Well for someone like me who probably won't get the extra lights ect.. should I spend the extra money? Ill just be shooting casual things and mostly have it for my tanks.
If you get the T2i, you then need to figure out how you'll trigger your speedlights, even if it's just one. You'll need to buy some separate triggers or run a long cable from the camera to the flash unit.
The built-in speedlight triggering was the main reason for going from a D40 to a D90 for me.
LOL gotcha. If we're comparing the T2i and the T3i, I'd definitely spend the extra $40 and get the T3i. The flash triggering and swivel LCD are well worth the extra cash.
If it were me, I'd go with the T3i, even though the kit with the lens costs $100 more. The T2i won't be able to trigger a speedlight. If you want to use a speedlight on top of the tank for aquarium photography, you need to buy some extra parts.
You can do a long hotshoe cable or get some cheap radio triggers. This will run you $25-40. The radio triggers work well, but they don't transmit TTL information. This isn't important for aquarium photography since you'll want to shoot in manual flash mode anyways, but TTL is a great thing to have for general photography.
With the built-in triggering control, you don't lose TTL.
It's a good camera and will take great photos. But as I tell everyone about to buy a DSLR...it's an addicting hobby. Everybody always say they just want it for one simple task. I started with a D40 and thought it was all I would need. Then the photography bug hit, and 6 months later I was wanting more, so I upgraded to a D90. If you think this will be a somewhat serious hobby, I'd go for a used D90.
I dont know the first thing about photography, but i would say that after lighting, subject, and photographer skills the next thing that matters is glass. If you want good glass you are going to need an slr. As far as which SLR or brand, it really doesnt matter.
I would rather a 5 year old DSLR body with a $1k lens that a new DSLR body with a $200 lens. After all your body will be obsolete in 45 days, your lens will be good for 15 more years.
For what it is worth, i heard Nikon users have hairy shoulders and Canon users have fuzzy knuckles.
Well whether it be NIKON, pentax, Canon ect... I am just looking to find a camera of good quality at a reasonable price. The rebel t2i are nice and I was taking it into consideration but then I saw the d3100 at Walmart at the mw3 release last night for only 450. I know a dedicated macro lenses will cost me another couple hundred so I don't want to use all that I have for only the camera. I'm on a college student budget and can't afford a whole lot at once.
Don't get me wrong, I also have a P-TTL flash, but only 1. It's only really used for parties and the like when I care more about enjoying it than photos.
Any other time I want an actual photo....manual flashes....(unless I'm playing with strobe mode for fun or a random shot)
I bought a d3100 about a year ago and it has exceeded all expectations. My sales manager just found a d3100 on costco's site for ~$600 that came with a really nice nikon bag a 18-55 lens and a 55-200 lens. Thats a hell of a deal.
I would check eBay and almost any DSLR kit will be fairly impressive, with the big 2 and full size sensors leading the pack and the price, but unless you need really high ISO to shoot in low light, most brands will do well.
I shoot Olympus but if you start hanging out at DPReview forum looking at photos, you can make almost any camera perform if you know all the tricks, from shooting to software manipulation.
Some of the new mirror less cameras are nice to, they are just like a dslr but with no mirror so you shoot from the LED screen or an electric view finder but Oly & Canon both have models with nice photos, interchangeable lenses, smaller in size and cost.
I am no expert, far from it. So one of the best things about the d3100 is that it has the best 'auto' mode of any entry level slr on the market (not my words just what about every review pro/novice says). What this allows me to do is take great (compared to the shots i use to take with my finepix) shots very quickly. Then after going through the shots you can see what the camera picked for settings and if you want to improve that shot you can go back and adjust exactly what you feel will make it better. Also this allows my wife who is much much less inclined to want to mess with ANY settings or take the time to research how to use them mainly because she primarily is using it taking shots of our 15 month old daughter (the main reason we purchased a proper camera in the first place) and if shes fiddling with the settings chances are shell miss the shot.
But, when I do want to mess with things manually it is also very easy to do that and take even better shots. Like Macro shots with just about everything on manual. With a 18-55 lens, that will test your patients!
So in short.
Pretty unanimously reviewed as the best entry slr 'auto' feature and also a breeze to use manually.
This is an excellent and informative thread. I think it should be a sticky if there is not one about cameras already. Cameras have nothing to do with fish tanks but a lot of us here like to shoot our tank for others to see and the more knowledge we have about taking photos of our tanks the better pictures we can take. Thanks. I learned a lot here and great links to other sites as well.
The hardest part for me on pulling the trigger on a camera is which one to go for. I already did some hw and research and really like as a P&S cam the Canon PowerShot SX230 HS 14.1 and as a DSLR camera the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. I know the price difference is huge but I think for my needs the SX230 would be fine, unless I am going to be a photographer. However, in my mind I feel if I get the T3i I can have it for a very very long time and not have to worry about anything in the future.
Agree with tetra. If you go SLR you'll end up probably spending more in more lens and eventually changing the body. I went from a XSI to a 60D, pretty quickly. Another thing you should be aware of if you simplly use the the T3 in auto mode you might be disappointed in the pics. What I mean is you might not see any improvement over P&S. So be prepared to learn more about photography.
Awww man you guys just made my decision easier or worse, I am confused more now. I think I will just go with the simple $210 Canon 230HS. I do not think I need another hobby in my life, my fish tank and Corvette is already keeping my bank account low.
Awww man you guys just made my decision easier or worse, I am confused more now. I think I will just go with the simple $210 Canon 230HS. I do not think I need another hobby in my life, my fish tank and Corvette is already keeping my bank account low.
Photography is one of those things that either you get it or you don't. Once you catch the "bug," like most of my hobbies before and now, you want better photos. You want better gear. 4 years ago I started out with a Canon point and shoot. $250+. I was telling myself I didn't need a DSLR and etc. Unfortunately, the shots weren't better than my older 4mp Olympus point and shoot as soon as you use a higher ISO 400 or higher. Then, I switched to the next higher end point and shoot, the S3. Kind of like a DSLR and point and shoot combined. The ISO image quality was still crappy. Then, jumped to the Rebel XTi. Here, I am getting useable ISO800 shots. Downhill from there. XTi was too entry level. Then, got a Canon 30D because everyone said that it is a prosumer body 4 years ago. 30D to 1dmarkII. Then, finally, 1dmarkIII.
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