That 'crap' lense can do wonders if you know how to use it, sure it's not as good as proffesional lenses, but for me as a begginer, it allowed me new possibilities. It's definately amazing for somone coming from the Point and Shoot family.

 

Oh, I love the lens, having instant control over zoom, etc. I'm just saying it's crap compared to what else is out there, but for what I use it for, it works WONDERS! Plus I don't plan on buying a lens that costs more than the camera any time soon .

 

I shoot with a Canon 400D/XTi and a variety of lenses.

My wife has a Powershot that is the poop. Great pocket cam.

 

yah, well looks like im going to be spending more then i origionally wanted to, but i think it will be worth it. so, so far what you all have been saying is either between the Canon Rebel XT / XTi, and the Nikon D40 / D40x. For right now I plan on using just the kit lense until I learn more about the camera and push it as far as I can and still be satisfied. Any other ones yall are reccomending? for thoes of you that use the d40, have you ever used the d40x? is the only diffrence the megapixels? what about the d60?

 

Only difference between the D40 and D40x is the MP and continuous shot speed. D40 is 6.2MP and 2.5fps and D40x is 10MP and 3.0fps.

 

carbon can you explain by the continuous shot speed, the 2.5 vs 3.0fps, ya know, just for the people that dont know what youre talking about cough*me*cough.

 

I shoot with a canon 20d and it has always worked well for me. I also paired it with a good lens and a sticky pod and started shooting motion shots about 6 years ago... hence the name, stillmotion

whatever you get just make sure you can manipulate the shots with manual functions. It took me a while to learn the techniques because where I went to school they didn't teach this type of photography... we were only trained to shoot still images.

good luck with whatever road you choose. Just make sure you know what you are buying. You can find some nice used cameras on ebay but you never know what shape they are in... you don't want to get stuck with a dirty slr because cleaning them can be pretty tough or costly if you take it somewhere.

 

Haha, I had no clue what it was either. It's just a shooting mode. Single shot is just focus, shoot, continuous is focus, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot..while holding down the button.

 

ooh makes sense carbon, thanks! and still motion, thanks for the advise, turns out my dad is a camera wiz. he knows allll about them. i asked him why he doesnt get back in to it and he said "we would loose our house." and i said "what?" and he goes "i would spend all of our money on trips around the world, diffrent cameras, diffrent lenses, we would loose everything we own" hahaha. hes afraid if he gets into it hed go too deep. haha. but when i told him im wanting to get an DSLR he about teared up. Im thinking i want to get the d40x but i want to keep hearing what everyone else thinks, like still, he mentioned something diffrent!

 

It was between the Canon xT and the Nikon D40 for me (both right around $500). I wanted to get the D40x, but I just couldn't see justice in paying $200 more for MP (which I'd never even use 10MP...) and a slightly better lens (which I was planning on upgrading anyway). I ended up getting the Nikon over the Canon simply because of the type of flash card it used. The Canon uses Compact Flash and the Nikon uses Secure Digital, and I already have a 1GB SD card (mainly used for my Wii), 2GB SD card (used mainly for my cell phone) and a 4GB SD card for my old camera. And CF blows lol.

 

also, stay away from kodak... they should be pulling out of digital soon. I have never used a Nikon so I cant compare the 2 but the digital photo pro software that comes with the new canon models offers some great features and allows you to better manipulate photos before sending them to photoshop. If no one has, can anyone offer input on Nikons software?

 

I installed it, but didn't really get a chance to take a look at it yet. This weekend I've got 2 Scion meets and the NY auto show, so I'll have about 1,000 pictures that I can play with, so I'll def be able to test it out.

 

yah do eeet carbon! and stillmotion, you have any pics you wanna post up showing the quality of your camera?

 

yeah the canon software is what im using for editing, it does the job but nothing compared to a real photoshop like CS. Photo editing does a lot of help, you can turn bad pictures to like nice, animated or like creative one.

 

yah, i need to get photoshop too. someone give me a hacked coppy.

 

Canon 20d all photos with a dragged shutter. Anywhere from 1/2 second to 30 seconds

I shoot mostly at night but I have not shot in a long time... here are a few older shots... I didnt do much editing to these photos... They were all captured just from the manual functions. The school I went to only had 19 people in the art department so when I graduated I though that my photo work was great because it was so much different from those around me... but after moving more into the "car world" I have come to realize that I have a long way to go. I have fun with it, but I am in no way great.











Shot in Black and White













Here are some NON car photos... but it was at a car show, and at night

 

Howd you do these?





this is a slow shutter speed?

 

^ pics are amazing.
i just started gettin into photography. ive seen a couple other posts about the d40 and people have taken some amazing shots.

 

yah, im excited for my new project. i think its going to be challenging but fun

 

With the first 2 I used my shoe mounted flash. I set a really small app, like 22-28 and then set the shutter speed at around 20 seconds. I would shoot the image with everyone in it and have them stand still for a few seconds, then they just walked out of the shot... Because they walked fast, you dint see them walking, you only see where they were for the short time, and then you see what was behind them, from the remaining 17 or so seconds.

As for the last photo you only see my car still. Everyone else pulled away after I took the shot. If you look closely to the right of car you will see brief outlines of other scions. I snapped the shot and then one by one they pulled away, in front of the camera. That is what gives you the light streaks. These are all things I taught myself

Also, when I talk about a "dirty" camera/lens take a look at the photos of the white/red/black tc in the parking garage. You may see small black streaks or dots in the photo. Those are dust spots on my sensor and maybe a little from my lens. I had to clean my camera to get them to go away...

I used a stickypod for a long time so my camera was dirty from driving around with it suction cupped to my hood! ha