Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I want to get more involved with my photography. I really like black and white photography but I also really like color photography. I want a digital camera. One that would work well with adobe photoshop elements 6 (that's all I have right now). Any suggestions and links would be helpful. Also, I would want a camera where I could actually go to the store and buy it. I don't want to buy it over the internet. Thanks!
i think it might have been replaced by a newer model by now, but i believe the newer model has pretty much the same specs.
it takes fantastic pictures !
loads of different settings. you can either use it as point and shoot, or take your time and set it up the way you want it for individual shots.
only real complaints are that it's nor really what you would class as "portable".
it's quite large, but it's also quite light.
the zoom is fantastic, it has 10x optical, and a further 5x (IIRC) digital.
however the picture quality can be poor when you use full digital and optical zoom together.
also tell us what you plan to shoot..... point and shoots are great as long as nothing is moving or low light .... only decent low light performance i have seen to date from a point and shoot is the new cannon s90 about 400.00 bucks.
They're just about all digital today (if you were shopping for a film camera, you wouldn't be here asking)
They all do color
Any color image can be converted to B&W in Photoshop Elements 6
Photoshop Elements 6 will work with the pictures that come out of any digital camera
Many stores sell cameras but you'll overpay drastically compared to buying online
Without more information about what you plan on shooting, this is like going to Home Depot and asking to buy a good tool. A band saw won't do you much good if you really needed a hammer.
I highly suggest a DSLR - a P&S will not truely get you more into photography. I have both, the P&S for when I'm out and about and a DSLR for when I want to do photography. I currently use a Pentax ist DS and plan to upgrade to a Pentax 20D to get the shake reduction and higher megapixel.
As far as a good DSLR for someone starting out, I would suggest a Canon Rebel, Nikon D5000 or Pentax K2000. As far as a lens goes, I would recommend getting the 18-55mm which often comes bundled with the camera - it's an excellent all around lens.
Seceond suggestion - DO NOT BUY NEW - whenever possible buy a used camera or lens, there's no reason to pay high prices for new when you can get a great discount on something that someone is getting rid of because they're trading up. The best recommendation I can give to anyone buying camera equipment (amateur or pro) is to go to your local camera store or Best Buy to try out the camera/lens THEN go online and find the best price on a used excellent condition model that may often times come with free shipping and no sales tax -- Amazon/Amazon Warehouse, Ebay and KEH are great places to buy from online. I know you want to buy from a store but they usually overprice everything so much and then you have to pay sales tax on top of that.
Depending on what you would like to photograph - I suggest the 18-55mm for general, a 50mm macro for flowers/still life and a 12-24mm for landscape/interior. These are the lens I use (all pentax) except for the 18-55mm which I probably should get -- 50mm macro which I use a lot even for portrait shots with a soft filter, 50-200mm for zoom shots and a 12-24mm for architecture - I also like to use a polarizing filter to bring out colors and reduce glare. Photography is a very expensive hobby especially if you buy new, when I first started - I bought only new equipment which I now regret - the more comfortable I've become with taking pictures, the less I fear buying used -- for all the links I've included make sure to check the used prices listed below and you'll see a huge difference.
Here are some examples of images I've taken with these lenses:
50mm macro
50mm macro
50-200mm
12-24mm
Lastly - in Photoshop - try using a lomo effect to add drama and depth!
LOMO EFFECT
File: Open: the picture you want
Image: Adjustments: Brightness/Contrast: increase contrast by 20
Image: Adjustments: Hue/Saturation: increase saturation by 20
Choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool (your basic selection tool)
Change feather amount to 1/12 the width of your picture (if your picture is 600px wide, as all mine are, then you will set your feather to 50px.
Select your entire picture note: using select: all, will not work
Select: Inverse
Layer: New: Layer
Change your primary color to black. Fill the selection (on the new, blank layer).
Change the blend mode of this layer to Overlay
Layer: Duplicate Layer
Now select your base layer (the one with the picture on it).
Layer: New: Layer
Change your fill tool to Gradient
Change your Gradient Type to Spherical
Change your Gradient Shading Style to “foreground to transparent” (I believe this is the default).
Change your primary color to white.
With the fill tool selected, click in the middle of the picture, and drag the line out to the farthest edge of your picture (if it’s a portrait, use top or bottom, if landscape, use left or right).
Change the blend mode of this layer to Overlay
Change the Opacity of this layer to 80% (or whatever you see fit, you’ll see what I mean).
Now you are actually pretty much done. You can merge the layers together if you wish.
I want to get more involved with my photography. I really like black and white photography but I also really like color photography. I want a digital camera. One that would work well with adobe photoshop elements 6 (that's all I have right now). Any suggestions and links would be helpful. Also, I would want a camera where I could actually go to the store and buy it. I don't want to buy it over the internet. Thanks!
Good is a real relative term. What is good to me would be a Canon 5D Mark II or Canon 7D, or Canon 50D. Metal housings with moisture and dust seals. Self cleaning sensors and and capable of capturing action shots. Now when most people see the price they often backup and regroup.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
