DSLR / D7000 Newbie with some questions

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bmilcs

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
Yes, that's an excellent lens. Congrats!

I've been tempted by those refurbs on Adorama myself, but I just don't need a big zoom at the moment... That and I keep toying with the idea of going FX.

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I can't wait for the flexibility of a zoom and capturing people without them knowing in a natural pose. That sounds creepy but I'm sure I'm understood lol.

Now I need to drop my 35 and 40 to afford a nifty fifty :)
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
bmilcs said:
... Now I need to drop my 35 and 40 to afford a nifty fifty.
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Personally, I'd tell you to keep the 35mm, sell the 40mm and buy either a Nikon 18-140mm or 18-105mm. The first of those latter two is the nicer but the second is cheaper. Anyway, with this trio of lenses you're covered from wide angle (18mm) to moderate zoom (300mm) with an excellent, fast prime (35mm) holding the middle ground. If you're big into primes you should really consider the 85mm; it'll knock your socks off.

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bmilcs

Senior Member
Alright. Swapped out the 35mm for my 60mm. Here's some eyecandy for ya with sharpness boosted. Looks great outdoors but indoors, the +sharpness in the camera makes it far too dark.

new-113 by bmilcs, on Flickr

new-112 by bmilcs, on Flickr

new-125 by bmilcs, on Flickr

new-124 by bmilcs, on Flickr

new-122 by bmilcs, on Flickr


[url=https://flic.kr/p/njxwZs] new-121 by bmilcs, on Flickr

[/URL]new-122 by bmilcs, on Flickr

new-119 by bmilcs, on Flickr

new-117 by bmilcs, on Flickr

new-115 by bmilcs, on Flickr
 
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bmilcs

Senior Member
Feedback welcome on any of my shots - don't hold back. I'd like honest critique so I can improve.

UPDATE: My lens is already out for delivery?? I ordered it yesterday, mid-afternoon, from New Jersey. I live in Western MASS, and its out for delivery!

I chose 7-10 snail mail. Unbelievable service.
 
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bmilcs

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
Personally, I'd tell you to keep the 35mm, sell the 40mm and buy either a Nikon 18-140mm or 18-105mm. The first of those latter two is the nicer but the second is cheaper. Anyway, with this trio of lenses you're covered from wide angle (18mm) to moderate zoom (300mm) with an excellent, fast prime (35mm) holding the middle ground. If you're big into primes you should really consider the 85mm; it'll knock your socks off.

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The 40mm needs to go for sure. The 35mm is a great lens but I substantially crop most of my pictures while using it.

A smaller zoom lens would be convenient but IQ again is a concern and I have a feeling I'd keep it at 50-70 the majority of the time. Is the 18-140 comparable to the 35mm 1.8?

I want a 18-300mm f1.4 for under $500 so I can call it a day hahah.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
bmilcs said:
The 40mm needs to go for sure. The 35mm is a great lens but I substantially crop most of my pictures while using it.

A smaller zoom lens would be convenient but IQ again is a concern and I have a feeling I'd keep it at 50-70 the majority of the time. Is the 18-140 comparable to the 35mm 1.8?

I want a 18-300mm f1.4 for under $500 so I can call it a day hahah.
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These things are most always a trade-off, leaving us to juggle what's most important to us at the time. Personally, I don't find cropping a drawback; I long ago gave up trying to get every shot pixel-perfect in-frame before clicking the shutter. I routinely shoot a little wider than I think I need to, in anticipation of cropping the shot to perfection anyway, and for me that's a small price to pay for the speed and image quality the 35mm provides. But that's me and my shooting style.

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bmilcs

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
These things are most always a trade-off, leaving us to juggle what's most important to us at the time. Personally, I don't find cropping a drawback; I long ago gave up trying to get every shot pixel-perfect in-frame before clicking the shutter. I routinely shoot a little wider than I think I need to, in anticipation of cropping the shot to perfection anyway, and for me that's a small price to pay for the speed and image quality the 35mm provides. But that's me and my shooting style.

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That makes sense. You may be right - the 35mm is a great lens and works well with the D7000.

Off-topic question: Are there any good D7000 / Nikon / DSLR podcasts out there for beginners or amateurs?
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
He's not doing them anymore, but I have enjoyed quite a few podcasts done by James Beltz. I think you can find them under phototips in iTunes, and they're free. General info non-brand specific, but some gems in there from time to time. I'd suggest one of the walkthrough books by Darrell Young (Mastering the D7000) as was recommended to me by Jake. Fantastic hands on book to learn all the ins/outs of the camera.
 
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bmilcs

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
Okay, I was looking at your shots and thinking you were either shooting RAW and not doing any, at most very little, post-processing or, you're shooting JPG and your camera needs some menu tweaking.

So... I'm going to suggest a few things.

Set your camera up to shoot RAW + JPG. Send the RAW files to Card 1 and the JPG's to Card 2. I suggest this because I don't see the point in processing shots you know suck. Why bother? Post processing, for me, is spent on those shots that totally make me say, "WOW!" not every shot that comes down the pike. But when I do nail a shot that well, I want the full power that only RAW processing can give me. Shooting RAW + JPG is, to my way of thinking, the best of both worlds. If I could ONLY shoot one format, it would be RAW, of course, no question about that; but JPG's have their place as well, don't forget that.

If you haven't already here's how I suggest you set up your camera for JPG... Go into your Shooting Menu (camera icon) and drop down to "Picture Control". Click right once using the four-way button and highlight "Standard". Click right again and drop down to "Sharpening". Set this slider to 5 or 6. Drop down to "Saturation" and bump that slider one notch higher. Save the settings and exit. In my experience these little tweaks will get you *significantly* better JPG photos.

External storage is going to be a must for any serious photographer so I'd suggest getting a USB external hard drive. This Western Digital 1TB drive is only $70 and Western Digital is my preferred brand. This would be an excellent investment for you if you're feeling cramped for space.

As for processing your photos let me pull them into PS and play with them. At home they were looking a little soft and I was thinking the contrast and saturation needed some help. I'm at my office now and my opinion may have changed. I'll play with them see what I can do.

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I bumped +5 Sharpening and +Saturation. However, I am finding that my images are much darker and less "fresh" looking. They all have this shadow/shade/depressing tone to them. Should I compensate elsewhere with more exposure?

Took several photos of the kids and fiancee at the park yesterday. I'll post examples after work.

It's weird. I take them and they look great in liveview. I import them all into Lightroom (which copies them to my HD). When I click on an Image, the exposure and color and everything looks GREAT for a brief second while loading; it completes the loading process and the image looks almost washed out and darker - underexposed even.

What is causing this?
 
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bmilcs

Senior Member
Ah I see I lacked the understanding of what a RAW image is. Do any of you have a good preset for the D7000 in Lightroom? What do you use?
 
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