Rebel vs Nicon D80 or ....

[SILLY6PAK]

I have been reading along and am pretty lost with f this and f that.

Let me bottom line it.
I have the Rebel. I always forget to take it or am too stressed keeping the dogs from the cats or the horses that photos are my last idea. My husband LOVE LOVES when I have the camera out.

I am never overly impressed with the pics.

I just received an unexpected $$ windfall.

Would, if you were me, upgrade the camera or do I just need better lenses.

I was thinking of taking a camera workshop as I pretty much put it in the auto setting and hope for the best.

I mostly will be taking shots of the dogs and horses. Our arena and horse shows always have poor lighting.

 

[gmacleod]

Which Rebel? What lenses do you have already? What sort of budget, and what are you prepared to carry around (i.e. does it need to be small)?

LOL - it's difficult to answer the question in any way that's not just telling you what I happen to prefer (which is not at all helpful) without knowing a little more

 

[SILLY6PAK]

I have the Rebel XT EOS.
I just took the dogs for a walk with the 75-300mm EF zoom lens. I also have a close up lens.

I got MAYBE one good shot. Definately not wanting to carry anything heavier.

It struck me the lack of sharp good pictures might be user error.LOL

Still interested in opinions.

As for budget lets say under $1500.00.

I got the money spent 8 ways to Sunday. I REALLY want lasik eye surgery. (amoung a host of other things).

The bulk did clear up Coopers growing medical debt.

 

[gmacleod]

OK Your camera is what I know as the 350D (and I had/have one ).

IMO your money is better spent on lenses than a new body. The 350D doesn't have the greatest autofocus in the world, but it's still not bad and it works well at high ISO. It should be perfectly capable of doing what you're asking of it, including in low light.

Your lens is slow though, and it may be worth thinking about something rather faster - especially if you want to be able to work indoors. If you're not getting sharp pictures with it even outdoors, then possibly the problem is camera shake (user error ). Consider a faster lens, shorter zoom, a stabilised lens, or using a tripod...

Quick suggestions:
Get out of auto settings
A really inexpensive lens that's fast and good is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II (this would only set you back something like $150). Not as versatile as a zoom, but it's quick.
Consider Canon's 70-200 f4 LUSM (excellent combination with your camera) or the IS version if you can stand the extra cost
Consider a shorter, faster zoom lens (Eg. Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4.5, Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 USM IS - the latter being the better lens, but much higher priced to match).

 

[SILLY6PAK]

I found my smaller lens. It is a cannon 17-85mm image stabilizer. Maybe I should stick to that lens.
I found an on line photography course I might investigate.

Probably need to learn to use the equipment before I start lusting over bigger and better.
Thanks for your help.
Happy Easter.

 

[TossBranAbi]

I would personally learn how to use the camera and maybe buy a new lens instead of buying a new body. A good book to buy is "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. If you don't have a good tripod, that could be a good purchase. It is amazing what a good tripod can do, you want a nice sturdy one, not a cheapie from walmart. I got mine on ebay from Amvona and love it. It was a lot cheaper than a Bogen tripod and I have heard nothing but good things about the Amvona tripods.

As for a lens, if you don't already have the 50mm 1.8 Canon, I strongly suggest getting it. Like Gmac said, it is great and it is actually a bit cheaper than what she said, probably a mistake int he conversion. Anyhow, you can get it from Amazon for about $85, give or take a few because the prices fluctuate.

If you have any questions, I will try to help as much as I can.

Also, I wouldn't pay for a photography course unless it was offered locally. If you search the internet, you will find everything you would pay for in a course. There are a few good photgraphy forums that are a great resource too. I won't mention the name but if you do a search for photography forum, you should find it. Good luck

 

[gmacleod]

Probably need to learn to use the equipment before I start lusting over bigger and better.

Yes, spending some time learning how to operate it is a very good idea.

Your 17-85 IS should be good for getting decent pictures outdoors / in decent light. If camera shake is the problem, it should be far less noticable using the shorter zoom with IS. It's still not going to be fantastic for indoors / low light pictures though (its just too slow) - not when it's moving objects/animals you're trying to take photos of (and neither a stabilizer nor a tripod can help that).

In that instance, you really would need something at least medium-quick. Still - you're quite right that it's better to learn a bit more, figure out what you most want, and then decide what to buy rather than jumping in and later finding you have equipment you don't use and/or are wishing you'd taken something different

 

[boxmom]

I would definately go for the lasik surgery--perhaps your pictures are better than you think LOL. If you still have your owners manual for the camera you now have maybe give it a quick look thru. All the new equiptment in the world will not help much unless you know how to use it. Also, take tons of pictures. If you don't like how they look, you can play around with your settings and try again--great way to learn. Then again, who can resist new toys!!

 

[jimseabee]

We have the rebel XT/350. We are using a tamron 28-300 zoom lens and 95% of our pictures that are taken is in the manual mode. We were using a cheaper zoom lenses in the auto mode and the pictures were not turning out very good. So I went on line, took the class that canon has for my camera, purchased a used lens (local photo dealer, because photographers are like computer users gotta have the latest and greatest and he takes trades) so we got a real nice lens for 100 usd.
Now part of the trick of getting a good photo is taking the photos in the raw format and using a dedicated photo development program like adobe lightroom. For us it works well.

Here are a couple of pictures MY DW took of Dakota in manual mode.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2214/2286077837_b97d5fc4f6_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2010/2286067619_b112f6d332_o.jpg

 

[SILLY6PAK]

Wow nice shots.

I have been doing a lot of reading and experimenting. That is the best about digital, you can erase easily.

My SIL has a good handle on cameras and has given me some helpful tips. She has a GSD puppy (six months old). She says it is much more fun shooting my boxers as they are so photogenic.

We are puppy sitting Quincy while they are in Florida. I want to get some good shots of their dog but black is hard.

Anyway as always thanks and I love this site.