New DSLR... my very first SLR - Orchid Board

RosieC · #1 07-10-2011, 03:25 AM

Never had an SLR, only just starting to understand all the f-stop and aperture/depth-of-field stuff and lens speed and ISO and all that jargon. My hubby did a LOT of reading before we bought anything so he understands much much more than me and keeps explaining things.

But yesterday we bought each other our joint wedding anniversary present. A Cannon EOS 60D along with an f/2.8L 100mm macro lens (hubby says the L means it's a good one

) and an f/2.8 EFS 17mm-55mm lens. The macro was mainly for me and the other one was for hubby to use out and about.

Anyway I'm loving it already. I'm already favouring the fully manual modes for everything. And late last night I discovered that it can be controlled from my computer. I can view the shot immediately on the computer screen and tweak the settings if anything could do with it and fire again. No need for remote trigger release for taking shots at home as the computer can do that.

Some of last night's shots were not at all bad in my amateur opinion (certainly better than my old powershot compact could do) so I'll be posting some of them soon.

cday2inflorida · #2 07-10-2011, 06:25 AM

Hurray!

nenella · #3 07-10-2011, 07:53 AM

That's really cool Rosie! Look forward to seeing your pics.

Jennyfleur · #4 07-10-2011, 08:31 AM

I'll say Yippee and Hooray, but, to be honest, I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about! But, I can manage the basic notion of 'Rosie's got a new camera', so I'll stick with that

Happy anniversary to you both x

RosieC · #5 07-10-2011, 08:36 AM

Thanks everyone. I'm so enjoying it.

Jenny, that's just what I would have been like a few months ago

I've been absorbing a lot of info from hubby since we decided we were going to do this and he's been reading all about it.

We decided that for orchid shots the old compact camera just was't good enough and not capable of what we wanted. It's amazing how much nicer this one is

Val · #6 07-10-2011, 08:56 AM

Congratulations!
Cannon EOS 60D is one of the finest cameras available today, and the two lenses are superb. You're in for a wonderful experience.

For close-up and macro photography, however, the switch from a compact camera (smaller sensor) to an APS-C format camera (larger sensor) has a down-side: depth of fiels is much shallower with APS-C. The explanation is pure physics, I won't get into details.

Generally, for maximum depth of field, you need to close the aperture as much as possible (higher numers, like 16, 22, etc.). With all-around lenses like your 17-55, f/16 would be the smallest aperture adviceable, because at smaller apertures diffraction starts reducing the overall sharpness (again, the explanation is pure physics). The good news is that macro lenses are designed especially for being used at the smallest apertures (up to 32 and even 45), thus achieving a maximum depth of field without loosing sharpness.

For large prints, use your DSLR: finer grain, less noise, etc, etc. However, for pictures that will only be published on the web (you don't need very high resolution), a compact camera will give you a significantly better depth of field (which is relatively important for flower close-ups/macro).

You could achieve better depth of field with a DSLR by using a special technique: focus stacking (see: Focus stacking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and

YouTube - ‪Focus Stacking - a macro photography technique‬&rlm;

).

RosieC · #7 07-10-2011, 09:13 AM

Thanks Val,

Actually the ability to control depth of field was my problem on the compact.

I want in some cases to have a small depth of field, to get sharp focus flowers while blurring the background. The compact while it had aperture and exposure settings (fully manual even on the compact) the distance between the sensor and the lens meant you just couldn't narrow down the depth of field at all if you wanted to.

This one seems to be giving both large depth of field when I want it and narrow depth of field when I want that... and for me that's the great joy, to have control of the depth of field in an appreciable way and I had great fun last night playing with the aperture and taking a sequence of the same shot while varying the depth of field and seeing the effects.

I do want to play with that focus stacking. I was really interested in that when I saw it talked about before. Now I have the ability to do RAW mode which that software needs I really want to give it a try.

ronaldhanko · #8 07-10-2011, 11:26 AM

Congratulations, Rosie!!!!!!! I am so pleased that you've gotten a camera and a good one. Can't wait to see some pictures.

Otis226 · #9 07-10-2011, 11:53 AM

Congrat Rosie! As someone who's been using a little Olympus 2 mp point and shoot brio for about 10 yrs. I can really appreciate your big upgrade!
I've been looking for a new one as well but don't want to go the DSLR route...I need that money for more orchids

But I'm liking the specs of the Cannon Powershot G11 and a few of the Nikons as well. Anyway, good luck with the new toy and I look forward to seeing some of your latest photos soon.
Best,
Tony

silken · #10 07-10-2011, 12:17 PM

Congrats on the new camera! It sounds like you are already reaping the benefits of its features. If you don't have a tripod-that will be next for those macro shots. And RAW is the best way to go. You end up with the best quality photos which is great for enlarging those gorgeous orchid shots. I use RAW format for everything.