Camera Labs

Dearest All,
I have always been amazed at the world of photography, however, I have only ever been a point and shoot camera person using a little 'small put in your pocket compact camera'. Well now the time has come to buy a decent camera and really get into it so to speak!!!!

Over the past week I have spent countless hours on the internet reading the reviews for the 600D / 60D and the 7D.

I have not ever previously used an SLR but I am one of these people that as soon as I get something I wont put it down until I know how to use it regardless of how long it takes.

I wil try to keep my questions simple;

(1) I was looking at the 600D/60D but after reading a fair few reviews the 7D seems a much better camera - would this camera be too hard to operate for a first time user (even if I spent 4 hours a night for 4 weeks working out how to use it or even longer!!!!)?????
I may be wrong but I would rather spend more money initially and get a really good camera rather than updating it in a few years.

(2) I love travelling and taking photographs of landscapes / buildings etc, and I am heading over to Vietnam and Cambodia (Angkor Wat) at the end of January 2012. I am also amazed at doing night time photography - again buildings, lights, reflections etc. So if I was to purchase the 7D can you please list what lenses would be best suited to my needs.

I was looking at the EFS 15-85/F3.5-5.6 IS USM as the main lense to keep on my camera throughout my holiday. Would I also need one of the more longer range lenses or is there a better alternative to the 15-85.

Excuse my ignorance but is there a significant difference in the quality of the photographs from the range of Canon lenses to a third party range, eg Sigma etc???

I really appreciate your thoughts and time

Thanks and Kind Regards

1) The 7D does have a few extra buttons but I don't think it'd be difficult for a first time user, at least if you're handy with gadgets.

2) You'll have to specify a budget for a decent answer. For night time photography, if it's not practical/desirable to use a flash or you can't use a tripod/monopod, a fast lens i.e. an aperture of no greater than f/2.8.

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Bodies: Canon EOS 550D w/ Magic Lantern
Lenses: Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX f/2.8, Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Accessories: YongNuo Speedlite YN-468 Flash, Neewer Macro LED Ring Light, Meike Battery Grip, YongNuo RF-602 Wireless Flash Trigger & Receiver YongNuo WR-128 Wireless Remote Control

Thanks Rorschach,

I dont mind spending a little extra for the lenses as I plan to have them for a while!!!

I picked up the 600D but just didn't like the feel of the buttons on the back and the scroll pad. I am 6'4 and my hands are not small - I really struggled with the double scrolling round pads on the back.

Welcome to the forum!

I upgraded to a 7D a mere four months after starting with an XTi. (400D) I was being mentored by my wife, and was handling and shooting with her work camera, a Nikon D300s, which is the Nikon equivalent, more or less, of the 7D. I do not believe either of these excellent cameras is too much for a beginner. If you have large hands, this is all the more so. The 7D does demand that one be a serious beginner, but is actually quite user-friendly, in mu opinion.

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Canon 7D/5D/40D/1D2N; Nikon F6, FM3A, & Coolpix A; Canon 40mm Pancake, 135L, 50L, 35L, pre-II 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8L Macro, 10-22mm EF-S, 28-135 EF, 400mm 5.6L; Nikkor 50mm 1.2 AI-S, 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8D, 16mm 2.8D Fisheye, 180mm 2.8D, 100-300mm 5.6 AI-S; Tokina 17mm & 100mm 2.8 Macro

I have 7D as well and I just love it. I've had it over a year and I still haven't reached the point where it's the gear that limits my creativity.
It feels great in my hands. I had the 450 d before, and its the seize of 600 d, it just fells small and a bit cheap once you've held a 7D

There are auto settings, so it's no problem to pick it up and start shooting right out of the box.
It does have auto settings Creative Auto and Auto they are pretty much the same auto setting and you have creative control over the camera but it just helps you not to mess it up too much. P program doesn't pop up the flash, apart for that it's pretty much like Auto. CA, A and P are point and shoot mode.
The auto settings for macro, night photography etc aren't on the dial, but if you hardly use them anyway you won't ever miss it.
It does however have 3 custom settings on the dial. Where you can save your settings for night photography, action photograph or what ever where you know you always set it to the same iso, f stop etc. Once you start to use that, you will really grow to like it, if you use manual a lot.

The problems as for traveling is that its big and til looks expensive, and that might be a problem with thieves, and some might find it a bit scary if you ask if you can take their picture and you pull out a huge camera. And the seize does make ti a bit heavy and bulky to carry around, not easy to hide it from being spotted by thieves.

A really cool feature to the 7D has, is that it can use the pup-up flash as a master to fire an external flash, I don't know if the 60 or 600 D can do that - you wires D300 should be abel to do the same. It really gives you some advantages

If you know that it will be a passion for you and you want to play with manual settings, then it's great, but if you want a high quality point and shoot, or if you don't plan on changing lenses on it, then a semi compact might be the way to go.

May ask why you don't buy Nikon if your wife has one, you could share gear like lenses flash and you speak the same language when you talk about settings etc.

The times where you might dislike it is when you carry it around, but it's really doesn't take up much more space than 60 D go 600 D when its in a camera bag. And you might grow to love getting new gear...
It might look intimidating and it might attract thieves

If you want to have a high quality point-and-shoot it's not the camera for you, but if you want to play with the manual settings (really fun once you get started) then I can almost guarantee that you will fall in love with it every time you press the trigger and when you are getting creative with the manual settings.

At first I thought that it was over-kill for me, but today I think it is perfect for me because I have learned so much since then.