Getting started, any tips

Hi,

In less than a week i hope to be the proud owner of an srs kit consisting of the K10D, kit lens, Tamron 70-300, and 4gb memory card. I am wondering if folks could post their advice on other things to get me started, and be aware of. My photography is going to be varied, and my time probably limited, with two toddlers. I live in the countryside so hope to capture wildlife and landscapes. Portraits of the kids. And occasional sporting events. I'd be really grateful for recommendations (on a budget) on:

1. flashgun (to help with portrait work) 2. editing software (RAW conversion and good plugs for B&W conversion especially) 3. camera bag (camera + 3 lens) 4. batteries (third party ones any good?) 5. Any other tips!

Thanks

H

Ok let me try to answer a few questions.

1) Flashgun - well to be honest you won't need it to start with. Starting to use flashguns will add a lot of extra that you need to control. If you are not familiar with dslr - you have plenty to learn first before buying a flash gun.

A tip could be to bounce the popup-flash on to the celling. Just a piece of white paper can do that - and makes wonders. (that is cheap).

2) Software. I still use the pentax raw converter. It is fine for the whitebalnce and so on. If you want to expand - I would suggest silkypix (which is the program the pentax raw converter is based on). It is £75.

What you need beside that is a software that can manipulate your photos. For that you can use a lot of different programs. Most used is of course photoshop (Cs, cs2 or cs3). On a budget the Photoshop elements could be a choice. It is a lot cheaper and got almost all features as photoshop.

You could also use free software like GIMP. I started by using Picasa2 (from Google). It is a combination of an organizer and editing software. Very nice to start with and easy to use.

3) Bags.

I love my Lowepro slingshot 200aw. It is very good to use - with good space for all parts.

4) Batteries.

Buy third party. I bought a few from HK by ebay. About 10$ - works like the pentax one.

5) Time and time and time and time Keep snapping and post results. Read forums and magazines. Helps a lot.

OH and read the guide - at least twice

This forum has a lot of tips and info, search for specifics or broad outlines.

there are lots of other sites that are useful.


http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ is a good example.

Battery: NP-400 from 7DayShop @ £4.99. Intended for Minolta but also suitable for K10D:

www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_3&products_id=99219

2. editing software (RAW conversion and good plugs for B&W conversion especially)

As Nimitz has said, Photoshop Elements offers almost all the features of the full blown Photoshop, it certainly has enough to keep you occupied to begin with. It also allows the use of Adobe Camera Raw which, though it's not the best raw convertor, it does have a user friendly interface that will get you used to the adjustments that are possible with raw files.

For B&W conversion, I find the Photoshop Actions (macros for want of a better word) here:
http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRB&WConversion.htm
and here:
http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRB&WToning.htm
to be useful.

Though, it has to be said, since I've been using the JFI labs profiles for Capture One, referenced here:
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1765&start=15
I haven't been using the TLR Actions as much. Capture One is my raw convertor of choice, but that's more expense unless you can find someone to offer you a spare licence code (they were free with Sandisk Extreme III cards until recently).

Duncan

Thanks for replies so far, I saw that other thread and liked the sound of those b&w plugins for CaptureOne. Maybe I should do a separate post to see if anyone has a spare license for it, as I can't really buy it and Elements, and both have their good points. I won't be buying anything until I tinker with the new camera first, might find the bundled software is enough for me for now anyway.