Digi camera courses

Submitted: Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 14:41
ThreadID: 18535 Views:3863 Replies:9 FollowUps:15
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Well bought the machine now.. Canon 300D Enthusiast Kit from Teds in Frankston.

VERY nice camera.. But 6.x megapixel, the photos are large! Gettin 2.2Gig microdrive for it. But the quality... Mmmmmmmmmmm

What a machine, but Now I have to learn to use it :'( The camera has squillions of features, so wanna know how to get the most out of it.

Some courses are only 1 day, but Im not sure you could be taught to use this thing in such a short time.

Some courses so far are

http://www.rmit.edu.au/adc/photography

http://www.melbournephoto.org.au/courses/ but sounds more like a rich pensioners club

http://shortcourse.swin.edu.au/short2.cfm?crsi=19395 $175 for 1 day!
http://shortcourse.swin.edu.au/short2.cfm?crsi=19620 $275 for 8 sessions

http://www.photoimage.com.au/college/short_b&c_overview.html this ones funny at $850!

http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/ShortCourses/Photography1.htm $335 2 sessions..

http://webserver1.chisholm.vic.edu.au/sidemenuindex.cfm?item=portal_ed-short-module2&courseID=6134

Any body done any courses, are there any other options for courses that are good in Melbourne?

Thanks...
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Reply By: Member - Davoe (WA) - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 14:52

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 14:52
western 4wd has a regular photography section that often deals with the intracacies of digital photography and how to make the most of your photos and editing software
AnswerID: 88511

Reply By: Member - Smocky (NSW) - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 14:58

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 14:58
G'day Truckster,

Can I ask how much you ended up shelling out?

I've got one on my wishlist as well as I've already got a film based EOS plus lenses, fliters, flashes etc. So the 300D will share the same accessories as my 1000FN.

Cheers,

Smocky.
AnswerID: 88513

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:15

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:15
For the kit with extra lens, 256 card, etc, $1900

There are deals on Ebay that are cheaper, but was there at the time, had it in my hand, and the chick had nice norks.

You send away and they give you a free carrybag, and another 256 card...

I think the base body is $1400, which is what I paid for my Fujifinepix S602Z NON SLR 15ish mths ago... The wife has that now.
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Follow Up By: GOB & denny vic member - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:52

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:52
but do you piccies of the chick and the norks ?????????lol
steve
ps i am interested in a course but trying to get 1 ata decent time is a problem living near dande the courses are always in town and start at 5-30 ????
steve
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FollowupID: 347402

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:56

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:56
Steve.

TAFE, night courses, appear the best option.. I'm in same boat as you, town is not an option!!!

I finish work at Nunawading 5pm, drive to langwarrin.. home anything from 5.45-6.45.... or maybe one day a week I could work out of other office, and finish early, but thats at Coldstream!

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Reply By: BigPop - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 15:47

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 15:47
Truckster,
I have a 300d and use a 1Gb CF Card with it - on Large Res can take just on 400 odd pics with it. Would you really need a 2.2GB M/drive???

I took just on 400 for my nieces wedding 2 weeks ago and although some were a bit crook most of them came out perfectly. She is very pleased with mine as I had different shots/angles to the pro that was there and we were both using the same camera and my pics didn't cost her a thing.

I did a short online free course thru www.cnet.com - the actial site is at http://courses.help.com/ and found it very helpful - other than that I read the manual and after I learnt a few tricks/things thru the course just practiced, practiced and practiced. I also got a tripod which has helped heaps too.

That is the beauty of digital you can take a pic, view it straight off and then make some adjustments or new settings and take another pic to see what they do without costing an arm and a leg for processing.
I can now take 'reasonable' pics where beforehand it was all hit & miss.

When I need to print a large amount of pics I get them printed thru BIGW Online - only 38c/print at present which is cheaper than what I can do here at home and the prints are fantastic.
HTH.
BigPop
"I never get lost because everyone always tell me where to go"

AnswerID: 88519

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:20

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:20
$177 for a 2.2gig Microdrive..
$140 for 1gig Sandisk Ultra2 CF Card. 9meg a second!

+ I have 3x256 cards, remembering you are better off to have multi smaller cards than 1 big one, cause if it goes poo, you lose the lot..

I hate RTFM!!!

I agree with the BigW thing for printing...
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FollowupID: 347389

Follow Up By: Member - Smocky (NSW) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 09:42

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 09:42
Truckster, I agree with you twice in the one message !!

I hate reading the manual too, but when it's for a toy like the 300D, I would do it just to find out all the cool stuff it can do.

With cards, you need to find a balance between size and size. Meaning, yep you need more than 1, but there is no point having them that small that you have to change cards every second photo.

THE MOST important thing with CF cards is speed, then speed, then speed. There are a lot of cards out there that claim to be fast, but are really on 8x or thereabouts. Definately pay the bucks and get a fast card as there is nothing more frustrating than waiting 5 seconds for the camera to save the shot to card. This is especially important if you are taking photos at hi res.

The photo mags are a pretty good way of learning too. It depends what you want to know. The manual will tell you what the buttons do, but a course will teach you about f-stops, apperture vs shutter priority, photo composition, framing and all that stuff.

You just can't beat practice though and you'll soon figure out what makes a good shot when you look at them. You'll notice at the start that you've framed the photo badly and you have caught passing traffic in your scenery shot, or the person is too small in the photo etc.

Have fun. I'm a bit envious, I'd love a 300D but still saving (and convincing the wife that we NEED it).

Cheers,

Smocky.
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FollowupID: 347478

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 11:37

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 11:37
http://www.ramcity.com.au/products/products.asp?view=module&brand=Lexar&family=Flash&model=Compact%20Flash&partno=LEX-CF40X-8GB&supplierid=LXA0388

Lexar 8GB 40X Professional CF Crd!!!!!!!!!!!
Price (inc. GST): $2208

Lexar's patented speed 4X (equals 600 KB/sec.) 12X (equals 1.8 MB/sec.), 40X (equals 6.0 MB/sec.) and 80X (equals 12MB/sec.) is critical

12meg a second, perfect.. LMAO...
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Reply By: Rod E B - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:32

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 16:32
Picked up a nice nice photography forum site the other day

if you are interested

http://www.scribblybum.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=52389910ad82e781cfe9bcc311ef9956
AnswerID: 88521

Reply By: theshadows - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 19:04

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 19:04
nikon have some really good courses as well...no you dont need a nikon to enlist.

good luck with the 300d there is a kit up in logan camera house for $1700 for the kit including a 1 gig chip.

Im waiting for the price of the D70 kit to drop or the new pentax slr to come in with the "f" mount

shadow
AnswerID: 88559

Reply By: Fusion - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 21:45

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 21:45
Hi Guys,

I don't know of any courses but I have some options for you when purchasing memory etc. I'm a pro photographer and so buy this sort of stuff semi regularly.

I use a 2gb card (Ridata 52x - paid $650 + gst in March 2004) and a portable hard drive (PD7x - compact drive) that is very fast and uses rechargable AA batts. It doesn't have a screen for viewing photos etc & is therefore pretty inexpensive. Did I mention it is fast and uses AA's? Those are it's main advantages.

You can get them from these guys:
Power In Numbers - these guys work out of a house in melbourne and sell all over the world. I've picked stuff up from the house when I've been working down in Melbourne & I've ordered it online when I'm home (Gold Coast)

PD7x Compact Drive - $264 with 20Gb drive.
Bigger drives available for more $$$.

2Gb Ridata or Silicon 45 - 80x - $253 - $286

I've not used MicroDrives but I know a lot of Pro's don't use them as they are not nearly as robust as solid state memory. ie standard compact flash cards.

Thanks,

Aaron.
AnswerID: 88591

Reply By: Fusion - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 21:53

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 21:53
I should add (I guess) that I've never done any courses, everything I know about photography I've learnt by reading and then doing. In the old days I purchased a number of photo mags each month and read them cover to cover.

These days most of my photography/digital/multimedia learning is online. But I still purchase heaps of 4by mags. I'm still on a major learning curve when it comes to offroad stuff.

Please Note: I'm not bagging courses, just letting people know how I did it.

Thanks,

Aaron.
AnswerID: 88594

Reply By: AT4WD ADVENTURES - Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 22:46

Monday, Dec 13, 2004 at 22:46
Hi Guys,

I just bought myself a 300D as well and managed to get the body + lens + tripod + canon offer (crumple bag = 256mb Card) for $1392.00 + $60.00 for two years additional warranty. I played and beat Harvey Norman at there own match then discount by 1 a further 10% there competitors price game.

The only problem is that price matching is one thing but they said initally they would take a further 10% off that matched price but then changed and said they would only take a further 10% off the difference. Apparently this is what is wriiten in the fine print of there 110% guarentee. I pushed a won out in the end.

They were not happy but then its my job as a consumer to look after me and not them......if they don't want to sell the item they won't.

Regards,

Stuart.

AnswerID: 88605

Follow Up By: Member - Smocky (NSW) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 09:34

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 09:34
G'day Stuart,

Where did you price match against? Did it have to be an advertised price or did you screw the other mob down and then take their price in to Harvies.

Cheers,

Smocky.
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FollowupID: 347473

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 10:24

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 10:24
Yea I'd like a copy of that advert too, I'll even send you a slab, if its a printed advert as Teds will also give you the difference + 10%...
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FollowupID: 347481

Reply By: AT4WD ADVENTURES - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 12:10

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 12:10
Guys,

I did a bunch of research for an advertised price to use and found the best price where there was a shopfront as well as a web presence. The one I found was Digital City in Sydney and there was members price $1546.00 listed on the website.

I used that as my leverage....but as stated the policy from Harvies was not to match and then discount by a further 10% but this other offer they call there 110% price guarentee....I just was lucky to have one of there staff say otherwise. If you have a price match from Teds then try that.

Regards,

Stuart M.
AnswerID: 88665

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 13:23

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 13:23
Canon EOS 300D Enthusiast Kit
(which you say you have)
http://www.digitalcity.net.au/store/product.asp?idProduct=938
Online Price: $1848.37* (inc. GST)
Member Price: $1827.63* (inc. GST)

NEW! Canon 300D Black + BG-E1 LIMITED STOCK (#300dblack)
http://www.digitalcity.net.au/store/product.asp?idProduct=1445
Online Price: $1699.99* (inc. GST)
Member Price: $1690.27* (inc. GST)
Duty Free: $1545.45 (ex. GST)

Canon EOS 300D with EF-S 18-55 Lens (#1628) http://www.digitalcity.net.au/store/product.asp?idProduct=530
Online Price: $1597.34* (inc. GST)
Member Price: $1556.83* (inc. GST)

Dont know how you got that first lot with the extras for $1400 ...
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FollowupID: 347494

Follow Up By: Member - Smocky (NSW) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 14:19

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 14:19
G'day Truckster,

Don't know if it's the cheapest around (only just started comparing prices), but Camera House have the Camera, Lens, bag and 256MB CF Card for $1649 in their current catalogue.

Still, depending on the quality of her norks, I may have found it hard to resist buying from Ted's as well :-) I hate it when they do that to stop you negotiating. (Put nice norks in front of you that is). LOL.

Cheers,

Smocky.

P.S. I'm still trying to get that EOS as a dealer. Would it help you at all if I send you a written quote for say $1,500 even though I can't order them in at the moment? ;-)
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FollowupID: 347504

Follow Up By: AT4WD ADVENTURES - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 15:28

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 15:28
Gday Truckster,

First of all where did I say I had purchased the Canon EOS 300D Enthusiast Kit......what I said in my posting was and I quote:

"I just bought myself a 300D as well and managed to get the body + lens + tripod + canon offer (crumple bag + 256mb Card) for $1392.00 + $60.00 for two years additional warranty."

Which is equivalent to the offer from Digital City that you found...sorry I was $10.00 out when I quoted $1546.00 members price.

Canon EOS 300D with EF-S 18-55 Lens (#1628) http://www.digitalcity.net.au/store/product.asp?idProduct=530
Online Price: $1597.34* (inc. GST)
Member Price: $1556.83* (inc. GST)

I wish you would read what I wrote without wearing those rose coloured glasses!!!!

Regards,

Stuart M.

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FollowupID: 347515

Follow Up By: AT4WD ADVENTURES - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 15:31

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 15:31
Truckster,

Also I managed to get the latest black body 300D as well.....

Regards,

Stuart M.
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FollowupID: 347516

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 16:21

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 16:21
I read it wrong, read it as Lenses... as in the kit... apologies...

Yea I scored the black as well, think it was a mistake by the chest that was there..

I also got 256 card from Teds, and get another when they send me the crumple carry bag, and 256 card. Already got 3 tripods dont need more..

Just got call mates dad is selling his T70 Canon, with 8 lenses, so I have the choice of buying the lenses (they fit :P) for cheap.. Macro lenses, Fisheye, and 500 zoom ... Im set..
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Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 16:22

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004 at 16:22
PS. also getting Duty free as wife pisses off to USA in 3 weeks..
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FollowupID: 347533

Follow Up By: Pfeff - Monday, Dec 20, 2004 at 23:31

Monday, Dec 20, 2004 at 23:31
To all interested...

Caution on buying 300d (Digital Rebel in US) overseas as Canon's warranty espressly requires return to service point in country of purchase. I bought mine from JB for $1500 and got the GST back at the airport customs office under the new tax refund scheme...$1365 net. On checking in the USA discounters like Best Buy were no cheaper than this. Better than the duty free shops.

Buy local and negotiate...

Like Truckster says, this is an awesome camera and I can use all those EF lenses from my film camera too. The Nikon is a great camera too, but from my experience, the Canon is a better buy and leaves not much to be desired. Has same CMOS as more expensive 10D.
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FollowupID: 348483

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