blondeviolin Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I just received a Canon Rebel T3. I love it. It was a gift from my dad with strings attached. (Any time the family gets together, I have been designated the amateur family photographer...) He asked me this morning if I would rather return the T3 and order a T3i because of better features. I'm very new at SLR photography. Is the T3i worth the extra cost? I don't want to have him spend extra money...but on the flip side, the camera should be an investment that last YEARS and while I'm not very experienced with SLR shooting, I am hoping to improve in the years to come. We also have the book Understanding Exposure and a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbeygurl4 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 My favorite site for anything camera and photography related is dpreview.com Go to the camera tab and drop down to side-by-side comparison and choose Canon EOS 1100D(T3) and Canon EOS 600D (T3i). You can also read extensive reviews of each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/753760-REG/Canon_5169B001_EOS_Rebel_T3i_Digital.html Go here to B&H and read the reviews. I don't shoot canon, so I can't help you specifically. However in the classes I took this year at Clickinmoms (which I HIGHLY recommend), numerous ladies had T3i's and were doing GREAT work with them. The T3i is available body-only, the T3 isn't. So just based on that I would say the T3i is likely to be the better starter camera for someone who's trying to learn how to shoot manual and get experienced. Go up, you won't regret it. Btw, I would get a 35mm, not a 50. 50mm is almost always too wide to shoot indoors. I love my 50 1.4 because it opens so wide and is tack sharp, but it's just hard to use inside, even in a big house. I end up shooting 35mm or my 11-17 (except for when I put on a zoom), which really sucks because my 35 mm isn't nearly as good glass. Oh, that's on a crop Nikon D7000. If you put a 50mm on a full frame sensor, it ends up shooting roughly the same width and perspective as a 35mm on a sensor. So when someone tells you a 50mm is a "normal" or walkaround lens, that's only true on a full frame. $3K later we can all have full frame and enjoy that thought, dream dream. :) I think Sigma makes a 30mm that is supposed to be screaming good too. And of course Canon has a very expensive 35L that is supposed to be lucious. Get what you can afford, but go wide. If you want a 50mm, think about getting a 60mm macro or zoom macro. That way you get some variety, with a wide lens to shoot your family shots (that 35mm or something even wider) and shots indoors and a macro to do close-ups of baby hands, school projects, that's sort of thing. I turned down a deal on a used 60mm macro and totally KICKED myself later. B&H, if you order from them, will let you shoot like 250 frames and still return it. Makes it easy to order a few pieces of glass, try them, see what really suits you, and return the rest. LOVE ordering from B&H. Adorama is fine too, very good service, but they don't have as many reviews the way B&H does. B&H is just king in the reviews department. Search there for what you're considering, and you'll probably sort it out. Enjoy your new camera and don't forget to check out Clickinmoms! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 $3K later we can all have full frame and enjoy that thought, dream dream. :) Ahem: Nikon D600 ...and I just bought the D7000. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Ahem: Nikon D600 ...and I just bought the D7000. :tongue_smilie: Ooo, I clearly have not been hanging out on the boards enough! I haven't kept up on the new models! :D Actually, it's that I don't have $$ to blow on a ff camera plus the lenses, so I just stopped reading. Anyways, I pulled up the D600, since you mentioned it. The ISO is no better than the D7000. I'm sure it's a little cleaner, simply because Nikon kicks but on their focusing. ISO is the only thing I really want, that and WIDTH. I dream of width and pant for width, width without distortion, but we won't go into that. :lol: So anyways, if I can't raise my ISO by 4 stops, it's not worth my money. I can already kick butt with my D7000 and I do. But yeah, that means the writing is on the wall. They're going to bring ff down to where mortals can afford it in the next few years. But it still ain't there. $2500 for the same ISO, just to say you're shooting ff, just isn't worth the extra money. That's more than double what I paid for my D7000. I'd put that money into classes and work what you've got. When you max out a $1K camera, you'll know it. At that point a new camera will be out, so you can sell it and move up. Takes a lot of shooting to get that far. I have, but that was shooting multiple hours a day for a number of months. I finally learned it was me that was the issue, not the camera. Now I could take good pictures on my antique D50, though it's more fun on my D7000. :D Whatever. Thanks for sharing! I was so disgusted when the D800 came out and wasn't screaming with new ISO but had that insane megapixel bump. I've dreamed of Canon ff, but that wasn't the way I wanted to get there either. So I just gave up the dream. If they're going to start funneling ff down to the normal price range, that will be cool. Just need more ISO, more ISO... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Whatever. Thanks for sharing! I was so disgusted when the D800 came out and wasn't screaming with new ISO but had that insane megapixel bump. I've dreamed of Canon ff, but that wasn't the way I wanted to get there either. So I just gave up the dream. If they're going to start funneling ff down to the normal price range, that will be cool. Just need more ISO, more ISO... I hear ya! The D7000 is WAY more camera than I need, but the improvement in ISO from my D40 is astounding. I'll grow into it. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I hear ya! The D7000 is WAY more camera than I need, but the improvement in ISO from my D40 is astounding. I'll grow into it. :D I went from a Canon T2i to a Nikon D7000 and I'm still amazed at the quality upgrade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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