 Amanda McCullough |
Which camera and lens Hi, I'm currently looking to change to a more powerful camera and enter into children portraits but i'm really confused, which CAMERA AND LENS is the best please help, i'm currently using an olympus E-500 with a 14-45mm which I bought when I first took up photography AND I no it's completely wrong, this is a hobby but I would love it to turn into a part-time business so I really need the write camera CAN someone please help me :). I also enjoy taking pictures at weddings is there a different lens requirement or would the portrait lens work ok.
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Jon Close |
While it is 4 years old, I don't think the E-500 is the weak link. I think better lenses, professional lighting, and more powerful software for processing your images would pay greater dividends. IMHO, YMMV.
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Jeffrey R. Whitmoyer |
Jon's absolutely correct, there are more important things to invest in . The best glass you can afford and more knowledge (business and photographic)come to my mind first, then lighting and backgrounds. Even though the camera isn't brand spanking new it should be adequate for the task. Jeff
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Amanda McCullough |
Thanks for the feed back, i'm currently looking at lenses now for my camera, my only worry is my camera only takes 2.7 FPS and I have a 6 month old boy who like most children doesn't sit still for long and alot of the pictures are unusable is this just something I would have to learn to live with or would a good quality lens help my FPS I no the lens will predict my aperture but i'm not sure about the FPS. Oh and the business idea is years down the line I no I have a long why to go :) just want to start on the right foot. any response welcome :)
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Alan N. Marcus |
The E-500 is an 8 mega pixel digital. It normally comes fitted with a zoom lens 14mm ~ 45mm. Now the digital chip sensor for this camera is quite small as compared to what most would consider a professional grade camera. Small sensors tend to produce noise. Noise degrades a digital image especially under dim light conditions and noise limits enlargement size, noise is the digital equivalent of gain seen on film produced images. Don’t despair because noise will not be much of a problem for you while you are learning. And this camera, while obsolete by today’s standards, will still serve nicely as a training tool. The kit lens supplied centers on 20mm which is the setting, for this camera, that delivers a normal view. When the zoom is set below 20mm it functions as a wide-angle and when set above 20mm it magnifies and becomes a telephoto. For portraits you should try and work near the maximum of 45mm. This setting delivers the best perspective for portraiture however it requires that you step back, maybe too far for your work area. So use the most zoom your area can tolerate. You can get a 40mm ~ 150mm zoom made for this camera. However, likely you will not stick with this model so if money is tight, stick tight. The 2.5 FPS you are talking about is the maximum number of frames you can expose in one second. This value should be OK, likely you are thinking of taking lots more pictures in rapid succession, I am advising that such an approach is OK but not necessarily the best way to work. If you plan to enter into this field to earn some money, likely you have lots to learn. Consider investing in some studio lights. You best bet will be electronic flash. Seek advise on this web sight. Best of luck
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Lynn R. Powers |
If you plan on doing portraits I recommend a full frame camera. Not many to choose from at this point without it costing an arm and a leg. The Canon 5D/5DII or the Nikon D700 are more reasonable in price and are perfect for portraiture/ full length/fashion/and landscape photography. The lenses would be an 85mm and a 135mm. For general purpose outside I would recommend 70-200mm zoom. The biggest downfall of the Oly is the 4/3 sensor. It is half the size of a full frame, has smaller pixels, and is terrible IMO at an ISO over 400. But that is just my two cents worth.
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Amanda McCullough |
Thanks Lynn i'm so glad you explained the 4/3 sensor because I did notice my picture had terrible noise in them if taken with a higher iso, that has helped me I am currently saving for a new camera but will take a while :P think I like the nikon D700 thanks again for your comments
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Anthony L. Mancuso |
Hi Amanda, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, I was an amateur but decided to start my own portrait business despite my lack of professional equipment. I don't know much about Oly cameras, but I currently shoot with a Nikon D80, which has the smaller size sensor and shoots around 3 fps like yours. The only issue I really have, as some of the others have mentioned, is the noise factor at higher ISO. This has only come into play once since I started my business, when I did a party at night. Because of the low lighting conditions I had no choice but to use high ISO and I was not happy at all with the results. The rest of my portrait sessions have turned out fine with the D80, I have had clients order prints as large as 16x20 without any problems. I would also like to upgrade to the D700 but its not in the budget right now. I think having a higher grade lens takes priority over a body upgrade when you are starting out because the quality of the lens has a bigger impact on obtaining quality images. Most of the time I use a Nikkor 50mm f1.8. I know Canon makes a similar lens as well, but not sure about Olympus. Its great for portraits because the large aperture allows for blurring of the bg and faster shutter speeds. Its also quite sharp and very reasonably priced at around $120-150. When you do start doing portrait sessions, one other tip I can give you that you can implement now is to take LOTS and LOTS of images. When I do younger kids that won't sit still or look at the camera when I want I take around 500 or so images. Taking this many greatly increases the chances of getting quality shots, and it doesn't cost anything to do it. You can always weed through and delete the bad shots after the session....Good luck, hope this helps..
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