Landscape Photography Buying Advice

[chris-p]

The choice of camera is the big decision. You can get EOS 1000's for £300 used, with a kit lens (for example, this one) but, seeing as you can buy a new one for £350, I'd rather buy new. Frankly, that could be the subject of a whole thread in its own right.

The Tamron is a decent lens. The most popular lens of this ilk is the Sigma 10-20mm which performs a little better as well, so that would be my choice (the f/4-5.6 version, not the pointless and more expensive f/3.5 one).

Don't forget that you will need a filter holder and adaptors for the filters and, looking into it, I'm not sure that Kood will supply "Z" sized filters, which you'll need for shooting at wider than about 14mm so you may have to go down the Cokin route there.

And the battery grip. Well, no you don't need one. If you want one, thats a different matter. Frankly, it won't offer you anything useful if your camera is always mounted on a tripod. Just buy a spare battery (you'd have to have 2 with the grip anyway) and carry the spare battery in your bag.

Tripod-wise, I think the best sub-£100 tripod is this one. The nearest Manfrotto model is £160 and this one is still better. I've had various makes of kit and nothing comes close to the Giottos models for less than £400.

[chris-p]

This is still an expensive list of kit though...

I work this lot out at £1,079

EOS 1000D with 18-55mm £348.99
Sigma 10-20mm £399.99
Tamrac Adventure 6 bag £38.99 OR Kata DR-165 bag £51.99
Giottos tripod & P&T head kit £94.99
Cokin 77mm Z-series filter holder adaptor £18.99
Cokin Z-series filter holder £44.99
Cokin ND2, ND4 & ND8 Z-series grad filter kit £139

The problem is you're getting stung for the Z-Pro range of filters and holders because they're wider (£45 for the holder is a rip off if you ask me!). But the P series are too narrow for any super wideangle lens at below 13-14mm, I know - I've got a Sigma 10-20mm and a set of P sized grads.
You're also buying a lot of kit in one go. This sort of gear list usually takes a novice a good couple of years to build up.

Bear in mind, you may well be able to find all of these things listed here cheaper, I've just gone to pretty much the biggest online retailer for simplicity.

[matt wilson]

I use t4 cameras .Check on the web.Second hand stuff at fair prices .

Interestingly for £140.00 you could get a Manfrotto 190 tripod and ball head second hand from them .That would be steady as a rock . Add £6.00 for next day courier to UK .

I even barter with them now as they have got to know me .As I said a really cheapo tripod is a waste of money I bought Manfrotto having bought rubbish.

[chris-p]

I was wondering, what compact camera do you have?

My normal advice would be to buy an entry level DSLR and stick with the kit lens for a while as 18mm is usually considerably wider than most compact users are used to...

[aking]

Do you think it's worth buying the filters just yet? As I said I've been using Photoshop for over three years and have used it a lot in that time... I know it would be quicker and easier using filters but for about £200 is it worth going for them just yet when I could create a very similar effect in Photoshop?

And I use a Kodak V610 Dual Lens (6.1MP) which I've had for a while now.

[donoreo]

There is the catch, some things you cannot do in PS that you can do with filters. You can get away with bracketing your shots for exposure (under, middle, over expose) and then combine in PS. There should be techniques on here to help you with that. The one filter that you cannot fake in PS is a circular polarizer, but you did not have it on your list anyway. I would suggest one, they are not that expensive.

[chris-p]

Ah, good point Don, a circular polarisers would actually be worth shelling out for...

To be honest, I wouldn't buy the filters straight away. I also wouldn't buy the wideangle lens straight away. I'd buy the camera with a kit lens (18mm is significantly wider than your current compact can manage already), a bag, a polariser, a spare battery and a tripod.

Remember, regardless of what we suggest to you - it's you're money and you have to use the camera. Why not learn the basics with a decent setup and then you can make a much more informed decision on what you want to invest your hard earned money in.

[aking]

Thanks for all the help! And how much would a circular poloriser roughly cost?

[ap4a]

Originally Posted by aking

Thanks for all the help! And how much would a circular poloriser roughly cost?

Price can vary wildly depending on type, thread size, brand and quality. (£20 up to £3/400)

[aking]

That doesn't seem too bad... would you suggest a cokin filter?