I got interested in photography about 9 months ago so bought a Canon S3is
as
it would give me a lot more control over the learning process than a P&S
camera. It's time for me to upgrade and I've been thinking along the lines
of going for either a Canon 400D as the cheap option from which I can
upgrade later on as bodies improve, or the 40D as a more long-term
investment. At the moment the 40D is looking very appealing as it has live
view, 14-bit processing with Digic III, and the bigger 3" TFT. However,
I'm
not sure that it will allow me to create very much better pictures than
the
400D (and yes, I know how much of that is down to me and not the camera).
Most of what I like to shoot has been in the full-sensor-SLR-equivalent of
100mm to 300mm, such as candid people shots, some wildlife, zoomed-in
closeup shots of flowers; i.e. mostly fairly narrow-angle shots (my Flickr
stream will give you an idea of the kind of thing I mean). So I'm thinking
that my main lens is likely to be Canon's 70-300mm IS USM lens. The kit
lens might also come in handy, but I've heard that the quality isn't that
good; however, while I don't do a lot in the way of landscape/architecture
WA shots, I would like a lens (preferably a zoom lens) to cover the wide
end.
Since I'm still very much a beginner, I'd be grateful for the advice of
those who've already made similar decisions. So my questions are:
1) Does the combination of D40 and 70-300mm lens seem like a good option,
given what I've said above?
2) What would be a good lens to go with it, say somewhere in the 28-70mm
range, that would be better than the kit lens that comes with the 400D or
the 40D?
3) Since the 450D isn't a very big improvement on the 400D, is it worth
waiting for it, or would you just go for the 40D instead?
4) I'm not that familiar with Nikon, Olympus, Sony or other major camera
manufacturers; is there an equivalent in a similar price range
(£800-£1,200) that might be worth considering?
I should add that photography is now my number 1 hobby and I'm not
intending
to go pro or sell anything; I just want to get better at it, so I want
better kit.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions you might offer.
--
Garry Knight
garryknight@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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