Serious Student Suzie – You are ready to get serious about this art form. You might be:
- A photo student considering a profession in the art (my little sister)
- An amateur who has run out of options on your compact Point & Shoot (some of you who have recently emailed me about this)
- A parent who wants to get serious about shots of the new baby!!
Gear: For best value, choose Pentax K200D, check it out HERE
Note: If value is not your top priority, you should look to some other brands as well. Nikon and Canon make great stuff, and I will discuss them more in the Advanced Amateur section.
K200D Features:
- Weather resistant body (only one in its class, and feels much better built than some competitors)
- The most detailed 10MP sensor available (as tested by DPReview.com – it's the same as my k10d that I have shot with for the past year and posted many images on here)
- Built in shake reduction (Canon and Nikon have it optional on each lend. They are now making inexpensive lenses with shake reduction, but if you want to buy their professional lenses, you will pay hundreds more per lens to have it equipped with shake reduction technology
- Pentax offers the greatest flexibility with using old lenses (see extra gear below)
- Dust Removal System (others have this as well, but this is a welcomed new feature)
Extra Gear: This is probably the point where you are going to want to start supplementing your camera bag with some additional items. I will discuss most of the extra gear in the next Advanced Amateur section, but assuming you go with the Pentax, the very first thing I would buy is a used manual focus 50mm lens. Click HERE for a gallery of images I took when Olivia was just a month old. I had only had a camera for a few weeks, so I was still learning how to take pictures, but the certain quality obtained in the images will get my point across. These were all taken with a $35 lens I got on ebay (Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7). The old glass is extremely high quality and Pentax supports use of any lens they have ever built. (they are the best brand for this)
Here is a guide to the functionality of some old Pentax lenses that I have:
- Screw mount (M42) mount – Needs a simple adapter (ebay)
- Pentax-M – works but only at the widest aperture
- Pentax –A – works normally (it’s still manual focus)
- Pentax FA – works normally with autofocus
Note: if you go with Canon , they make a very inexpensive autofocus 50mm prime (prime, means you can’t zoom in and out - its just set at one point) that you should strongly consider. It’s a crummy build, but quite cheap – check it out HERE
Some Extra gear
- External Flash (sometimes called a strobe) The most important thing you can buy. I will have posts dedicated to this in the future. Buy one (I use Pentax AF540)
- Reverse Ring for macro – If you want to get SUPER macro shots. Like this one i took of a fly, you can mount a couple lenses front to front. Read about the process HERE in a very good tutorial.
- Circular Polarizer - This is a must for the landscape artist. It kills reflections of water, deepens sky, and defines clouds. I use B&W, but for my pro lenses (that have big 77mm threads) it costs me $180 for the filter
- Reflectors – In coming posts I will discuss light. Light is paramount to good images. Reflectors are a simply way to bounce light back on your subject to eliminate bad shadows. Check one out HERE
- Light Mount for stand and umbrella – this turns you're your on camera flash into a make shift studio flash (that works great!) for pretty cheap - try this one.
- Battery Grip - HERE is the one that goes with the K200D. I am beginning to like these things.
Other Lenses
As a student, you don't have to spend a gazillion dollars on lenses. Your camera will come with a basic "kit lens" that covers your basic ranges. Go with a simple high quality 50mm for portraits and creative work (as discussed above). Pick up an inexpensive telephoto: Sigma 70-300mm APO is my favorite in the cheap arena. I usually shop B&H, Amazon or ebay.