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10+ Things I Learned With my First DSLR
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My advice to potential DSLR buyers, continued...Beginner's Guide to Manual Photography 10 Reasons NOT to Buy a DSLR Camera 10 Reasons NOT to Buy a DSLR Camera 5 Things You Need to Know About SLR Lenses Time needs budgeting, too. As much fun as taking pictures is, they still have to be filtered, corrected, organized, and backed up. This gets dull after, oh, right away, and you don't want to burn out because post-production takes a little effort. So fix a few photos whenever you have a little time and idle hands, but don't put too much off or you'll never look at the pictures again. [Editor: This is very true. I'd highly recommend looking into Adobe Lightroom ($299 Retail, $99 for Students through their Education Store) or Apple Aperture ($199 Retail, $179 for Students through their Education Store) to keep all your photos organized and tagged, and they're quite handy for quick edits as well. My pick is Lightroom.] It's just as important to practice with post-production as it is with the camera itself. Without Gimp or Photoshop you'll never find out how good a photo really is. Photoshop, even PS Elements, does have a handful of features that Gimp doesn't, but Gimp is free. At least try Gimp before spending money on something you might not need, and spend it instead on something you almost certainly do: filters and lenses. Filters are essential. You will probably want a circular polarized filter. Not only does it do beautiful things with the sky, but, if you're taking photos of anything reflective, it will reduce the reflected light and let you take pictures of the actual widget. You already need a UV filter. Granted, you'll take better care of your new camera than a loaner baby, but the minute it stops being a new camera, you'll know what the filter is for: taking the hits so your lenses don't have to. Not every body comes with a camera strap, either. You don't need a strap if you can control gravity with your mind powers, but most of us probably need one. With any DSLR camera, you will get dust on your sensor eventually. You might want to get one of those squeezy-air-puffers to blow out dust, but sometimes that just frees up dust stuck inside the body and helps it find its way onto the sensor. It's better to get a wet-cleaning-solution such as Photographic Solutions' Sensor Swabs along with some Eclipse optical cleaning solution, if you're courageous, and careful, enough. You'll definitely want a microfiber cloth for cleaning your lenses, along with some lens cleaning solution. I took everyone's advice that the "kit" lens, the one included with the body, is junk. You can buy the camera without it, and then get a really good lens for, as it turns out, not much more at all. My first new, automatic lens was a 50mm prime (no zoom) f/1.4 (wide aperture, for good low-light shots), which is about as versatile as a single lens can be. Sometimes it's a little long, and sometimes it's a little short, but what's the standard starter lens for film is also still the starter lens for digital. It's called fast because it's good at all light levels, so you can set your shutter speed faster than if you used a lens with a narrow aperture--it lets in more light so you don't have to expose the sensor as long. For product shots or wide, close-up shots, I have a manual 28mm wide-angle lens. It works fine and I know how to use it because I spent time learning how to shoot full manual. It's too easy to fall into the "if only I had another lens, I could do more stuff" mentality and then stop shooting because you've "done it all". It will take anyone years to max out the capabilities of the camera, a lens, and a photo processing program. So if you think you've hit a wall with your 50mm f/1.4, try something new. Shoot from different angles. Shoot only close-ups. Read about composition, and when you know the rules, break them. The hobby doesn't have to be that expensive.
Page 1: My First DSLR
Page 2: What I Expected, What Surprised Me Page 3: My Findings Page 4: My Findings, continued... Page 5: The End Bit 
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8 User Comments 1 - Posted by
aireiq
on May 20, 2008 - 3:02 pm > [Editor: Max has been hounding me for weeks to purchase this lens for him. On behalf of TheTechLounge. Because he totally needs it for product shots...] So did you buy it for him? 2 - Posted by
aireiq
on May 20, 2008 - 3:03 pm I mean, since he seems to be responsible for something like 90% of your content....
3 - Posted by
Kurtis
on May 20, 2008 - 5:45 pm No, we didn't buy it for him. But I'm REALLY considering it. ;-)
4 - Posted by
handrail
on May 20, 2008 - 10:54 pm me and my clunker D70 will take you and your pentax on any day, max! brad. 5 - Posted by
justsomebody
on October 30, 2008 - 10:33 pm Hi! i read all your articles on slr cameras and i am really interested in getting one. i know you recommended some cameras, but what other things do will i need to start off eg lens etc? i'm looking at cameras now and there are lots of different bundles i can get - or should i just get the standard kit?? i'm just going to take pix of friends, bdays, holidays - nothing fancy! Thanks! Ps ur articles are really cool, easy to understand and funny! 6 - Posted by
Kurtis
on October 31, 2008 - 12:35 am My recommendation, if you're just getting started, is to just go with the kit lens. That's a great starting point. If you get more serious about it, you'll learn the ins-and-outs of the camera and the limitations of the kit lens, and that's where things start to get really expensive. But that's the best place to start. :)
7 - Posted by
MR J
on December 27, 2008 - 6:43 pm I just bought a refurbished Pentax K100D. Immediately, I happily discovered that my mom's old as dust Vivitar lens, which fit her old Pentax ME Super, fit my camera. The shots all suck ... really yellow and orange due to the incandescent lighting of my house, but never have I been able to so easily capture a shot that looks like it came out of some artsy photography mag. Also, I love how this camera and this old metal lens WEIGH A TON! The huge Canon something or other at the store was about 900x sweeter than this, and it weighed about 3/4 this thing. I love when something feels like it's worth its weight. I have a 200 page manual to flip through, a billion web pages, and a whole lot of photography terms to learn ... but I am optimistic, because next time I need to take a great picture, it ain't going to be an issue of the planets aligning, but whether or not I remembered to bring along this new, bulky piece of furniture that occasionally takes pictures when I fondle it. Totally in love with my Pentax! Hopefully I'll get outside so I can start learning and shooting!
8 - Posted by
Kurtis
on December 28, 2008 - 1:50 am That orange you're seeing is a white balance problem - that's easy to correct, especially if you shoot in RAW. I highly suggest giving your camera's manual a read-through. Happy shooting! :)
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