All the gear ... no clue!

Owen

New initiate to Photography, and I have my 350d for about a year. I travel a lot with work, and out of work, so I love to document the trips. So here's the story so far, I've a 350d, Battery Grip, 2 Batteries, 4 Gig Card (Bought today in the excellent Barker Photographic, Cork for 126 Euro), 420EX Hotshoe Flash, Omnibounce for the Flash also bought in Barkers, Canon 18-55, Canon 90-300, and Sigma 10-20 - lens hoods for the lot, and a nice Tripod & Bag.

And I've no clue really what I'm doing. I've taken some spectacular photos from Central Park, and the PhiPhi islands in Thailand, but to be honest, it's very hit and miss, so I'm considering doing a photo course, specifically, the one in the Cork College of Commerce in January. It's 150 Euro, 10 weeks duration, and apart from the post-processing stuff which I'm fine at, it should teach me about Apetures, F-stops, Exposure times, etc.

Does anyone have an opinion on this course, or recommendations for another? Before you all suggest reading online primers, books, etc, I've bugger all time for that I'm afraid. I lay the blame for all this gear firmly at Rymus' feet btw, the photos on his blog are an inspiration to open the wallet.

rymus

for the record... I'd like to state that I'm in no way to blame for others equipment lust.

Seems cheap for a 4gb card, what kind is it? Only say because Im getting a couple of 4gb Sandisk Extreme 3's from B&H for $140 each in a couple of weeks time.

I know you've already said you have'nt got any time for a book, but take your busy ass onto amazon and buy a copy of understanding exposure. You can go through it slowly, it really is an invaluable piece of literature.

No opinion or experience with the college of comm course but at 150 quid you cant really lose. Well, you cant really lose anything else except the 150 quid you put into it... Some courses are horribly beginner, teaching people what a lens is, why the camera has a power switch etc... Get a contact for the tutor and have a natter maybe?

Owen

Integral iPro is the brand of the Memory Card Ryan, it's 100x speed, and a 5 year warranty. The poor 350d doesn't know what to make of it though, it's just showing 999 photos at full res.

B0rG

Since I'm gonna be back to motherland on Friday we may as well start now...

There is a general [mis]conception in some of the boardies minds that by learning the technique of photography you'd only be copykatting somebody elses work, and as a result not being creative. And suddenly I was thinking if there are so many of them, may be they could be right? Hmm... Why do you really need learning? Be creative and all... All that apperture, exposure, iso etc, etc, etc...

However by leaving composition aside, you're on the right track.

Biro

4GB card is fairly overkill! Still, you'll not want for space now.
You should seriously invest in a book, or at least google definitions on aperature etc, very worth while. Plus you'll have a reference guide for the future. Also talk to the person giving the course, as I've heard complaints from people who do a course in photography and felt it was too beginner for them.
How come you spent all that money on kit and haven't really done anything about it for so long?

Owen

Well, you try fitting in all my hobbies :-)

mikeanywhere

Biro wrote:

4GB card is fairly overkill!

My 6GB doesnt seem to think so. It was great not worrying about whether you have enough space on the card when out taking pics. I took over 600 pics when I went to Prague, all in RAW, so it defo works in your favour.

rymus

and can you then imagine if that 6gb card died. *shudder*

Worse than any horror film tbh.

Valentia

I think you are better with a rake of 2Gb cards, Then the loss, which will inevitably come, wont be so painful.

mikeanywhere

Fair point but I do have spare's just in case and I also back up the images when I get back to the hotel etc so not too worried

Fenster

Give it to me -_-

evilhomer

Valentia wrote:

I think you are better with a rake of 2Gb cards, Then the loss, which will inevitably come, wont be so painful.

Funny that this time last year everyone was saying the same, except with 1gb cards

Oh, how times they are a changing.

I'm sticking with 1gb cards! I couldn't handle the loss

eas

I'm curious what you guys do to your CF cards that makes you think you have to worry about them in the 1st place. I've had cards go through the washing machine in my jeans poket and come out the other end working fine (after a day or two of drying out)

seriosly - I've never heard anyone have a CF card crash/break/self distruct whatever. Maybe I'm talking to the wrong people...?

Can anyone let us know if there really is something to worry about?

evilhomer

I would be more worried about losing/having one stolen. i.e. losing 100 photos as opposed to 600 :eek:


Not too worried about solid state memory crapping out, it's been around too long now.

Calina

I've lost one of my cards already. According to me it should be in my camera bag and it just isn't. It could be in the house or it could be lost on a beach somewhere. Either way it's gone.

I've a couple of half gig cards and a 1 gig (left, I mean). I shoot mainly jpeg. The only reason I could see myself going up to a 6gig card is if I wanted to switch to shooting RAW but still needed to shoot the same number of photographs. I get around 145 shots on the half gig card in jpg at the moment. Given I can, and do occasionally take 600 photographs in four hours, that's a lot of storage if you're shooting RAW.

On the other hand, don't have the capacity on my laptop for all that at the moment.

Roen

I've had memory go through the wash in my trousers twice now. And I mean the one stick twice, not two different ones. All files and folders intact!
That said they do corrupt from time to time according to reports on the net.

rymus

Roen wrote:

I've had memory go through the wash in my trousers twice now. And I mean the one stick twice, not two different ones. All files and folders intact!

Same here... cheap memory cards they were at that. Was a bit worried about how my current bog standard 1gb cards would hold up to my impending holiday where I'm going to be living in -30 degrees for 3 weeks. They may not mind being sparkly clean coming out of the washing machine but they might just complain about being frozen and thawed out 10+ times a day.

Calina

I thought the Sandisk Extreme ultra ones were supposed to be able to tolerate that? Must check.

rymus

yeah.. thats why I decided to get a couple of them. Sucummb to marketing hype and all that (cant really go wrong for €110 a card either)

Calina

For the four gig one?

rymus

yup... even less if I could avail of the $40 rebate

Calina

I was looking them on techikdirekt as they were (significantly) less expensive than they are here. I want to acquire a couple more for myself (albeit the 1gig variety rather than the 4gig).

real_484

a few threads mentioned shop4memory, got a 4 gig a few months ago from them no problems, based in Ireland

http://www.shop4memory.com/products/compactflash-card.asp

Owen

Getting the thread back OT, I'm signed up for the Photography Introduction Course starting this Thursday in the Cork College of Commerce. 100 Squid, and specifically states that attendees must have an SLR, so it should hopefully teach me the basics and I will be able to converse fluently in f stops, apetures, and isos!

I'll let you know how it's all going.

m_stan

real_484 wrote:

a few threads mentioned shop4memory, got a 4 gig a few months ago from them no problems, based in Ireland

http://www.shop4memory.com/products/compactflash-card.asp

second that. I got a 4gig Transcend 120x CF card for around 96 a few months back. I see they are only 77 now !!!

They have several domain names. Here is another - www.memory-configurator.com

Based in Celbridge. I buy all my memory from them. Great service, great prices, everytime. Can't speak highly enough of them.

Buy Irish !

Peteee

I got my 2GB TwinMos 140x card off komplett.ie for €37

http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.asp?bn=10234

CF cards are generally pretty indestructable, and if it becomes corrupted it can generally be recovered using specialised software.

Roen

ned78 wrote:

Getting the thread back OT, I'm signed up for the Photography Introduction Course starting this Thursday in the Cork College of Commerce. 100 Squid, and specifically states that attendees must have an SLR, so it should hopefully teach me the basics and I will be able to converse fluently in f stops, apetures, and isos!

I'll let you know how it's all going.

Best of luck!

rymus

ned, give me a shout some time youre around and we'll go out and take a few shots. There's a shortage of boards folks in Cork to go out shooting with.

Owen

rymus wrote:

ned, give me a shout some time youre around and we'll go out and take a few shots. There's a shortage of boards folks in Cork to go out shooting with.

That's an exceptionally generous offer! And I'll definitely take you up on it, but not until I'm finished this course. I'm a technically literate person, and not knowing how to use this Camera is frustrating as fcuk, and I refuse to speak to anyone on an intellecual level until it's mysteries are unwrapped. I don't mind being a novice, but being an uneducated novice is a whole other thing

Thanks mate!

rymus

ned78 wrote:

I refuse to speak to anyone on an intellecual level until it's mysteries are unwrapped.

Not really an issue with me

mathias

Hello Ned ,

As a back up reference for your course try this site ,you could almost call them notes , it has short concise explanations of every topic , take it one link at a time and and it shouldnt eat into your spare time too much.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

I know it helped me out a lot.

Good luck

Owen

Thanks Matthias! College of Comm text me tonight to say the course is postponed 1 week, I hope it's not due to lack of numbers ...

Owen

Quick question boyos, I'm doing a photo shoot today with Peter Stringer, the Rubgy Player, it's indoors, flourescent light, and lots of reflective surfaces, cars, glass, chrome, etc. I'm using a Sigma 10-20 with a Hama Polaroising Filer (That I'm still playing with), what are your recommendations for ISO, etc?

PaulieC

I'd recommend not lying down on the ground in case he stamps on you...

rymus

iso low, shoot raw. dont get too close with that lens or you'll end up with less than flattering portraits.

Owen

Started 'Photography - Introduction' last night in the Cork College of Commerce. It was just an introduction night, and the course is being given by one of Denis McSweeney's Staff.

First off, he had the course confused with another course at the college, and turned up with a 200 Euro 4MP Camera to demo, and told us we'd be doing how to email photos, how to remove red eye, how to print. Once we set him straight that this was to be an SLR course, he still seemed to be winging it, he didn't even have a pen to take names, or a marker to draw on the white board. I hope it's just intro night jitters - he does have good technical knowledge, and an obvious passion for Photography. In fact, I'm nearly certain it will be worth the money.

One bonus? I'm one of about 3 guys, in a class of 20 girls

Roen

ned78 wrote:

Started 'Photography - Introduction' last night in the Cork College of Commerce. It was just an introduction night, and the course is being given by one of Denis McSweeney's Staff.

First off, he had the course confused with another course at the college, and turned up with a 200 Euro 4MP Camera to demo, and told us we'd be doing how to email photos, how to remove red eye, how to print. Once we set him straight that this was to be an SLR course, he still seemed to be winging it, he didn't even have a pen to take names, or a marker to draw on the white board. I hope it's just intro night jitters - he does have good technical knowledge, and an obvious passion for Photography. In fact, I'm nearly certain it will be worth the money.

One bonus? I'm one of about 3 guys, in a class of 20 girls

I'm on the way, sign me up!

Owen

So, I get chatting to one of the few lads in our class, and it turns out he's a boarsie. Hello Pat!

jaqian

ned78 wrote:

Getting the thread back OT, I'm signed up for the Photography Introduction Course starting this Thursday in the Cork College of Commerce. 100 Squid, and specifically states that attendees must have an SLR, so it should hopefully teach me the basics and I will be able to converse fluently in f stops, apetures, and isos!

I'll let you know how it's all going.

Anyone know of something similar in Dublin?

Owen

Just in case anyone is interested in doing the Cork course the next time around, I'll put in what's covered each week. Last night was the various modes in the Camera, how to adjust Apeture and Shutter Speed, and how to use metering. Easy when you know how!

househunter

I'm doing one in Dublin Camera Club on Camden St at the moment and its the same price and a 10 week course too. Sounds similar. Just started a couple of weeks ago. There'll be another one starting in September I think
http://www.dublincameraclub.ie/the_club.jsp

Owen

So the course is going well enough, we did a Field Trip, the results of which are in my newly acquired Flickr. We're going to Denis MacSweeney's Photo Shop tonight to play with all the equipment, and see first hand how quick a lens can be, play with filters, etc.

rymus

wear something with big pockets

Owen

Well, the trip was good, but the Shop wasn't really stock and that's because ... wait for it ... Dennis MacSweeney's are opening a new shop, on the opposite corner of the same street with more space, they're keeping the existing one too. So that was good news!

deRanged

ned78 wrote:

Dennis MacSweeney's are opening a new shop, !

that'll be handy, the existing one is a bit cramped. I nearly lamped someone when I was checking out a tripod.

rymus

you've got to be joking me.. With any tiny iota of luck, this wonderful new shop will be better stocked than their current one. Finding a well stocked camera shop in Cork is bloody impossible. It's either "ehh, we dont have that in stock, come back in 4 weeks" or "eh, what's that?".

I've always maintained that buying from hong kong is not only cheaper, it's quicker and easier than trudging around a few frustratingly badly stocked local shops. Bah, apox on the new shop and it's bells & whistles.