Digital Photography
Comparison
Nikon D50
Cons:
- Less features
Pros:
- Low price, Small, Less noise in high ISO values compared to D70, SD memorycard, Better JPG quality
Reviews:
Nikon D70s
Cons:
- High price, CF memorycard, No mirror-lockup, Only RAW+Basic JPG (Not Fine)
Pros:
- Good ergonomics, Two dial buttons for easy control, Buttons are placed for fast and easy operation, Wireless commander mode for remote flash, Depth-of-field preview button
Reviews:
Canon EOS 350D
Cons:
- Poor kit-lens, Less natural looking pictures, Toy-like feel to the dial and handling the camera
Pros:
- Light weight, More sensor pixels
Reviews:
Nikon D200
- More soon*
Reviews: imaging-resource.com dpreview.com digit.no
Nikon D80
Pre-announcements intwebit.com nikonimaging.com
Reviews D80 vs D200
Nikon D40
Cons:
- No auto-focus motor for older lenses
Pros:
- Small and compact, Optimal use of 6 mp sensor, used for a long time
Reviews: dpreview.com letsgodigital.org kenrockwell.com bythom.com imaging-resource.com
Nikon D40x
Cons:
- Only 3 focus points
Pros:
- Same 10 MP sensor as D80
Nikon D60
Pros:
- Timelapse movie function, Dust remover, New EXPEED sensor (also on D300)
Cons:
- No live-view option, expected on a 2008 model
References:
Nikon D90
Pros:
- Live view, HD video recording
Cons:
- Limited HD video configuration
Nikon D5000
Pros:
- Same sensor as the D90
- Small and slick
- More features than D60
Cons:
- No wireless flash command
- Grip not as good as D60
Nikon D5100
Pros:
- Improved video mode, 1080P video, no rolling effect
- Massive high resolution display
- Smaller than D5000
- More focus points
- LiveView focus is now relatively fast
Cons:
- Grip is not as good as D60
- No proximity sensor to turn off display
- Less buttons for direct control
Accessories
Lenses
- Canon EF 50 mm F1.4
- Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED - sharp, pop photos
- Nikon AF Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 D - good for portraits, sharp (soft?)
- Nikon AF Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8D - good for portraits, sharp
- Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 28-70 mm f/2.8 ED IF-ED
- Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED
- Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200 mm f/2.8D ED
- Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED - good over-all lens - review / review / D200 samples / sample database / D200 pictures - softness outside the focus core
- Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4-5,6G ED
Flashes
- Nikon Flash TTL-AF SB-800
- Nikon Flash TTL-AF SB-600
Carring Bag
- Nikon Bag CF-D70
Memorycard
- Sandisk Extreme III series
Adjustments Routine
Camera settings (pre-capture):
- Shutter speed - over- and underexposure
- Aperture - depth-of-field
- ISO sensitivity - sensor gain
Image parameters (post-capture):
- Exposure Compensation (EV)
- White balance
- Contrast
- Saturation
- Hue
- Sharpness
UV filters
Operation
ISO
"ISO equivalence on a digital camera is the ability to increase the sensitivity of the sensor to enable faster shutter speeds and/or better performance in low light. The way this works in a digital camera is by "turning up the volume" (gain) on the CCD's signal amplifiers. Nothing is without its price however and doing so also typically increases visible noise (random speckles visible all over the image)."
Aperture
"Aperture, its most obvious function is to reduce the amount of light that can reach the image plane, to prevent saturation of a detector or overexposure of film."
Flash sync
"Flash synchronisation, typically referred to as flash sync, is a means by which a flash head is fired at precisely the moment when the camera's shutter is at its peak opening."
Exposure
"There is no single correct exposure for a specific photograph. At ISO 100 a picture taken at f22 at 1/4 seconds allows the same amount of light to hit the film or sensor as a picture taken at f2.8 at 1/250 second. Of course, not many people can hand hold a camera at 1/4 of a second and get a sharp image and you don't have much depth of field at f2.8, therefore, every exposure is a compromise. The photographer must decide how much depth of field they need while also thinking about how much of the action they want to freeze (or blur), what focal length lens they are using, can they use some sort of support, etc. More"
EV
"Exposure Value, each number represents twice as much light as the numbers increase. More
Shutter speed? The aperture diaphragm of a lens (bigger or smaller values) AND timing (open and close) of the camera's shutter curtain - BOTH perform the tasks of regulating the amount of light entering the camera and expose onto the film."
"Shutter speed, each number moving to the right is half the value of the preceding number, and represents half as much light as the preceding number. Aperture serie, each progression represents half as much light (moving to the right) as the preceding number. More"
Fast lens
"A fast lens, lens with low maximum stop that is open, like 1.4-2.8F. More light means shorter shutter speed, and faster captures."
Shutter rule
"The rule of thumb that says to shoot shorter than one over the focal length. In this case <1/50 with 50 mm lens. more"
Shooting modes
Regular shooting: 80% aperture, 10% shutter and 10 % manual aperture/shutter.
- Aperture:
- 1. Start mode A,
- 2. Set aperture for desired DOF and focus area,
- 3. Check if shutter speed is good enough for the situation; action, hand holding, etc (hand held: lower than the lens focal length, i.e 1/50, 1/125, etc on 50 mm))
- 4. If not, pick a larger aperture (lower number) to let more light in and smaller/tighter DOF area.
- 5. If still not perfect, raise the ISO sensitivity and start from the beginning.
- Shutter (in good lightning):
- 1. Start mode S,
- 2. Set shutter for the wanted effect; wheel blur, moving element and blur bg, etc,
- 3. Check if aperture is high enough for wanted DOF and focus area (blur/bokeh),
- 4. If too little, set a slower shutter speed (lower fraction) to make the DOF and focus area smaller/tighter but in expense of extra motionblur or higher if less DOF and more area in focus is wanted but in expense of less effect (in 2.),
- 5. If still not perfect, set ISO too the lowest setting and start from the beginning (rare step to get to) more
Tricks
Sport and action shoots / More / More
Blur background in action: "Also, I tend to always set S mode for fast action. Once the shutter speed is set it is easy enough to toggle up or down a bit on the command wheel and watch the Aperture setting in the VF." More
"If your subject is moving across the screen rather than approaching/receding, then panning is possible to get separation and you can crank up the DOF ( smaller f stop) to get your cake and eat it too. Slow shutter and smaller f stop work together nicely." More
Lens Terminology
AF-S means it focuses silently and you have instant manual override just by grabbing the focus ring.
D means it tells your camera's meter the distance to your subject. This helps a little for flash exposure metering.
DX means it only works on digital cameras. The corners will be black at many focal lengths on a film camera.
ED is special glass used to increase sharpness.
G means it has no aperture ring so it won't work on ancient cameras that require one. Since these old cameras are film cameras it wouldn't matter anyway.
IF is Internal Focusing. The lens focuses with only the slight motion of a few internal elements instead of having to crank the entire lens in and out. This means the front no longer rotates as you focus, making polarizing and grad filter use easy.
M/A (Manual/Automatic) mode means that even while in autofocus you may simply grab the focus ring to make manual focus adjustments. Next time you tap the shutter it returns to AF mode, and next time you grab the ring you're instantly in manual mode. I wish everything on earth worked this well.
SIC is Nikon's latest multicoating to increase light transmission and reduce ghosts.
SWM is a Silent Wave Motor, which is an ultrasonic piezo device similar to Canon's USM. It moves things without making noise. The lens focuses silently, handy for snoop photography and for sensitive pets and wildlife.
References
- Shutter Speed
- Sony DSC-F828 Review
- Nikon D70s og D50 lansert
- Apterture
- ISO - den følsomme faktoren
- D70 Tips Thread
- D50 vs D70s Thread
- D70s Lenses Thread
- Nikon Nikkor Lenses
- Understanding Depth-of-Field in Photography
- Depth of field not changing with focal length
- Correcting Lense Distortion
- D70 and Nikkor 18-700 information
- Flash sync
- Amazing island pictures
- D200 and GPS
- Nikon D200 - Let the pictures do the talking
- Post-Production Samples
- Impressive D50 gallery / direct link
- Second lense for D80
- Great SLR lense reviews
- How Do Lightroom Users Fix Barrel Distortion & Converging Verticals?