I picked up a new camera, a real camera. Prior to now all photos were cellphone.

I am using a Nikon D3100 with either a 18-55mm lense or a 55-200mm lense.

Here are my first photos, not doctored up in anyway yet. I will tackle that tomorrow maybe. Everyone else post of their So Cal photography too!

 

Wow! Those are excellent photos! Your camera is pretty much the same one I have. Mine is a D3200 Nikon, with the same Nikon 18-55mm lens, and a Tamron 70-300 zoom lens. I got mine in a kit with a tripod, bag, UV haze filters, and a flash unit from Cameta Camera in New York. I have not tried any special shots like you have yet. I just point and shoot. LOL. Your pics look great.

Jim

 

Thanks Jim.
Before I wan an EMT my career path was that of a film editor or director. When you study film you learn a lot about framing lighting etc that will all carry over to photography. I have always enjoyed photography as a hobby and it has been a LONG time since I had a real camera.

I was thinking about a D3200, but the D3100 came with the second lens for the same price as the D3200. Nikons are the best. My friend has a D700 I believe. I dont need anywhere near that much camera!

 

Photography used to be my hobby. I never took any courses in it, but enjoyed taking pics, and shooting the kids in Little League. Back then you had to set everything yourself (shutter speed, aperture, etc, not too mention film) now I just let the camera handle it all. When I get off my lazy bum and read the manual so I can use all the other features of the camera, I am sure I will enjoy it more. I agree Nikon is the best, and vowed I would own one once my settlement check came in. I ordered mine the weekend I was stuck in Bebec waiting for the Bronco to get repaired after the Ballinger fiasco. It arrived a week later and I have loved it ever since. I have not used it much, only church baptisms, and the occasional train at the nearby UP yard, and of course car shows, and gtgs. However, I do want to delve into it, and start REALLY using it. Like this upcoming Christmas Pageant. I want to be able to shoot video of. Mine came with Power Director 10 and I am still trying to figure out how to use that program. LOL.

Jim

 

I used to have a Nikon D80, until I broke it (apparently flying off a motorcycle onto rocks at 65mph is bad for a camera ).

I love the photos that a good DSLR takes, just not the expense or the weight/bulkyness, so replaced it with a cheap waterproof/unbreakable point and shoot that is smaller than my iphone. (I still put a small crack on the casing on it! - but it takes as good a photo as my old D80)


The 3100 is a good camera, and you have a couple of versatile lenses there. My suggestion is to buy either the base Nikon 50mm or 35mm prime lens - they are great for indoor/night photography with a 1.8 f-stop, and very cheap. A decent tripod will help.
I would also consider getting a clear/UV filter to put on the end of your lenses to prevent damage if you use them outdoors much.
Further down the road you may also look at replacing your existing lenses with Nikon's 18-300 VR lens. More range, and you don't have to keep replacing lenses (less bothering about, and less chance of dust on the sensor by not changing lenses all the time)

The Nikon lenses are all good (and I have heard good things about Sigma and Tamron), but I got burnt on a crappy 18-200 lens from another brand that was made for Nikon but was a lot cheaper. Ended up just replacing it with the genuine Nikon lens.

You can often find good deals on used lenses/tripods/other attachments on Craigslist, particularly in the L.A. area as professional photographers offload older gear.

 

Nice pics Trey.

It is amazing how inexpensive the nicest DSLR have become. Makes me want to grab one, but if I just wait a few, they will be half as much.

But I'm mostly with Adrian. Since all I ever do with pics these days is post them online somewhere for viewing, really fine resolution doesn't seem important. Probably the first thing I would do is shrink and compress the jpegs. I'm afraid that I would spend the money on a DSLR, and then find myself grabbing the pocket sized point and shoot for the convenience factor.

How's the battery life on those D300x cameras? That's something I feel is very important, and something the older models were lacking. I spent quite a bit of money on rechargeable AA batteries, which turned out to be a poor choice too.

 

Early AA rechargables were genuine crap. I, too, spent too much on them. Can you say, "Energizer"?

I have recently begun using the -LSD (low self-discharge) rechargeables, and like them. Of course, they are being used in a cheap CoolPix Nikon L18, which I suspect most photographers don't even consider to be a Nikon at all.

I shoot for most of the same reasons Bill does, to post on-line at 96 dpi, so it's moot., anyway.

But I like the AA-LSD characteristics, and will buy more as time goes on. I'm using the ones from Tenergy Centura, at Amazon.

Pop

 

Pop, do they use the same charger? Or do you have to match the charger to the battery?

 

My Tenergy LSDs eat electrons from my old Quest Q-2 just fine.

Very happy with that combination, but I've always been very happy with that charger, from the get-go.

Pop

 

Here are the LSDs:


These were highly-recommended in a forum I read, and they compared favorably to the top-listed brand (which I can't recall), which are double the price.

EDIT: See this:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...self-discharge

Pop

 

The D3200 doesn't use AAA batteries. It has its own rechargeable battery, and in the 3 months I have had it, only needed to charge it once. However, it is not like I shoot pics every day, so it is really hard to tell how it will hold up over time. One thing I do want to test is its ability to make a 20 minute video, which seems to be the camera's limit, not the SD card, as it can hold several 20 minute videos on it.

I am going to see Jackie Evancho this Sunday at the William Saroyan theater in downtown Fresno, and I would love to be able to get some video of her. However, I have not tried that with this camera, and it may be a moot point anyway, if they do not allow cameras inside.

Jim

 

What Jim said - all Nikon cameras I have seen (including my D80) use a Nikon Li-Ion battery, they last a long time (unless you are using an ultra-bright aftermarket flash) and are pretty cheap.

 

I mostly only shoot for internet too.... But I enjoy the technical aspects of using a dslr. Its more than the end result for me.

The battery in my camera is supposed to last 400 shots with no flash and 200 with. But it charges really fast. Seemed to get a full charge in about 20 minutes.

 

If I only shot for the internet, I would have been happy with the 2mp Sony camera, I upgraded from (which I still have). I wanted a DSLR and a Nikon. This one just happened to be 24 mp, which makes for some very large pics, but I can crop them for the internet, and still not lose any clarity. I also wanted a camera that can shoot videos. This one fills the bill for me. And if I want to print out a high resolution photo one of these days, I can.

Jim

 

I'm getting the hang of this thing..