My wife insisted I post this. I wrote all this in e-mails the past couple days trying to help a technologically-challenged sister buy a camera for her starting-out-photo-student brother, and they are in different countries, so cannot shop together.

Here is the little background: because these suggestions are for a specific situation. The student-photographer-in-question will have access to loaner lenses through the photography department. So, one, he does not need anything more than a workable lens for himself. And two, all that glass is Canon. So, regardless of my opinions, he needs a Canon camera and should put most of the investment in the camera.

The sister almost bought a Canon 5D mark II and a lens for $2000…and that is about $1000 too cheap. Thankfully, the lens they ordered was an EF-S and would not work on the 5Dmk2, so they were able to cancel the order, which was most certainly some sort of scam anyway. Then, they started thinking about the new 7D or a 50D. And that is where we pick up the story.

Dear Concerned-Sister-Who-Loves-Her-Brother-Enough-to-Give-Him-a-Good-Photographic-Start,

Here are some links for you to look at before we call tomorrow morning. First, PLEASE do not buy from any non-trusted source. There are lots of scams out there, and it is tempting. I will try to lead you in the right direction here. Basically, if you see a huge variation from the prices on these sites (the ones I am about to give you), you need to suspect their honesty.

Ok…here we go:

I love MPEX.com. I have bought from there and they do good business. Here is a link to their used Canon gear. The best price on that list is the 40D for $700. Think about that. If you want a cheaper option, the 40D is VERY close to the 50D, and you could grab it for cheap. The 7D? You really do not get much for the money over a 50D anyway. Oh, and note their used 5Dmk2 price, $2400.

If you bought a camera from there, get the body used, then buy this lens new: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 for about $120. It is a simple lens; it’s cheap and versatile, and he can borrow just about any lens he wants from the department, anyway. Regardless of what camera you buy, I very much suggest you just get this simple lens.

Ok, let’s move on to KEH.com. You can go check out their website directly, but if you go to their eBay store, you can view photos of each item. Once you get an idea of their ratings with the photos, you can just use their direct website. They are a very trusted used gear seller and their ratings are trustworthy too. Anything “excellent” or better is perfectly fine.

What I would suggest, if you do not want to go for the used 40D, is a 5D from KEH. The 5D is a fully professional camera. The quality is excellent! It is old, but still is WAY better quality than the 7D or 50D, no question. You would buy a 7D if you wanted fast shooting and fast focusing (or video). You would buy a 50D if you just wanted a new camera and not something used. If those things do not matter, buy a 5D. There are several used Canon 5D cameras there.

Oh, and you can see a 5D with the 50mm lens I am suggesting for sale there (at time of writing), but I would not suggest buying that unless you just want to throw away $200. I personally suggest their “excellent plus” 5D for $1420. Then buy the 50mm lens just about anywhere for $120, which equals $1540ish, far short of the $1700 for that combination on there, but you can take a look, anyway.

Oh, and as for that 50mm lens, there are actually two of them, an old one and a new one. Either is fine (actually, the older is better and cheaper, but the newer is easier to find): 50mm f/1.8 and the 50mm f/1.8 II. Again, either one is fine.

I see two good options: cheap and less-cheap. For cheap, get the 40D from MPEX.com for $700 and buy a 50mm f/1.8 II lens new from them for a total of $800. For the nicer option, get a 5D (excellent plus condition) from KEH for $1420 and then buy a 50mm f/1.8 anywhere you like…maybe even MPEX, just because they are nice folks.

I already mentioned KEH and MPEX, but here are some reputable stores against which you can compare prices, and hopefully with whom you would do business precisely because they are trustworthy:

• B&H Photo and Video
• Adorama
• Midwest Photo Exchange (MPEX)
• KEH

Cooper

If you have a normal flash mount (just found out Sony uses their own “standard”…punks), you can easily buy a little optical trigger for no more than $15. You slide that baby on the bottom of your flash, and then when any other flash goes off, it will trigger that flash. So, the pop up flash will trigger it, or hey, I have even used my point and shoot flash to set off my speedlight!

But that is not the end.

Rarely do I actually want the pop up flash to show up in the photo. If portraits with a long lens or maybe on a bright day, I might just shoot the pop up flash straight, but usually, I want to redirect or soften it somehow. I carry a couple of those flat coffee filters in my bag: lifesavers. I cut the small end off and can slide it over my pop up flash, softening the light. Napkins work too.

A few weeks ago, I did not want to soften, but to almost totally mute the pop up flash. Oh, side note, those optical triggers are pretty good. I have never had a problem getting them to “see” the flash even with all this muting and redirecting going on. Anyway, I did not want any pop up flash, so I taped normal paper, folded a couple times, so it would hang just in front of the flash. Some light still got through, but most was bounced backwards (and into my eyes! …dang!).

Sometimes, I will just put my hand in front and redirect it off to the side. That will add a little red to the photo (your hand is full of blood, you know), but sometimes that is actually nice, but usually not a problem when you have another flash firing. If you want to keep it white, just use a business card or some such.

I love optical slaves (optical triggers, whatever…slave is the more standard term, but I find it a little non-obvious). You do not need line of sight to set those off. As long as enough flash is bouncing around so they can see it, you are ok. Cheapo and wireless. You cannot beat that.

A couple days ago, a friend of mine mentioned (just in an off comment, he probably did not think I would blog about it) that his next purchase was going to be a flash. For me, that set off all kinds of alarms. I know he is just an amateur working on a budget like many of us, and I also knew a little knowledge about flash photography could easily save him a couple hundred dollars.

There are loads of flash techniques. About the only on-camera technique I would even think of is bounce flash. If I just happen to be in a room where it will work, I will use this. Actually, just recently after the birth of my second child (a wonderful little girl who is crying at this very moment), I used simple bounce flash to light up the hospital room for almost all the shots.

Then, there is off-camera flash (this all relates to what flash you should buy, I promise…just bear with me). In the old days, basically, off-camera flash meant cords, and those still work great, of course. Today, though, there are many easy cordless options using either radio signals or optical infrared signals.

At this point, I could easily chase a very long rabbit trail. So, for now, let’s just say you want to know what flash to buy. But before I totally leave the how-to do off-camera flash, I can quickly say that the Strobist site is the best online resource for off-camera flash folks (from beginners to pros). Check it out. Just work through the Lighting 101 to start off.

Ok, what flash to buy? Well, if you are going to use flash in automatic mode and want it to do all the thinking for you…this is not the post for you, but here is your answer: buy the flash that works TTL (through the lens) with your camera model. Ok, done. There is a place for auto flash, but more than likely, learning just a little about how to run it manual will produce better shots.

So, if you do not really need TTL and plan on running manual anyway, prepare to save money, because you do not need the latest and greatest flash on the market. I bought a used Nikon SB-26 (which even pre-dates my camera by a few years…and that is hard to do), and did not even know at the time how perfect a choice I made. It does all the cool stuff other flashes do, but the one great part is the built in optical trigger. Basically, if it sees another flash go off, it will go off (if that function is turned on, of course). I have even used it with our point-and-shoot camera; the little camera’s flash will set off the big flash.

I have found that to be extremely useful. I usually will tape some pretty thick white paper in front of my pop-up flash so almost none of the light actually goes to the subject, but it will still easily set off the SB-26, usually even around corners, with obstructions, and such. I also have a cheapo radio trigger, but I have found it to be too unreliable. Sometimes it fires and sometimes it does not (keep in mind, I have the cheap ones…the expensive ones obviously work much better). My optical solution is much more reliable, but if I fire too fast, my pop-up flash’s slow recycle rate will hold up the photo, where if using radio, I am not held back by my pop-up flash’s recycle rate.

Ok, so if you find any old flash lying around, that will do to (more than likely). You can buy a little $10 optical trigger, slip it on the foot, and you are wireless. Actually (I am embarrassed to admit), I bought a little optical slave (another name for these little do-dads) before I realized my flash had one built in. So, you can just buy a used flash, but make sure you can adjust the power output 1/2, 1/4, 1/8…etc. Mine goes down to 1/64, and the lower the better, really. Sometimes, you just need a dash of light.

There is a new option, though. In close cahoots with the Strobist community (their Flickr group was recently voted the best online community, or something like that), LumoPro has recently come out with an all manual flash with every cord port you could want, built in optical trigger, and …well, everything the Stobist folks asked for. You can grab one of these LumoPro LP120 flashes for $130 at MPEX.com, the coolest place to buy lighting gear…they have all kinds of little lighting goodies for cheap skates like me.

The Strobist does talk about a couple other new manual flash options out there, but the LumoPro or an older Nikon strobe would be a better bet, in my opinion. If you want to know more about why, I might write more later, or you could read the reviews of those three flashes on Strobist (linked at top of this paragraph) and read his pros and cons about each. That will give you a very good idea of what features to look for (and insist upon).

Want to stretch yourself, keep up with the Strobist blog, and you will see loads of field use of off-camera flash and a wide variety of examples of work.