Help a newby!

[Mcsommerfeld]

Looking to buy a camera, I don't know anything about photography, but I am absolutely in love with the pics i see posted and want to learn! What a good camera that's going to take great pics of my tank (primary use) but one that my wife can still use for the kids and what not. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Misled]

You need to be a bit more specific. How much are you willing to spend, and how much are you willing to learn? Read this sticky first.

 

[IslandCrow]

You need to be a bit more specific. How much are you willing to spend, and how much are you willing to learn? Read this sticky first.

How much you're willing to learn is definitely the pivotal question. The photographers taking those pictures you're talking about have invested even more time in learning photography than they have dollars in photography equipment.

After reading the sticky, ask yourself how serious you expect to take this new hobby (i.e. photography). That should help you decide how much you're willing to invest monetarily. . .and those two things will help us quite a bit with suggestions for you.

 

[SantaMonica]

I'm in a similar boat. Finally read that DSLR post; not sure they would be for me. I don't really want to think about or deal with the camera, so maybe P&S is for me. Is there a post, site or listing somewhere that shows how good P&S pics can get?

 

[Misled]

For shooting reef tanks, you want to shoot in RAW. The higher kelvin lighting we use on the tanks tends to be difficult for a camera to get correct. The Canon G series and some of Nikon's upper P&S's can do this. Being able to shoot the close ups won't really work though.

 

[SantaMonica]

Really won't work unless DSLR?

 

[Misled]

The Canon G series is a point and shoot, not a DSLR. Nikon also has a couple higher end point and shoots that shoot in RAW. If you read the stickys above you'll understand more. You can try a white balance setting on cheaper ones but you can't adjust it after unless you shoot in RAW.