Former PJ needs gear on the CHEAP. Suggestions?

[Paladin3]

Howdy,

I was a newspaper photographer for 13 years. I got started out in the late 80's with Canon FD (F1n, T90), moved on to Nikon (F3, F2n, F4, F100) and went digital (Kodak DCS, Nikon D1), before walking away from the profession in 2000. Most of my gear was provided by the newspapers I worked for, and I sold what personal 35mm gear I did own a few years back. Since then I've had only a couple of cheap digital point and shoots, and have not been very involved in photography on any level.

A couple of weeks ago I shot a wedding for a friend using his Canon XTi and the 18-55 and 75-300 kit lenses. I broke out my old Stroboframe and he picked up a Vivitar 383 Digital flash for me to use that I was pretty darn impressed with for the money. The wedding shoot got the photo bug in me going again.

Anyway, I was laid off of work a few weeks ago and am thinking about getting back in the photo biz in some form or another. I've shot hard news, sports, feature, wildlife, nature, weddings, events, PR, seniors, school photos and more. You name it I've shot it.

I'd love to jump into two D3s or D300s and a bunch of f2.8 zooms, but I'm looking for something cheap to just get started with and thought it'd be fun to hear some opinions on what you guys would buy and, more importantly, where you folks would shop on the cheap. Used is fine and I've only got about $600 to spend right now on a cheap body and one or two cheaper zooms.

The feature I want the most is a somewhat fast flash sync speed for fill flashing shots outdoors. 3fps or faster would be nice for sports, as would a decent .jpg processor in camera so I don't have to Photoshop large numbers of RAW photos.

Thanks!

Cliffs: Best bang for the buck, new or used, on $600 worth of camera gear that would allow you to shoot just about everything (accept maybe indoor/night sports)?

 

[jpeyton]

The feature I want the most is a somewhat fast flash sync speed for fill flashing shots outdoors.

Nikon D70s, 1/500s flash sync, $250.

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, $300.

Nikon 50mm f/1.8, $100.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Nikon D70s, 1/500s flash sync, $250.

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, $300.

Nikon 50mm f/1.8, $100.

This.

 

[shocksyde]

Nikon D70s, 1/500s flash sync, $250.

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, $300.

Nikon 50mm f/1.8, $100.

That.

I own a D40 only for its ability to sync up to 1/2000-ish. AWESOME for outdoor flash use.

 

[angry hampster]

News photography ain't what it used to be. If you're actually thinking that you'll make money by getting back into it, I suggest you do a little research.

 

[Paladin3]

News photography ain't what it used to be. If you're actually thinking that you'll make money by getting back into it, I suggest you do a little research.

Photojournalism has always been a tough profession to make a living at. My first photo shoot was a sports profile on a college softball pitcher back in '88. I was given a set of AA batteries and two rolls of Tri-X to shoot the assignment with. The paper paid $6 for the first photo that ran and $4 for each additional. I hear rates have gone down some since then.

 

[soydios]

The 6MP CCD cameras (D40, D50, D70, D70s) will flash sync up to 1/500s.

What jpeyton said for the kit. You're a photog, you know what you're doing...

 

[Blackjack200]

Alternatively you could go with a D40 + 18-55 kit.... if you can find it. Nikon stopped selling them a few months ago. But I picked up that kit spankin new a few weeks ago for $325 from a Craigslist seller. The lens isn't as fast as the Tamron (I think it's F3.5), but these cameras will shoot ISO 400 or even 800 without too much noise, so it shouldn't be as much of an issue. The lens is VR, which also helps make up for the speed difference (not sure if the Tamron lens is VR).

 

[jpeyton]

Alternatively you could go with a D40 + 18-55 kit.... if you can find it. Nikon stopped selling them a few months ago. But I picked up that kit spankin new a few weeks ago for $325 from a Craigslist seller. The lens isn't as fast as the Tamron (I think it's F3.5), but these cameras will shoot ISO 400 or even 800 without too much noise, so it shouldn't be as much of an issue. The lens is VR, which also helps make up for the speed difference (not sure if the Tamron lens is VR).

A standard D40 kit doesn't come with a VR lens. Your seller may have swapped it out for a VR version.

AFAIK, the 18-55VR came standard with the D60 and later cameras (D60, D3000, D5000).

 

[angry hampster]

A PJ will not want an 18-55 VR. Shutter speeds below 1/60 are generally way too slow for news photography.

 

[996GT2]

Just to give you another option...

On the Canon side, you could pick up a:

EOS 20D : $250
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8: $300
Canon 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 Ultrasonic: $110-130 ish on eBay

Total cost will be similar to a D70 kit. The 20D will give you a bit better image quality than a D70, especially at the higher ISOs. It's also faster at 5 FPS versus the 3 fps of the D70. There are some other benefits to the 20D, like the ability to fit a battery grip, the magnesium body, ISO 3200 option, and better AF system. The 70-210mm has a pretty fast aperture range and ring ultrasonic focusing motor, so it'll autofocus extremely quickly (a definite plus if you want to shoot sports).

The 20D will sync at 1/250 instead of 1/500, but most modern flashes let you do high speed sync at up to 1/8000 for daylight fill. The flash outputs at reduced power, but it's definitely doable.

 

[Blackjack200]

A standard D40 kit doesn't come with a VR lens. Your seller may have swapped it out for a VR version.

AFAIK, the 18-55VR came standard with the D60 and later cameras (D60, D3000, D5000).

Really? Hmm, I'll have to take another look. I thought it was a VR.

A PJ will not want an 18-55 VR. Shutter speeds below 1/60 are generally way too slow for news photography.

F8 and be there.

 

[gsellis]

I don't know the cameras, but I sort of know weddings (part of why I used to run a Sony VX2100 video camera). Paladin3, were you also going to do the wedding scene too? If so, you will run into the church shoots that ban flash (my dad was a hobby shooter and a priest (Episcopal) and he banned flash shoots during the ceremony). Add that to some B/Gs doing the dark, candle ceremonies....

You can't throw 800 in a digital and push it 2x, so it might be a consideration. Or rent gear from your buddy when the ceremony calls for it.

 

[angry hampster]

You can't throw 800 in a digital and push it 2x, so it might be a consideration. Or rent gear from your buddy when the ceremony calls for it.

I can push 2 stops from ISO 800 on my 5D with very little noise. Most cams can't, but it can be done. I wound up pushing a few up from ISO 1600 at the last wedding I shot as well.

 

[996GT2]

You can't throw 800 in a digital and push it 2x, so it might be a consideration. Or rent gear from your buddy when the ceremony calls for it.

Most recent digital SLRs have a usable ISO 3200 (2 stops higher than 800). Canon 20D and Nikon D80 are 2 older models that I can think of off the top of my head. Nail the exposure at 3200 and it doesn't look too bad at all.

Unfortunately, the Nikon D70 and D200 look pretty horrible at ISO 1600 and above. They're the reason I switched to Canon a couple of years ago.

 

[Munky]

Most recent digital SLRs have a usable ISO 3200 (2 stops higher than 800). Canon 20D and Nikon D80 are 2 older models that I can think of off the top of my head. Nail the exposure at 3200 and it doesn't look too bad at all.

Unfortunately, the Nikon D70 and D200 look pretty horrible at ISO 1600 and above. They're the reason I switched to Canon a couple of years ago.

The D200 is pretty much identical in ISO performance to the D80.

 

[speedy2]

Just to give you another option...

On the Canon side, you could pick up a:

EOS 20D : $250
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8: $300
Canon 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 Ultrasonic: $110-130 ish on eBay

Total cost will be similar to a D70 kit. The 20D will give you a bit better image quality than a D70, especially at the higher ISOs. It's also faster at 5 FPS versus the 3 fps of the D70. There are some other benefits to the 20D, like the ability to fit a battery grip, the magnesium body, ISO 3200 option, and better AF system. The 70-210mm has a pretty fast aperture range and ring ultrasonic focusing motor, so it'll autofocus extremely quickly (a definite plus if you want to shoot sports).

The 20D will sync at 1/250 instead of 1/500, but most modern flashes let you do high speed sync at up to 1/8000 for daylight fill. The flash outputs at reduced power, but it's definitely doable.

What he said. Might as well throw a 50mm f/1.8 II in there as well. Can be had for less than $100 used or even new if you shop. Also, since you're a film guy, maybe look into EOS adapted MF lenses. You can find steals on those as well.

Shot this with the lens and my 40D just yesterday.

Lens: Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2.0

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=884974

 

[996GT2]

The D200 is pretty much identical in ISO performance to the D80.

Not true. I used to own and shoot with a D200. My girlfriend had a D80, so I shot with both extensively before I switched to Canon. The D80 is slightly better than the D200 when you nail exposure on both, but when you miss exposure a little bit the D80 still gives ok results while the D200 looks like crap. Even though they are both 10 megapixels, the sensors are not the same. Image processing pipelines are also not the same.