New camera advice...

DaveNewman

Senior Member
I own a D3100 and i really cant get use to all the settings, its a little complicated for me, so id like advise on the best camera to purchase for what i would use it for....

sports (cricket)
wildlife
fishing (still shots)
people
animals

id like some nice and compact which i can place on a tripod if required, good zoom (all built in)

TIA
dave
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
I own a D3100 and i really cant get use to all the settings, its a little complicated for me, so id like advise on the best camera to purchase for what i would use it for....

sports (cricket)
wildlife
fishing (still shots)
people
animals

id like some nice and compact which i can place on a tripod if required, good zoom (all built in)

TIA
dave

You may have a problem there,the subjects you fancy doing will all need input from you with the settings,the only possible answer is the Coolpix range i have just bought one but dont see it any where near capable of being a do anything camera.

This is the sort of thing,

Nikon Coolpix P900 Review | PhotographyBLOG
 

traceyjj

Senior Member
I maybe wrong but I thought the D3100 had full auto mode, allowing you to use the camera as a "point and shoot"?

It would save you selling and buying a new camera
 

DaveNewman

Senior Member
that camera is well out my budget....

my d3100, im having problems getting the right settings, ive taken advice from here, read website, took notes etc etc and i just cant get it right...

my latest was of my wife in a dressage comp, i was on the sports setting everything came out a blurr....

friday is very important to me, wedding ann and we are feeding live real tigers, so i need these shots 100%
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I maybe wrong but I thought the D3100 had full auto mode, allowing you to use the camera as a "point and shoot"?
Considering your timeline, this is your best option in my opinion. Reset the camera back to factory defaults, put the mode dial on the green "Auto" setting and go for it.

That, or pick up a point and shoot.
.....
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
I think that your problem is that you don't know about light, exposure, iso and aperture. If you'd only take a few hours to learn about this, maybe your camera would become more friendly to you. Whatever camera you get, if you don't learn the basics, you'll end up with a lot of missed shots.

You've got to learn that without light, no camera can take a good picture. And our eyes are way more sensitive than any camera and we expect the camera to see like our eyes do and it's simply not what happens. This causes a lot of deceptions to newcomers to photography.

Good luck.
 

ryan20fun

Senior Member
Maybe you could do some test/practice shots before hand to make sure that you can get what you want.
Ofcourse that would require you to know the approcimate lighting conditions.

HTH
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
So what is it exactly that you don't understand or can't get a grip on? Is it a focusing problem, a blurred images problem or just an exposure problem?

You know that if you'd post examples of what you find problematic we could advise you much better than by trying to guess what gives you these problems.
 

10 Gauge

Senior Member
Doesn't the D3100 have that intelligent auto mode where it walks you through the kind of photo's you are about to take on the screen and adjusts the parameters accordingly (ie. if telling it you're shooting sports it will maintain a quick shutter speed, etc etc).

As has been mentioned by pretty much everyone above the advantage of owning a DSLR is the ability to control your shots manually, which means you need to know the basics about photography. If your shots are coming out blurry, there's two possible reasons. Either you have your AF settings borked up in some way, or your shutter speed is too slow for what you're shooting. Are your images motion blurred or actually out of focus? If motion blurred, you might want to start playing with shutter priority mode and dial up your shutter speed to 1/250 or higher, this should help you stop motion.

Auto mode is really pants, you'll get far less good shots in auto than using the camera in some kind of manual mode when you're setting it up for the given shots you are taking. Auto isn't really all that "smart".
 

Pretzel

Senior Member
Hard to become an expert without investing in the learning... There are some great guides to the D3100 (like Darrell Young's "Mastering the D3100'), or I'm sure there are local photography shops and/or photographers that teach "basics" courses. I know it's not an instant thing, and many want "HERE" and "NOW", but it's a shame to run a DSLR in auto mode when it's capable of FAR, FAR more.

I think that's your best option considering your short time frame, though. Hope you invited along a pro for the wedding?
 

DaveNewman

Senior Member
lol thanks.... ill play around with the camera this week with the dogs in the back garden and then monday will post some of the pics of the tigers. Will see what happens.

thanks for all the advice guys.

ps... the horses, i think the camera was out of focus, at times wheni semi hold the button it for it to focus is doesnt, which i dont understand why, im at least 25yards away (55-200 lens) and as it tries to focus i can hear a squealing/screetch coming from the camera.... ???????????
 
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Dxer

Senior Member
I wish I could add something here that hasn't been said already. The Nikon D3100 is still a very capable camera. Just put it in auto, takes some pictures and post them up here so we can have a look. Then we can be in a better position to make suggestions.

After JUST reading your comment, possible issue with the lens? It should make a little bit of noise, but screeching noises?
 
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