Beginners advice??

Quite often here at Snappygear we often  get emails along the lines of the following....

"Hi Snappygear,
            I wonder if you could offer some advice... I've been looking on your site for a camera ... I've got a bridge camera at the minute but I'm doing my City and Guilds in photography and finding its not adequate for what I'm doing .. I know very little about SLR cameras and am getting conflicting advice on a good starter one.. .. any help would be appreciated"

Usually our response is fairly similar....

"Hi,
       This is a very good question and one of the hardest to answer! There are a couple of things to consider when choosing a DSLR....
1. How much do you really want to spend?
2. What photography do you think you will be doing?

From experience, usually the answers will be
1. As little as possible and
2. A bit if everything!

  Our advice would be to consider one of the Canon xxxD range (350D, 400D, 450D, 500D, 550D, 600D, 650D) why? Because there is plenty of choice and a good range of prices and as you want to upgrade or buy extra batteries or accessories, this are a little more accessible with many models sharing add ons and lens fitments.

Which model then really depends on your budget (and we're talking body only prices here...) 350D's are anywhere from £130-ish for a nice one through to the 650D being £540 ish.

Then there is the cost of lenses, a basic 'kit' lens will cost you around £25-40 and zoom lenses from £75 upwards (these are all second hand price btw!) This is just the start....photography can be very addictive and you will soon be yearning over the next step up in body and lenses, which is where www.snappygear.co.uk becomes very handy to know, as we can offer a trade in price for your redundant kit as you upgrade!"

We think the best way we can advise you is that if you tell me the answers to the 2 questions above and also tell me what you think are important to you on a camera and also what you think your current camera fails to deliver on, I can hopefully give you the best advice possible.

Tilt shift lenses....

 

 I saw this article over at http://www.photozz.com/fizz/30911548.aspx and thought it may be of interest. At www.snappygear.co.uk we've had a few tilt shift lenses in and as great fun as they are, they are also awesome pieces of technical kit.

 

Tilt-Shift Lens Basics

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

tags: Tilt-Shift Lens Basics

by scottbourne

Perspective incorrect due to key-stoning. No tilt or shift applied.

Tilt-shift lenses are used to control perspective. They are great for landscape and architectural photography or in any kind of photography where you need unusual control over field of focus and depth of field.

Not all Tilt-shift lenses are created equal. The newer, more expensive lenses such as the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II I used to make the images in this post allows independent rotation of the tilt and shift axis. Most lenses won’t do this.

But all TS lenses do the basics which is they allow perfect focus along any plane. You aren’t limited to the plane of focus that you have on your camera – i.e. the straight up and down orientation of your sensor. You can keep things from key-stoning for instance. You can play with perspective to create unusual blur and bokeh.

Correct perspective. Tilt – sift movements applied.

These lenses are based on the simple movements of the original view camera – though not quite as robust.

TS lenses are also tough on beginners because 1) they cost a bloody fortune 2) They don’t usually offer autofocus.

This is one case where if you have no experience with TS lenses – you absolutely MUST read the manual that ships with the lens. There are controls on TS lenses that you will not be familiar with and that will cause much frustration if you don’t take time to learn them.

TS lenses are not for everyone. But if you want to do something unique in terms of control over perspective, focus and bokeh and can afford it, a TS lens can’t be beat if you’re using a 35mm format camera.

Beta testing now under way!

Lots of guys and gals that are already affiliated with, or customers of www.snappygear.co.uk have been putting the new website through it's paces!

A completely brand new content management system has been devised by the team at Fine Design Ltd, March, Cambs to cater for Snappy Gear's specific needs!

Blogs over the coming weeks will be short and sweet until the website is fully live, after which, watch this space for technical information, new camera releases and general waffle!

In the meantime....here's a sneak preview of the new website.........

Work on the website is underway!

A bit more text done for the website this evening! All sent across to the chaps at Fine Design to sort!www.snappygear.co.uk seems to be taking shape quite nicely....nothing being revealed just yet though!