Learn me: Automotive photography

Or any digital photography really, where's a good place to start?

I've always heard Canon is a great manufacturer, what do you guys think of this camera for starting out? EOS Rebel T3

There's so many great youtube videos out there. Figured it would be another good skill to add to the tool belt

I have been shooting Canon since I was about 12. (And that was a long time ago.)

If you're just starting out, the Rebel should do you just fine. The D-series Canons add some controls that I prefer, but at the end of the day it's all about composition and light.

Any luck with buying used DSLR cameras off of Ebay or other sources (i.e. Craigslist, etc.)

All my (D)SLR gear is from ebay, and that includes some not-cheap lenses. If you don't buy from "joe's backalley fencing" but from sellers with reasonable feedback you should be OK.

That said, it's worth checking some of the bigger mail order places that also sell used gear, I sometimes have seen better prices with them.

Cool, thanks!

I've been shooting with a T3 for about 5 years now. I'd guess I've got over 100,000 snaps with it by now. It's been used at three Daytona 24, two Sebring 12, two Petit Le Mans, Pebble Beach, the Monterey Historics, probably 10-15 other ALMS/Grand Am/TUSCC races, a number of car shows, local events, manufacturer launches, Detroit auto shows, etc. It's a great first camera. If you ever want to do video, though, start with a T2i (integrated audio jack, better video creds, etc.).

I shot this ad with it (the pic in the ad, not the pic of the magazine page, that was all Samsung Galaxy S5...) -

And this is one of my favorite pictures to come from that camera.

What's the battery life like when you start filming with DSLR?

Check Keh.com for used gear. New gear that's last year's model is usually discounted pretty well also, with minimal performance penalty.

Spend a few extra bucks up front and go refurb instead of used.

http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/cameras/refurbished-eos-digital-slr-cameras

The warranty alone is worth it. Good camera gear doesn't depreciate much, so frequently you're not really saving enough on used gear to make it worth the savings over a good sale or a good deal on a refurb.

And if you're starting from scratch, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus... it's all good stuff. I'm partial to Canon DSLRs and Sony point-and-shoots, but everyone has good gear available.

I'd actually recommend visiting a proper camera store if there is one not to far away so you can handle various cameras and see how they feel to you.

I'm one of those luddites who learned to shoot using fully manual cameras and constantly run into the "too many berkeleying buttons" issue. I find my old Leica M2 and my Contax RTS intuitive to use, my Nikon D200 not so much, even though it's the camera I use most these days. Some of the newer gear like the Olympus E-M1 is probably more suited for grumpy old gits like me.

JG has a good point regarding the warranty, most if not all DSLRs (unless you're talking higher end) are not worth repairing or probably not repairable, so they either have to be cheap enough to be disposable, or suddenly having a warranty is good.

I get all of my used gear from amazon sellers or amazon warehouse.

When filming, if I'm just shooting shorter clips I can usually go for 4-5 hours. If it's filming continuously the battery usually lasts a couple hours.

I've had a T3 for a couple years. Never did video, but for stills it's quite capable, certainly more than enough for someone just starting out. The kit lens is decent, and with a 100-300 zoom you can reach a long, long way (the sensor crop effectively doubles the focal length). Battery life is good.

All that said, I'm thinking of selling it. Not because of any shortcoming in the camera, but only because I'm moving back to film for virtually all of my photography and I just don't use it.

I finally broke down and bought this exact camera from Amazon, got a great deal with many extras including: a large lens, tripod and much more. It was all brand new, shipped quickly with excellent follow up to ensure my satisfaction.

Have only snapped a few shots so far but the overall experience has been fantastic.

PS, there is a dummies guide to the EOS T3, I know, I got one.

Another satisfied Canon DSLR user here.

Geez, am I the only Nikon guy here? Started in 1985 as a high school grad present (Nikon FG). Then a N2002, then an 8008. Came home on leave and bought a used F3 and MD4 motordrive (still have), then a Coolpiz 995, then a D70, and now a D5100.

I've bought new, used and eBay, all with success. Cameta Camera on eBay is trustworthy and good deals, multiple friends have had success as well. http://www.cameta.com

1988RedT2 wrote: Another satisfied Canon DSLR user here.

I finally got away from the $100 cameras and bought a Canon EOS and am quite pleased ($600 with telephoto lense).

I have always wanted a wide angle lense and stopped to look at those - any advice on purchasing these? ($600+ )

Make sure you know what you want out of the wide angle. Many of the cheap/affordable extreme wide angle lenses have powerful fisheye distortion and weird color effects at the edges.

Jerry wrote: Geez, am I the only Nikon guy here? Started in 1985 as a high school grad present (Nikon FG). Then a N2002, then an 8008. Came home on leave and bought a used F3 and MD4 motordrive (still have), then a Coolpiz 995, then a D70, and now a D5100. I've bought new, used and eBay, all with success. Cameta Camera on eBay is trustworthy and good deals, multiple friends have had success as well. http://www.cameta.com

I'm rocking a refurb D3100 from Adorama ($350 w/ short warranty) and a 35 mm f/1.8 prime lens. I can't shoot action at all, but I've gotten some pretty pics from this setup. Just gotta find a 70-300 VR and a Tokina 11-16 and I'll be set.

For lenses, I love Craigslist. For cameras, I love Adorama refurb or anywhere I can get a steal. For reviews/tutorials, I love starting at Ken Rockwell's Site.

In reply to Jerry: Im a Nikon guy too. I am very much a hobby only guy and went with Nikon simply because pretty everybody I know that is serious uses then. Lotsa free tech support that way.

Try shooting from different angles, high, low, and play with shutter settings to get some motion into the shots. A lot of it is dumb luck. GRM printed one of my pictures a few years back. It was a shot of a Corvette hitting some cones and the timing equipment at the finsih. The cones and the nose of the car were bending from impact. What makes it one of my favorites is I believe it was the last run ever by my friend who died from cancer 17 months later. Still spooks the hell out of me, but it's a great picture.

Seconded on the dumb luck comment. Many times what you learn works well only really works for a narrow window of light and exposure settings. I use and abuse a Canon t4i, and get lucky at times with shots like these:

You have to keep experimenting, and certainly go beyond the auto settings of the camera to get a result you can happily call your own.

One of the big pluses to digital is that you can shoot a thousand frames without much thought and then cherry-pick the best later. It's also one of the biggest downsides. You will spend a lot of time going through your photos later - a LOT of time - and probably find that most of them are disappointing.

I will suggest you try a little trick I used to break myself of the tendency to spray-and-pray: buy a couple of the smallest SD cards you can find, and don't delete anything until you get home (there's a lot to be said for not even looking at your photos until you're done shooting). With limited storage, you force yourself to think about each shot before you take it. Then, when you look at the photos later, you'll be able to easily identify what worked and what didn't, rather than trying in vain to remember what you did to make shot #687 look so much better than the rest.

I realize that seconding what everyone else says is not really contributing a lot to the thread, but I will agree with 02Pilot as well. My previous comment wasn't meant to say spray and pray or haphazardly screw around with the settings, but rather to try the same shot tweaked slightly whenever you can. If you have the time, you can learn a lot by adjusting one setting (say use the camera in Av mode and adjust the aperture up and down a couple of stops from where you would usually shoot or where the camera picks for you.)

Skimming the auto and general photography forums will leave you feeling like you need to drop a couple grand on some L lenses, and shoot wide open for bokeh and shallow DOF. The reality is that the pros mostly run their lenses stepped down a couple of stops from maxed out, and those settings are achievable with cheaper glass as well. I have long admired the photography if not always the cars on Stanceworks.com and Speedhunters.com, and both have posted up some guidelines for automotive shooting that have helped me develop some as a lensman.

One thing I have done with my digital Sony camera when I am playing with different settings: when I take a few photos with one setting I will make a short video just stating what settings I used. Then, after making changes to the settings and taking a few more photos, I will make anothe short video and just state what changes I made. Then, when I am reviewing the pics later, I can tell what changes resulted in the best photo by listening to the videos before and after those shots. Doesn't take long or much memory for a few second vid, but it makes it much easier to remember what settings I tried that day.

EastCoastMojo wrote: One thing I have done with my digital Sony camera when I am playing with different settings: when I take a few photos with one setting I will make a short video just stating what settings I used. Then, after making changes to the settings and taking a few more photos, I will make anothe short video and just state what changes I made. Then, when I am reviewing the pics later, I can tell what changes resulted in the best photo by listening to the videos before and after those shots. Doesn't take long or much memory for a few second vid, but it makes it much easier to remember what settings I tried that day.

Different brands may be different, but my Nikon D80 stores all of the camera settings in the exif data. If I right click and do properties on the file in windows explorer I can see the camera settings.