New Nikon Owner

Hi,

I've just bought myself a Nikon D3200 and also a Nikkor 18-105mm AF-s lens to go with it.

Is this a good choice?

I don't see it as a camera I will upgrade soon. Rather, I intend to keep it for several years. I know more about photography than the average holiday snapper but I am also not a committed enthusiast. I use a camera for holiday snaps, people, pets and occasionally I try to be creative.

I previously had a Fujifilm HS-50 which I bought for the long zoom lens. This was killed in Thailand last August when I was caught in a tropical thunder storm! I enjoyed using this camera but I found that the long zoom wasn't really practically usable and there was always something missing from images.

I chose the D3200 because of its large amount of megapixels and the large sensor. I also wanted something with a bit more range than the standard 18-55mm lens the camera usually comes with.

Do you think this camera will suit my needs? Should I see an improvement in my shots due to the better capability of this camera? Is the lens a good choice?

Many thanks for your help in advance. :)
 

Danno

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum! I hope you like it here as much as I do. As for your choice. That is what I started with and I loved it. I quickly went to shooting in manual and RAW files using the Nikon included software to edit. I then went to Adobe CC with LR and PS.

I do not have that Lens, but I have heard good things about it. As far as the camera making your photos better... I think that is more controlled from behind the view finder, but the camera is capable. It made great shots in Auto, but it was better when I moved to Manual... first using Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority and finally all manual. Trying to learn about the exposure triangle and light.

I wish you good luck as you start playing with the D3200. No one can promise that the shots will be better, but they have the potential to improve. A lot of folks here are really sharp and they are generous with their advice and support. You can pick up a lot here if you ask around or do a search.

This summer I sold mine to a friend to get her started and I upgraded to a D7200. She is really enjoying the camera.
 

WoodSoup

Senior Member
The D3200 is my Christmas present to myself this year. I gave it to myself early. I decided that I did not want to start by relying on the camera for settings. I have been using manual mode regularly and only using Auto when I get nervous. And I must say, I am happier with the images in Manual Mode. I spend a lot of time on the learning forum here.
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
Howdy Steve and welcome to Nikonites!

That D3200 is a nice little camera, and for your uses the compact size (compared to Nikon's larger prosumer DSLR bodies) will be a good fit for you. The only disadvantage I saw to the D3xxx/D5xxx bodies came about when shooting full manual. The lack of a second command dial pushed me to the layout used by the D7100. That said, as creative control isn't listed as your top concern, I think you'll be happy until the bug bites and you jump beyond committed consumer. :)

Welcome to the site!
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Hi,

I've just bought myself a Nikon D3200 and also a Nikkor 18-105mm AF-s lens to go with it.

Is this a good choice?

I don't see it as a camera I will upgrade soon. Rather, I intend to keep it for several years. I know more about photography than the average holiday snapper but I am also not a committed enthusiast. I use a camera for holiday snaps, people, pets and occasionally I try to be creative.

I previously had a Fujifilm HS-50 which I bought for the long zoom lens. This was killed in Thailand last August when I was caught in a tropical thunder storm! I enjoyed using this camera but I found that the long zoom wasn't really practically usable and there was always something missing from images.

I chose the D3200 because of its large amount of megapixels and the large sensor. I also wanted something with a bit more range than the standard 18-55mm lens the camera usually comes with.

Do you think this camera will suit my needs? Should I see an improvement in my shots due to the better capability of this camera? Is the lens a good choice?

Many thanks for your help in advance. :)
The D3200 is a very capable camera that should serve your needs quite well.

I would suggest you make one minor adjustment and it assumes you will be shooting JPG; if you intend to shoot raw exclusively you can ignore this suggestion.

Turn on your camera, press the Menu button.
Drop down to the camera icon (Shooting menu) and drop down until you find Set Picture Control.
Click right again, highlight the Standard picture control and click right one more time.
From this menu highlight the Sharpening setting and move it from the bizarrely low default setting to "7" instead.
Press the OK button to exit the menus.

This one adjustment will have a huge impact on the overall sharpness of your JPG photos. The above steps also assume you will be using the "Standard" Picture Control but if you use other Picture Controls (Vivid, Landscape, etc.) you should know that each one of them have their own sub-menus and their own Sharpening setting you may want to adjust like you did the "Standard" Picture Control.

.....
 

WoodSoup

Senior Member
Turn on your camera, press the Menu button.
Drop down to the camera icon (Shooting menu) and drop down until you find Set Picture Control.
Click right again, highlight the Standard picture control and click right one more time.
From this menu highlight the Sharpening setting and move it from the bizarrely low default setting to "7" instead.
Press the OK button to exit the menus.

.....

This should be in the Sticky on this forum! Great advice!
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
It's a great camera and an excellent tool to learn the ropes on. Additionally, it's a great starter investment to cut your teeth on and determine if you're really into it (bigger more expensive investments down the road) or more casual and you have saved yourself a lot of money by not overbuying into bigger equipment.

In closing, the camera's sensor is plenty capable of giving you great images.

Welcome to the forum.
 

robbins.photo

Senior Member
Hi,

I've just bought myself a Nikon D3200 and also a Nikkor 18-105mm AF-s lens to go with it.

Is this a good choice?

I don't see it as a camera I will upgrade soon. Rather, I intend to keep it for several years. I know more about photography than the average holiday snapper but I am also not a committed enthusiast. I use a camera for holiday snaps, people, pets and occasionally I try to be creative.

I previously had a Fujifilm HS-50 which I bought for the long zoom lens. This was killed in Thailand last August when I was caught in a tropical thunder storm! I enjoyed using this camera but I found that the long zoom wasn't really practically usable and there was always something missing from images.

I chose the D3200 because of its large amount of megapixels and the large sensor. I also wanted something with a bit more range than the standard 18-55mm lens the camera usually comes with.

Do you think this camera will suit my needs? Should I see an improvement in my shots due to the better capability of this camera? Is the lens a good choice?

Many thanks for your help in advance. :)

The biggest influence on the final results will be you, your skill and knowledge will make a much bigger difference in the final results than what camera body your using.

The D3200 is capable of producing some really top notch shots.
 

paul04

Senior Member
Welcome to the website, The D3200 is a nice camera and will produce some very good results for you.

The D3200 was my 1st digital camera..
 

RobV

Senior Member
Turn on your camera, press the Menu button.
Drop down to the camera icon (Shooting menu) and drop down until you find Set Picture Control.
Click right again, highlight the Standard picture control and click right one more time.
From this menu highlight the Sharpening setting and move it from the bizarrely low default setting to "7" instead.
Press the OK button to exit the menus.
Not to hijack the thread (Welcome!), but does this apply to my D5300, and others, as well?
 

robbins.photo

Senior Member
Not to hijack the thread (Welcome!), but does this apply to my D5300, and others, as well?

Ok, I will answer this however I absolutely refuse to fly this thread to Albania... just so you know. Lol

Yes, the 5300 is also an outstanding body. I shot both the 5100 and later the 5200 for quite a while, and they are all capable of producing really fantastic images.

I eventually upgraded to the 7100, but really the biggest advantage wasn't the sensor or higher IQ persee, it was the dual control wheels. It allowed me to control both aperture and shutter speed quickly without having to go into the menus or press any additional buttons.

Now I shoot a D600 - for me it made the most sense because I shoot a lot of stuff indoors at the zoo and the full frame does much better in lowlight than an APS-C sensor camera since I can't use a flash.

However if I were to take a D3200, D5300 and my D600 out and shoot the same shot outdoors in good lighting using the same lens, you'd be very hard pressed to be able to tell the difference between the 3 images.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Not to hijack the thread (Welcome!), but does this apply to my D5300, and others, as well?
The exact menu navigation might be slightly different for different cameras, I don't know for sure, but the short answer to your question, is yes.

If you're shooting JPG your camera IS using a Picture Control and, by default, it's the "Standard" Picture Control. Also by default the "Sharpness" setting in the Picture Controls will be set very, very low. I forget how low to be honest, but I want to say it's around "2" or something like that. Adjusting the "Sharpness" setting in the Picture Controls will, obviously, make your JPG images sharper and from my experience using a setting of "7" (two tics down from the highest setting of "9") is optimal. The setting applies to every Nikon DSLR as far as I know but just how much adjustment the setting needs is a matter of opinion. If you think "9" or "6" looks better than "7", by all means use it.

The Picture Control settings will not affect raw files, per se, so if you shoot raw, you don't need to worry about them.

I sometimes suggest bumping the "Saturation" setting by one tic-mark as well, but that's a more subtle adjustment. Try it and see what you think. None of these settings are permanent. If you decide they're too much, back them off or put them back at their default settings and it will be like this never happened.

....
 

Fortkentdad

Senior Member
Welcome

That is a great starter set up.

Take your time and learn the basics of photography at your own pace.

I started out with a D5100 in 2012 and got hooked.
I moved from 'auto-everyting' to A-priority and now am learning to shoot manual. I upgraded my camera and built up a collection of lenses. I really should go the the NAS-AA meetings (N.A.S. is Nikon Acquisition Syndrome and you know you have this affliction when you cannot pass by a camera store without going in, and in most cases coming out with something that put a major ding in the pocketbook)

But that was my experience. My wife just likes to take pictures with the D5100 in auto mode. She is into the composition and capturing the moment. No interest in swapping lenses any more than she has too (and usually asks me to do it for her). If she has to have a flash - keep it small and simple (The SB-400 works great for her). I'm into multiple off camera flashes in softboxes.

We both like photography - just in totally different ways.

Find your own way.

And feel free to ask questions.
 
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