Camera-savvy members, I need your opinion!

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kherrmann3

kherrmann3

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
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Location
Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA
I have decided to upgrade my camera. Right now, I have a Kodak Easyshare something-or-other. It had 8.0 megapixels, and a nice zoom. I love taking pictures of animals, and since animals are normally a far-away or moving subject, I need a much better camera. I want to get something like those Sony or Nikon SLRs. What should I look for?

Here's what I would like from it:
- Decent-to-good zoom. I go birdwatching a lot, and this would help with IDing difficult birdies.
- Higher # of megapixels. I like nice, clear pictures (who doesn't?). Once again, the more detail I can get, the better.
- Fairly easy to use. I get used to most things quickly, but I'm not so good at manual settings, etc.
- It won't cost an arm and a leg. I work as a nursing assistant. I'm in college. I don't have a TON of money to use. :p Under $1,000 would be about where I would have to cut the price off (including some type of warranty). If I could get a nice camera and an additional lens for it, that would be even better.

I hope that someone here can help me out! I see a lot of cameras that sound the same, but will I like how the finished photo comes out? I am kind of unsure of what I exactly want, so I want to get as many opinions as I can!

Thanks in advance!

:biggrin2:
 
Kelly, what a crazy coincidence. Having just lost my beloved 10mp point and shoot, I started looking into cameras too since yesterday. I'd be interested in what folks say.

I have a photography enthusiast friend who recommended for my novice photography experience the Panasonic Lumix GF1. It comes with a prime fast lens which he tells me would take very good pics of my fast moving buns and a general good lens for wide angle shots. But no zoom. That's 899. The same camera with a zoom lens is about 1100 I hear. But i have read reviews about it being the lightest camera of it's class right now, and it is easy to use but has flexibility to keep even professionals happy. You can interchange lenses on this one. It's not a dslr but it's much better that your ordinary point and shoot.

I think eventually I will get either a dslr or some hybrid like this GF1, but I will invest in a cheap point and shoot dig camera too just for ease of travel.
 
i just recently updated my camera as well.

i bought the nikon d3000 and love it!

and for the price, wow, you can't beat it. here is the huge kit i bought off of amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002NRSMYY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

it is easy to use, and is really fun to learn about the settings.

and the photos? amazing

ice_fishing2010016.jpg


DSC_0024-1.jpg
 
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katt wrote:
i just recently updated my camera as well.

i bought the nikon d3000 and love it!

and for the price, wow, you can't beat it. here is the huge kit i bought off of amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Digital-18-55mm-3-5-5-6G-Accessory/dp/B002NRSMYY/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1267111087&sr=1-20

it is easy to use, and is really fun to learn about the settings.

and the photos? amazing
Click to expand...
I have to agree with Kat, i also just got the SAME EXACT camera package and the price is great, if you compare what you would pay for each of the things seperately you would pay way more then what the package costs.

The kit comes with the camera, lens, camera bag, extra battery, battery charger, lens covers, cleaning kit, tripod, cards for dummies software, memory card, memory card reader. all that stuff for a great price , i thought. I concur that it takes great pics
 
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Wow, that Nikon d3000 is a really great price!!! Katie, that picture of your son(?) is awesome! Do you use manual settings? I am still figuring those out, lol.

My Canon Rebel EOS XS (which I do love dearly!) came to around $750 but I bought an extra battery ($60), a 3-pk of 2GB memory cards ($20?), and a case ($30). And those things really add up!
I really didn't have time to price shop as I was leaving for Europe the next morning and I just got the okay from my parents to pay $100 of it for my birthday and found out I could do a 10 month payment plan on it with 0% interest. I make my last payment this month! Woooo!
My boyfriend actually bought the same camera + accessories used and in excellent condition from someone I know on goosemoose and paid $350. I am so jealous that he paid half of what I did!
 
With the Nikon D3000, how good is the zoom? There's a zoom lens included in the kit, so what is the zoom like? Also, is there some sort of warranty through Nikon with that? I can be a klutz sometimes, so I want to cover my butt with a warranty on my electronics. :biggrin2:
 
I have the Nikon D40. I'm not sure how similar it is to the D3000. I got mine at Best Buy, so the warranty was an extra $50.

At first, I didn't like the camera because the lighting in the apartment is all over the place (a mix of daylight, compact fluorescent, incandescent), and so the colors of my photos came out funky. The thing that changed my mind, and got me to start using the camera more, was an external flash unit (another $200 in cost). In addition to fixing my color balance issues, an external flash also helps to catch high speed bunnies.

I've posted a couple of pictures in the camera section. The more recent bundle of photos from my Flickr account also uses the D40.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23962008@N04/
 
Love the pics of Ronnie (love all of them really).

Wow - I'm a senior moderator and I didn't realize we had a new camera section...I feel...dumb. No..behind the times..that's it.

How do y'all keep up with the changes?

:p
 
TinysMom wrote:
Love the pics of Ronnie (love all of them really).

Wow - I'm a senior moderator and I didn't realize we had a new camera section...I feel...dumb. No..behind the times..that's it.

How do y'all keep up with the changes?

:p
Click to expand...
Aww, thanks Peg. I just wish Ronnie would sit still for once so I could get more pictures that don't involve humping, circling, and butting his head into the lens :p

I just noticed the camera section myself, after clicking the "Let Your Hare Down" and going..."Hey, where did the 'Name Your Camera' post go?"
 
kherrmann3 wrote:
With the Nikon D3000 ... there's a zoom lens included in the kit, so what is the zoom like?
Click to expand...
That particular kit comes with an 18-55 zoom. That's not bad for an everyday lens, roughly equivalent to 28-70 in film camera terms. It's not a very wide wide-angle, and not a very long telephoto, but OK.

I don't know the price differential, but the 18-135 zoom, which is usually packaged with the D90 kits, is a better lens. Given the choice, I'd go for that. The wide end's the same, but the 135 end is more than twice as long, about 200mm equivalent. I find that most of the time that's the only lens I carry or use around the house, unless I'm really planning to Do Photography and want the whole bag.

If you're looking for a lens for birdwatching, the 55 is not going to cut it. Even 135's a bit short, although you could use it. What might make sense is to go with the cheaper kit lens and then add something like a 70-300mm VR zoom when you can. At the 300mm lens you can get really good bird closeups, like this one of a song thrush in Dublin:

5156-songthrush.jpg


That combination would give you coverage from 18-300 - the gap between 55 and 70 isn't a big deal.
 
MikeScone wrote:
If you're looking for a lens for birdwatching, the 55 is not going to cut it. Even 135's a bit short, although you could use it. What might make sense is to go with the cheaper kit lens and then add something like a 70-300mm VR zoom when you can. At the 300mm lens you can get really good bird closeups. That combination would give you coverage from 18-300 - the gap between 55 and 70 isn't a big deal.
Click to expand...
I feel silly asking, but those numbers mean nothing to me. :( What do they mean? I've always just had crappy cameras my whole life, so I've never done anything with detached zooms/flashes/etc. with cameras. :( Sorry to be a bother... (You may type like you're typing to a 3-year old... That's about the level I'm at! :baghead)
 
I spent about 5 hours googling stuff like "ISO" and "Aperture" yesterday :embarrassed:

I totally learned a ton of very basic info on this site: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm. The first number is the focal length (which you will see illustrated on this awesome page) for the widest zoom of the lens. The 2nd number is the focal length of the nearest zoom of the lens. So 18-55 is a wide angle lens that zooms to about "normal" angle, which is why I believe Mike feels that for bird watching it is really not right for bird watching as it doesn't pull in far enough.

I'm sure there is variation in the interpretation of these numbers and their applications but this is probably a good benchmark:


Lens Focal Length* Terminology Typical Photography
Less than 21 mm Extreme Wide Angle Architecture
21-35 mm Wide Angle Landscape
35-70 mmNormal Street & Documentary
70-135 mm Medium Telephoto Portraiture
135-300+ mm Telephoto Sports, Bird & Wildlife

 
i have to agree with everyone saying the nikon D3000 :) i got it for christmas and it's amazing! (though you have to go to settings and change the picture quality to JPEG-fine)
some pictures i took while in colorado:
1267231533.jpg

1267231559.jpg

1267231994.jpg

those are elk by the way :p (i always get asked what they are xD)

the quality is reduced because i had to save the pictures from my photography account on deviantart to my phone and then upload to photobucket to share them with you. @_@

the d3000 nikon is an amazing camera!
 
kirbyultra wrote:
So 18-55 is a wide angle lens that zooms to about "normal" angle, which is why I believe Mike feels that for bird watching it is really not right as it doesn't pull in far enough.
Click to expand...
Close. 55mm is not a "normal" focal length on a D3000, it's actually a short telephoto, but still not long enough for wildlife photography.

I think a discussion of focal lengths is a worthwhile thread for the Camera Corner forum. I'm posting it now, with examples - look for the thread "What are those numbers on lenses?"

 
Actually, I got half-way through setting it up and had to go do something else.

It still needs Mods (Mike... and Stan?) and some other tweaking.

Moving this thread there now. :)


sas :camera
 
Would the D3000 be a good camera if I just bought an additional lens? Just curious... It sounds like lots of people are happy with it, but it doesn't have a good enough zoom lens on it... right? Don't those have the little screw on types of lenses?
 
kherrmann3 wrote:
Would the D3000 be a good camera if I just bought an additional lens? Just curious... It sounds like lots of people are happy with it, but it doesn't have a good enough zoom lens on it... right? Don't those have the little screw on types of lenses?
Click to expand...
Yes, the D3000 would be a very good camera. For a starter DSLR, I think the D3000 is a very good choice, and you have a huge range of lenses to choose from.

The normal kit lens for the D3000 is 18-55, but most camera dealers would swap that for an 18-105 or 18-135 for an upcharge, if you ask. Or, you can keep the standard lens and add a 55-200 or 70-300 if you need a longer zoom. For example, at Adorama they have a kit with the D3000 and both 18-55mm and 55-200 for $100 more than the camera with only the 18-55mm. That gives you the range of 18-200mm, which is pretty good. It might actually cost more to swap out the 18-55 for the 18-135mm, and you'd wind up with bit less range - but one lens instead of two is much more convenient.

Nikon has many very similar lenses in different series at different price ranges. It's confusing, but any camera store can advise you if the lens you're looking at would work with the D3000. There are also lenses from second-tier manufacturers like Tokina or Tamron or Vivitar which are quite good, and somewhat less expensive. My 12-24mm zoom is a Tokina, and I'm very happy with it, although the rest of my lenses are Nikons.

You don't want the screw-on auxiliary lenses, though, if that's what you're asking about. You want real lenses which interchange completely.


 
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