New to Photography

[Danno1058]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the digital SLR field. I took an introduction to photography class at my college and it got me hooked! Now, I'm looking to get into digital SLR photography. In a couple weeks I plan to get my first camera and have decided to go with the Sony A200. It was recommended to me by a few people and tested it out and liked it, so it's what Im going with. Now at the end of April into May, I'm taking a 16 day road trip around the country to see the sights. I've always been fascinated with the wide angle landscape shots and want to get some advice for equipment (lenses, filters,etc) that I should get to take some good pictures. I did a little research and was wondering about the wide angle lens attachments that you can get for fairly cheap (30-150 bucks). Do these actually work? I'm kinda on a budget because the camera alone will take up much of the money I plan on spending so I really cannot afford the nice, expensive lenses that I would like to get so I'm kinda looking for stuff that will do the trick and not run me broke. I appreciate all the help and advice!

[another view]

Chances are the "adapter" will work but won't be anywhere near as sharp as a shot taken without it. Personally, after having spent a lot of money on the wrong stuff, I'd say hold off until you can buy a good quality real wide angle lens.

If that means you won't have it for this trip, then you'll just have to be a little more creative with your landscapes.

I would, however, totallly recommend a tripod and a bubble level. What tripod you should get depends on a lot of things including budget and preferences - but just like the lens, buying cheap just to have one is usually a waste of money.

Honestly, I've had about a half-dozen different tripods and got rid of them all after getting a carbon fiber Gitzo. That's an expensive set of tripod legs (and the head wasn't cheap either) but I really have no interest in looking at what else is out there anymore. I'm not recommending that you get something like this just yet, but the moral of the story is that if you buy right you won't need to worry about it again. Unfortunately that also means I can't give you much advice about tripods on the market now...

[SmartWombat]

I did a little research and was wondering about the wide angle lens attachments that you can get for fairly cheap (30-150 bucks). Do these actually work?

Not in my opinion. The quality isn't good enough.
Generally you get the quality you pay for, so you'll get 30-150$ pictures out of your A200.
I don't see the point of having an expensive camera, with a kit lens, and then fitting something cheap in front if it.

What lens are you getting with the camera?
And how much can you afford for a wide angle lens?
Would you consider a second hand manual focus, manual aperture Minolta lens with a mount that fits the Sony?

[Danno1058]

I have a good tripod that I bought while in my class. I bought it for my Film SLR. The A200 comes with a 18-70mm standard lens, so it has some versitility but I think your right, I'll just wait until I can afford a good lens.

[freygr]

With the kit lens (18-70) field of view in 35mm film for your camera is 27mm to 105mm, which is a fairly wide but not a fish eye wide. If you need wider you can always stitch two photos together.