What camera do you use?

[bakechef]

I never realised that, thanks.

I have seen them and was a little put off with paying that price when you could get a full SLR. Having said that I liked the look of the Canon G12 because it was small and compact but has most of the features a SLR has. I'm looking around the $600 mark and now it seems a toss up between the Canon G12 and an entry level Canon or Nikon SLR.

If I had that budget, I would go with an entry level dslr! Even entry level dslr will be better than most point and shoot. Dslr cameras have full auto settings so they are easy to use right out of the box. Once you get a feel for the camera, and learn a bit more, you can use the manual settings. I haven't had my camera on auto in a long time!

If you go with Canon, there is a lens that some call the "nifty fifty" (50mm fixed) that is very inexpensive and will be awesome for food pictures and portraits.

 

[GB]

If you go with Canon, there is a lens that some call the "nifty fifty" (50mm fixed) that is very inexpensive and will be awesome for food pictures and portraits.

The nifty fifty is not just Canon. I have one for my Nikon.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

I have 2 Cameras

I truly prefer my 35mm camera, that I have for a few years, despite the size, weight etcetra ... Mine is a Nikon. The seascapes, landscapes and portraits are stunning with this no fail camera.

However, for the Ephiphany ( 3 Wise Men Day ), I received a German Benq digital which takes excellent food / plate fotos ... However, I would not use this for topography shots or long distance shots.

Thanks for posting.
Margi.

 

[CharlieD]

I have an older Sony Syber-shot. But I just do not take enough pictures. I had SLR Canon camera, that I finaly sold, becasue it was seating without being used.

 

[Vanilla Bean]

I use a Fuji FINEPIX

 

[Claire]

My friends'! We just don't take enough pics any more and find ourselves, in spite of having periodically gone through boxes and albums, still having more photos that we'll ever look at. I finally sent most of my old family pics to my ... well, family (don't have kids). Now if we're having a party or an event, we ask our friends to please bring cameras. Now that it's so easy to transmit pics on line, I get them from my family and can look and delete.

At some age you have to look around and say, who is going to want all this stuff? Who is going to have the time and desire to go through it all in hopes of finding something they want? I'm just creating more landfill with dozens of pics of us and our dogs and our friends, who no one in my family will know.. So, we let my sibs & nieces & nephews bring their high-tech cameras and take pics of family affairs, and we never replaced our last camera.

 

[bakechef]

The nifty fifty is not just Canon. I have one for my Nikon.

I didn't know that! I wish that I could find a decent, inexpensive auto focus 50mm for my Pentax, I have a manual right now that is fantastic, but would love auto focus.

 

[GB]

At some age you have to look around and say, who is going to want all this stuff? Who is going to have the time and desire to go through it all in hopes of finding something they want?

My grandfather passed away a few years ago. I went down to Fl for the funeral, along with the rest of our family. One night my uncles, aunts, cousins, brother, parents, and I sat around the dining room table with a bottle of grandpas favorite liquor and boxes of his old photos. We went through each and every one. 99% we ended up throwing away. They were people none of us knew like his old war buddies. But the photos we kept meant the world to us. Each of us found photos that were important to us. Not only that, but because of that night I learned things about my family I would not have otherwise know. The memory of that night, even though we wee together for a sad reason, is one I cherish. I will remember sitting around that table laughing and drinking and reminiscing for the rest of my life.

 

[GB]

I didn't know that! I wish that I could find a decent, inexpensive auto focus 50mm for my Pentax, I have a manual right now that is fantastic, but would love auto focus.

What do you consider inexpensive? You could get a Sigma 50 f2.8 autofocus for $370.

 

[bakechef]

This is why I love my DSLR. This is a 50mm lens f2.0

I could likely find a sharper lens but this one was free (handed down from my dad)

 

[bakechef]

What do you consider inexpensive? You could get a Sigma 50 f2.8 autofocus for $370.

That's more than I spent for the camera including kit lens. I think that it may have "fallen off a truck" I bought it online at a, too good to be true price, and it came brand new completely sealed, a bargain!

I do realize that good glass often costs more than the camera, but I'm not quite sure that I am there yet as far as spending hundreds on a lens.

 

[GB]

Yeah I hear ya! Glass can get damn expensive! I think I finally have all the lenses I need so I can sit back and just enjoy using them now.

Your cookie shot is great! I love the depth of field.

 

[bakechef]

That lens is circa 1980, and it helps me get decent shots with no flash and available light. It was neat popping on such an old lens on a very modern digital camera. I still have the film camera that it was used on, but now it's just a display piece.

Thanks for the compliment!

 

[Addie]

Claire made an excellent point. As each child got married and left home, I went through the pictures and picked out the ones that related to them. They each got them to start their own family albums to show their kids when they were small. I also when I first strted this, wrote on the back who it was, age and any other infor I could remember. Now of course we upload them to the cmputer. When I do I immediately place the info right under each pic. I also make sure my camera is set for the right date. I don't have the date on the pic, but I do add it in the info. Each one goes into an album for that date. I have recently been downloading them onto CDs. If it was for a Xmas at someone's house, they get the CD. My computer also prints out labels for CDs. Now it has run full circle. The kids are bringing them back to me to scan into my computer, then load onto a CD with a label.

 

[bakechef]

I have all my pics uploaded to Picasa and organized. When I went home to plan my dad's funeral, that came in handy. My sister and her husband had been sitting in the waiting room making a slideshow of memories for the funeral and I told her "I have just about every family photo online" we were able to make a really nice slide show!

 

[Addie]

I have all my pics uploaded to Picasa and organized. When I went home to plan my dad's funeral, that came in handy. My sister and her husband had been sitting in the waiting room making a slideshow of memories for the funeral and I told her "I have just about every family photo online" we were able to make a really nice slide show!

When Son#2s wife died, they did that and had "It's a Wonderful World" playing in the background. I couldn't help harmonizing with it. I think if my sister had been there, we could have given a concert.

 

[TATTRAT]

Yeah I hear ya! Glass can get damn expensive! I think I finally have all the lenses I need so I can sit back and just enjoy using them now.

Your cookie shot is great! I love the depth of field.

I think that glass is always going to be more than what the bodies are worth. Sure, the tech in the bodies changes, but mainly the sensor. optics, and good quality optics, cost money, BUT also retain their resale value 10x what bodies do.

Good glass, like a good set of knives, is an investment in the future, and can last lifetimes.

The nifty 50 for example, the 1.8 can be had all day long at $117, and my ole D80 body can now be had for $300. In 5 years, provided there are no scratches/dust/fungus, I can still get $100 for my prime 50, the body, who knows. . .when the d80 first came out, it was one of those $800 bodies.

Investing in a camera is just like any other set of tools, you get what you pay for, and you know going in, that it isn't always a cheap hobby, when you want to do it right.

New glass has brought new life to my now considered "out of date" body, but I am just not wanting to make the jump to full frame, as my rig suits my needs.

 

[jonnyjonny_uk]

Thanks to you all for all your comments and suggestions! I finally made the decision and I'm now the proud owner of a Nikon D3100 I thought about all your advice and I know if I had spent almost the same amount on a point and shoot I would be frustrated that I could not play around more and change lenses etc so now I'm going to learn how to use it properly and hopefully take some photos of my culinary creations soon

Thanks so much everyone!

 

[Addie]

Looking forward to the pics. Make me hungry.

 

[jonnyjonny_uk]

Looking forward to the pics. Make me hungry.

They won't be long Just made some tomato sauce to spread over my pizza base and now thinking about the toppings and what cheese and then we'll be in business