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Where to start?

inkjunkie
Enthusiast

Have been a casual, perhaps hobbyist, shutterbug for a long time. Never put much effort into learning much of anything beyond full auto point and shoot. Been messing around with some of the manual settings...and having a lot more fun. Decided I wanted to buy editing software. Contacted Corel, was told that After Shot Pro 3 was compatible with my T7I...it wasn't.  Bought Lightroom. Just as in the past I feel very overwhelmed....biting off more than I can chew. 

Unlike the past I am not going to pack the camera away and forget about it. Looking for advice on educating myself. Right from the beginning...say a photography for dummies type of thing lol...

Ok...perhaps not THAT entry level. 

Any suggestions?

20 REPLIES 20


@inkjunkie wrote:

Have been a casual, perhaps hobbyist, shutterbug for a long time. Never put much effort into learning much of anything beyond full auto point and shoot. Been messing around with some of the manual settings...and having a lot more fun. Decided I wanted to buy editing software. Contacted Corel, was told that After Shot Pro 3 was compatible with my T7I...it wasn't.  Bought Lightroom. Just as in the past I feel very overwhelmed....biting off more than I can chew. 

Unlike the past I am not going to pack the camera away and forget about it. Looking for advice on educating myself. Right from the beginning...say a photography for dummies type of thing lol...

Ok...perhaps not THAT entry level. 

Any suggestions?


Canon's editor, Digital PHoto Professional, came with your camera. It you've misplaced the CD, you can download it from their Web site. If you have a 64-bit processor, start with Version 4. You may be asked for your camera's serial number, so have it handy.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

Where to begin?  Always save your shots as RAW, which is the digital equivalent of a film negative.  Saving your shots as JPEG files would be equivalent to shooting with an old Polaroid Instantamatic, which would eject a print after every shot, and no film negative would be created..

 

Using Canon’s DPP is a pretty good introduction to digital post processing.  Lightroom can be overwhelming for some who are just starting out.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

Few years back, right around the time I was looking to move up from one of the first, if not the first Digital Rebel I was talking with someone on a car site I am friends with. We live about 2 hours from each other, we would occasionally meet for lunch. He had several 40D bodies. Ended up not buying one from him, but did buy a 40D. This "know it all" was trying to walk me thru the basics of manual shooting. His claim was that there was no reason to shoot in RAW format because editing is a pain in the butt and that "nobody can process a picture better than the camera." I mentioned that it was fairly common for me to shoot over/under exposed images....that editing, as I understood things, was a necessary evil when shooting in any of the manual modes. We had a very heated discussion...haven't spoke with him since. 

I have been messing around with Lightroom some...pretty sure I will be able to figure it out.

OK now the facts.

Lightroom is better than DPP4.  You will end up with LR if you are serious about your shutterbug hobby anyway so why not just start there?

Contrary to your 'lunch friend', all the great photos you admire are post edited.  Got that, all of them.  Not absolutely mandatory but most of them were shot in Raw format, too.

 

Youtube is simply a crutch.  The best way is to learn face to face from somebody.  Not that it can't be done, it is faster and you get more out of it quicker.  Whether it is in a club or a community college, friend, etc, face to face is best.  Next is an on-line course.  My favorite is Ben Wilmore's course. Google him.   Well worth the price.

 

Next you need to forget the green square full auto mode exists.  Put a small piece of black tape over it !  If you require a more auto mode for some reason, use P mode.  It allows you lock down some critical settings.

 

Two setting choices that are your biggest friends are Tv and Av.  Learn them.

 

And, what lenses do you have.  You may need to evaluate that area too.  A Rebel T7i is a great camera and can take you far.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

Face to face classes are tough for me, I am disabled, bipolar mixed severe with psychotic tendencies...least bit of stress and I black out and become violent.
Right now I only have the lens that came with the camera, EDS 18-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS STM. ONLY other ones were kit lenses from my other purchases. The 100-300 I have is done for...pictures are very hazy.. have 3 short lenses as well...they are packed away with the 40D in the garage.
I am planning on buying the 100-400 L lens here soon. Owner of the local drag strip has asked me to take pictures next year. Realize this lens is a bit much but being disabled my pockets aren't as deep as they once were. Is either going to be for 100-400 or the 28-300F/3.5-5.6L IS I AM, which based upon my very limited knowledge seems like it may be very close to being the only lens I need.
I will look into Ben Wilmore.
Any input on my lenses choice would be greatly appreciated. Will be shooting at the drag strip, visiting some botanical gardens and taking shots of my dogs, landscaping etc.
Thank you for your time...

Should have stated that I am trying to avoid buying several lenses, don't see the point of buying a less expensive zoom lenses only to move up to the better lenses when my skill improves...if that makes sense..,


@inkjunkie wrote:

Should have stated that I am trying to avoid buying several lenses, don't see the point of buying a less expensive zoom lenses only to move up to the better lenses when my skill improves...if that makes sense..,


It does, but remember that lenses are being constantly improved, so there's a case to be made for not buying a particular lens until you're sure you need it. And as your skills improve, you'll be better able to assess what you need and more confident of your judgement. When we advise you, we're seeing your situation through our eyes and based on our own experiences. There will come a time when your judgement of your requirements is better than ours.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA


@inkjunkie wrote:

Should have stated that I am trying to avoid buying several lenses, don't see the point of buying a less expensive zoom lenses only to move up to the better lenses when my skill improves...if that makes sense..,


Part of the point of having a "removeable lens" camera is that there is no single "best" lens... one lens might be better for a certain job than other.

 

Changes lenses changes a few things...

 

First and foremost is the "angle of view" and how this influences a photo.  A newbie assumption is that a zoom lens will let you stand in one spot ... and then zoom-in to "get closer" and zoom-out to "get farther".  

 

A serious photographer usually wont do this (there are several noteable exceptions).  If they want to get closer, they actually walk closer (assuming they can - sometimes you are constrained as to where you can stand -- but if they have control over where they stand... they stand where they need to stand and don't use the lens as an excuse to avoid exercise.)

 

So the REAL point of the zoom is to change the angle of view.  When you go a short focal length lens (wide angle of view), it has the effect of "stretching" the depth of the scene (distant objects seem even more distant) but proportional to the distance form the lens.  So close things still seem close, but far things seem much much farther away.  Realty photography uses this to make room interiors seem bigger.  Car photographers use this to make car interiors seem roomier or if I take a shot down the side of the car, the car seems longer, etc.    Narrow angle of view (long focal lengths) have the opposite effect and they "compress" the image.  

 

But another side effect of focal length is that it is one of three major factors which influence the "depth of field" (how much of the image seems to be in focus vs. out of focus).  

 

I mentioned some noteable exceptions to moving closer/farther instead of zooming... sometimes even if you can get closer, it's not a good idea.  If you're shooting wildlife, getting close may scare them away (or put you in danger depending on the wildlife.)

 

So if I'm taking a portrait shot... I could get really really close to my subject with a very wide angle lens... OR I could get much farther away with a narrow angle lens.  Overall I can position the camera so I frame about the same amount of subject in the shot (by standing closer or farther) but in the case of a portrait, the shots will tend to look better (a lot better) if I stand farther back and use a longer lens then they will if I stand very close and use a short/wide lens.  In other words you'll start to envisiion what you want the shot to look like and then select the lens that can achieve the results you want.

 

One other thing... "low" focal ratio lenses collect more light relative to their focal length.  That means they can take shots in less light, using a lower ISO setting (less noise) or use a faster shutter speed.   The focal ratio also influence the depth of field ... so you can generate more background blur (which can help make your subject stand out) ... generally if you can afford the lower focal ratio lenses, they offer many advantages.

 

A 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens is a much better than say a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens (even though you might be thinking "hey... what about that extra 100mm worth of zoom range?" -- but overal quality of the images from the f/2.8 lens will almost certainly provide vastly more usefulness than the extra zoom range. 

 

The shot in my post above (taken during a civil war re-enactment event) was shot using a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens AT f/2.8 and 200mm.  If you had a 70-300mm lens and tried to frame this at the same 200mm focal length, you'd have to shoot it at f/5.6 (two stops slower and you'd lose the shallow depth of field) ... this would result in a loss of blur in both the background and the foreground (both of which I really wanted for this shot).  In other words, I wouldn't have been able to make this shot with the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens ... it's not just about the focal length range... it's also about the focal ratio.

 

If I owed a T7i and I wanted to own just two lenses ... but could have any two I wanted (regardless of price) I'd pick:

 

#1 the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

#2 the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

 

I might select other lenses ... depending on a special need or type of photography (for example, neither of these are macro lenses).

 

Your T7i probably came with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens.  That's a good lens... but keep in mind it's primarily designed for affordability (to keep the entry price of buying the camera with a general purpose lens to a reasonable price tag.)  That lens doesn't have a particualr low focal ratio lens.

 

Low focal ratio lenses (parituclarly in zooms) cost more for several reasons.

 

The "focal ratio" is the ratio of lens' effective focal length compared to the diameter of it's effective aperture opening (at max aperture).  So if a lens has a focal length of 100mm but it's maximum effective clear aperture opening size (the area through which the light can pass) is 25mm then that lens is an "f/4" lens because 100 ÷ 25 = 4.    If that lens had a significantly bigger diameter but wasn't actually any longer ... so now suppose it's effective clear aperture is 50mm across, then 100 ÷ 50 = 2 so that would be an "f/2" lens (notice how the lower the focal ratio... the bigger the area is through which the light can pass.

 

But while getting more light is generally better... it complicates things for the optical system.  A single object lens element has a convex shape (thick in the middle and thin on the edges) and that area at the edge acts like a prism ... so now "white" light is split into a rainbow spectrum (very bad for quality photos).  This is property of the lens and it's "glass" called "dispersion" and it creates an effect we call "chromatic aberration" or "CA" for short.  

 

To combat this CA problem, the lens makers add extra lens elemements which are typically concave on the front side but nearly flat on the back side, etc.

 

Anyway, a smaller lens doesn't have a strong of a curve so the extent of the CA problem (and how much is needed to correct for it) is less.

 

The bigger lenses (where traditional optical glass dispersion would be too great) might use an exoctic "glass" such as florite crystal.  Florite crystal is found in nature and it has naturally low dispersion (so it's a better "glass") but not in big enough or pure enough pieces to make lenses.  But fortunately crystals can be "grown" in a kiln.  Unfortunately if you try to grow them too quickly, it'll create lots of optical flaws which make them worthless... so they have to be grown very slowly.  This process can take months to produce a single batch which is suitable in quality to grind into lenses.

 

So basically as you get to these lower focal ratio lenses, the lens diameter is physically larger, the glass elements are all bigger, thicker, and heavier, they also have to do more to correct for optical issues, and they may have to use exoctic elements to make the "glass" using very expensive processes that cannot be rushed.  And of course since it costs a lot more... fewer people can afford them (which reduces the economy of scale).

 

So when you look at high quality low focal ratio lenses... just be prepared for the sticker shock when you check the price tag.  They're not being greedy... it really is more expensive (a lot more expensive) to make those lenses.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

Pretty sure I know the answer but going to ask anyway...why the f/2.8 version of the 70-200mm? Simply that much faster than f/4 version? 

 

Have started my online training. Have realized that I have been looking at several things from the wrong perspective. In short I have realized that I need to remove my cranium from my rectum and take a few breaths.  

Have a ton of questions about my particular camera, but I want to see if I can figure them out simply by learning more about things in general. 

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