For quite a while now I have been interested in Photography. I have been taking more and more pictures of increasing quality and complexness. However, I have been shooting on a Nikon Coolpix digital camera. Recently I have been hearing a lot about the Nikon D90, but before I dish out $1500 dollars I was just wondering on people's opinions on the D90. Another thing, I know absolutely nothing about lenses or "fancy" cameras. I took out my parent's old camera once, and fiddled with the dials and got some nice shots, but I am far from knowing anything. I do know, however, lots about depth, perspective, flow, and how to take a good picture. So I am wondering if it is worth dishing out some more money for Photography classes, or if there is a "Lenses for Dummies" book somewhere. So if you have any opinions or answers for me, please PM me or post them here.
Buy a lower-end DLSR, as you also need to factor in some dcent lenses. The body of the camera comes second to the lenses you use.
Well I have had good experiences with Nikons. So are you saying I should go for like D80 or D60? I would really like to have a high definition camera. I also do get one lens in the $1500s, the body is only $1000 dollars. I still don't have any clue what lenses i should get or how they are used in any case. :S
If you're wanting something that gets good pictures go with the Nikon D40X. It's got 10 mega pixels, which could pretty much take a picture the size of a billboard. It's got some great features. Oh, and it's cheap. If you're really wanting to look into the different camera and want to see how they compare check this site out: http://www.dpreview.com/ They explain a lot on the site. Personally I'm about to get the Nikon D40, which only has 6.0 mega pixels, but it's still nice to start out on. I've been saving up for a while now
The D40 seems to do fine with noise reduction. I haven't really had any trouble with it at all, but I've not used much better (unless you factor in the one shot I took on a $30,000 camera... there wasn't any noise there, but it's waaay out of my budget, lol). However, if you go past ISO 800, you are going to get an awful lot of noise. Makes most pictures unsalvageable unless the noise adds to the effect. I made it a personal rule to never shoot above 800 on my camera. The D40x is an excellent camera to start on. I'd recommend either that, or the D80. In fact, I'd say just go with the D80. The D40x is $150 or so more than the D40 when the only difference is in megapixels. The D80 has extra features, as well as the same amount of MPs as the D40x. My main thing is that the D40 is horrible with white balancing, even custom. The D80 allows you to set WB by color temperature on the kelvin scale, meaning you can get it right every time. First lens you should get is a standard lens. Somewhere between 18-105mm, preferably a zoom lens. That's what I think, at least. Unless you've already found your niche in photography, in which case, buy whichever lens will suit that particular need. Also... do fork out some money for a class. I was self-taught until this current term, and I've more than quadrupled my knowledge of photography with two classes alone (granted, they're three hours long, twice a week, and within a photography major, but it's still impressive). Books just don't compare to having an actual teacher to talk to.
I do have the money to buy a D90 and a few lenses (assuming they cost like $300 each?). Would it be better to upgrade to that? I want some extreme noise reduction for extreme low light situations.
You don't want to buy a $300 lens... go for at least $400, preferably over $500. $300 lenses just aren't high enough quality to give a good picture. Invest in good lenses right off, sacrifice camera body quality over lenses.
Any good lens suggestions for the Nikon d40x/80? I don't even know how to use lenses... and let's say if I buy a Nikon D40x/80 and a bunch of lenses for it, what happens in a few years when I want to upgrade my body to a Nikon D90 or a newer model, will the lenses be compatible?
depends, least on canon most lens are compatible, say the XTI and XSI the lens are compatible.. dunno about nikon tho.. most camera lens are compatible thign su might need to change perhaps the memory cards from CF to SDHC ect.. tho i could be worng never used a nikon
Hmmm. I'll have to look into it then. I am pretty set on a Nikon, almost every camera I have ever used has been one. I also had another question, which seems really stupid and I am assuming the answer is yes, but.... are all tripods universal to all cameras?
ADD version of post is at the bottom. They'll be compatible if you shop careful. Any lens compatible with the D40 should be compatible with every other digital Nikon model. The D40 only supports lenses with AF-S built in, and that's if you want autofocus. Logic dictates (meaning I don't know for sure) that all Nikkor (Nikon) lenses will fit the cameras, but not necessarily be compatible with the auto settings. I use a 40 year old lens on my D40 and it works fine, so long as I shoot manual. The lenses are compatible as long as the rear side will fit inside and lock within the camera body. If I wanted to be really cheap, I could mount a Canon lens on a Nikon camera with tape (assuming I already had a Canon lens in my possession). It'll work. I've flipped my lens around, having the rear facing outward, and taken pictures that way. You don't even need them to be latched on, the camera will still take pictures. The only hitch is that it has to be a manual lens to do that little trick, otherwise you have to tinker with the aperture in a very not-fun way, then hold a latch back to make sure that the aperture is opened up. Oh, and you won't have a meter if your lens isn't digital (or, in other words, is old). It can be obnoxious, but you should buy an incident light meter eventually anyway. Just think of it like this: lenses are like a really expensive and complex pair of glasses. You have lenses bending the light in a way that directs them to the sensor in the camera. The glass is shaped in a specific way to bend light in a specific way, and you have several different lenses within one lens. Each lens will direct the light where it needs to be. Heck, you could get this effect by holding one magnifying glass in front of another (I think...). It's just much more exact. The more expensive the lens, the closer to "20/20" you'll get (along with a few other things). That's my understanding of lenses. -------- Lens compatibility changes by brand. Contrary to my example before, I would not actually use Canon with Nikon, or Nikon with Canon. There's only one brand that does that and I believe that it's Fuji. I don't know how, I was told about it by some photographers I ran into while on vacation. Nikon and Canon have a different connection for the lenses, and I believe that it varies in size, making it impossible to fit one lens into another brand's body. When looking into lenses, you need to look at glass quality. I don't know what they all mean, but Nikon has a nice explanation for all their lenses. Make sure to browse Nikon's site first when looking for lenses. You'll see acronyms like ED and D. They're important to know and understand while shopping (I knew them at one point...). Read reviews as well. An important thing to know: <=28mm is wide angle (gives spherical distortion) 35-55mm is normal (not sure what the technical term is, but this is close to what the human eye sees, meaning no image distortion) 70mm+ is telephoto/macro. It will specify whether it's telephoto or macro for each lens. Some can do both. This gives shallow depth of field due to the high focal length. As for the inbetween measurements... no idea. I've only been studying photography for serious for a month and a half now. Just don't worry about upgrading. Camera companies put most effort into making impressive lenses unless you get to the top of the line bodies. Even then, your old lenses will still work. If you're worried, there are online lists of what works with what camera, but they're all pretty much just checking if the auto settings work. Manual will work if the lens can be attached, and manual is the best way to shoot. Good very basic thing to know: to take a lens off, you push and hold a button that's right next to the lens, then twist it clockwise. To put a lens on, line up the dots (there's one dot on the lens, towards the rear, and one dot on the body), pop the lens in, and twist it counter-clockwise. It'll click when it's locked in place . It's sometimes fun to just pop them on and off... I like clicky sounds, which is why I love SLR's so much. Alas, I'm sleepy and my contacts are dirty, making it impossible to see. Therefore... I cannot proof read this post. And there will be mistakes because I'm tired. So... ignore the mistakes that can be ignored, and question the mistakes that make everything make no sense. I'll probably edit my post tomorrow night... when I'm tired again. This isn't working very well... -- ADD version of post: All Nikkor lenses are compatible with Nikon cameras. Not all Nikkor lenses are compatible with the Auto-Focus feature. Not all Nikkor lenses are compatible with your in-camera meter. You cannot mix up brands and expect to mount your lens. Lenses can be used without attaching them to the body. Buy Nikkor with Nikon. There you go. I'm going to sleep now. A smarter person is welcome to correct any errors. I don't know everything, nor do I tell anyone that I do.
Thank you very much. That alleviated many of my questions and answers many unasked or thought-of ones. I am reading many tutorials about lenses and terminology and ideal settings and such. Hopefully when I go out to buy my camera I will be able to start shooting well and correctly fairly soon. I cannot wait to stop shooting on this little digital camera of mine. I mean I have to do hours of post-production just to relieve myself of noise on few pictures.
Alright. So. I'm about to buy a D40 from a friends dad. He's a pr0ffesional photographer and can get me a 5% discount buying from somewhere, I'm not sure. All I know is I'm getting a good deal. So, tomorrow he's getting me a list of the different basic packages. Does anyone know what these include or which one would be best? I'm mainly just doing photography for the fun of it. Eventually I want to get a wide-angle or fish-eye lense, but that will take some time due to money constraints. I've got about 700 I'm willing to put towards the basic package though
