Canon Rebel SL1 18MP DSLR w/ 18-55mm & 75-300mm USM Lenses

TruckerDave, I have to congratulate you. You're the only person I've ever met who can learn the exposure triangle in five minutes. I've taught classes, I've done 1:1 sessions, I've watched others teach it, and it's a rare thing when people get it. Further, one has to understand which exposure mode to choose to successfully get results with the triangle; that's perhaps the biggest part of the puzzle that people don't get.

 

With regard to high ISOs, I respectfully disagree. Entry-level cameras (we're talking about the SL1, T5i, and the T6 variations here) aren't going to comfortably go that high, enough so that it's not safe to just set it and forget it. One has to manage it, have the habits to manage it, and balance that with other settings.

 

A 300mm lens on a 1.6x crop body has an effective focal length of 480mm. By the classic rule of thumb, that'd require a 1/480th (1/500th) shutter speed for a shake-free shot. Factor in some shivers and a couple of punches from a coffee card, and it's time to get that shutter speed a lot higher still (without IS).

It's really not rocket science. Five minutes might be a bit of hyperbole, but it really isn't on the level of nuclear physics either. Once you get a basic understanding of what each side of the triangle does and how they interact with each other to get the proper exposure, it is really not that big of a jump to grasp the concept of how (for example) changing shutter speed by one stop and then changing iso by one stop will yield the same exposure.

I understand that a t5/t6 crop body is in no way going to yield as clean of an image at that high of an iso as i can get with my D610 full frame. But you should be able to go up to 3200 pretty easy on even the most entry level dslr's and get useable shots. And who just sets their iso and forgets it, depending on the shot one is going for iso is just like shutter speed and aperture....set the one of the 3 that you really want and use the other two to dial in the correct exposure.

Again, the exposure triangle isn't rocket science, but a lot of people just can't get their head around "f/2 is bigger than f/11", and too many others might just jack up the ISO and suffer with marginal pictures for an entire trip.

However, understanding the ET doesn't translate into an understanding of which exposure mode to pick and why. Too many think they have to go manual to control it all, and too many more think they should just go to shutter priority and set it for 1/1000th, then wonder why all of their pictures are dark.

Again, the exposure triangle isn't rocket science, but a lot of people just can't get their head around "f/2 is bigger than f/11", and too many others might just jack up the ISO and suffer with marginal pictures for an entire trip.

 

However, understanding the ET doesn't translate into an understanding of which exposure mode to pick and why. Too many think they have to go manual to control it all, and too many more think they should just go to shutter priority and set it for 1/1000th, then wonder why all of their pictures are dark.

But so many think better camera [read more expensive] equals better pictures, when it may equal worse pictures because they don't grasp the basics, will be forever grateful that I learnt the trade when there were no built in lightmetres [i could guess exposure within about 1/4 stop most of the time after a while] and manual flash where I had to calculate f stop using a guide number [so many today don't even know that's what they're for] and the ET only had two sides because you were limited in DIN/ASA [iSO now] choices and unless you had interchangable backs or multiple bodies what you loaded was pretty much what you were stuck with.

Actually, if you can multiply and divide by two, the exposure triangle really is a five-minute learning curve. Where people need coaching is in which corner of the triangle does what to your end results and why. That may take a bit longer...:)

 

Compared to top end camera/lens/film combinations available 20 years ago, any modern camera is like a magic photography wand. The performance gap between the top end and the entry level is smaller than ever. It is very hard to find a bad camera from any of the major manufacturers and with the advances in the mirrorless segment, the breadth of choices that will return results only limited by the photographer's skill is vast.

 

It's a great time to be a photographer!

 

Dave

But you touch on the crucial point "limited by the photographer's skill" so many salespeople will sell a camera that really doesn't suit the buyer's level of skill and interest.

But you touch on the crucial point "limited by the photographer's skill" so many salespeople will sell a camera that really doesn't suit the buyer's level of skill and interest.

It was your turn to add a salient point. :)

The salesperson in most retail establishments has little or no concern for the buyer's level of skill or interest. They are driven by what they are told needs to be sold, what has the largest bonus spiff attached, what will deliver the biggest commission or what their brother-in-law told them was the "best" brand. Except when shopping at a dwindling number of old-school shops (even there brand bias can deliver a bad fit), a buyer needs to have an idea of their budget and most importantly, the level of effort they are willing to invest in photography. Skill is far less important than the level of interest in camera choice. I have seen marvelous photos taken with a phone and pure crap from a $8K "pro" camera with the only variable being the photographer. If a person has a real interest in photography but will leave the DSLR and lenses they were sold at home because carrying them around became burdensome, then the DSLR was a bad fit. The best camera is the one you will use and each person should decide what level of effort they want to commit to before they buy.

Dave

It was your turn to add a salient point. :)

 

The salesperson in most retail establishments has little or no concern for the buyer's level of skill or interest. They are driven by what they are told needs to be sold, what has the largest bonus spiff attached, what will deliver the biggest commission or what their brother-in-law told them was the "best" brand. Except when shopping at a dwindling number of old-school shops (even there brand bias can deliver a bad fit), a buyer needs to have an idea of their budget and most importantly, the level of effort they are willing to invest in photography. Skill is far less important than the level of interest in camera choice. I have seen marvelous photos taken with a phone and pure crap from a $8K "pro" camera with the only variable being the photographer. If a person has a real interest in photography but will leave the DSLR and lenses they were sold at home because carrying them around became burdensome, then the DSLR was a bad fit. The best camera is the one you will use and each person should decide what level of effort they want to commit to before they buy.

 

Dave

I love watching the Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera series by Digital Rev on youtube. Basically, they give a Pro Photographer a crappy camera and they have to use it for the day. One of the photogs was given a Barbie with a built in camera to shoot a short film. Its amazing what they can come up with.

Every time I have the itch for buying new gear (that is clearly out of my budget), I like to watch series like Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera and browse through photo sharing sites to regain perspective on how amazing modern camera tech really is (as outdated as my Canon T2i is, there are still some amazing shots out there using it).

Im sure that having the latest and greatest makes getting great photos easier, but great photos existed long before modern tech. Not that I am advocating turning in my modern digital camera for an old film camera, but just because a camera gets replaced by a more modern one doesn't mean that it suddenly stops taking great photos.

Learning some basic photography concepts can really go a long way to help those on a budget. Not saying that some quick lessons is going to help capture that whale a mile away with your iphone, but some basic concepts, like rules of thirds, can be the difference between random kids snapshots and photos that you want to frame.