Camera Labs

Hi There,

I am looking to get a DSLR for taking pics of the kids at school events, sports, other kid activities, and picutres at family functions (indoor and outdoor). so some of the pictures would probably be mostly indoor, and have the possibilty of low/poor lighting of gymnasiums/auditoriums and the like.

I was wondering what I should get.

My wife always complains about the lag associated with our now dead compact p&s. So we decided to get an SLR. (I will still get a point and shoot for social pics and portability)



so some of my Qs include
Is Image stabilization really required?
How much help would it help to have IS for action shots and the like?
I have no allegiance to any manufacturer, but also understand that if i start down a path I may want to stay there depending on the lenses i buy
So, bottom line, what would you recommend for my situation, and what lenses would you say i should get?

I just purchased a canon 350/xt with a kit lens for a decent price, and am considering getting the cheapy canon 75-300 non IS lens to compliment it.

but was also looking at other options such as the d40 or d40x with the kit lens and noticed you can get the 55-200 af dx with VR for a good price

I even looked at the olympus e510 with the kit lens and another 42 to 150 lens

Another thing to note My wife is an absolute beginner, I am only a step or 2 ahead of her in terms of using SLRs.

Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks in advance.

Hello hab138, and welcome to the Camera Labs forum!
I'm sure we had a similar thread already in this forum, but couldn't come up with it in due time. So here's the shorts on your questions:
Kids, sports-events, indoor all spell trouble! You'll need all the sensitivity that you can get to come to short shutter-times under low-light conditions.
First: IS doesn't help freezing fast movement (sports) so you're out of look here. Only high aperture lenses (f2.8 or below, possible with fixed focus prime lenses like a f1.8/50mm) and a low-noise/high-IOS body can help you here (or using a powerful flash with zoom reflector, of course).
With more sedate situations, IS can give you the needed stabilization to shoot kids under available light (flash is ugly there) with a longer lens that lets you stay at a distance from your subject (which helps not to spoil the kids).
As to noise, I would prefere the D40/x, as the four/thirds standards (Oly) has an inherent 1-EV disadvantage. It's also easy and shoots quite good fully automatic, although the D80 is even better in that respect.

Hope that helps a little!

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I would never switch of image stabilization on my camera when shooting handheld, it's one of my top priorities in a camera But it comes at a price ofcourse and if you are not confident in spending to much on lenses streight away you could look one up 2. hand with IS.

A more controversial advice is; buy a 85mm f/1.8 that is cheaper than the 75-300mm IS lens! This will (based on experince with other primes) be much sharper than the zooms you are after and you can shoot indoor with it due to f/1.8, and I bet it will give you much better portraits than the zoom lens Downside, it requires a little more work to get the frame right - have to be more creative.

_________________
Minolta primes: 2.8/20 2.8/24 1.7/50 2.8/135
Minolta zooms: 28-135 35-70 70-210(beercan) kit
Minolta cameras: Dynax 5D 7000
M42: Pentax Asahi S-M-C Takumar 1.4/50 and 2.8/105 Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 2.4/35 Industar-61L/Z Kiron 2.8/105 Macro

Thanks for the quick replies.

so.. a d40 or d40x with a stablized lens would be a good choice correct?
I am trying to figure out the reach i would need for shooting in gym and what not..

As well, I've seen a canon 50mm lens f/1.8 for really cheap.. i.e. around 100 bucks

I guess I'll just have to figure out what kind of $$$ i should spend.
now it gets back to the D40/x vs rebel 350/XT question..

any suggestions of what I should get for my purposes or would both do fairly well?


thanks again for the advice.

Well hab138, looky here: http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1218
and there: http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1095
plus over here: http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=896

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Nikon is sexier, if that helps.

Zorro.

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head

If I were you and had the money I would get the Nikkon D80 and the Superzoom lens.

But I recently got the Olympus E-510 and it will do all you need and more for a lot less money with a twin lens kit. With anti shake built in.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-c ... tal-SLR/p1

Hope this helps

_________________
Canon 40D - EFS 17-85mm IS - EF 50mm 1.8 II - EF 70-200mm f.4 L - Speedlite 580EX II - GF Lightsphere Cloud - S.I.L.K 300DX PRO Tripod - Manfrotto 679 monopod - LOWEPRO Trekkar Backback - Adobe CS3 -

Wonda, If I had the money I would probably do as you say, or even go with a pro model, but since I am trying to keep to around 1000 dollars to fit my needs, I am doing some budget buying..

Nikon is sexier, I know some photographers and they are all in the Nikon Camp, I don't know any who use Canon or Olympus. I am sure they exist though


i am getting to the point where I may tell the wife I am just going to buy a nice HDTV but then I gotta research all of that.

Thanks for all the help.

I was only in the US two weeks ago and got the OLYMPUS E-510 twin lens kit for $1025 incd TAX!!!!!

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Canon 40D - EFS 17-85mm IS - EF 50mm 1.8 II - EF 70-200mm f.4 L - Speedlite 580EX II - GF Lightsphere Cloud - S.I.L.K 300DX PRO Tripod - Manfrotto 679 monopod - LOWEPRO Trekkar Backback - Adobe CS3 -

Nice deal, Wonda Boy. That's as good as it gets from a reputable dealer, I assume.

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi,
Ya, I saw the e510 for that price on ebay.. twin lens kit with e510 for around US and get an extra battery, bag 4GB card etc and shipping
that is what i was considering to get.
This is my dilemma , spend a little now or spend 500 more to get an extra lens and a body with IS.
*sigh* decisions, decisions

I meant to say around 1000 US from a dealer ebay..

You sure know that the Oly has built-in IS!?
Based on your reference to shooting sports-events and your question on reach, have a look at this thread.
I'm almost sure that a nice stabilized Nikon 55-200mm will satisfy your needs in this department or equally well the 40-150mm lens on the Oly-kit. Both lenses have an equivalent 35mm-film-camera reach of 300mm.

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Ya, I know I said I want to do indoor sports and the like, however my kids are still young and I am looking to grow into the camera, so I am looking at the following
50 - 70% of my shots will be family pictures indoor and outdoor quite static pictures not a lot of motion where I could probably control distance to the object.
30-50% of the shots will be kids activities plays, dance recitals sports etc indoor and outdoor and since the kiddies are young i.e under 10 they don't exactly move too fast yetI ( but I guess fast enough to keep me on my toes and run me ragged )
and these would be places where I could/would be at distances up to and over 50 metres away with low light.

I've been playing with the 18-55kit lens on the Canon 350/XT that I have and don't think I really need IS on it at these lengths

I am more concerned about low light areas of gymnasiums and auditoriums, from what i read that is where the IS/VR would help the most to help compensate for low light.

I am tempted to return the XT and get a D40 or D40x and get the 55-200 VR,
so my choices are as follows
stay with canon xt/xti wwith kit lens and get the 50mm f/1.8 prime and a 75-300 mm non IS zoom, their zoom lenses are just waaaay to expensive for me, the nikon seem more reasonable, i.e. pay a fraction more for vr rather than 2 to 3 times the cost for canon

get the nikon d40 or d40x with kit lens and get the 55-200 dx w/ VR

or
get the oly510 with 2 lenses

since the d40/x and the oly have 3 pt focus ponits, how does that affect the AF? is it slower than the canon?

that link was quite helpful, very nice shot of the kite surfer
this is killin me :0

again, thanks for the adviice

With indoor and not sooo fast action me thinks the D40/x plus the Nikon VR55-200mm is a wonderful combination. IS really helps under these conditions (+ a good low-noise/high-ISO body). And the IQ of this particular lens is really good compared to its price!
Disclaimer: You know I recommend Nikon because I own one, but feel free to pursue other roads!
One note though: The Oly four/thirds system gets only half the light on the sensor than the APS-C format of Canon/Nikon/Sony/Pentax. So inherently this system is at a 1-stop disadvantage over the others.

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses