So I decided it would be helpful to some of those who are starting out, by listing some basic starter equipment that I feel would be beneficial to learn and grow in the field of Photography.

I will only speak from the Canon side of things, Other members feel free to add/ create your own "starter kits" for any budget that you think would help out the potential photographer.

I am sure some of the Nikon users can do the same.

Canon
Body: Canon Rebel XT or XTi
Both of these are fantastic entry level SLRs. they can both be had brand new between the $500-$700 range in both "kit" and "body only" configurations. These bodies are compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses available.

Lenses:
The Canon EF-S 18-55 or "Kit lens" is the standard lens you will find in the box with both of the above cameras. Despite what some people may say, its a perfectly capable lens. the lens gives you a little of the Wide angle while providing you with a standard zoom end making for an excellent all around lens. I highly recommend you pick up the kit including this lens, its great for seeing which way youd like to go. I.E> Do you tend to shoot at 18 or 55 the most?

The next "Must Have" beginner lens is the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II. aka the "nifty fifty" This lens can be bought new at $75, used around $50. This is a 50mm prime lens, this is the best lens for the $ you can buy. Not only is it highly affordable, it will allow you experiment with framing your shot by your movement and placement as opposed to relying soley on zoom. It also as a very shallow depth of field which will help you to understand aperture and other features of the camera.

The other lens that is common with beginners is the Canon EF 28-135 IS f3.5-5.6 USM II. This gives a much longer range for focal length as well as the built in Image stabilizer. This makes it a wonderful all around lens where a tripod is unavailable or lower light situations where a slightly longer shutter speed is needed. These can be found new between $250-$450.

Memory: Any Compact Flash card will do, depending on the format you shoot in, will determine the number of photos you can store per card. On the Xti shooting in RAW, you will get roughly 200 photos per 2gigs of space. JPGs will be closer to 500.

So Quick list as follows:

Canon EOS Rebel XT or XTi - $500-$700 New
Canon 18-55 "kit lens" - included or $200 New.
Canon 50mm f1.8 - $75 New, $50 Used.
Canon EF 28-135 IS - $250-$450 New.
CF cards - avg $20-$200 depending on size/ speed.

Please Note: This is only what I feel would be ideal options for beginning.

im sure to add more later but this is a start.


Nikon (Contributed by jjswee):
What I posted in OT:

Nikon version - Canon version:
Semi-Amateur: D40/D40x - XT/XTi
Amateur: D80 - ummm.... XTi?
Semi-Pro: D200/D300 - 30D/40D, 5D(full frame)
Pro: D2X/D2xs, D3(full frame or not) - 1D/Ds Mark III

The Nikon D40 is a 6MP SLR. The Nikon D40x (10.2MP) is the same body but the insides of a D80 (same sensor, but different processor, so the pictures will be slightly different). The Nikon D80 is 10.2mp version. Its the best you can buy before you semi-pro. The benefit of the D80 over the D40 and D40x is the larger body size and its ability to expand better. Expansion comes with things like wireless flashes and more control of the settings. Also, the D40 and D40x do not support the Autofocus on older lenses. They will still work with the lens, but only have manual focus. They removed the motor inside the body that normally controls AF. (makes the body smaller) Instead, they rely on a motor built inside the lens itself. These lenses with motors are listed as AF-S lenses.

The Canon XT (350d - 8mp) and XTI (400d - 10mp) are built to compete with the Nikon D40, D40x and D80. The Canon 40D is a semi pro body and has higher quality than XT and XTi bodies. The Canon 40D was never built to compete with the Nikon D40. Its just similar naming. The 30D is the predecessor to the 40D.

Nikon D40 goes for around 550 with 18-55 kit lens. The Nikon d40x goes for around 700 with 18-55 kit lens. The Nikon D80 goes for around 1100 with 18-135 kit lens.

Summarized Nikon Beginner's Kit
D40/D40x w/18-55 "kit" lens--$480-$615 (there is now a VR version of the 18-55 kit lens--I don't know if this is bundled with the kits, though.
Nikon 50mm f1.8D AF lens--$115
Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX~$300 OR
Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX (if you don't want to duplicate the 18-55mm range)
OR, if you want to spend more and get a great lens that you can use as you upgrade your kit,
Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR II--$700

Great idea.

IBthriftynotniftyfiftyargument

Originally Posted by tardypizza

Great idea.

IBthriftynotniftyfiftyargument

you had to bring that up didnt you... nifty.

Edit this:

The other lens that is common with beginners is the Canon EF 28-135 IS f3.5-5.6 USM II.

Canon EF 38-135 IS - $250-$450 New.

Hey Canon guys. I was gonna buy the D40 and then get the $700 18-200VR Nikkor lens. Is there any equivalent in the Canon side that has that wide of an angle? I want to take pretty landscape pics and still have zoom, without needing to switch lenses often. I want a good All-in-one.

Originally Posted by jjswee

Edit this:

The other lens that is common with beginners is the Canon EF 28-135 IS f3.5-5.6 USM II.

Canon EF 38-135 IS - $250-$450 New.

Hey Canon guys. I was gonna buy the D40 and then get the $700 18-200VR Nikkor lens. Is there any equivalent in the Canon side that has that wide of an angle? I want to take pretty landscape pics and still have zoom, without needing to switch lenses often. I want a good All-in-one.

There are Sigma options. And I believe some old Canon L is like 18-200 or so.

But personally, I'd rock the Sigma 17-70 because it straight up kicks ass for the price.

I was looking for something with more zoom and IS.

Originally Posted by jjswee

I was looking for something with more zoom and IS.

IS is over-rated in my opinion, but others (I'm sure) will disagree.

But really, I'd say the Nikon is your best bet if thats what you're after.

Originally Posted by Stime187

Originally Posted by jjswee

I was looking for something with more zoom and IS.

IS is over-rated in my opinion, but others (I'm sure) will disagree.

But really, I'd say the Nikon is your best bet if thats what you're after.

I will be the first to disagree--I on the (rare) occasions I use my 70-300VR, the VR allows me to handhold at 1/30th (!) of a second at 300mm. That allows me to get a lot of shots at 300mm that I couldn't get before, provided that the subject's not moving too fast.

M

Originally Posted by Stime187

Originally Posted by jjswee

I was looking for something with more zoom and IS.

IS is over-rated in my opinion, but others (I'm sure) will disagree.

But really, I'd say the Nikon is your best bet if thats what you're after.

depends on the application, I need it for weddings.

Originally Posted by jjswee

Edit this:

The other lens that is common with beginners is the Canon EF 28-135 IS f3.5-5.6 USM II.

Canon EF 38-135 IS - $250-$450 New.

Hey Canon guys. I was gonna buy the D40 and then get the $700 18-200VR Nikkor lens. Is there any equivalent in the Canon side that has that wide of an angle? I want to take pretty landscape pics and still have zoom, without needing to switch lenses often. I want a good All-in-one.

fixed the 38 to 28, thanks. Otherwise its fine.

I think AnotherD80 just got the 18-200, Canon doesnt make a lens with that broad a range.

Originally Posted by subimatt

Canon doesnt make a lens with that broad a range.

Closest thing is the Canon EF 28-300mm IS L lens but it costs a cool $2k.

Originally Posted by Stime187

Originally Posted by subimatt

Canon doesnt make a lens with that broad a range.

Closest thing is the Canon EF 28-300mm IS L lens but it costs a cool $2k.

yea, I wasnt thinking in L land, was thinking more affordable land. I totally forgot about that one, its an f5.6 right?

So does any Nikon User want to write something up and ill throw it in the first post.

Content of this post merged with first post

Originally Posted by subimatt

So does any Nikon User want to write something up and ill throw it in the first post.

Done.

M

^ Nice Mark.

and a sticky too, nice work.

As for the IS or not, it depends on what you shoot and how lazy you are. The lazy comment isn't meant to be rude, but weather or not you're willing to carry a tripod. IS is great for panning shots. It's very hard to setup a tripod correctly for this and monopods can be tricky also. With IS it does that for you and very well. Any time you're using a slow shutter speed and there is no action, ask yourself if a tripod is a better solution. Usually it is. The few exceptions would be where tripods aren't allowed (churches museums etc) or when setting one up again and again isn't practical. For a wedding person tripods aren't very convenient because people move to fast and you have to react fast. Personally I'd go with very fast glass over IS because I like the fast shutter speed to freeze motion (as people move) as well as popping the flash... But if you can't have the fast glass IS is a big help as legs are a PITA. In just about any other situation, a tripod is a better solution IF YOU'RE WILLING TO BRING ONE. IS is much butter than no legs, but legs are much better than IS...

Here's a list of what I've purchased in the past couple weeks, should be a good, entry level setup:

• Kingston 2gb SD Memory Card
  http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-2GB-S...5499198&sr=8-1
  Regular Price: $79.99 Purchase Price: $18.87
  Shipping: Free 5-7 Day Ground
  Total Price: $19.02
  
• Sanyo 1-Hour AA Battery Charger and Batteries
  http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-GES-MQH0...5499271&sr=1-1
  Regular Price: $32.95 Purchase Price: $13.99
  Shipping: Free 5-7 Day Ground
  Total Price: $14.10
  
• Pentax k100d Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens
  http://www.prestigecamera.com/product~id~pnk100dkit.htm
  Regular Price: $450-$600 Purchase Price: $438.00 - $50 MIR
  Shipping: $29.09 3-Day Air
  Total Price: $417.09
  
• Tamrac Express 5 Sling Camera Bag
  http://www.amazon.com/Tamrac-3535-Ex...5500202&sr=8-2
  Regular Price $34.95 Purchase Price: $34.95
  Shipping: N/A, purchased at local shop
  Total Price: $35.22
  
• Hoya 52mm UV Pro Digital Multi-Coated Filter
  http://www.amazon.com/Hoya-Digital-M...5500317&sr=1-3
  Regular Price: $37.95 Purchase Price: $12.00
  Shipping: N/A, purchased at local shop in clearance bin
  Total Price: $12.10
  
• Sima Capkeeper 2
  http://www.amazon.com/Sima-Capkeeper...5500642&sr=1-1
  Regular Price: $7.99 Purchase Price: $3.29
  Shipping: N/A, purchased at local shop
  Total Price: $3.32
  
• Sunpak 8001UT Tripod
  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...UT_Tripod.html
  Regular Price: $42.95 Purchase Price: $34.95
  Shipping: $4.50 3 Day Air
  Total Price: $39.77
  
• Pentax AF220T Flash
  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...hoe_Mount.html
  Regular Price: up to $89.95 Purchase Price: $29.95
  Shipping: $4.50 3 Day Air
  Total Price: $34.73

Total for all items after taxes, shipping, etc: $575.35

You will basically be looking at the same class of cameras, but the models have definitely changed. Now you'd be looking at the Nikon D3100 or D5000, or the Canon T2i or T3i (just announced).

snuck out of where now?
well, the general theme is still legit, it's just that those models have been replaces (twice now) in the years since it was written...

start a new thread here: http://newschoolofphotography.com/what-buy/
or maybe here: http://newschoolofphotography.com/n00bs/

and tell us what you own now, what your budget is and what you want to focus on shooting.

and welcome aboard!