upgrading my camera

[Philtrum]

A question you need to ask yourself, is what does your current camera not do, that you want to do .....

often people upgrade the camera body and keep the kit lens on it etc, there is so much more to be had by putting a good lens infront of an older camera

I use both a Canon 5d and a 350d, and in good light the 350 is a very good camera, put a decent lens on it and its an awesome camera (the 350d is much older than the 1000d)

I invested in lenses, you dont need to spend a fortune to get a good difference, however the more you spend, the better the lens in a lot of cases, however something like the 50mm F1.8 is very cheap and can get some great effects

before you spend, thing what can you not do now ... or what do you want to do better, then work to resolve that, if the answer is a new camera body, go for it , if its a new lens ... go for it

Cheers
Phil

[Harveypops]

Thanks for the advice everyone!!

I think I'm going to keep my camera and look to getting a better lens. I really struggle to get multiple dogs in focus on an action shot. What am I doing wrong?? 

[Philtrum]

the depth of field (how much is in focus) is controlled by the aperture of your lens/camera, the bigger the number, the more is in focus

for example, if you set your camera to Ap (aperture priority) you can then change a number on the screen, make the number realy small F3.5 for example and take a pic of something fairly close with some stuff in the background at a distance, you will find the item in the forground that you focused on sharp and the background blurred / diffused

then set the number to a large number F20 for example and do the same photography, you will then see that the background is sharper too

the downside of this, is you will prob find the shutter speed was much slower when you took the 2nd pic ... so if your taking a pic of a moving dog for example, that makes it realy hard

its a balancing act to be fair .... you can up your iso (sensitivity to light) to make the shutter faster, the downside of this is a more noisy image (noticeable noise starts at 800 iso)

the other thing to bear in mind, is if the 2 dogs are the same sort of distance from the camera (eg chaising each other) it allows you to have a shallower depth of field and keep both dogs in focus

best thing to do ... is have a play, both in Ap (aperture priority) to understand how to get the right depth of field, and also in Tv (shutter (or time) priority), this allows you to control the shutter speed so you dont get a blurred dog, and let the camera balance the light by adjusting the aperture

if you get the hang of both of these, then you can play in manual mode 

sorry if thats a bit techy

let me know if it is and I will try to explain a different way

Phil

[Harveypops]

Thanks Phil! That does make sense-not too techy! I just need a 2nd dog now to practice  I've been really strugglin to get multiple dogs pics at the cocker meets in focus.

Have you ever thought about running photogrpahy classes Phil? 

[Philtrum]

Hi

Never thought about running classes, might be an option at some point, you never know 

Im glad it made some sense

Cheers
Phil

[Harveypops]

Hi

Never thought about running classes, might be an option at some point, you never know 

Im glad it made some sense

Cheers
Phil

I think you'd be brilliant! You've always got really good advice which is easy to understand!