Photoshop Elements vs others?

can you recommend a walk around lens/portrait and a really nice long zoom lens. I think two lens is what I want to start with. Was thinking something like 18-55 and 70-300?

Im good with any lens. Doesn't have to be canon just take a great shot. Also where should I get my camera? You quoted 900 for the D60 but Amazon has it at about 999.
 
h00ligan said:
Oh and don't buy cheap filters.. and buy once. Figure out the largest thread size and buy step adaptors.. a good Circular polarizer for example is 100-120$.. buy big and adapt down. But factor at least that one type of filter in (since outdoor shots in mid day stink!)
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Can you make me a shopping cart at a site? ;-)
 
Adorama has it for $900, you can check bhphoto too.

walkaround - Canon 15-85 - $759 or Sigma 17-50 $669 (this doubles as a decently fast indoor lens, the canon isn't fast enough for say, parties with no flash and can also triple as a half body portrait lens), or the canon 17-55 - which is basically a more expensive version of the sigma (some say it's sharper - not what I've seen)

portrait lens - canon 85/1.8 - $400

telephoto - canon 70-200 f4 IS USM - hard to go wrong with - though there are cheaper lenses. - $1259 You can save some money going without IS, but personally, on a long lens - I think it's worth the extra money. It's heavy

I would check out lens reviews at the-digital-picture.com and there are less expensive substitutes for what I listed. But that would be an amazingly nice kit to start with.

If you want pretty good results - the 55-250 is cheap and cheerful, but definitely not as good, nor should it be at 1/5 the cost of the L lens.

You said your budget was all in for $4k - that's well below.. but set a realistic figure for what you want to spend, rather than the max.

You can of course get by with the 18-55, 55-250, 85 1.8 and save a ton of money.. but I would at least get the sigma 17-50 so you have some chance of background defocus and lower light shooting.

For portraits, without spending a TON on the 70-200 2.8 L lens (which is also really heavy), figure on using a prime lens. They are lighter, sharper, and better at what they do.
 
h00ligan said:
Adorama has it for $900, you can check bhphoto too.

walkaround - Canon 15-85 - $759 or Sigma 17-50 $669 (this doubles as a decently fast indoor lens, the canon isn't fast enough for say, parties with no flash and can also triple as a half body portrait lens), or the canon 17-55 - which is basically a more expensive version of the sigma (some say it's sharper - not what I've seen)

portrait lens - canon 85/1.8 - $400

telephoto - canon 70-200 f4 IS USM - hard to go wrong with - though there are cheaper lenses. - $1259 You can save some money going without IS, but personally, on a long lens - I think it's worth the extra money. It's heavy

I would check out lens reviews at the-digital-picture.com and there are less expensive substitutes for what I listed. But that would be an amazingly nice kit to start with.

If you want pretty good results - the 55-250 is cheap and cheerful, but definitely not as good, nor should it be at 1/5 the cost of the L lens.

You said your budget was all in for $4k - that's well below.. but set a realistic figure for what you want to spend, rather than the max.

You can of course get by with the 18-55, 55-250, 85 1.8 and save a ton of money.. but I would at least get the sigma 17-50 so you have some chance of background defocus and lower light shooting.

For portraits, without spending a TON on the 70-200 2.8 L lens (which is also really heavy), figure on using a prime lens. They are lighter, sharper, and better at what they do.
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Although you budget is 4k, doesn't mean you should be spending all of it. I'd get the 50mm prime 1.8 (Canon/Nikon depending on what you get) that runs around ~125 on Amazon. It's more than enough for starting out and then you can pick up a 17-40mm in the future if you decide photography is really for you. Much better lens than anything mentioned above.
 
BTW< this was shot with a gf1/20mm, which doesn't cost that much.. it's an unfinished version (have to remove the bottom track on the door)

4275263330_6040007d25_z.jpg



The point is - there's a lot more than just camera involved.. and you can't really go wrong with any good camera these days.

See, everyone has different opinions. I personally would not buy a 17-40 f4 for a crop. I don't think it's fast enough and I don't think the range is wide enough, or far enough..given min aperture and it's heavy. The 17-55 canon is sharper, faster, etc. I don't find a roughly equiv 27-60mm lens with f6 dof lens to be very helpful for me personally. On full frame, totally different story.

OTOH, I totally agree there are so many options.. and the things I stated are based on opinion.. there is very little fact.

The 50 1.8 is good for farting around.. but that's about it on a crop. Unless you want to use it as a portrait and get in closer.. it's still a bit short for that. It's also slow to focus, loud, and delicate..

I would encourage the OP to go to DPreview - solicit advice on what to buy in those forums.. and then read through the arguments that will ensue. Again - check out the-deigital-picture.com There are a ton of lens reviews and you can see side by side shots.
 
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stevenpa said:
A 5D, 7D and maybe even a 60D will be too complicated for you to use. Get a Rebel or D3100 or a M4/3 camera first to try out, then upgrade. The 7D's focusing system takes a while to figure out.
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I have the Canon Rebel T3, which is cheaper than the T3i, and it's fabulous, especially if you're willing to learn exposure settings. Here's a photo I took with it recently with manual exposure settings and no retouching.

IMG_2905.jpg
 
Scuba629 said:
Can you make me a shopping cart at a site? ;-)
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Many good advice here but you should also check out Digital Photography forums http://www.dpreview.com/forums/ before you start shopping.

If I were starting over again I would buy the following and I'm of course endorsing Nikon here because I've never used a Canon and they're equally, maybe better, I don't know:

1) Nikon D7000 DSLR

2) Start with these two lenses - Nikon 16-85mm and 70-300mm ( later you can upgrade to the pro lens versions: 17-55 F2.8, and 70-200 F2.8 for more than $3000! And yes once you get hooked I can guaranty you that you will be spending a fortune. "Gear lust" is much much worse in photography than Apple hardware!:))

3) Lightroom 3, AND invest on NIK Software plug ins.

This would keep you busy for quite a while. The learning curve in photography is quite steep, for me anyway, and you will find that you may not see the need for lens filters just yet. You would be too involved and busy with basic DSLR and photography stuff.

Once you buy the above, get Scott Kelby's books on Digital Photography and just shoot like crazy. I did :D:D
 
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macrat said:
Many good advice here but you should also check out Digital Photography forums http://www.dpreview.com/forums/ before you start shopping.

If I were starting over again I would buy the following and I'm of course endorsing Nikon here because I've never used a Canon and they're equally, maybe better, I don't know:

1) Nikon D7000 DSLR

2) Start with these two lenses - Nikon 16-85mm and 70-300mm ( later you can upgrade to the pro lens versions: 17-55 F2.8, and 70-200 F2.8 for more than $3000! And yes once you get hooked I can guaranty you that you will be spending a fortune. "Gear lust" is much much worse in photography than Apple hardware!:))

3) Lightroom 3, AND invest on NIK Software plug ins.

This would keep you busy for quite a while. The learning curve in photography is quite steep, for me anyway, and you will find that you may not see the need for lens filters just yet. You would be too involved and busy with basic DSLR and photography stuff.

Once you buy the above, get Scott Kelby's books on Digital Photography and just shoot like crazy. I did :D:D
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I agree with with you. DPReview.com is a great site. The reviews are thorough and the forums helpful. There are lots of good choices out there for cameras.
 
macrat, that's a very similar combination to the one I posted. I added a portrait prime, and the telephoto opted for a higher quality one (because I see a TON of people wondering why their telephoto shots are not sharp when at full zoom)

I agree you can't really go wrong. The similar canon lineup would be

60d or 7d - it has features in the middle.
15-85
100-300

I think the 15-85 is a great walk around lens.. however I think without a prime, people get very frustrated when they all of a sudden have to use built in flash with slower lenses..and a 50 is pushing too long on a crop for most people indoors... hence the sigma 30 1.4 rec. Rated well, good results, not too much money. Better than the canon 24 and faster.

To echo other sentiments, it is REALLY tough to find a bad dslr right now...
 
h00ligan said:
macrat, that's a very similar combination to the one I posted. I added a portrait prime, and the telephoto opted for a higher quality one (because I see a TON of people wondering why their telephoto shots are not sharp when at full zoom)

I agree you can't really go wrong. The similar canon lineup would be

60d or 7d - it has features in the middle.
15-85
100-300

I think the 15-85 is a great walk around lens.. however I think without a prime, people get very frustrated when they all of a sudden have to use built in flash with slower lenses..and a 50 is pushing too long on a crop for most people indoors... hence the sigma 30 1.4 rec. Rated well, good results, not too much money. Better than the canon 24 and faster.

To echo other sentiments, it is REALLY tough to find a bad dslr right now...
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Found the 60D on sale in a few places for $899 but im not sure on your lens choices. Seems a search doesn't just give me one result so I can't tell if its the lens you intended me to select. :)

I think the below is one of the links but im not sure?

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-15-85mm-3-5-5-6-Digital-Cameras/dp/B002NEGTTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312311384&sr=1-1

If you can maybe post the exact link on a site that would be helpful. :)
 
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Scuba629 said:
MBA to start but then a MBP(next refresh) and maybe down the road a new iMac..
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Kinda worried that a MBA might not be able to run Lightroom now. This is the first machine I plan to load it on at least till the MBP gets refreshed. Anyone running LIghtroom on their MBA?
 
As a long time user of Elements, when Aperture was $80 in the App store, I took the plunge.

IMHO, Aperture runs rings around Elements. Remember, Elements isn't PS. I know they try to sell it as Photoshop lite... but it's not.

For photo management and above average editing, I'd do Aperture and not even consider Elements. I haven't used Elements since I bought Aperture.

Coachingguy
 
coachingguy said:
As a long time user of Elements, when Aperture was $80 in the App store, I took the plunge.

IMHO, Aperture runs rings around Elements. Remember, Elements isn't PS. I know they try to sell it as Photoshop lite... but it's not.

For photo management and above average editing, I'd do Aperture and not even consider Elements. I haven't used Elements since I bought Aperture.

Coachingguy
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So you would go Aperture and Lightroom?
 
I'd skip the 18/55 and get the canon 15-85 and 70-300 or the sigma 17-50 and 70-300.

Do you really need 450mm of reach though?
 
Scuba629 said:
So you would go Aperture and Lightroom?
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It's either Aperture or Lightroom. They both do the same thing.

By the way your Macbook Air can easily handle Lightroom or Aperture. I used to have both on my 2006 Macbook (because I tried Aperture first but I didn't like it) and found that Lightroom was easier to use and runs faster on my Macbook (lesser beachballs!)

Also I think you can still download a free trial of Lightroom if you want to try it for a couple of weeks.
 
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h00ligan and others have given you some good advice.

For what it's worth (I'm a full-time photog), I vote for buying Aperture, if you have to use your App Store gift card, or sell that gift card and put it towards Lightroom.

I like LR better overall, but I do think Aperture has better color output from the RAW files (with all settings being the same.) You can't really go wrong. And, if you're wanting to take more photos, Aperture or LR will serve you FAR better than Elements, as they'll help you tame that elusive beast that is an organized photo library.

And, to throw a wrench in your gears ... Canon vs Nikon is a total wash. Get what fits your hands best (and your budget, of course). I shot Canon for ages, because I loved their fast primes. Now Nikon has them too, so I've switched mostly to Nikon and couldn't be happier.
 
I found out what you meant by 450mm of reach as that is how the 60D converts the high 300mm spec. I'd say I don't know for sure what I need at this point. I do remember having a 55-200mm lens on my Nikon and it felt not enough in some areas.

I wasn't able to find the 60D body only in any place but Adorama does have them in kits so I felt the Camera Kit would be a good start. I am guessing the lens that is in that kit is this one and it seems to have good reviews.

Now I would like all of these lens to be ok with say a 5D as if I enjoy taking photos I would plan to upgrade to the 5D but some have told me most lens won't work. The only thing I see is the 5D doesn't have an EF-S mount so I shouldn't get any of those lens. This made me stray from Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS..

In a post you mention the Sigma 17-50mm which bhphoto has in stock. You also mention the Canon 85mm f/1.8 EF USM for portraits.

I'd just buy all the above if I felt I wasn't missing the range of 50-70mm in there. This is part of the reason I was so happy with the Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS as with the kit lens it covered 15-300mm well..

So I guess im asking for more advice. ;-) Would you drop the kit idea and just wait for the 60D to come in stock at Adorama(2 weeks) or stick with what I mentioned above. Does not covering the 50-70mm matter? And if it does should I get the Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS? I guess I could sell it later if I was to upgrade to the 5D.. Anyways its looking like a lens game now. :) I defer to the experts here as I can't decide with my limited knowledge.
 
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