[Towert7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baines93 /img/forum/go_quote.gif COUGH, £700+, COUGH, 16y/o, COUGH.

Oh goodness. In that case, I would just spring for the entry level DSLR from canon or nikon.

Don't worry so much about specs. Specs are not what make a camera. Features, ease of use, feel, lens selection, build quality, etc are what you should be looking at.

Common beginner mistake is thinking mega pixels have any impact on pictures. If anything, more MP just takes up more room on the memory card. 8mp are MORE than enough. The only reason to buy a camera with more mega pixels, or a full frame sensor, is if you are going to be making money off photography, in which case you don't want to settle for anything but the best Nikon or Canon.

Learning to use a 6mp camera will give you MUCH better results than a full frame 22mp camera on auto.

You also mention lenses. Well, if you plan to eventually dive into this photography hobby, you will have the best lens selection with the canon or nikon camps, regardless of the af thing with the D40.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

This one's for you, Towert!

 

[Towert7]

Thanks Iron_Dreamer. Sunrise or Sunset?
I love pastels.

 

[raptor84]

@agnostic
Awesome b/w shots.

@baines93
Save up for the d60 or 1000D

I started with the rebel xt which is the older version of the 1000D. But once you go full frame you dont go back

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

This evening's sunset. Our first time seeing the sun in about five days, though those 5 inches or so in the rain gauge were desperately needed around here, so no complaints.

 

[NeObliviscaris]

click images for full-size

still experimenting, went outside today to have a look what I can do. i am still using the D90 on No Flash mode outside, im not messing with shutter speeds and apeture yet until i understand what they are. i tried them inside and didnt understand what was happening, then all of a sudden my pictures came out black and my shutter stayed open for 10 seconds!

 

[Agnostic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FeedMeTrance /img/forum/go_quote.gif click images for full-size still experimenting, went outside today to have a look what I can do. i am still using the D90 on No Flash mode outside, im not messing with shutter speeds and apeture yet until i understand what they are. i tried them inside and didnt understand what was happening, then all of a sudden my pictures came out black and my shutter stayed open for 10 seconds!

Don't worry about fooling around with the settings, you're not gonna break the camera.

Your second photo shows a (small) problem that could be solved by using the the possibilities of the camera. It is slightly overexposed which means you are losing some detail (in the bark of the tree in this case). This often happens when shooting high contrast scenes in Auto Mode or Scene metering modes because the camera exposes based on the lightness or darkness of the entire frame, not taking into account that that value might not be representative of everything in the scene. In this case it is preserving shadow detail at the cost of highlight detail.

IF you are shooting raw this can be corrected in post processing if it's not too bad. Otherwise the information in that part of the picture is lost (blown out in photography speak). In general slight underexposure is preferred to overexposure as information from overexposure in non-recoverable while loss of information in shadow areas is recoverable to some extent (though sometimes at the cost of introducing some noise).

You could deal with this situation in various ways:

Using spot metering (where you choose what object in the scene the camera should meter the intensity of the light on, choosing a lighter spot results in a darker picture and vice-versa). This can be used in most modes.

Changing the shutter speed. Can be used in Manual and Shutter priority modes (possibly some other modes, depends on what modes your camera has)

Setting a negative exposure compensation (there might be other ways depending on the mode you are shooting in but these are the most basic ones). Can be used in most modes. This is often the most easy way to quickly adjust exposure without having to switch modes.

Hope I'm not swamping you with too much information

@Digitalfrog Thanks! Will try the panorama, but I must say I like the big areas of black in this shot.

@Raptor84 Thanks!

 

[Towert7]

Nice find Agnostic!

 

[Baines93]

x2!

Sound advice Towert. I was talking to a professional photographer with £8k in one camera (she had two) and lenses...

Wrong person to ask for advice obviously! She said MP's matter, but she is crazy about crazy edits, which are not to my taste... She has a site like DeviantArt, where she sells the odd pic taken for fun before she had no cam's.

She was in Spain, but came back here. She used to meet up with customers in cafe's and bars, and take portraits, cut the people out, and put them onto something else... Until she came back to a nasty relationship in the UK, and had her cameras and laptops smashed. My dad has put her up and fixed her laptops, but her cameras are smashed and locked away, and she has no access to them.

I will speak to her and see if I can post her link here. Take a look at her pics. Any you like then please buy a print, every little bit of money helps right now. She is camera-less, a photographer with no tools is no use! And effectivley homeless

Matt

 

[scompton]

FeedMeTrance, one thing you might want to do is try bracketing. Basically, you put the camera in manual mode, set the f-stop and shutter speed to what the camera thinks is correct, take a picture with that setting, then change the shutter speed or f-stop up one, take a picture, and down one and take a picture. When you evaluate the pictures on the computer, don't just delete the ones that didn't work, look at the settings. It will really help you understand how your camera's meter works, and how different f-stops and shutter speeds effect the pictures.

I did this a lot 30 years ago when I was learning photography. It's much easier now with digital. When I was learning, I wrote down the exposure information for every picture I took so I could go back later and figure out what went right and what went wrong. I still have dozens of these notebooks. In one of the classes I took, we had to have this information during the critiques.

 

[digitalfrog]

A party with a couple of friends....

 

[M0T0XGUY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by balderon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nice kitty! Nikon D2H 80-200mm/F2.8D 1/350 @ F9.5 [IMGhttp://photopics.com/images/DSC_0076.jpg[/IMG] Nikon D2H 80-200mm/F2.8D 1/250 @ F8 [IMGhttp://photopics.com/images/DSC_0016.jpg[/IMG]

I think the small aperture is hurting the intimacy of these two shots. You have pro gear that's meant to be used wide open - I'd stick to f/2.8 on that lens as often as possible.

 

[M0T0XGUY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baines93 /img/forum/go_quote.gif x2! Sound advice Towert. I was talking to a professional photographer with £8k in one camera (she had two) and lenses... Wrong person to ask for advice obviously! She said MP's matter, but she is crazy about crazy edits, which are not to my taste... She has a site like DeviantArt, where she sells the odd pic taken for fun before she had no cam's. She was in Spain, but came back here. She used to meet up with customers in cafe's and bars, and take portraits, cut the people out, and put them onto something else... Until she came back to a nasty relationship in the UK, and had her cameras and laptops smashed. My dad has put her up and fixed her laptops, but her cameras are smashed and locked away, and she has no access to them. I will speak to her and see if I can post her link here. Take a look at her pics. Any you like then please buy a print, every little bit of money helps right now. She is camera-less, a photographer with no tools is no use! And effectivley homeless Matt

I'd look on eBay for a used D100 or D50, which can each be had for around $300 in decent condition. The D100 is older and more archaic, but both work quickly and have adequate resolution. More importantly, both allow you to take advantage of Nikon's 30 year span of manual focus lenses - many of which can be found for under $50.

Using a manual lens not only saves you money, but also forces you to learn the intricacies of composition and the basics of exposure. You'll find yourself more connected to the scene, and more conscious of your depiction of a subject. All in all, you can build yourself a pro-level digital kit (with manual lenses) for under $400 if you bargain hunt.

 

[Wil]

That shot made me chuckle alittle Agnostic.

Some of mine, portraits.

 

[Baines93]

I think that that sounds reasonable. The only time i would miss auto focus would be when doing macro. Moving your hand too fast towrds the lens to focus wouls scare the insect, no?

I think for now my only true requirements are large range of old and new lens use (AF and non-AF), in case dad lests me borrow his old 35mm lenses.

I want 6mp+, auto bracketing for HDR (love HDR) (not on D40

) and what else would you reccomend?

Maybe time to look at entry level Canons, or one model up in the D-series?

Matt