Question by I Am the Walrus: Are there any good but cheap SLR cameras for sale?
I’m an self-taught amateur photographer, but I’m interested in a low-cost SLR camera. Right now I have a Fugifilm FinePix S5700 (http://flickr.com/cameras/fujifilm/finepix_s5700/) but I’m really not satisfied with it. Recently I’ve been using my mother’s Canon Rebel EOS FILM camera (egad!), but I’ve been getting really good results with it– the subject is in crisp, clear focus, but the background is slighty out-of-focus. I don’t know the exactly terminology for that effect, but if there’s a digital SLR camera out there that does that, please tell me.
Best answer:
Answer by yo
the Nikon D40 is excellent and costs about $ 450 with a lens off of amazon (last time I checked).
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The canon xti is a great beginer-imterdiate camera with tons of feature, anti-shake, and is all and all a great camera. they just realeased the canon xsi for the xti has gone down in price also!
Buy a Canon XTi or XSi. Then you can use your mother’s lenses. If you buy any other brand then you’ll have to buy lenses for that brand of camera since all camera manufacturers use a proprietary lens mount. Nikon cameras only use Nikon lenses (or after-market ones designed for the Nikon lens mount); Canon only uses Canon lenses (or after-market ones designed for the Canon lens mount).
The effect you describe is a product of a large f-stop such as f2.8 or f4. It is called Depth of Field (DOF) and is loosely defined as “The area in front of and behind your subject that is in acceptable focus.”
A large f-stop of f2.8 of f4 will produce a shallow DOF – very little in front of or behind your subject will be in acceptable focus while your subject is in crisp, clear focus. This is a great way to separate your subject from the background.
A small f-stop of f8 or f11 will produce a much broader area of acceptable focus in front of and behind your subject.
The focal length of the lens will also affect DOF. A wide-angle lens (21mm, 24mm, etc.) will produce more DOF at any f-stop than a telephoto lens (100mm, 200mm, etc.) at the same f-stop.
Keeping your subject farther away from the background also enhances a shallow DOF.