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Bought Sony A500 DSLR (body only) for 479 USD through Ebay US. Delivery at my friend's place in US who will bring it here by 7th Dec. Paid through Paypal and used the exchange rate of paypal and my CC was charged Rs.22,330. To begin with I will be using the 28-80 Minolta maxxum lens available with my Minolta SLR.

Why I chose this camera

I was looking for entry level DSLR with a budget of around 20 - 22K either in India or in US. The only options seemed to be Canon 1000D or Nikon D3000 but I was not very comfortable in going with a very basic model . Found that Pentax K-x series was available at slightly stretched budget and was contemplating to buy it. Incidentally found that Minolta maxxum series lens are compatible with Sony DSLRs. I have a Minolta maxxum SLR with 28-80 lens and thought of using the lens to begin with and go for a slightly higher level Sony body.

Read some good reviews about Sony A500 and was available thro Ebay at 479 USD. The promised freebees are 16GB HS memory card, Memory card USB reader, table top tripod, small carry case, LCD protector,cleaning kit, UV filter, battery pack (is it an extra battery ?), neck strap and sample pack of photo paper.

A500 has rich features and is comparable to Nikon D5000 or Canon 450D but has no video. In addition to regular Sony lenses, plenty of used Minolta lenses of various types are available on line at very good prices. Planning to pick up a tele zoom after a month or two.

Will update after receiving the camera

I believe it should be ok to post a couple of pics in this thread to show off the quality of your new lens/camera.

Thanks PM :)

Just downloaded LR3 and this seems to be quite good. Need the licence code once the trial version ends in 30 days so that I can keep using it :D

BTW any suggestions for Panorama Builder ?

Cheers

Microsoft Image Composite Editor is excellent for panorama building. I am not sure if its free with Windows 7.

I remember seeing your post in this forum.Have you bought yours?

I got it for 32500 from spencers if you need shop name i will PM you

Used Hugin to stitch 2 pictures. Expert comments please and also dos and dont's for Panorama

Hi buddy, I am not an expert, just started experimenting on Panos. Here is what I could tip from whatever I have understood so far;

Set the camera on manual exposure. You don't want variations in exposure that will create each frame in different brightness/contrast. Next, shoot vertical frames and overlap each frame atleast 30 percent from the previous frame. Also, keep the horizon as level guideline. If the shot doesn't include sky, keep something else as a reference point to keep the level part.

I have tried 3 to 20 images stitched so far in PS CS4. It was tough to do the 20 images editing and stitching, so I divided the lower and higher portions and did the stitching in 3 parts. Hope it helps :thumbs up

Does anybody have clue on whether there are any training courses held for DSLR photography in chennai?

There is one called ambitions but they charge a hefty 9500k plus taxes.they have a tieup with canon and if you buy a canon ,thru edge programme you get a free coupon with which you can learn basics.but to me it looks like more of a marketing tie up between ambitions and canon.

Ambitions 4 Photography Academy: Photography institute,Photography services,Photography training,Professional photography training

Hi chaps,

I need to know expert opinion on which camera to buy. I need to decide between 3 cameras: Nikon D90; Pentax K7 and Pentax K-r

All the specs seem about the same. My main purpose will be action photography. I attend few F1 races a year. So will the Pentax's 6fps be a better option than the Nikon's 4.7?

Also, i own some old Nikkor lenses that i used on my ancient Nikon SLR cam. Is it worth forgoing the Pentax's for the Nikon's compatibility?

Waiting for opinions.

For fast action photography, you need fast AF. There is no use having fast frame rate if the lense focus cannot keep up. Please go through the reviews of the respective cameras to find out which one is best for fast action.

Regarding you Nikon lenses. If they are pre AF vintage, then they will not be of much use for action, until and unless you can anticipate and focus fast manually. Nikon after sales service network is better than that of Pentax (no official channel in India), so if you get a Pentax, please ensure that the service can be carried out where you are based.

Some relevant articles
A short guide to taking Formula 1 photos | Forumula1.net | F1 News | Formula 1 Forums | Formula One Discussion
Nikon D90 vs Pentax K7

Hey folks,

I'm going to be picking up the Nikon D3100 over the weekend, just the body.

I've decided to go either with the Sigma or Tamron 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 lenses as an all purpose 'zoom' lens for everyday use. I am a casual photographer and foresee laziness in swapping around lenses and carrying equipment around. withstupid

Now, these lenses cost between 13-18k as per their prices on ebay.in. The Nikkor version of a similar lens (F/3.5-5.6G) costs approx 35 grand which is way outside my budget!!

I've watched the videos/sample pics of both the tamron/sigma 18-200 spec lenses on youtube/other sources, but was wondering if someone here can give me a user feedback on them? What i really cannot understand is the difference in prices between these lenses and the Nikkor (minus the better aperture on the nikkor).

Will either of these 2 lenses perform better than the Nikkor (hoping they do, at least on a couple of specs)? Or am i going to be compromising on the quality of my images 'bigtime' by not going with a nikkor spec lens?

EDIT: Including prices for all the lenses:

Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM Lens with 1 Warranty - 18,849/-
Tamron Zoom Super Wide Angle 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 (No IS) - 13,475/-
NIKON AF -S DX 18-200MM F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II NIKKOR LENS - 35,000/-

Cheers!
Ramki

Fast AF may not be the top criteria for F1 compared to other sports. In F1, usually you are behind a fence and often the AF latches on to the fence/mesh and not the car, thereby ruining the shot for you. So you typically focus manually at a spot and wait for the car to enter your frame before clicking or focus to infinity and shoot.

PS: I didn't go through the link you gave, just ranting from my experience.

The cheaper option will be to go with a kit lens (18-55) and go for a tele zoom which may cost you around 10-12K. You won't need such expensive lenses if you are casual photographer

Hi can someone help me?

Please let know any info on it

First and foremost, do get the Kit lens. Its a VR lens and will be useful. You cannot compare the Tammy without Optical Stabilisation while the others are.

Actually all a casual photographer needs is a camcorder and P&S. He/ She doesn't need a DSLR ;)

But if you still need a DSLR, then get a Sigma 70-300mm Lens along with body and kit lens . Don't go for Tamaron 70-300mm as its AF is not so good in low light conditions. And a Sigma 70-300 with macro can cost anywhere between 7.5 - 10.5 k depending upon non APO / APO. So everything will fall in the budget of a casual photographer :D


@joshguy: No use attending these photography courses till you are yourself at a decent level. What level would you call yourself at Rookie / Amateur / Professional (smirk for the lack of smiley)