True newbie needs help picking out a camera and lens

[WayneL333]

Hello all,

As the title says, I am definitely a newbie when it comes to high end cameras. I'm looking to take those great macro shots of my SPS and LPS corals like everyone else. I'd like to spend less than $1500 on the camera and around a $1000 for the macro lens.

A secondary use for the camera will be for my wife to take pictures of our family. So she'll need the camera to also be a good "auto" point and shooter.

I was looking at the Canon 30D, but was a bit concerned it was only 8 megapix as opposed to the higher 10. Does it matter at those high numbers?

Please recommend a camera, macro lens, and "regular" lens for those everyday shots of the kids. Also, please recommend a trusted online retailer.

All is greatly appreciated.

 

[Drewcipher]

Canon makes an excellent camera and you will likely not notice a difference unless you print an image bigger than 11x14. I have seen some really nice shots taken with 3 and 4 mp cameras. The Canon lenses also are very highly rated. This makes a diference as well.

 

[Blazer88]

The Canon 30D would be a great choice, especially with the favorable rebates that Canon is running right now. As for macro lenses, most people here (including myself) use the Canon 100mm F/2.8 and really like it. You can get it for around $400. You can also get some crazy macro's with the MP-E65 which runs around $1000 if I remember right, but that lens is only for macro's and has a very limited working distance. And I wouldn't worry about it "only" being 8mp, it's quality and not quantity.

 

[Frisco]

I wouldn't worry about the number of pixels on the body as much as getting good lenses. I'd actually skip the 30D (and get the XTi or XT) and invest the difference in better glass and an external flash/accessories since this is your first slr cam. For your walk around lens, you probably would want to get something with a wide zoom range, reasonably fast max aperture, and potentially an image stabilizer - the 24-105 f/4 IS is a pretty nice lens that fits that descripton and might be worth taking a look at. The 100 f/2.8 macro is a great all around lens that you can use for your macros and use for portraits also. I'd say to skip the MP-E (it's a great specialty lens though) because it's a fixed focal length lens and the working distance is probably too short to be very useful for most tank macros.

 

[WayneL333]

Thanks everyone for your responses. One additional question I have is what is the difference between the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM and the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens?

 

[reefer2005]

I know that this may not be what your wanting, but if your just interested in macro I just purchased a Canon A630 that takes awesome Maco shots. I also have a Canon Digital Rebel and for the price of 239.00, the A630 takes a great pic and is easy on the wallet. Also is is 8 MP.

Here are a few pics.


<a title="IMG_0071.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0071.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0071.jpg" border="0"/></a>

<a title="IMG_0070.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0070.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0070.jpg" border="0"/></a>

<a title="IMG_0069.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0069.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0069.jpg" border="0"/></a>

<a title="IMG_0075.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0075.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0075.jpg" border="0"/></a>

 

[Drewcipher]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8431037#post8431037 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WayneL333
Thanks everyone for your responses. One additional question I have is what is the difference between the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM and the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens?

I would stick to the 100mm. It has the slightly better f-stop, and with the 180mm you will likely have to stand pretty far from your subject.

 

[Frisco]

The 180mm has a longer focal distance and narrower field of view - Ie. it's more of a zoom lens. That means that you can/have to stand farther away from the subject to get it into focus at 1:1. Or in other words, a 60mm macro will require you to get really close to whatever you are taking a pic of, whereas the 100mm will allow you to be slightly farther away and the 180mm will allow you to be even farther. That is something that is important for folks taking macro images of insects, because you tend to scare away the bugs if you get too close. For a tank, I can't say that I know what the optimum focal depth would be or if this would help because you (or at least I) tend to get the lens almost pressed right up against the tank to avoid off angle distortion.

Canon has a demo focal distance comparison that might help if that didn't make sense: http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/EFLenses101/focal_length.html

The 180mm also has a smaller maximum aperture size of f/3.5. There is a physical aperture/opening inside the lens that you use to contol the amount of light passing through the lens, and lenses are generally rated by how big the aperture can go. Lenses with smaller f-numbers generally are more expensive (for example, 85mm f/1.8 vs 85mm f/1.4 vs 85mm f/1.2), although in this case the 180mm has a smaller maximum aperture spec but is still more expensive. When you crank the aperture on the lens to its wide open position, you let the maximum amount of light through the lens and consequently get the shortest shutter speed (for comparison, if you take the same pic at f/22, the aperture will be very small and the exposure will take a long time). And at the same time, when you crank the aperture wide open, you also reduce the depth of focus of the image, and objects away from the image plane are out of focus and you can get that nice bokeh/blurring effect to draw attention to the object of interest.

The L designation is a branding designation that Canon has, and they are generally the high end lenses. They use higher optical quality glass for some of the lens elements and put tighter specifications on the glass for aberations/defects in the optics manufacturing processes and optical coatings. L lenses generally are over $1k each. HTH

 

[WayneL333]

Many thanks! Have you guys had any experience with the Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX Flash?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...08952?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

I actually saw a guy use one at my LFS when they were shooting some promo shots for the store. Is it worth the money and does the Macro flash work well outisde of aquariums?

 

[WayneL333]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8432083#post8432083 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frisco
The 180mm has a longer focal distance and narrower field of view - Ie. it's more of a zoom lens. That means that you can/have to stand farther away from the subject to get it into focus at 1:1. Or in other words, a 60mm macro will require you to get really close to whatever you are taking a pic of, whereas the 100mm will allow you to be slightly farther away and the 180mm will allow you to be even farther. That is something that is important for folks taking macro images of insects, because you tend to scare away the bugs if you get too close. For a tank, I can't say that I know what the optimum focal depth would be or if this would help because you (or at least I) tend to get the lens almost pressed right up against the tank to avoid off angle distortion.

Canon has a demo focal distance comparison that might help if that didn't make sense: http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/EFLenses101/focal_length.html

The 180mm also has a smaller maximum aperture size of f/3.5. There is a physical aperture/opening inside the lens that you use to contol the amount of light passing through the lens, and lenses are generally rated by how big the aperture can go. Lenses with smaller f-numbers generally are more expensive (for example, 85mm f/1.8 vs 85mm f/1.4 vs 85mm f/1.2), although in this case the 180mm has a smaller maximum aperture spec but is still more expensive. When you crank the aperture on the lens to its wide open position, you let the maximum amount of light through the lens and consequently get the shortest shutter speed (for comparison, if you take the same pic at f/22, the aperture will be very small and the exposure will take a long time). And at the same time, when you crank the aperture wide open, you also reduce the depth of focus of the image, and objects away from the image plane are out of focus and you can get that nice bokeh/blurring effect to draw attention to the object of interest.

The L designation is a branding designation that Canon has, and they are generally the high end lenses. They use higher optical quality glass for some of the lens elements and put tighter specifications on the glass for aberations/defects in the optics manufacturing processes and optical coatings. L lenses generally are over $1k each. HTH

Eli - thanks for such a thorough explanation! I (a newbie) almost understood everything my first time through.

 

[Frisco]

You are very welcome. I have a MT-24EX flash, and it is very nice but a bit of a specialty flash that is designed primarily for macro pics. You must have seen that the flash heads mount to the front of the lens, and I believe that it only mates to a couple of the lenses. It is useful if you are trying to take a pic of something very close to the lens where the lens will physically block the light from a standard flash and produce a shadow. It is nice because the two flash heads can be adjusted independently, which is great if you are taking pictures of insects or other non-tank objects and want complete control over the lighting. But for a tank, I'm not sure that I'd put it on the top of my list because you generally have pretty good lighting from your tank illumination and flash lighting tends to wash out colors of many corals. However, for your family pics I'd recommend looking at an external flash like the 430EX or 580EX and getting a flash diffuser to reduce shadowing.

 

[WayneL333]

OK! I am ready to order. Amazon looks like they have very good prices (plus no tax) and I am sure of their policies/trustworthiness. Is there any other retailers I should take a look at before I click the submit button?

 

[Frisco]

I get my stuff from bhphoto usually

 

[slcw]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8431830#post8431830 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefer2005
I know that this may not be what your wanting, but if your just interested in macro I just purchased a Canon A630 that takes awesome Maco shots. I also have a Canon Digital Rebel and for the price of 239.00, the A630 takes a great pic and is easy on the wallet. Also is is 8 MP.

Here are a few pics.


<a title="IMG_0071.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0071.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0071.jpg" border="0"/></a>

<a title="IMG_0070.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0070.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0070.jpg" border="0"/></a>

<a title="IMG_0069.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0069.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0069.jpg" border="0"/></a>

<a title="IMG_0075.jpg" href="http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/?action=view&current=IMG_0075.jpg" ><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/reefer2005/60%20Cube/IMG_0075.jpg" border="0"/></a>

i find this information very useful

 

[superjohnny]

You would be wise to go to a camera store and see what feels right. Don't discount the Nikon, Sony or Pentax cameras. At one of my local camera stores almost every employee there shoots with a Nikon. Check out the D80 and D200. They're VERY capable cameras.

 

[ahuxman58]

I have had some of my aircraft shots blown up into large prints 30 " or better and I use the Canon 30D and they turn out just fine hold together well.