decent camera upto £400

[iceman]

camera arrive today, i took it out to test, spent ages looking for the zoom button and realized like a total utter tosser that it does not work like that and know i understand AF and MF lol.

i'm confused slightly using lenses like the 18-55mm Zoom Lens and 50-200mm Zoom Lens, i found that the 50-200 did everything that the 18-55 did and better from macro close ups to a long shots, so why would i need use a 18-55 at all as i would not like to change if it's not neede to protect from dust.

i like the 50-200mm zoom what is the next size up from this to get a better zoom.

HD movie is fantastic

[lacroupade]

Originally Posted by iceman

camera arrive today, i took it out to test, spent ages looking for the zoom button and realized like a total utter tosser that it does not work like that and know i understand AF and MF lol.

i'm confused slightly using lenses like the 18-55mm Zoom Lens and 50-200mm Zoom Lens, i found that the 50-200 did everything that the 18-55 did and better from macro close ups to a long shots, so why would i need use a 18-55 at all as i would not like to change if it's not neede to protect from dust.

i like the 50-200mm zoom what is the next size up from this to get a better zoom.

HD movie is fantastic

Iceman well done on your new camera. If I'd been around I'd have said get a Nikon or Canon at the top of your budget but the Pentax is almost as good.

Dont get carried away with the zoom thing though. There is a massive technology jump in moving from a standard lens to a medium zoom and again to a longer zoom. It may not always be obvious but picture quality suffers unless you spend serious money.

The standard non-zoom lens is always the best quality, but most DSLRs are fitted with a short/medium zoom lens that gives a reasonable combination of quality and performance. But if I told you that, at the professional level, you can easily pay 4-5 times the price of the basic camera for a 50-200mm zoom, you get the idea.

Its often just as easy to work with a better quality medium zoom and crop the photo.

But be aware, a bit like the Lumix thing, that your camera will be relatively out of date within 2-3 years - something that was NOT true of film-based cameras. CCDs will continue to increase in sensitivity and capability...when I bought my first digital camera years ago, 1.5MP was serious resolution...the next one I got was 3MP, the next about 4MP and the last, a Nikon D70S bought only a couple of years afgo, was 6MP. Now you buy anything under about 10MP at your peril.

Having said that, you can have as many mega-pixies as you like but its your lens thats the key - my Nikon will still crap all over a whole bunch of modern DSLRs because of its excellent quality lens.

But now I'm going all retro and dusting off my old Nikon FE film camera that I bought to photograph the 1980 British Grand Prix the one that Alan Jones won for those old enough to remember!!)...and it will, without any problem, outdo just about any DSLR you want to stand it up against frankly, cos it doesn't do pixels LOL.

Good luck with your hobby and the studying is a great idea...you'll have a lot of fun!!

Oh and now you have to start buying Photoshop-type software at yet more expense LOL

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by iceman

i went with the "PENTAX - K-x Digital SLR Camera + 18-55mm Zoom Lens & 50-200mm Zoom Lens" i managed to get it with a voucher code for £ 427.49.

Congratulations on your choice of camera. Whilst I don't know about the 50-200mm zoom, the 18-55mm ALII zoom is one of the best kit lenses around.

Have fun
Andrew

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by lacroupade

your camera will be relatively out of date within 2-3 years - something that was NOT true of film-based cameras. CCDs will continue to increase in sensitivity and capability

True - but for all practical purposes, it doesn't really matter. Just about any modern DSLR and the cheapie kit lens it came with with is capable of taking photos that appear razor sharp on prints at any size that most folks are likely to want.

It's only when "pixel peeping" at 100% magnification on screen that you'll ever notice a difference - and even then, only when the kit lens is at or near wide open (assuming, of course, that the photographer can keep the camera still and focus properly). For most folks, a kit lens is all the quality they ever need.

Andrew

[iceman]

this lake is at the back of my house and i always taken pictures of wildlife this is why i was looking for a camera that can get close to the action without them knowing.

i found some similair shots of a my old camera the fujifilm finepix 8000fd (18 optical zoom) below.



18-55mm normal shot



50 -200mm normal shot



fujifilmfinepixs8000fd normal shot



18-55mm full zoom



50-200mm full zoom



fujifilmfinepixs8000fd full zoom 18 optical



i carry the fuji finepix a800 everywhere i go so i don't miss a shot like the ones below.

fuji finepix a800
this was taken last week before i got my new camera, wish i had it for this shot.



fuji finepix a800
this my chocolate labrador, he is 16 months old and has had 3 ops on his right hip and going in for a op on his left in a few weeks time......he looks good in this shot.