 dpi even if the output will be a highway ad poster viewed from a 100 metres distance (I am exaggerating here, but many 'pros' don't want to hear that a normal viewing diatance is equal to at least the diagonal of the image, so if you need 300 dpi for a pin-sharp A4 image at book reading distance, an image that is twice the linear size will be viewed from twice as far and thus can do with half the linear resolution. An A4 is 8 x 12 inch, give or take; this gives you 2400 x 3600 pixels linear, or close to 9 MP. Unless you want to shoot landscapes with almost unlimited detail even when printed wall-sized and still viewed so close you need reading glasses, or astronomy, you don't need anything over 10 MP even for large posters, except to keep up with the Joneses or when you want to crop a lot.
The camera must be able to shoot RAW images, so she can convert those to non-compressed TIFFs to keep agencies and studios happy. For a blog even 600 x 800 will do, so it helps if the camera allows you to choose any JPEG resolution to shoot simultaneously with the RAWs.

*) disclosure: I'm a long-time Olympus fan since the 35 mm film days when I used various OM SLR models.

[Spy]

She may want to consider a intermediat compact, in between a DSLR and compact, such as the Canon G ramge or even a Panasonic GF series camera.

A good source of information to solicit views is http://www.talkphotography.co.uk

[sundial]

If she is a professional journalist and in London then go to any Calumet branch (eg Drummond Street, Euston) and have a chat with a professional camera sales person and try a few cameras and lenses. Quite honestly though, for £500 she will struggle to get a decent outfit to cover her needs especially for fashion photography. She needs to budget considerably more ie at least £750 and maybe £1000 to acquire a decent reliable used outfit. She will need a decent flashgun as well as a good SLR. She could consider a used outfit based on a Nikkor 18-70mm lens which is a superb performer for the ££. Another dealer worth considering, especially for a good quality used outfit is Grays of Westminster where the advice given is second to none ... and they boast that if they cant fix you up with a suitable camera to satisfy your needs they will take it back no questions asked. As for using a compact camera for serious portfolio work, forget it as the quality just is not there for large prints (assuming she needs 10 x 12 prints at some stage or even larger) ... the sensors are too small. And if she is going to need a DSLR and lens(es) and a flash she will also need a decent bag .. another £100 purchase even for a good used Billingham. A £500 budget is way too small for the type of work she probably needs to produce. She should do her homework re prices ... a chat with Gray Levett regarding equipment could pay dividends http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/boo ... of_gow.php If you are really stuck for ££ and have to spend less than £500 then consider from Ffordes ...https://secure.ffordes.com/index.htm a used D80 for £350 and a used 18-70mm for £150 ... but you will still need a decent flashgun.

Cheers

[muffle]

An SLR with interchangeable lenses is the way to go - offers so much more flexiblilty and of course image quality. A top-end compact like the new Canon G11 would be good, but not in comparison to the equivilant priced SLR. Nikon lenses do cost slightly more than Canon's with no (that I can see) improvement in IQ.

Check out Digital Rev, on ebay. That's where I get all my kit. Have used tem for probably 4 years or more now. Highly recommended. The kit comes from Hong Kong, but will save you money. All are UK versions as well.

Go to a camera shop and try different ones out before you buy maybe.

DPReview is a great site.

[simoscribbler]

Agree with muffle's comments.

Also:

A crop DSLR with full-frame lenses would be a good start: because the Canon 50mm F1.8 is very cheap, but is like an 85mm - great fashion lens - on a crop camera, and she'll be able to get all that lovely shallow depth of field (by shooting at wide apertures) that a tiny sensor cam can never match. So maybe buy a body only - lower end kit zooms are usually pretty poor - and the 'nifty fifty' to start. Just don't drop it - because you only do it once in my experience....

Almost as important for fashion is lighting: I suggest an obsolete old film flash for Canon (£20 maybe - ones marked EZ don't work in dedicated mode on digital so are cheap but quite modern) and a cheap radio trigger (I buy them on eBay from HK for about £25, RF602 Yongnuo) and start experimenting. Website called strobist tells all - we use multiple portable flash heads on location all the time, and they always fire.

Also she might want to try video - I've made a few short docs for telly recently on HDV gear, and a new video-capable DSLR shoots way better footage, honestly (although there are drawbacks with audio, cam steadying etc). But I guess fashion and moving images mix well, so that feature might be worth looking out for. (If she doesn't want video maybe look for a used DSLR like a Canon D30/40/50.)

Finally, she'll need to get used to post-processing. We use Aperture here, Lightroom is the PC equiv I think, and there are some amazing plug-ins - as I make documentary films mainly I usually shoot production stills, but my partner is a pro snapper and she uses them all the time. In fashion that subtle control would be incredibly useful I'm sure. Our software comes mainly from Nik Software - top stuff I think.

The great thing about photography now - and lots of old pros hate this - is that it all comes down to talent, not kit, or even all that much technical expertise. And digital really rewards experimentation. So people with a great eye and lots of ideas and enthusiasm do well, even if they don't know how to make a platinum print...

Hope that helps.

Best

Richard

[rfrazier]

The great thing about photography now - and lots of old pros hate this - is that it all comes down to talent, not kit, or even all that much technical expertise. And digital really rewards experimentation. So people with a great eye and lots of ideas and enthusiasm do well, even if they don't know how to make a platinum print...

I'm sorry to hear this just after I ordered my Christmas present to myself: a second hand Fujinon 150mm lens f5.6 with tons of coverage. I was hoping that it would solve all of my problems.

Best wishes,
Bob

[UJJWALDEY8165]

The great thing about photography now - and lots of old pros hate this - is that it all comes down to talent, not kit, or even all that much technical expertise. And digital really rewards experimentation. So people with a great eye and lots of ideas and enthusiasm do well, even if they don't know how to make a platinum print...

I'm sorry to hear this just after I ordered my Christmas present to myself: a second hand Fujinon 150mm lens f5.6 with tons of coverage. I was hoping that it would solve all of my problems.

Best wishes,
Bob

:lol: :lol: :lol: ...lovely