Comments on: What gear should I buy to take great photographs?

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:41:04 +0000

I’ve been using a point-and-shoot for three years now. Would love to get something better, like a Canon Rebel, but can’t justify the expense right now. But I have noticed over the years that some of the best pictures I’ve taken have happened simply because I had my tiny point-and-shoot camera in my pocket. The ability to carry it everywhere I go (something difficult to do with an SLR) produces big results. So even when I do get that Rebel, or similar, in the future, I’ll probably continue carrying a point-and-shoot just to get those spur-of-the-moment shots.

The two pieces of advice I always give to people are: Take multiple shots of the same scene, and CROP CROP CROP. In my book, people are afraid to crop their pictures, yet you can dramatically improve an image if the crop is done right.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:44:37 +0000

Stew: My point was simply the fact that you need to be careful that the camera you buy at a yardsale is in good condition. No where did I say, it’s not possible, I was just using it as an example. Though, I guess i can see your misunderstanding of my comment, I guess it does pretty much say, no yard sale tank will be suitable. I apologize.

I’m glad that he got an awesome setup with tight lightseals and nice sharp lens for so cheap, that’s an excellent deal.

By: Stew

Stew — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:16:23 +0000

Oops, I forgot to comment on the “take 10,000 shots in a year” advice. While I generally think it’s excellent advice, doing exactly that, thoughtfully with post-shot analysis, would require at least 2 hours a day, I’d guess. That’s a pretty solid commitment to improving! But that may be what it takes, eh? :-/

By: Stew

Stew — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:05:24 +0000

Andrew – Not a “50 yr old $.50 tank of a camera”, but…

I ran into a friend who was sporting a new (to him) camera and it was the EXACT camera I used to own, a Minolta Maxuum 7000. I told him I’d just sold this old kit complete with 2 tele zooms, flash and case) on Ebay for $212 to get the money to buy my current digicam (Panasonic FZ30). He told me he just bought this setup recently from, believe it or not, a yard sale. How much did he pay?

$2.50!!! Actually he said he had to buy it as a set with other stuff, new Nikon binox and another used pair of binox, for $10!!!

The gear all looked in excellent condition and he said the photos were perfect.

So it looks like you CAN do almost what you said!

But if it was me, I would have sold them on Ebay for a couple hundred bucks and bought a good digicam, and probably exactly what I got now! :-)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:51:28 +0000

Though it doesn’t matter what kind of camera you use, it does help if a) it’s not broken, b) has tight light seals and a working shutter c) has a nice clean lens that isn’t scratched d) has a working light meter. This article makes it seem like I can go to any yardsale and take great photographs with the 50 yr old $.50 tank of a camera.

Of course, you do mention digital which obviously isn’t going to be _that_ old.

Good article, and I love the 10,000 photograph advice.

By: Stew

Stew — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 12:47:09 +0000

“But Daaad! I *really* need a bubble level to make my panoramas!!!” :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewstryker/220698017/

By: DSLRBlog | Adventures in digital photography

DSLRBlog | Adventures in digital photography — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:55:22 +0000

How to be a better photographer in one simple lesson…

…

By: wakalani

wakalani — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 13:09:02 +0000

what about compacts “SLR- like”

By: Philip Lindborg

Philip Lindborg — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:48:53 +0000

Couldn’t have said it better myself. But the thing about going digital must be true. I bought and old analogue camera for a couple of years ago trying to learn, but it went all too expensive. Now I’m saving up for a digital SLR (Nikon D50, I think) and I’m pretty sure that piece of investment will make me a better photographer because then I’ll be able to afford actually taking pictures. (I have an uncountable number of undeveloped film rolls.)

By: Carsten

Carsten — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:33:38 +0000

Well said! I’d just add: watch the settings of your camera and learn what they mean so that you can use those actively (don’t trust the automatic settings blindly)…