Some advice please...

nesf

Could anyone recommend me some good books on photography? Digital photography in particular. Preferably intermediate or above. I know there are plenty of sites with good info on them, but I've a book fetish and would like to expand my library on this.

Also, I'm thinking about upgrading my present camera (Fuji Finepix S304) to something nicer. I like Fuji's and am looking at the S7000 but I've really no experience with "upper end" consumer cameras, so it's something I'd like to get a bit of advice on. Should I switch brand? How do Fuji cameras hold up at more expensive levels? Should I look at a Pentax or Nikkon instead?

Thanks in advance

JackKelly

I was in the same situation, so i just went to the library and took out a few. Read through one and it was rubbish, but the next one, im on at the moment is great.
You don't need to look for new books. Photography hasn't really changed, just the move from film to digi.
So most books cover all the aspects of photography you need to know. The one i'm reading is from 1990! Has all about Apeture Lighting Flash ISO speed etc etc.

I'm a big fan of Canon so i'd suggest that you give them a look. Have a varying range of DSLR's.

nesf

Cheers, am working in a library at the moment so might as well browse it


From the camera point of view, I'm happy enough with my present camera. I've had no problems with it, and it can do much of what I want.

My main reason for getting a new one (apart from being a slave to consumerism) is that I have an interest in optics (from physics) and want to play around with lenses on a camera. This isn't an option on a S304, it can only take conversion lenses and I would prefer a camera which isn't restricted by a built in lens. The S7000 does have a built in zoom lens but iirc it's a better camera to be tacking on conversion lenses to.

This would be my first foray into this side of photography, until now I've only used either fixed or built in zoom cameras. I've little to no experience with SLRs or digital SLRs. (I'm assuming here that I would need one if I wanted to have a broad selection of lenses and have the ability to play with them ) I'm looking at the digitals because it's far more convenient for me to use them (I've no experience with film development, and I'd prefer to not have to shell out for film).

Would people have any advice on this? Is there an option to a digital SLR that will allow me to have full control over lenses?

Streamload

I just got my first dSLR camera (Canon EOS 20D) and all I can say is that is a suberb machine. I don't really need a set of lenses. All I have is 18-55 (kit lens),70-200 and 50mm prime. They didn't cost me lots of money but they covers all the ranges I like to shoot. Pentax and Nikon is good too but you should think about Canon is well.

rymus

I suppose if you want to have a whole host of lenses available to you, Canon or Nikon is the way to go. Probably a Canon 350D (or second hand 300D) or a Nikon D50 (or second hand D100?). That way you can get all the wide angles, telephotos, macros, fisheyes and tilt/shifts you want.

As for books, I recently read a couple of Bryan Peterson's revised books; Learning to See Creatively and Understanding Exposure. Very good reads the both of them.

Enygma

I got a nice book there yesterday in Waterstones called "Masterclass in Photography"
It's written by a father and son and they analyze loads of each others photographs pointing out what might make it better or why a photograph works well. It's fairly informal and really well presented in hardback with thick glossy paper.
A nice coffee table book.