AdZ9
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Registered: 14th Apr 06
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Well basically, long story short......
I'm a Graphic Designer and run my own business, I decided recently I need to start learning a bit of photography to aid in my work as recently some of my work has required me to take pictures of locations or products etc.
I read up on which camera to get as one of the best to start with and it was between the 350D or 400D.
I was on ebay today looking for a second hand 400D as I didn't want to buy it brand new in-case I don't get round to using it much! Anyways, it turned out one of my clients was just about to sell their 400D in pristine condition (used 3 times to take product photos) and I offered £180 and got it all including a proper carry bag and all the original CD's etc.
What i'm now looking for is any good articles and tutorials people have read that will help me work out and understand all the jargon on this camera. I've started on the manual but i always prefer to read other peoples explanations with tutorials. I'm a techy nerd but when looking at this camera I don't understand any of it!
I've signed up to talkphotography.co.uk as I've seen it mentioned on it, and i'm looking for any other sites and little gems like this to help me.
For the record, i'm not interested in comments such as "oh this random buys a dslr and thinks hes a photographer" because I know i'm not and I don't intend to be, this is purely to help gain better quality shots and act as a side hobby as well.
Cheers,
Adam
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Ian
Site Administrator
Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
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First decision would be some lenses?
Did you get the 18-55 included?
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AdZ9
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Registered: 14th Apr 06
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Yeah i got the 'kit' lense with it with a UV protector thing on it.
I tried looking for lenses and it just confused me more!
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Minty_Fresh
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Registered: 1st May 08
Location: westmidlands
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i would like to know more stuff about the 400d as i have just bought one myself..
got a 18-55 but soon getting a 50mm f1.8...
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Ian
Site Administrator
Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
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50 1.8 is cheap but probably a bit redundant if you have the kit lens. You won't really want to go that wide aperture if you're doing either products or location shots.
Kit will probably suit most of what you will do but the most obvious additions would be something macro if you need to photograph small stuff and something a bit longer in case you find 55 a bit restrictive.
[Edited on 08-12-2010 by Ian]
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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lens
Get into the habit of shooting RAW and get yourself a copy of Photoshop + Bridge if you don't already. The 400D isn't great at an accurate white balance indoors (pics look orangy) Not a problem shooting in RAW and editing in bridge though, or if your using flash.
Id say go out and use it, only then will you really know what you need, there's no point throwing money at stuff you might not need, the kit lens is not bad at all though.
When I got my 400D many years ago I found the user manual really useful, just spent a few hours reading and photographing round the house and I soon picked it up 
[Edited on 08-12-2010 by Adam_B]
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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50mm 1.8 is a good buy just because it's so cheap for such good quality.
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AdZ9
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Registered: 14th Apr 06
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Luckily for me using photoshop is second nature  so that side of things im not to worried about, it's just getting the right settings.
I especially love photos where the foreground object is sharp and focused and the background is out of focus, not sure which settings i need for those type of images.
I do plan on going out and just using it loads to get used to it, i understand alot of it is trial and error and thats how you learn what the best settings are
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Lowes F number possible for smallest depth of field (there are other things to take into consideration), f1.8 on the 50mm is good for that.
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
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Thats called a shallow depth of field. To get that you would have your focal length (zoom) to 55mm, so zoomed right in. Then the aperture to the widest setting, I think its something like F4 or F5.6 on that lens.
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Ian
Site Administrator
Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline
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I always found 1.8 a bit wide, bit too little DOF so the stuff just looks out of focus.
Looking on Ebay now, 180 is a good price, there's a few body-only for that but most are 200+
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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I like my 1.8 best at f11, but I don't use it much because the autofocus is slow and clumsy. Great value for money lens though!
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AdZ9
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Registered: 14th Apr 06
User status: Offline
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Yeah Ian i thought £180 was a good price as the ones I was looking at on ebay were going for over £200 with just basic bodies going for 160ish
Does anyone here get any photography magazines regularly? Looking at buying a few but obviously have no idea which ones the best ones are!
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