Picked up a new DSLR today!!!

[red04svtcobra]

Today I finally decided to get the camera I have always wanted: The Nikon D80!!! Man the is an awesome camera and am very excited.:D Anyways if there are any pros out there that can give me some tips on how to take great pics by making sure the settings are right, I'm all ears!!!!!!!!:thumbsup: This is coming straight from the one and only "HULLIO", right Kevin!

[SVTSnak]

I'm sure you'll enjoy the camera! Congratz on it! I've never used Nikons, but I'm sure you'll love the D80. I've heard good things about it.

I've already shot ya a PM to help you out a bit starting off. :thumbsup:

[red04svtcobra]

Thanks alot Mat :thumbsup:

[XyX]

A significant other just got a canon 30d, so i'll be shooting newb style :)

[nckissfan]

Chris, from what I have seen from you, you wont need to many pointers. You already take good pictures. Read the book. Tina has the D100, and all I have to say is, we are still learning this camera.

[RF Cobra]

Congrats! The Nikon's are great cameras. I don't think you will have any trouble taking great pictures with it.

One thing that will make a huge difference, especially when shooting outdoors in moderate to full sun is to use a polarizing filter.

If you are going to have lenses that are different sizes, a good idea is to get add ons such as the polarizing filter for the largest lens size, and then buy step down rings to use it on the other ones.

If you don't already have an extra battery, go ahead and get one. Nothing worse than being out taking pics and have your one and only battery go dead before you are done taking pictures. When the battery indicator gets down to showing about 1/3 left it will go from that to dead and it can catch you off guard.

Today I finally decided to get the camera I have always wanted: The Nikon D80!!! Man the is an awesome camera and am very excited.:D Anyways if there are any pros out there that can give me some tips on how to take great pics by making sure the settings are right, I'm all ears!!!!!!!!:thumbsup: This is coming straight from the one and only "HULLIO", right Kevin!

[red04svtcobra]

Thanks all, Mat has been giving me tips through PM's and has helped out tremendously. I am liking the manual apeture mode. I was outside today shooting some bees on my lavender plant. My goal was I was trying to freeze them and make the background blurred. I set the f-stop at 3.5 and the camera set the shutter at 400 or so and man did they look nice. Anyways, there are so many features on this camera that I am glad there are people out there that can help ametures like me.
Allen, I bought the whole kit when I was there. I got a bag, tripod, extra battery, dust lens (uv filter), and memory card. I will be getting different polarizing filters soon. The lens that came with it is a 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G.
Anyways thanks for the comments guys, I am really looking forward to shooting some pics at the next event.

[SVTSnak]

Good deal Chris. :thumbsup: Glad you're enjoying it.

Like I was saying in PM...the more you shoot, the more you'll understand the settings and learn to put them where you want them to get a particular shot.

Good info on the extra battery and polarizers as well...forgot about that...whoops! Sometimes you have all this stuff and forget you have it because it's like second nature. :thumbsup: :rotf:

[Cobra4me]

Today I finally decided to get the camera I have always wanted: The Nikon D80!!! Man the is an awesome camera and am very excited.:D Anyways if there are any pros out there that can give me some tips on how to take great pics by making sure the settings are right, I'm all ears!!!!!!!!:thumbsup: This is coming straight from the one and only "HULLIO", right Kevin!I have the same camera congrats. Auto focus and settings for me ftw!

[red04svtcobra]

I tried using the auto and it just wasn't the same outcome. I am having fun shooting with different settings to see what it does. Anyways here a few shots I took yesterday just messing around with it. Not the best and room for improvement but hey I like them. LOL. http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l65/lightning_015/misc%20pics/DSC_0020.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l65/lightning_015/misc%20pics/DSC_0057.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l65/lightning_015/misc%20pics/DSC_0067.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l65/lightning_015/misc%20pics/DSC_0069.jpg

[SVTSnak]

Some nice shots there Chris. :thumbsup:

However, your cat looks like it's saying "Get the hell away from me!" :rotf:

[red04svtcobra]

HAHA, she actually likes having her picture taken, go figure. I took some shots of water dripping from a faucet yesterday just to try and see what it did and man am I amazed. I messed with the shutter speed and set it around 1/100 and it froze the drop in mid air. Another one I did and I slowed it down to 1/50 I believe and it still stopped the drop but added some blur to it which was cool.
I have to get some rolling shots of the cobra now!!
Mat, I am a little confused on the ISO setting. Do I set it at 100 or 200 when outside and say 1600 when light is limited? Or how about just leaving it on auto all the time.

[Larry95]

Chris, you're going to love the Nikon. I have had my D70S for about two years now and I'm still learning things about it. The best thing I did was buy a model specific book that explained what all the stuff did. PM me and I'll point you in the direction to get one.

[RF Cobra]

Not Mat, :) but leaving it on auto should be fine unless you want to manually influence the shutter speed. The higher numbers allow both lower light settings and also help in shooting higher speed/action type shops such as tracking a moving object. Just remember that the higher you go the grainier the picture will get which reduces how big you can size the picture before it starts getting blurry. I would recommend a tripod at higher ISO speeds as well.

A site you might also like is: www.nikonians.org (http://www.nikonians.org) It has great info and members have also posted some very inspiring shots. A bunch of the members are professional photographers and are more than willing to share info. You don't have to register to browse the site. When you get to the membership screen there is a line that says "click this link" and it will let you in.


Mat, I am a little confused on the ISO setting. Do I set it at 100 or 200 when outside and say 1600 when light is limited? Or how about just leaving it on auto all the time.

[SVTSnak]

Yup, RFCobra hit it right on the head with ISO. Normally when I do my modeling shoots, I'm shooting at ISO 100 or 160. I'll switch to 200 when the sun starts getting close to setting so I can keep my shutter speed up, yet get enough light in to make the models look good.

But when I shoot the track, I keep it at ISO 50 (on my 1D MKIIN), or ISO 100 on my 40D because there is more than enough light (at least here in Vegas. LOL) during a trackday.

Generally the lower the ISO, the cleaner the shot (less grainy), however...it all depends on available light. That's mainly what photography is...the capture and use of light to get the feel you want for your image. :thumbsup:

[red04svtcobra]

I am reading the how to take pictures book that came with the camera and I am starting to understand it all better now. Thanks for all the help so far everyone. Can't wait to put it to the test.