Lesson one for Sue

Oh dear, I had another disappearing post.

Anyway, I did buy a spare battery when I bought the camera, and I just found an 8GB card which I may just splurge out on.

I did think about the battery grip that was suggested, but I couldn't figure out what it was so I will wait until next week when I travel to Oregon and some real shops next week. In fact I hope to have a ton of fun in a good camera shop if I can drag my friend along with me.

Hi Sue

Peter, I beg to differ about the size of CF cards. A 4gb card gives over 800 pictures even on the largest picture size setting. These can take ages to download onto the computer. If anything goes wrong with the card, or you were to misplace it, it is a lot of pictures to loose. In my opinion a few smaller cards are better than one big one.

I got an Ultra 2, 1gb card today, reduced to £19.00 at Jessops. This gives 219 pictures on the largest setting, and gives a quick download. I did start off with a 4Gb card ,but I think that I made a mistake in getting one that big. It takes ages to download pictures even when using the built-in card reader on the computer.

Re zoom lens, these are great for getting close to the wildlife, however, for this type of work where you have to track a fast moving object, a tripod is of little use. With a bit of practice, camera shake can almost be eliminated. All my pictures of birds in flight were used with my 300mm lens zoomed out to its longest setting and used hand held. You will agree that there is little evidence of camera shake in those shots.

As you say, with a digital camera, this times the length by 1.6. so the equivalent length of a 300mm lens is over 450mm. This is great for getting in real close.

Tripods are fine for taking pictures of stationery objects or pictures that require long exposure. But I don't think you will require this as yet Sue.

Regards to all.

Roy J.

Great advice here Roy. I will put the tripod on hold, until I buy my Scope and then I can use it for both. That is in the future though, as I don't have the opportunity to get the best use from a scope right now.

I will play with my camera for a while, but I am seriously thinking about getting the 300mm lens. I may even get it before I head over the pond.

Thanks again everyone.

Sue, you will LOVE the 70-300mm!  well worth it if you can get it.  the tripod can be had for about $30.00 or less at walmart (as your not a professional...YET).  in the meantime, there are other thngs you can use to prop the camera if you need to.  beanbags are quite popular too. 

Hope you get loads of enjoyment out of your new toy!

Sue and Roy, I dont know the actual size of the files recorded in Sue's new camera, But in mine I can only get about150 photo's on a 2 gigabite card at high res. As I will take about 500 to 600 photo's in a week when away, I would really need a big card. Also if Sue uses a card reader, instead of the cameara to download the photo's, I can download 2 gig's in less than 1 minute. But I think this may have more to do with the speed of the computer.

Although I do have 2 tripods, I never use them. With image stabalising built into the camera, instead of in  the lense, It is rarely needed in my case. But as sue is new to DSLR's, she very well may do, untill she learns how to hold it properly. As i said before, the best way to learn is get out and take photo's.

When I got my sandisk 3 card, I found it came with a file recovery disk. I did have a card that suddenly stopped working and showed that there was no photo's on it. I took it out of the camera and replaced it. When I got home, I was able to recover all the supposed lost photo's using it. I then reformatted the card in the camera and never had trouble with it since.

Sorry Sue, when you get photographers discussing photographic issues, they all have different methods and ideas. Find what works for you and stick with it.

Thanks for your input Roy. I take it that you have been taking photo's for a long time like me. We do tend to forget that we all got hold of an SLR or DSLR for the first time once.