[Closed] Nikon D90, who has one?

I've got a D80 and it's been great.

Surprisingly tough and pretty intuitive to use.

A 50mm Nikon f1.8 stays on most of time these days, pin sharp, cheap, perfect for portraits.
The metering can be a bit off sometimes, I find centre weighted to be much more reliable than matrix.

The manual can be tough going, but reading it thoroughly is pretty essential.
There are a lot of options and setting things up ecactly how you like them makes things a lot easier.
I like a screen grid, no beep, auto ISO for gigs, customised focus points etc, all easy to set up with the menus.
Good luck anddon't forget to post up your results!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbmtb/

all of mine on my first have a go dslr, borrowed a friends cannon for a week

I've got the Slingshot (-:

It's ace, would be even better if they did a left-handed (shouldered) version.

all of mine on my first have a go dslr, borrowed a friends cannon for a week

You have a knack, buy one.

(also, "Canon," argh.)

you really think i have a knack for it?

D80 here too. Agree with the f1.8 50mm - hardly ever off mine. I have the cheap old D version but I gather the newer AFS version is also brilliant and focuses a bit faster.

What kind of photography you doing? Anything specific?

you really think i have a knack for it?

I'm only a neophyte, but I'd be proud of some of those. Do you not?

The d90 comes with the 18-105mm new vr lense.

Well i'm setting up a part time photography, video and design business to bring a few pennies.

I have already done one video for a wedding with photo's, free videos for my mtb club.
Sold a video ad to a local business and ITV and Sky News have both bought news clips off me.

Hoping to weddings, personalized video's and leaflet design work ect

I now own the domain so I'm working on my first ever website.

I've got a D90, use my F1.8 50mm lens most and love it. The clarity the lens gives is so much better than my other stock lenses it's great.

My advice would be play. Play with the bracketing function, faff with White balance, set the buttons up as you want etc.

It's a great camera (in my limited experience) and more capable than I am.

has anyone got/used a d3100? Looking to get my first dslr, would love to hear some user views.

Cougar, yes some i am proud of.

How ever some of my closer mates have done a lot of photography as a hobbie and are very critical. they look at it techincly.

I prefer to look at a photo as a non camera user would and does what will apeal.

Ignore what the camera bores say and just shoot what pleases you.

It's like talking to musicians about music:
Frustrating and ultimately pointless. If anyone uses the word bokeh, run like the wind.

you mean the blur?

Technical you can learn. Eye is harder. Creativity is harder.

IMHO.

If anyone uses the word bokeh, run like the wind.

Arf! I was just about to say that I've not used the 18-105 but I've played with the 18-200 and the bokeh is horrible on it. Not round and really busy looking. The 50mm has lovely bokeh for a cheap lens.

Technical you can learn. Eye is harder. Creativity is harder.
IMHO.

Agreed. I got into photography because I wanted to expand my artistic side.
As a geek I can grok the technical stuff, but the arty bit I struggle with (which was kinda the point).

what is bokeh?

Your pics have the look of... random pictures taken by a beginner 🙂 But that's ok, it's all about learning; expect to shoot mountains of stuff but make sure you look at it critically.

Your pictures have to have something that you can say is good, as in "this is what I really like about this picture". It's not enough to see something cool and just snap it (unless it really is spectacular), you have to think about what it is that you are snapping and how you can put it on a frame.

Sky pictures are extremely difficult for this reason - the sky is a huge thing! Most good sky pictures are half sky and half something else like scenery I think. The sky is a fickle thing - it doesn't mean much on its own, just in relation to other things. Ever heard Montana described as the Big Sky state? It's not because it's very flat and treeless, cos it's not - other places have more sky on view. But the sky looks big in Montana because they have these very wide valleys with mountains in the distance, and it's the mountains against the sky that make the sky look big despite actually blocking some of it.

Sorry - rambling there.. but you need thought processes like that I think.

what is bokeh?

It's the stuff that's out of focus. Good "bokeh" is smooth, bad is lumpy; you see 'bad' bokeh on cheaper lenses, circular spots of light come out like pentagons due to having fewer elements.

glad we cleared that up

Lumpy bokeh is [b]definitely[/b] going to be the name of my next band.

Sorry Frank, wherever you are.

I have a D90, its great, when it got stolen, rather than upgrade I bought a new D90 and spent the extra insurance money on a 50mm prime (as above, lovely lens, get it 2nd hand for about £50)

Get the "dummies Guide" I hate buying their books as I don't like being a dummy, but it is a really good book!

The main thing is stick it on manual, learn to take good pictures like that (or at least properly exposed sharp pictures with decent depth of focus) and all the other modes will then make sense.

I also paid about £10 for an online photography course, which was great, and the course writer appeared to use a D90, so tat was easier! If I find the link I'll post it up!

Lumpy bokeh is definitely going to be the name of my next band.

On the downside, your official band photographer is never going to get anywhere.

Wors - I don't own a D3100 but a friend has one & I have used it briefly. It is a very competent camera, but I found it harder to use than my D80 as it doesn't have as many buttons to access function - you need to use the screen & menus a bit more, which to be honest is probably fine once you get used to it!

Fourcrossjohn - I have a D80. A friend has a D90 which is very similar. The best thing you can do is get to know the features & controls of the camera as best as you can. Don't be afraid to play with settings, take plenty of pics & don't be afraid to experiment.
There are some good books out there that will help you out.

The d90 is due for replacement soon.

The main thing is stick it on manual

Really? I hardly ever use manual - usually only when I want the same exposure for a bunch of pics (i.e. for stitching) or when the scene is particularly tricky for auto (i.e. birds against sky).

The rest of the time I'm permanently set on Aperture priority.

paid about £10 for an online photography course

There is a good online FREE course here:
http://www.morguefile.com/docs/Classroom

Good advice for a DSLR is spend ages reading the manual and doing the stuff with the camera. I took hundreds of shots of my living room messing with the settings and figuring it out. If you don't know all about exposures and how cameras work in general then you'll need a generic book too or something.

@CHB The D90 was really replaced by the D7000, although the D90 is now heavily discounted so it appears to be in a lower range. Both are really the first step towards a pro camera with more features appearing as individual buttons (rather than menu items) and an in body auto focus motor.

I think the key is to learn manual but not use it all the time. Once you understand the three key variables in photography: shutter speed, aperture and iso, then everything else is just bells and whistles.

If you know about exposures then you can see what the camera is doing and understand it; only if you disagree or it's not doing what you want then you need manual. Leaving it on manual is daft I reckon unless you love pressing buttons and fiddling with dials instead of actually shooting.

The main thing is stick it on manual,
...
paid about £10 for an online photography course

I'd respectfully suggest that these two statements are mutually exclusive.

Cheers cougar! Loving the support! The course I did is here [url] http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/dslr-lessons.html [/url]

When I say stick it in manual, I did then go on to say "learn to take good pictures like that (or at least properly exposed sharp pictures with decent depth of focus) and all the other modes will then make sense." lets not get in the habit of posting partial quotes in the style of the daily mail.

The D90 has the normal Auto, shutter priority and aperture priority modes as well as a program mode. It also has several presets for portrait, landscape, macro, sports and night time. These give you a helping hand in a good variety of situations and should cover most peoples photography.

However, if you keep your camera in manual, even just for a week, by the end you'll have a much better understanding of your camera, its limits and how to overcome problems that automatic or priority modes can't. This allows you to preset for the situation, allowing for quicker adjustment to perfect photos. If you are trying to catch things that are happening rather than posed people/items then this is the key to having more good than bad photos!

I honestly don't know why you'd use manual regularly. If you want a certain DoF, then put it on aperture priority; if you want to freeze action put it on shutter; if you want it under exposed use exposure compensation.. surely it's all easier than full manual mode.

I use the priority modes, the different metering modes, exposure lock, and manual focus.

lets not get in the habit of posting partial quotes in the style of the daily mail.

I'm quoting as an aide memoir to clarify what I'm replying to, rather than to twist what you're saying. But, y'know.

I'd disagree that 'putting your camera in manual' is good advice for a beginner. Sure, you're absolutely right in that understanding your camera is critical, but it's way easier to learn by drip-feeding more control progressively as you get your head round things.

I honestly don't know why you'd use manual regularly

Long exposure shots leap to mind, or stuff where metering otherwise fails; astro-photography, waterfalls through several ND filters, IR photography, using passive macro tubes. You know, all the basics.

I agree with Cougar. It's way way more important to learn how to spot and frame good pictures. If you concentrate on faffing about with your settings it's going to be all the slower.

Re the manual mode - yes of course there are reasons to use it, but I meant as a matter of course not for a special situation. I last used full manual when trying to take lightening pictures. I got one mediocre one, but that was cos almost all the lightening was above the clouds 🙂

Indeed. Why bark when you've got a dog.

ION, where's my bag? (-:

It's under my hallway table 🙂

I'll do it one of these days imminently next time I go to Asda. Two of the lenses I bought recently came with their own fancy schmancy bags, I'm inundated with the damn things and I don't need 'em.

I'll have 'em. And the bags.

If you concentrate on faffing about with your settings it's going to be all the slower.

They are ok, the wife's recovering nicely it seems and the nipper is now feeding ok.

Got some lovely pictures of them, despite using the automatic settings 🙂

Seriously though, are you saying you look at the scene and think 'oh yeah 1/250 f4.5 ISO 400' then set your camera to that before shooting?

Err, I just know I'm going to regret this, but, in my very humble opinion, manual is the way to go, especially when learning how to use an SLR, digital or otherwise.

It's only a box with a hole in, ffs.

Cameras are simple, it's all the crap that the manufactuers load onto them that makes them complicated and reading the manual essential.
You need to know what all the extra functions do, but only so
you know when to ignore them and how to turn them all off.
Most are worse than useless and just overcomplicate things until you understand how the basics work.

Once you understand the basic, simple relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed, that's it.

The rest is just adding complication, mostly for the sake of it.

Apart from replacing film with a sensor, camera design hasn't improved in 50 years. My D80 captures great images, is well built and amazingly reliable. So is my battered Spotmatic.

The Nikon just makes the whole process quicker, with a better, clearer viewfinder, better low light performance and auto focus.

PS, glad to hear all ok with the family Molgrips!

Moreover,

Where are you geographically at the moment, Mol? Pint?

Once you understand the basic, simple relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed, that's it.

This is true, I don't disagree. What I'm disagreeing with is the idea that Manual mode is the best way to work that out.

The main thing is stick it on manual

I was advised by [url= http://www.pascalbaetens.com/site/index.php ]this guy[/url] to stick it on "P for Professional".

are you saying you look at the scene and think 'oh yeah 1/250 f4.5 ISO 400'

Yeah this is what I don't get. Using fully manual without a light meter is basically guess work isn't it?
Okay you can use the [url= http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule ]Sunny 16 rule[/url] to make an educated guess, but the camera gets it right 95% of the time so why waste the brainpower?

If I'm shooting biking pics, I don't want to be faffing with manual exposure. If I want to freeze the action I set it to shutter priority and let the camera control aperture and ISO. If I want a bit of blur, then I set it to aperture priority and let the camera sort the rest.

I was advised by this guy to stick it on "P for Professional".

[P] (which stands for 'Program' IIRC) is basically automatic only without locking all the controls out like full auto does.

If I want a bit of blur, then I set it to aperture priority and let the camera sort the rest.

Surely what you want there is Shutter Priority again, so that you can control the blur?

I've had mine for ages now and still really like it. I've added an MD-D80 battery grip to mine, so I've got loads more battery life (2 batteries in it) and the option to use AA's if I do run flat somewhere. The grip also makes it feel nicer and adds shutter release button and command wheels for easier portrait orientation shots.

Manual is definately worth spending a reasonable amount of time in as you will then understand better what the other modes are doing and how the results can be compromised. Also, I find mine tends to over exposue slightly if left to it's own devices, so I like to bring it back to achieve the result I want.

A word about tripods. If you find youself wanting one, get a good one and be prepared to spend £150+ on it. Do not buy one of those generic all in one jobs you get in Jacobs and the like. Buy a decent Manfrotto (or other good quality tripod manufacturer) set of legs and head and it will out last any flimsy plasticy crap and be way, way more stable - which give better results.

I also have a bunch of lenses too, it can get to be quite an expensive hobby!

@cougar yup. Don't know what I was thinking there. I need some coffee...

Had a D90 for about a year now (replaced a D50), been very pleased with it so far.

I bought the Nikon 70-300mm VR lens recently & love it to bits up to 200mm, the quality is great.

The other lens I have is the 18-105mm VR, not the best lens in Nikons range, but still very pleased with the results from it.

Next will be a 50mm prime, still thinking over which to go for, a 1.4 or the cheaper 1.8?

I also picked up a cheap grip off ebay, which gives me a 2nd release button for portraits, it also came with two extra batteries a AA battery adapter and wireless remote, all for £40!

Only thing I would like to see (hoping it will come out on a firmware update 😉 is a 100% selected view, quick preview button, for quickly checking sharpness, other than that, it would have been nice to get NX2 included 😉

some of my D90 shots here:
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/scotiedog/ ]http://www.flickr.com/photos/scotiedog/[/url]

Aperture for controlling background blur, shutter for controlling motion blur...

RS - cheers 🙂 Baby/kid pics on my flickr page if anyone's interested.

Cougar - I'm in the UK, in Cardiff.. pint would be good but I think you are still a long way away aren't you?

I was advised by this guy to stick it on "P for Professional".

[P] (which stands for 'Program' IIRC) is basically automatic only without locking all the controls out like full auto does.

Yes, I know - it was a joke to say that professionals don't necessarily obsess about choosing the settings.

quick preview button, for quickly checking sharpness

If you press the middle of the selector thing it zooms in to show the actual pixels, so you can assess the sharpness. Is this what you have in mind?

Mintman - Member

I've got a D90, use my F1.8 50mm lens most and love it. The clarity the lens gives is so much better than my other stock lenses it's great.

Got any examples you can show us here with that lens Mintman?

ta.

If you press the middle of the selector thing it zooms in to show the actual pixels, so you can assess the sharpness. Is this what you have in mind?

yea, something that you could pre set to whatever % you would want to view would be cool, but anyway, a single button press to check would be neat.

ski - you can do that already (at least on D300). Not sure if it is something you need to configure in the menus ...

Some other preview/playback tips, camera geeks:

pressing OK, while zoomed in on an image during playback will take you back to normal size (zoom you right out)
Pressing the Fn button on the front of the camera while zooming in will immediately remove the 'zoom' box.

Nice tips stumpy01. Is there a way to just view the image without all the surrounding text? I currently find myself zooming in one click before showing the screen to someone because that gets rid of the text.

^^^^ - you can scroll up (or down) through to 'highlight' view, which has less clutter around the display I think, but then you get people saying 'why is the sky flashing', or whatever.
I do find it annoying that there isn't a 'just look at the picture' screen with no other information.....

My camera has pre-configurable zoom in live view for manual focusing 🙂 Although I really wish it had a split screen instead...

Next will be a 50mm prime, still thinking over which to go for, a 1.4 or the cheaper 1.8?

Confusingly, the choice is greater than that - there are several 50mm Nikon primes out there. 😕

There are two older 'D' lenses:
[url= http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/lenses/nikon_50_1p4 ]Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D[/url]
[url= http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/lenses/nikon_50_1p8 ]Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D[/url] (this is what I have)

And two newer AF-S ones:
[url= http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/nikon_50_1p4g_n15/ ]Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4G[/url]
[url= http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/lenses/nikon_50_1p8_g ]Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G[/url]

[u]As I understand it[/u], the older D ones are a bit lighter and smaller as they use the body motor to do focussing instead of having a motor built into the lens.

The D lenses also both have aperture rings (which you don't really use with a DSLR but can be handy if you want to reverse the lens for macro and still have control over aperture). The D lenses are also much cheaper and can be had second hand.

The AF-S ones obviously have the AF-S Silent Wave Motor built into the lens to do the focussing, which means they focus a bit quieter and faster, plus you can very easily manually override the focus by just touching the focus ring (on the other ones you have to flick a switch first to disengage the focus motor).

As for f/1.4 versus f/1.8: do read the reviews but my (very amateur) experience is that it if you are actually shooting at f/1.8 then it is hard enough to get the focus right (very shallow DOF) so I doubt I'd use that extra two-thirds of a stop that much.

I wonder how many people have DSLRs and use auto mode?

Yeah this is what I don't get. Using fully manual without a light meter is basically guess work isn't it?
Okay you can use the Sunny 16 rule to make an educated guess, but the camera gets it right 95% of the time so why waste the brainpower?

DrJ - Member

ski - you can do that already (at least on D300). Not sure if it is something you need to configure in the menus ...

Only had the camera a year & still learing how to use it, must have missed that option, need to have anoter read of the bible/manual again I think?

Sky pictures are extremely difficult for this reason - the sky is a huge thing! Most good sky pictures are half sky and half something else like scenery I think.

I'm going to be an awkward bugger and disagree - because 50/50 is exactly what you would expect people to shoot or see in many photos.

It's more dramatic if its 1/3 beach/mountain/land 2/3 sky or the other way round 2/3 beach/mountain/land 1/3 sky.

I just mentinoed it because some of the OPs pics were all sky - pics of clouds and stuff.

DSLRs have built in light meters!

Indeed, but if you use the built-in light meter to tell you the correct exposure then how is that any different to sticking it in a priority mode?

Cougar (not sure how to quote yo on here)
I'll disagree with you - getting a beginner to start to use a DSLR in manual even if it's for a day is IMO the best way to understand how the three interact and the by-products of altering each (motion blur, depth of field, noise etc). You could read it in a book if that's better for your learning style but for me hands on experience is always the best way.

I'm in the UK, in Cardiff.. pint would be good but I think you are still a long way away aren't you?

Yeah. I'm travelling south this weekend, but not really near Welsh Wales Boyo. Ah well, just a thought.

Yes, I know - it was a joke to say that professionals don't necessarily obsess about choosing the settings.

Ah. I did wonder if I was missing something; I've currently got too much blood in my caffeine stream.

graham s - it's completeley different! - it's just using the lightmeter in the camera rather than a sekonic or whatever. You can still exp comp either way aswell and control any factor (or the aper/shutt depending on which mode you're in).

Cougar ... I'll disagree with you

Feel free. We'll just have to agree to differ. I think it's more likely to get someone overwhelmed, frustrated and pissed off, personally.

They are ok, the wife's recovering nicely it seems and the nipper is now feeding ok.

Got some lovely pictures of them, despite using the automatic settings

Seriously though, are you saying you look at the scene and think 'oh yeah 1/250 f4.5 ISO 400' then set your camera to that before shooting?

graham s - it's completeley different!

Ok I'm missing something here - can you (or someone) talk me through how you would take a shot in Manual and get the right exposure?

You can still exp comp either way aswell and control any factor (or the aper/shutt depending on which mode you're in).

Umm.. surely there is no exposure compensation in manual?? That only alters the automatic exposure doesn't it? *confused*

[b]Edit[/b]: ahh hang on - are we talking at cross-purposes here? When I say "Manual", I mean fully manual ('M' on the dial) - the P,A,S modes would be "Auto", since they work out exposure automatically.

[img] [/img]

I think manual mode has it's place in terms of learning what effects what.
But I wouldn't want to do that in a situation where I was pressed for time & trying to get some good shots quickly.

However, with a still life or a willing model at home or wandering around a pretty town to get some pics, sure just stick the camera in manual & learn what does what.
Use P mode to get a starting point - then switch the manual & enter the settings of the P mode shot. Then fiddle around that base setting.

With Nikon cameras you can experiment easily in P mode as you can alter the shutter/aperture around the selected exposure to maintain that exposure using the command dials (obviously within the limits of what combination will still give you that exposure). Obviously this won't allow you to creatively over or under-expose a shot as the camera is still trying to maintain what it deems to be 'the correct exposure' which often isn't what you are trying to achieve.

There really is no right or wrong, it's just about finding what works for you.

With regards to this:

Seriously though, are you saying you look at the scene and think 'oh yeah 1/250 f4.5 ISO 400' then set your camera to that before shooting?

when i did a Wildarena day photographing birds of prey, it was amazing how well the guy who was running the day was able to predict the changing light conditions as the cloud rolled over. He would say something like:
"You are probably shooting at 1/250 f8 at the moment or thereabouts. Be aware there are some clouds coming over so you'll lose X stops of light so will need to increase your aperture by Y amount, your shutter by Z or increase your ISO."
He was almost always spot-on, but his job is photographing wildlife & he's been doing it for years.

& this tread was ticking along so sweetly, I did wonder when the bickering would start 😉

GrahamS - Member
graham s - it's completeley different!
Ok I'm missing something here - can you (or someone) talk me through how you would take a shot in Manual and get the right exposure?

I think what bazep means is that in manual mode, the camera will still give you an indication of under/over exposure. So you can tinker with settings until you get it to read 'correct exposure'. What the advantage of this is over S or A modes I am not sure.

I generally only use manual mode when trying to do something 'creative' with the exposure that the camera won't like, although quite often this can be sorted with exposure compensation, rather than resorting to manual. I also use manual when shooting a series of photos that I plan to stitch (not that I ever get round to stitching them!)

this won't allow you to creatively over or under-expose a shot as the camera is still trying to maintain what it deems to be 'the correct exposure' which often isn't what you are trying to achieve.

That's when I use the exposure compensation.

I usually shoot in Aperture priority. I have a pretty good idea what my camera reckons a "correct" exposure is for a given scene and I just twiddle the exp comp up or down to adjust that as required.

(Unless of course I'm deliberately [url= http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/optimizing_exposure.shtml ]exposing to the right[/url] so I can frob with it later - in which case I'd probably have to go to manual).

Edit:

I generally only use manual mode when trying to do something 'creative' with the exposure that the camera won't like, although quite often this can be sorted with exposure compensation, rather than resorting to manual. I also use manual when shooting a series of photos that I plan to stitch (not that I ever get round to stitching them!)

yeah that sounds more like what I do. (especially the not getting round to editing part!)

pretty much what Stumpy said - exp comp works in manual too (on my camera anyway). the light meter is just the lgith meter - you have control (if you don't leave it in auto anyway) to change any settings through a number of methods. Not sure about exp comp on auto settings as my cam doesn't have an auto option.

exp comp works in manual too (on my camera anyway)

So what does it do in manual?

my cam doesn't have an auto option.

What cam you using?