first digital SLR

[ARU]

I'm soon wanting to purchase my first proper digtal camera a cannon 400d.

Is it a good camera for aviation photography? or am I just wasting my money.
(I know I will have to get some nice lenses, which I will buy later on)

I dont know much camera jargon, or how to use them effectively as such but I'm sure I would learn pretty fast.

cheers

[amitch]

aru said:

I'm soon wanting to purchase my first proper digtal camera a cannon 400d.

Is it a good camera for aviation photography? or am I just wasting my money.
cheers

Yes, it's a good camera.

Once you have the hang of whats going on, start to buy some good lens's. What counts is how you use the situation you are in.

[greaneyr]

Hey Aru

I started out in aviation photography using an Olympus C-750. It had basically all the functions of a pro-style camera like an SLR but without using the SLR concept. It had Aperture priority, shutter priority, full manual mode, manual focus, and a decent zoom. The problem I had was that both zoom and manual focus required the use of buttons. I posted a question about it to a photography forum and their answer was that for demanding work like aviation photography, I'd be better off with a dSLR. And that was where it all started for me.

I went out and bought myself a Canon EOS-300D which I still use today. In it's day, it was the entry-level dSLR that Canon made. Today, that place is held by the 400D. The 300D is still a very good unit, and the 400D only improves on that. It has higher image size and a much faster burst mode, among many other improvements.

The thing is that anything SLR will be a good camera for aviation work. The ability to focus and zoom manually is the biggest advantage I see in SLRs. But on top of this, you are limited only by the lens. The body is basically a light box and nothing more. The lens does the bulk of the work. So you can get a nice short len for close-up work, and get a decent Tele for distance work. Neither are compromised since they are separate units with separate strengths.

My advice for a first-time buyer is to look seriously at the 400D. Even though I've been shooting for a few years now, if my 300D gave up tomorrow I'd look at a 400D as a replacement.

Regards
Richard

[xr6turbo1]

I havet used a 400D but a friend of mine has one and it looks the goods.
Big screen on the back, auto sensor cleaning, 10mp, I think it would work well for you.
Yip the lenses are very important however when I look at sites like Aitliners.net etc I am often amazed what some people achieve with the so called consumer lenses. They are getting better all of the time but if you fancy spending a large chunk of $ get a couple of L lenses and like pointed out above, get a short range and long range lens and then head out to the aiffield and go fo it.
Look forward to seeing some pics from you

[ARU]

Thanks for the help, I shall save a few weeks wages and put a nice deposit down on one