New DSLR Camera Tips and Ideas?

[supagav]

Hi,

Me being the daft numpty that I am, I recently lost our old camera whilst my partner and I were out in Hungary visiting her family. Whilst this is pretty annoying it is not quite the end of the world as our camera was old, and we were both wanting to upgrade to something newer and more powerful to experiment more with our pictures.

To cut a long story short, we decided upon a new Nikon DSLR, a D7000 as my father had a Nikon lens going spare, so our thought was to try and save a bit and just get a really nice body.

I'm currently messing around and experimenting with things and having quite a lot of success, but I just wanted to ask if anyone has any particular tips or suggestions that they use with these types of cameras? Any special settings or tweaks? All ideas or thoughts here would be most warmly welcomed!

As many of you may know from our posts, I do have a love of realistic, lying-on-my-belly type close up shots so again any suggestions for these would be great. Also any tips for indoor photography for capturing progress on our workbench, in low lighting or difficult lighting would also be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Gavin

 

[tramcar trev]

I too like Nikon Cameras, even their point and shoot ones seem to be a cut above....
Mine is a D3200 that I bought in Hong Kong and for what I want it has more features than I'll ever need. It has "macro" mode but it really needs a seperate "macro" lens for detail shots, next trip to HK maybe.... One area Nikon Cameras seem to excel is in unaided low light photography ie no flash or tripod.... I have just bought SWMBO an L830 for our upcoming trip.

A ring flash is a handy gadjet for photographing detail/portraits/closeups/macro and not expensive;
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LED-Macro-Ring-Flash-FC100-For-Canon-1D-5D-7D-Mark-II-Nikon-D5000-Camera-DSLR-/191184405806?pt=AU_Flashes&hash=item2c837a852e

And of course filters are always handy; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/67mm-ND2-4-8-Close-up-Macro-Filter-Kit-For-Nikon-D300s-D7000-18-105mm-LF455-/181475717952?pt=AU_Filters&hash=item2a40cbb340

 

[bobg]

I have to concur with Trev, I have a D3200 as well, and it`s low light capability is absolutely outstanding, in fact it`s quite difficult to get the night shots you want, as it seems to find light from the stars!

I chose the 18-105mm for the standard lens and later added a 55 -300mm when I went game `shooting` last May. I`ll admit to being a bit lazy with it, as unless I`m taking something particularly special, I tend to leave it on full auto mode. It gets a shot almost without fail.



From a boat about three miles upstream from the Victoria Falls. No filters, no adjustments, no nuttin`

 

[supagav]

Thanks for input folks.

I must admit I do like the auto mode too. The reason I quite like this camera we have, our Nikon D7K, is that it has various semi-auto modes that allow you to adjust just one setting, i.e. aperture or shutter speed, and the camera will adjust all the other settings to tie in with it. I haven't quite nailed them yet but they do seem to be pretty powerful.

I think I just need to keep playing with it!

Thanks again,
G

 

[railwayman198]

That's a great camera. If you previously used a compact camera a problem that you will have with your close up lying-on-your-belly shots is achieving a realistic depth of field, because a lens with a focal length of say 18mm will have a much shallower depth of focus than a 6mm on a typical compact camera, let alone that on a mobile phone. This is particularly noticeable at close range. A small aperture of say f16 will help but any smaller and your image quality will start to deteriorate. On the plus side low light shots will be of much higher quality than a small sensor camera.

 

[supagav]

Thanks Philip,

That was one of the things I did notice straight away was the depth of field! We had a Nikon before which was almost an intermediate camera, like a small SLR but with a fixed zoom lens. I'm still experimenting with all the settings but I did notice that straight away. You can get a very nice shot which has the loco nicely in focus and blurs the background, but it does seem to take a little bit more practice to get it just the way you want it.

We're currently using a Nikon VR 18-55 as that was what we inherited from my Dad, but once I get to know the camera I would like to upgrade to something else further down the line. I feel though I really need to get the most I can out of it so that my skills can justify another lens.

Thanks again and please do keep any thoughts or suggestions coming!

Gavin

 

[Submariner]

Hi Gavin,
I also recently purchased a Nikon DSLR and concur with the other posts re the quality of their cameras. I can also recommend a couple of excellent publications which will be most helpful in getting to know the camera and improving your photography. The first is a book entitled 'Understanding Exposure' Now funnily enough there are two books with this title by different authors. The first is by Bryan Peterson which I do recommend and will answer all your questions re depth of field and much much more. The second book is by Andy Stansfield and although I have purchased the book have not yet had time to read it. Both can be obtained from the usual suppliers, Amazon, Ebay or Waterstones. I found Amazon to be the cheapest place to buy them. Nikon also have 'The Ultimate Nikon SLR Handbook' which can be obtained from WH Smith. Currently volume 2 is now on the shelves and I can also heartily recommend this one as well. Cost around £17 but well over 200 pages of illustrations and tips. Also has a DVD with the publication. Hope this helps.

 

[tramcar trev]

Pentax make a far better camera but the range of lenses is limited and expensive.

 

[minimans]

My only advise would be take lots of pictures!! that's the nice thing about Digital if it's no good delete it..........Oh another would be when you play with different settings use a small notebook to write down what the settings were you used then you can always see what works and what doesn't. On my Sony it will imprint what settings were used into the info of the photo so when viewed you can right click on the photo and hit details and it's all there for you. maybe it's a Std feature of all Digital photo's?

 

[supagav]

Many thanks for the input folks, much appreciated!

Submariner: Thanks for those recommendations, I will definitely look in to those for some extra curricular bed time reading!

I'm still playing around with the camera but when I have some good shots, here will be the first place I post them!

Thanks,
G

 

[DCB]

How's the new camera doing Supagav ?

 

[supagav]

Hi,

Thanks for the message, I had almost forgotten about this thread!

Yeah the camera is amazing thanks! It is partly the reason I haven't really been too active with modelling as I've found a new creative outlet I just love it, it must be one of the best things we've invested in in years. I had never really explored the possibilities before, but with a little practice, patience and reading, I've found that it a really rewarding experience. The camera really does respond to what I ask, if there is any kind of mistake in the exposure it's because of me. It is nice to have the creativity at your finger tips so you can finally control the camera rather than the other way around as with my previous point-and-click cameras.

The other nice thing about the D7000 is the video, it is really good! I got of a nice Manfrotto tripod that can fold right out flat on the ground, so it is perfect for taking track side videos a scale eye-height. I'm also thinking about an external microphone too as the camera has a small mini-jack input on the side, as this seems to be a big improvement on the built-in mic inside the body. I sadly haven't had enough time to do it all justice but I will post something as soon as I can!

Best wishes,
Gavin

 

[QuietAndy]

Small f numbers i.e. f2.8 means shallow depth of field. This means what you focus on i.e. the name, number or face of a loco the background will be nice and blurry. Ideal if the background is a bit cluttered. Going all the way down to f2.8 might also mean the back of the loco (if you are focusing on the front) might be blurry too. So if you want it in focus increase the f number and just experiment. Use Aperture priority mode on your dslr and the camera works out shutter speed, iso etc for you. But be warned if the light is not good exposure times maybe quite long so camera shake may be an issue as might be the train (if moving) might be blurred by the motion. Many different ways and can be used quite creatively once you get the hang of it.

 

[pugwash]

I wouldn't let my camera select the ISO even if it could (Nikon D300, I know it's out of date but still pro-kit). I also have one of those Manfrotto tripods that go flat to the floor, some of the guys here had a giggle and suggested an elephant had sat on it or similar, but to save your neck and back invest in a 90° viewfinder attachment which slips over the viewfinder and allows you to look down and see the image. Mine is a 'Seagull', it didn't cost the earth and saved loads of pain Trust me.

 

[supagav]

I know these aren`t really model photos, but they are train related and show my current explorations with my DSLR!

These are some photos I just took today as I`m currently visiting New York with my family. My partner and I were checking out some cafes and coffee shops in the Brooklyn area, so I sneaked off for an hour to see if I could find some railroad activity as I knew there were some industrial tracks in the area. When I arrived there was a small local freight switching some garbage containers although sadly I couldn`t get close enough to photograph the small locomotive! The railroad guys on the ground were really nice and friendly and let me scramble about on the other side of the tracks, just so long as I kept my head down and didn`t touch anything! I tried to do my best but the arrival of snow here was proving pretty challenging!

There were taken with my Nikon D7000, and had some minor tweaks done in Abode Lightroom:









Best wishes,
G

 

[pugwash]

Yummy, love B&W! That first piccie is a winner.

 

[stockers]

Pictures full of character - they look ancient - excellent.

 

[PhilP]

Excellent!
Remind me of the style of the poster of the workers having a break up on the steel-frame of a sky-scrap(p)er.