Well I take that back now, slightly. I see my lens is actually a 70-300mm. I still think 55mm isn't quite wide enough for general purpose shooting. However you might be able to get away with it... but there is a reason, and it's a good one, that general purpose lenses are generally from 25-80mm.

I suppose it would depend on your shooting habits.

I don't know, but DSLR is quite an investment, so it will be wise to do some reading before any kind of purchase.

The main investment is lenses. But I suspect Neal is looking for a good general purpose set-up (hence all my talk about a good general purpose lens). You also have to face the fact that you probably will never have a zoom that zoom's as much as a $200 digital camera.

But if you get hooked, you will end up paying more for a lens then you did your camera.... several times...

Well I take that back now, slightly. I see my lens is actually a 70-300mm. I still think 55mm isn't quite wide enough for general purpose shooting. However you might be able to get away with it... but there is a reason, and it's a good one, that general purpose lenses are generally from 25-80mm.

I suppose it would depend on your shooting habits.

So an 18-55mm is good to have for general use and 55-200mm would be good for some zoom quality?

Edited June 13, 201213 yr by lithium

i just bought a dell optiplex 745

Intel Pentium D 3.0 GHz (Dual Core!)

2.0 GB RAM

80 GB Hard Drive

CDRW/DVD Combo Drive (DVD/CD

10/100/1000 Ethernet Port

• DVI Port Integrated
  
• 7 USB 2.0 Ports
  
• Audio In/Out
  
• Microphone In
  

with the restore disk mouse and keyboard for 71 bucks.... decent?

Opps, I was looking at a ffp version vortex on their site, but looking at the regular version at swfa. Now I notice the extra price difference.

Lol

Yeah.... I was wondering how you got that price jump. If you join snipers hide, and call the guy who runs the sight he may hook you up with a deal. It may not work, but its worth a try.

Yeah I'll check out the membership, perhaps Mel will cut me a deal. Good idea.

If not, I'm getting the viper pst 4-16x50 mrad. I went to the local shop today, all they had was the regular viper, but it was still very nice.

If nothing else, it will look legit:

Terrible vignetting

Sean Here's a new ad for a 900.4

http://www.diymobile...pi-900-4-a.html

Thanks J, my timing is teh suck

Ok after my son's graduation I have been thinking of getting an SLR cammea after looking at other pictures. I really like the Sony Alpha series. I am looking at the a57 or the a65. If anybody has experience with either, let me know what you think about it.

Personally unless you have a collection of KMG glass I'd look at Nikon or Canon.

This would be the lens I would buy with it.

http://store.sony.co...552921665927767

That lens will not make you happy. Terrible range for normal shooting and the f stop is *puke*

What are you shooting Neal?

Generally speaking the more zoom the worse the lens. I have a prime 50mm (no zoom at all) and while its a killer lens its hard to put it on as the 50mm is not wide enough for indoor shots regularly.

I'll reiterate my comment from above. If you aren't going to sort through and find old gems for lenses that Minolta sold I would run from the Sony. The body is the easy part to make. Lenses not. Also consider the body more um disposable and the lenses as something you'll have forever. Buy good quality glass and never replace it.

If I were buying a Canon, I'd buy a used body and a used zoom for a first lens. This one would be a good start:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/586286-GREY/Canon_0344B002AA_EF_24_105mm_f_4L_IS.html

Used it should be $600-700 and you will find it as photographers will graduate to ones with less zoom. That range will cover nearly all your shooting and hold it's value for 10 years.

A used 50d or the like paired with it would allow you to do nearly anything.

For Matt:

As a reference, that is >2lbs of fish. Not exactly cut like they do at sushi restaurants

Although if you look closer at the scallops you will tell that this was done on purpose and not because I couldn't make it thinner.

General shooting, don't intend on shooting long distances. What about sony a65 do you not like? If I spend over 1k I would buy nikon.

General shooting, don't intend on shooting long distances. What about sony a65 do you not like? If I spend over 1k I would buy nikon.

If you spend under $1k you should get more of a point and shoot or something with an integrated lens. Real glass starts around $800, before that going to an SLR isn't of so much benefit now that the trickle down has put the category of cameras that fit right in between.

I hate the Sony interface, the available lenses, their propensity to use proprietary things, the ergonomics, where the settings are, etc. Pretty much a dumper of an SLR IMO. Sure it can take pictures just fine, but if you remember Stefan getting shit about picking a rifle first and budgeting more for it than the scope, then you should be able to predict this conversation For camera's glass is even more important than a gun/scope. I'd seriously rather have an 8 year old SLR with a great lens than to swap the budgets. And the pictures will be better too. Megapixels are a useless number on camera's as none of the lenses you are looking at can resolve beyond 8MP pretty much anyways. Add to that how they will fall apart in low light and you'd be better off with an integrated solution.

If nothing else, it will look legit:

Terrible vignetting

Lend me $500, or stfu.

Oh and that's shot with a camera held up to it, so I wouldn't consider it a good test. I actually checked out the lower model from Vortex this morning, and it did not have any vignetting.

I don't know how the fuck they got the eggs to turn green in the pic, but the shit still looks good.

Eggs & Chorizo in bell peppers.

I just noticed some asshole here has over 50k posts. WTF.

I'm surprised your not charged for all the bandwidth you take up.

Ok then what would you recomnd based on what you like ero, features, etc? Would a nikon d7000 or a canon 60d be a better choice?

<- Hates palo verde trees. Cut a bunch of tree limbs today, grabbed one, fucking 1" long thorn right into my thumb.

If nothing else, it will look legit:

Terrible vignetting

Lend me $500, or stfu.

Oh and that's shot with a camera held up to it, so I wouldn't consider it a good test. I actually checked out the lower model from Vortex this morning, and it did not have any vignetting.

But the corners are all black!

Ok then what would you recomnd based on what you like ero, features, etc? Would a nikon d7000 or a canon 60d be a better choice?

I recommend you shop for lenses.

What features on the Sony were making you think it was the choice for you?