About
Hi,
I want to start off by talking a little about the purpose of this beginning photography guide. My goal with this guide is to help you with the basics and help you take better photos. I am writing this from the perpective of showing a friend, who had never owned a camera before, how to get started.
I first became interested in photography back in high school (seems like a really long time ago), where the equipment was fairly manual and we used black & white film.
- Canon AE1 – Film Camera
The first camera I bought was a
Canon AE1 (this did have in camera metering which was nice) and a couple of really cheap lenses from JC Penny. It might not have been the best out there, but it was all mine and I worked all summer to be able to pay for it. I carried that thing everywhere, to school, on family vacations, the beach and 20 mile backpack trips with the Scouts. I learned a lot, much of it through trial and error.
Canon Digital Rebel XT
When I got into digital for the first time, I started with a compact digital camera in the form of a Nikon Coolpix 995. I got some really nice shots with it (I loved the macro ability it possessed). I bought a wide angle and telephoto lens attachment for it, but it just would not do what I had in mind. While it had some manual overrides, it lacked the “instant” capture ability when the shutter button is depressed. So I got my first Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) a Canon Rebel XT, now I had the control, almost instant shutter and the ability to change lenses as I needed.
I am in no way endorsing using only Canon cameras, there are many capable and excellent cameras out there from various manufacturers. I choose to upgrade with Canon because I was happy with the brand and already had invested in lenses for this line.
Enjoy,
Dave
You can contact me at dave@learnbasicphotography.com
My latest addition is a Canon 5D with a full frame senor and just love it. I still use the Rebel when I want to carry something lighter and more compact.
If you don’t learn the right way from the very beginning it’s going to catch up with you eventually. I was interested to read your post About | Learn Basic Photography and gratified to see some of your points.