Me and My 550D

[imut]

Hello,

First of all there are some persons who helped me to choose this excellent DSLR at first hand, Jamie and Dustin, thank you so much guys.

550D is compared with 7D so i don't want to dive into comparisons at this thread. Maybe later but for this thread i opened a poll, please vote on it.

Here is my beginner equipment : (Please comment on what to buy and your pro advices of course)

• Canon EOS 550D
• Canon IS 18-55 mm + 55-250 mm kit lenses
• UV filters * 2 (Weifeng 58mm)
• Vanguard Shoulder Bag (weather proof)
• Rexpo Lens Cleaning Kit with cleaning cloth, fluid and brush.
• Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom + Digipod Ball Head ( 8kg capacity with second security lock)
• Pocket size 8*10 Gray Card 18% + white card + black card (they are all in one card also there is miniatur one for macros in the middle of 8*10 card) + Lens Cleaning Cloth which is 18% gray (TCAV always mentions this when the subject is gray card or white balance or exposure )

There are some sources for 550D for new comers like me, i want to share them with others.

Canon EOS 550D Digital Field Guide
Canon EOS 550D From Snapshots to Great Shots
Canon EOS 550D Guide to Digital SLR Photography
Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D For Dummies

And there are some others in this forum, Mark, TCAV, VTphotog, Tullio (even you bougth K-X ), mtngal, JimC, JohnG, thanks for your informative posts at my buying adventure, your posts really helped me.

[Ordo]

Good choice. Now you need a circular polarizer filter and some neutral density filters.

[peripatetic]

Erm, I haven't used an ND filter for a very long time...

Or a polarizer for that matter.

Do all that stuff in LR/PS now.

I think you're good to go. Now you just need to figure out what kind of photographs you want to take.

How about editing/management software?

I'm a bit of a Lightroom fan, but there are other good options too of course.

[Hards80]

Yea, getting a good image editing program would be helpful.

I am also a fan of lightroom, and it is reasonably priced. even more reasonably priced is Photoshop Elements that would do anything a beginner would need. I only have experience with Adobe image editing programs, so I cannot comment as much on the competitors.

[imut]

Good choice. Now you need a circular polarizer filter and some neutral density filters.

Thank you, i will look for them, they are noted.

I think you're good to go. Now you just need to figure out what kind of photographs you want to take.

There are winter games next year

Honestly this will vary, currently i am not a guy who could talk about to be a kind of photographer with passion. I believe this would be shaped in future. For now i will take every pictures i could with these equipments, firstly of my wedding (of course with Mark's fast course, i will ask him later)

How about editing/management software?

I think softwares are divided into three groups.

Pro : PS9
Mid-Level : Elements, Picasa, LR, Sagelight (owned the license)
Basic: IrfanView, XnView, FastStone Products

I got sagelight and irfanview, There are a lot of tutorials for LightRoom it also has noise reduction function afaik and it supports some noise reduction plugins like noise ninja etc, i can go with LR, that is all i know about LR for now.

I'm a bit of a Lightroom fan, but there are other good options too of course.

You shouldn't say like that because i would ask you tones of questions if i got LR
What others?

I only have experience with Adobe image editing programs, so I cannot comment as much on the competitors.

You have got a point because Adobe adapts itself to photography better than others, why should you need others except aperture for Mac?

Can i use those UV filters instead of lense hood? To protect them from dust etc.. do i need a hood really?

[Ordo]

You absolutely need a lens hood, which is not a lens cover. UV filter can protect the lens. A lens hood helps a lot to avoid alien reflections entering the lens.

[imut]

There are two kinds of them, flower kind and collapsable with three stages, which one of them you recommend? collapsable kind is rubber and i think i need an extra battery.

[Ordo]

Never used collapsible hoods. Can't help you there. An extra battery is always good to have.

[imut]

I made a little search, let me share them with you.

In canon, flower lens hoods isn't good. Because when zooming, lens head turns around and flower hood has short and long pieces, these pieces can change their positions and this can effect composition. If you have fixed lens or lens which doesn't turn around while operating flower hoods are good.

Collapsible hoods, as i said before it has 3 stages and this give you an advantage, at first stage or unfolded position you can use 18mm or wideangle shots, in second stage or two times unfolded you can use 55mm, at third stage you can use 200mm or more but you can't use third stage with 18mm because hood prevent lens wideangle capacity, also you can use this one with turning or fixed lenses.

So i decide to buy collapsible one.

Extra battery, i searched for that LP-E8, original canon batteries are really expensive and they are 1100 mAh, but there is another one which is also reliable and cheaper, it is phottix titan 1400 mAh which can give you ability to take more pictures.

There is a problem with my eyes or canon viewfinder, if i look at the focus point in viewfinder i can't see clearly the A, Shutter Speed etc... line which is at the bottom of screen.

[Ordo]

Let me tell you that you did a good and instructive search. Now, I have an Eos 7D and a 15-85mm. f/3.5-5.6 (which of course is more expensive) and, as you said, do not turn while zooming. So i'm using petals.
Batteries, batteries... we have a member in this forum: DonalDuc, that is a master in spear, cheap batteries. May be you can contact him.
Viewfinder: that's one of the reasons i got a 7D. Didn´t liked the 550D viewfinder. No 100% viewing, etc. Do you use glasses?