I'm after a decent HD camcorder which also takes good stills, anyone know of any?

cheers

Portrait of a Herring Gull:



Red-legged partridge (taken from driver's seat of car!):

Fuji cameras take reasonable video footage, the S1850 I used for a basic video shot in the mountains and the sound was excellent and even though I had a crummy low speed card the video footage was more than acceptable, not grainy/jerky at all. They take pretty decent stills as well


I'm sure many other companies pro-sumer type cameras do the same thing, many well under £200, even under £150 in some cases.

Sigma or Tamron 70-300mm as a first telephoto lens for a beginner to DSLR?

Quote ="OoOGazOoO"Sigma or Tamron 70-300mm as a first telephoto lens for a beginner to DSLR?'" I'm 100% Sigma at the moment, really good value lenses when you step up to F2.8, for a beginner though I like the Canon 55-250mm IS, plenty of reach, good image stabilization, holds its resale value really well too. At around £100 it is a steal bit.ly/Ic5kXA

Quote ="OoOGazOoO"Sigma or Tamron 70-300mm as a first telephoto lens for a beginner to DSLR?'" I'm 100% Sigma at the moment, really good value lenses when you step up to F2.8, for a beginner though I like the Canon 55-250mm IS, plenty of reach, good image stabilization, holds its resale value really well too. At around £100 it is a steal bit.ly/Ic5kXA

Quote ="Big Graeme"I'm 100% Sigma at the moment, really good value lenses when you step up to F2.8, for a beginner though I like the Canon 55-250mm IS, plenty of reach, good image stabilization, holds its resale value really well too. At around £100 it is a steal bit.ly/Ic5kXA'" Thanks Graeme, needs to be Nikon fit though, should have said in my original post. I have just got a D3100, but looking for a 'first' telephoto lens, for beginner purposes, etc... Was looking at the Sigma or the Tamron. Thanks again!

Quote ="Big Graeme"I'm 100% Sigma at the moment, really good value lenses when you step up to F2.8, for a beginner though I like the Canon 55-250mm IS, plenty of reach, good image stabilization, holds its resale value really well too. At around £100 it is a steal bit.ly/Ic5kXA'" Thanks Graeme, needs to be Nikon fit though, should have said in my original post. I have just got a D3100, but looking for a 'first' telephoto lens, for beginner purposes, etc... Was looking at the Sigma or the Tamron. Thanks again!

Ah, Sigma all the way then.

Thanks mate!

In terms of what the Yanks call "bang per buck' then I absolutely agree.

The Nikon lenses sometimes have the edge with image quality but it's not necessarily a given.

The only problem I've ever had with a Sigma lens is with my 150-500. This a great vfm lens and fast enough to shoot rugby in good light at ISO400-800, but although it worked perfectly with my late, lamented D200, I'm told it needs to be "re-engineered" (WTF that means) in order to work with my D300s.

No experience with Nikon lenses so I was unable to offer advice. I upgraded all my lenses to f2.8 in the last two years, to buy Canon lenses it would have cost me a fortune, to do it with second user Sigmas it was fairly painless, apart from the 70-200mm.

That 150-500mm just needs a chip swapped out, Canon later model cameras have the same issue, if you have an old fashioned camera shop close by they should be able to help, I think it costs around £90 if you get Sigma to do it.

any good for anyone??? www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl ... _30731.htm

any good for anyone??? www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl ... _30731.htm

Cheap enough to be sure, but it looks very flimsy.

The top section looks to be about the circumference that the bottom section would be on a half-decent tripod.

The clue is in the price.

Saying that, I once bought a wetsuit for a tenner and a diving bag for £30 from there about 6 years ago and they are still in good nick.

i dont use or need one mate, so not an expert on its quality. someone may find a use for it or not LOL.

It's been a while, but thanks

[url=http://tinyurl.com/7qdeozwI finally managed to get out and about with that variable ND filter I recommended...[/url

Whacked right up and with a 4 second exposure is about the max you'd get out of it.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_graeme/6968076280/[/url
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_graeme/6968076280/Glen Nevis[/url by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/big_graeme/G and J Photography[/url, on Flickr

Bordering on HDR territory for this one

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_graeme/7108918063/[/url
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_graeme/7108918063/Commando Monument Spearn Bridge[/url by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/big_graeme/G and J Photography[/url, on Flickr

Still can't get a decent black and white conversion, even with a sepia tint.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_graeme/6962843414/[/url
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_graeme/6962843414/Commando Monument Spearn Bridge[/url by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/big_graeme/G and J Photography[/url, on Flickr

Dancing on Ice in Sheffield lastnight, low light yet needed to capture the action, not easy, how did I do?

No wonder the bloke in the last picture is smiling. I would.

Nice picture BG.

Been snapping in the garden

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/exiledwool/7124658805/[/url
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/exiledwool/7124658805/Hoverfly on tulip[/url by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/exiledwool/exiledwool[/url, on Flickr

At risk of teaching you how to suck eggs, might [url=http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/how-to/editing-techniques/529148/how-to-rescue-flat-portraitsthis[/url help?

Compact Flash cards -

Just got myself a nice new 7D but the only downside is at 22mb a pop
the old CF cards don't last too long, an old 1GB card filled in a minute!

I normally use Sandisk but can't find a reliable suppler with a decent price,
anyone use Lexar cards or recommend a decent 8GB alternative.

I've got 3 Lexar cards, one 8GB and two 16GB and not had any issues at all, the latter one's are used for Go Pro Hero HD2 and the record speeds are as smooth as anything.

Looking for some buying advice please.

I want a decent camera to take travelling. I'm quite interested in photography (as in I like looking at photos) but know nothing about it.

Main thing is it needs to be easily portable and fairly small, so can't be doing with big, multiple lenses.

I'd like something better than the average point and shoot from Comet but only have a budget of around £350.00, could stretch it if necessary.

Are there any cameras that have a one lens suits all to take decent scenic photos as well as close of ups of people etc?

Any models/manufacturers you'd recommend?

I've done a bit of reading about and a Compact System Camera seems to be mid way between a standard digital and a DSLR, which I think is what I'm looking for?

Apologies for the lack of jargon, I did say I know nothing about this!

Any of the so called "bridge" cameras (or "superzoom"icon_wink.gif will do. Most makers make them, such as Canon, Fuji, Nikon etc. Personally I have a Fuji HS10, which is a couple of years old now, and is superceded by a couple of later models like HS20 and I think the current is HS30. Canon's SX40 looks to be similar etc.

All of these are a step up from the compact, pocket-sized cameras, with a single lens that gives a good zoom range from landscape to close up.

Both of the above are listed on amazon for a touch over £300, and I would expect similar models from other makers would be similarly priced.