Artist needs camera purchase advice

[Chato]

Originally Posted by elizberd

Thanks, Sarah for helping me focus on the correct questions to ask. I will start to look into sony's dslrs. And the Tamron 90mm lens is a good place to start.

Any other thoughts are appreciated!

For one thing, free your mind of the idea that more pixels is automatically better. Art work, or at least paintings, do not in fact need that many pixels. What you want is "quality" in your pixels.

I've shot a lot of paintings for artist friends of mine, sometimes with a two meg camera. I prefer at least 5, but unless you're shooting from more than six feet, five is more than enough.

Dave

[mtclimber]

elizabeth-

What makes the LiveView so good in the Sony DSLR cameras is their unique and rapid focus system. It is the fastest focusing LiveView system in the market today and the LCD does articulate. If you went to the Sony A-550 you would have the best in megapixels combined with the best in LiveView.

I am a Nikon user and I own a Nikon D-5000 camera. But, I have to tell you that the Sony A-550 can focus almost twice as fast as the Nikon D-5000 and the LCD screen is also larger on the Sony A-550. The feature set on the A-550 is also clearly better than the Nikon D-5000.

The choice is entirely up to you. I am just attempting to give you all the information possible.

Sarah Joyce

[mtclimber]

Elizabeth-

I just learned (thanks to poster:Tullio) that www.amazon.com has the Sony Alpha DSLR cameras on sale, even the A-330 and the A-550 which are fitted for LiveView.

Sarah Joyce

[shoturtle]

The sale also includes the A380, it has the same resolution as the A550, if you are looking to save a little bit over the A550 at 14.2mp.

[Eetu]

Hi Elizabeth. I am also going to purchase a camera. Been studying which camera to buy since about November. I know you know this, but take your time, visit different camera stores, yes stores! You would be surprised what sort info you pick up on. Just yesterday, I was reading a detailed post by a guy who has a Canon 7D and Pentax K7, I was stunned to read what things of the Pentax K7 he thought was better. What I am getting at, is that sometimes we like a product too much that one "can" loose just a little objectivity (IMO). So, take your time, push yourself to be objective. So, whether you buy a Sony, Canon, Nikon, etc, find out what is right for your needs. Just do the research. No you don't need four months like me, I am saving up for mine, waiting on a tax return. I am sure that whatever you get, you will make a good choice. All the best. Ned

[peripatetic]

For Elizabeth any of the DSLR cameras have effectively equivalent Live View. The speed and responsiveness of the AF when in Live View mode is completely irrelevant unless you are planning on shooting very fast moving art work. Last time I checked it didn't move around a great deal. :-)

Lots of megapixels certainly will do no harm. And of course a good tripod!!! And possibly some lights. How are you planning on lighting this stuff?

In fact most kit lenses will be fine because if you have controlled lighting and a tripod you can shoot at ISO 100/200 and at f8, at which settings there is almost no difference between the current crop of cameras and kit lenses.

[JimC]

Originally Posted by shoturtle

sony has the best live view, because they give up on the hd video. The room that would be for hd video they use for a live view sensor. It is a completely different auto focus system for live view vs the traditional auto focus when not in live view.

Just to clarify... the reason that the Sony models have fast Autofocus in Live View, is because the Autofocus works the same way in Live View mode as it does when using the Optical Viewfinder (it's the same, not totally different). Basically, the Live View sensor in the viewfinder housing sees the same image that would normally be projected to the optical viewfinder. That allows Sony to use it's dedicated AF sensor assembly in Live View mode. So, Autofocus is just as fast when using Live View as it is when using the Optical Viewfinder. Here's a cutout showing how it works. Basically, a small mirror moves to shift the image being projected to the Live View sensor when you change between Optical Viewfinder and Live View modes with a switch located by the Viewfinder. Both methods still use the dedicated AF sensor (at the bottom of the cutout).

[JimC]

IOW, that allows the Sony models to continue using fast Phase Detect Autofocus when in Live View mode with a dedicated AF sensor, just like any other dSLR would work with an Optical Viewfinder. So, you don't have an Autofocus Performance penalty when in Live View mode, making it's Autofocus much faster than competing models when using Live View.

Other models either switch to slower Contrast Detect Autofocus when in Live View using the cameras main imaging sensor, or need to flip the camera's main mirror back and forth to Autofocus using their dedicated AF sensor (disrupting your Live View when focusing that way, making it difficult to follow a moving subject).

[Walter_S]

I am in no way an expert when it comes to be able to help people chosing their camere, as I have enough problems finding one that fits my own needs and wallet!
But there are a few suggestions here I do want to write a comment to:

Originally Posted by shoturtle

- Sony does have the best live view on the market for dslr's.

Speaking of Sony "...having the beste Live View in the marked.." - Panasonic's G1 / GH1 does rather well too, and both have the fully articulated LCD, while Sonys 350/380 and 500/550 are restricted in movements to the up- and down-axis only.

Originally Posted by shoturtle

- I would look at the sony A500, with the tokina 11-16 and the tamron 90mm macro. ...

To my knowledge, the Tokina 11-16mm is so far only available with Canon-mount and Nikon-mount. Tokina has released a statement that it will make the 11-16 also for the Sony-mount ( http://forums.steves-digicams.com/pe...lens-sony.html ) so I would first check if that lens really is available at camera-stores yet, and at what price.

On the other hand, this lens (Tokina 11-16mm) would be far from the requiremets of the OP needing: "...one that shoots a wall with no (!) distortion..."

For that you need a wide angle lens without much rectilinear distortion. I don't think the Tokina is in that segment as it has rather a lot of distortion which needs to be corrected.

Originally Posted by elizberd

...and am now thinking about the Nikon D5000, mostly because I like the fully articulated lcd. Any advice (pro/con) about this camera?

About the articulated LCD of the D5000 - be aware that it is rather handycapped in its movements when mounted on a tripod, as the screen is hinged on the base of camera, instead of side-hinged - which will be the best position for tripod-mounted shooting.
Also it's resolution is a mer 270.000 pixels compared to the Sony a550's fantastic 920.000 pixels.


Just my 2 cents...

[shoturtle]

Thanks Jim for the correction. Do you have a link to their live view system. I would like to read more about it. I guess I miss understood the guys at the store when they were explaining to me why the live view in the sony was so much better then the rest of the dslr.

Originally Posted by JimC

Just to clarify... the reason that the Sony models have fast Autofocus in Live View, is because the Autofocus works the same way in Live View mode as it does when using the Optical Viewfinder (it's the same, not totally different). Basically, the Live View sensor in the viewfinder housing sees the same image that would normally be projected to the optical viewfinder. That allows Sony to use it's dedicated AF sensor assembly in Live View mode. So, Autofocus is just as fast when using Live View as it is when using the Optical Viewfinder. Here's a cutout showing how it works. Basically, a small mirror moves to shift the image being projected to the Live View sensor when you change between Optical Viewfinder and Live View modes with a switch located by the Viewfinder. Both methods still use the dedicated AF sensor (at the bottom of the cutout).