getting started..?

Hi,
only recently i got interested in photography or more specific..music photography, like photos from gigs and stuff. so far its just been bee trying to get as close to the front as possible and after that its down to a 4.1MP sony cybershot ceamra with 3x optical zoom...(a very small basic little ceamra)
and my question is how important is the right ceamra/equipmet? what does a ceamra worth euro1000+ do as opposed to a 200euro one

Dimy

I think you should have posted this thread in the main photography forum and not the digital darkroom subforum. But don't worries, I'm sure the mods will move the thread for you.

As for your question.... with a 1000 euro DSLR camera as opposed to a 200 euro point a shoot camera you get a lot more manual control over your camera, like shutter time and apperture which will greatly improve your shots. A lot of point and shoot camera's nowadays will have some kind of manual control as well, but it's not as advanced as you'd get on a DSLR.
The other big advantage is that you can change lenses on a DSLR, because different situations need different lenses. For gig-shooting you want a fast lens, for landscapes you want something wide angle and for wildlife you'd be looking for tele (-zoom) lenses.
The downside is that a DSLR is a big piece of equipment that, in combination with different lenses and other camera equipment like a tripod, can become quite a burden. Especially for gigs you usually need permission from the venue if you want to shoot pictures of the gig with a DSLR.

thankx, yeah my main concern with buying a professional ceamra is not being able to get it into the venue...but is i want to start a portfoloio i feel i would need to upgrade from my little point and shoot!!...are these DSLR ceamras hard to use..?

Dimy

Deleted User wrote:

thankx, yeah my main concern with buying a professional ceamra is not being able to get it into the venue...but is i want to start a portfoloio i feel i would need to upgrade from my little point and shoot!!...are these DSLR ceamras hard to use..?

There's a lot of bells and whistles on them, but don't let that scare you off. If you take the time to learn you won't regret it and get some excellent results. But DSLR's also have automatic settings where they basicly just work as luxury point and shoot camera's. With the manual settings you can be much more creative though.

paddylonglegs

Esioul,I know what you mean,I enjoy getting good shots at gigs but its a waste of time with a 3x zoom.Got these pictures the other night using a 3 year old compact-ish olympus with 10x zoom.They were taken in the Ambassador about half way back.

There are a few compact cameras out there with 10x zoom now,notably the nikon s10(am planning on getting one of these but haven't researched them ropely yet).Look for cameras with high ISO,this controls the amount of natural light allowed in before you have to use the flash and will alos reduce camera shake.

Shots at a gig without a flash look great when pulled off properly.

paddylonglegs

D'oh, Forgot to attach