New user, very confused about zoom

I took delivery of a Nikon D7000 18-105mm VR camera yesterday, it's my first DSLR and expectations were very high!

I was playing about with it last night and was trying to zoom in on certain objects say 10ft away to see how impressive the zoom was - well I must be doing something very wrong as the pictures I've taken of objects less than 10ft away appear no larger than if you we're looking with the naked eye.

I've turned the zoom so it's fully extended and played about with the focus ring, and I'm totally confused as to why I'm not able to zoom in close on objects only a very short distance away, even my old Canon powershot could zoom in better than this so now wondering why I've spent £800!

Clearly I'm doing something wrong or the camera is faulty, I don't see which it can be so any advice would be appreciated.

Like I said I'm a total newbie to DSLR cameras so keep it simple

thanks

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Welcome to the forum.

I think that you are not doing anything wrong and the camera is not faulty. I think that your expectations were just wrong. A powershot camera had a very short focal length lens because the sensor was much smaller than what you have on the D7000. This would allow you to have more depth of field and also take pictures of objects much closer. The Canon also probably had a longer reach zoom than the 18-105.

You either will have to learn the camera's and lens basic limitations and work with them or get a simpler point & shoot camera. Photography is not a simple thing to learn, and the more advanced is the equipment, the more control it gives you, but if your expectations are wrong for the lens you have, then your relationship with your camera will not be a happy one.

If you want to have objects that you photograph from less than 10 feet away appear larger than they appear with the naked eyes, you will have to enlarge your picture quite a bit. Have you tried looking at your pictures at full 100% resolution on a computer? A D7000 image at full size is quite big as far as I'm concerned. Big enough for enlargements for sure.

This is all I can think for now, I just hope it answers a bit to your questions.

​All the best.

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Welcome!

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Welcome! If you look at your Powershot, it may have the equivalent focal length on it (or at least the actual focal length) which could give you an idea how it compares to the 18-105mm lens. All things being equal though, the 18-105 has a decent reach to it, but nothing that you'd go and shoot a football game or wildlife with without being really close. It's also not a macro lens. Not sure what you're shooting, but the only lens I have longer than the 18-105 is a 75-300 AF and I've only used that a handful of times.

Oh, and don't sweat too much. You spent 800 Pounds on a magnesium-body camera, with a great sensor with awesome high-ISO capability, an internal focus motor, a handy top mounted LCD, great external controls, a built in flash with commander mode, and it'll do 6 frames per second. Plus a pretty versatile lens. My 18-105 is the one that's usually on my camera.

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

deftones1976 said:

I took delivery of a Nikon D7000 18-105mm VR camera yesterday, it's my first DSLR and expectations were very high!

I was playing about with it last night and was trying to zoom in on certain objects say 10ft away to see how impressive the zoom was - well I must be doing something very wrong as the pictures I've taken of objects less than 10ft away appear no larger than if you we're looking with the naked eye.

I've turned the zoom so it's fully extended and played about with the focus ring, and I'm totally confused as to why I'm not able to zoom in close on objects only a very short distance away, even my old Canon powershot could zoom in better than this so now wondering why I've spent £800!

Clearly I'm doing something wrong or the camera is faulty, I don't see which it can be so any advice would be appreciated.

Like I said I'm a total newbie to DSLR cameras so keep it simple

Click to expand...

I see this a lot and the bulk of the problem is your understanding of photography, and how cameras operate, is limited to the experience you've had with a Point and Shoot camera. Point and Shoots are very good at what they do and most people don't know what they're missing because they have no other frame of reference. To use an analogy, you've gotten used to driving a Citron. Nothing wrong with a Citron, right? Gets you where you wanna go, and it's easy: climb in, turn the key, mash the pedals and you're off and running. Then one day you step into a Formula 1 race car and try to drive it like you did your Citron... Ain't gonna work. Both machines are cars, yes; but that's where the similarity ends.

The D7000 is a growling, Formula 1 racing-machine and you're going to have to learn to tame if you want to get much out of it. There is also going to be a relatively steep learning curve ahead if you want to manage it effectively. Or, if you want, you can learn a couple quick, simple things, put the camera on full Auto and treat it like an £800 "Point and Shoot"; lots of people do and there's nothing wrong with that other than a despicable waste of resources, in my opinion. So, if you decide you want to really control all the potential your new D7000 offers up I would suggest you get a book like The D7000 Digital Field Guide (link goes to Amazon, stateside) and start reading up. The easy path leads you to glorified P&S "snapshots", the long and more difficult path leads to Learning Photography and the satisfaction that comes from moving away from being the guy that gets a half-decent picture worthy of pasting on Facebook (at least until the next halfway decent shot comes along), to becoming the guy that routinely, "nails the shot" and hears people say, "Wow!"

There are plenty of free tutorials and such online as well. Some of the best tutorials (in my opinion) can be found at Cambridge in Colour (link goes to a list of digital photo 101 links).




.

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Please realise that many P&S cameras have digital zoom. Basically, the camera is taking what it sees "optically" and then digitally magnifying it. Therefore, in a P&S, you always have an optical zoom - it's using it's glass to magnify - then it will have it's digital zoom - it's using it's electronics to magnify. Unfortunately, you can not compare your Canon P&S to your D7000. That is like comparing apples and oranges. I have the same lens as you do and trust me, your camera and the lens are not faulty.

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Hi all, thank you so much for the detailed responses from you all, much appreciated.

The general consensus is my knowledge of photography is limited, which is very true, and my frame of reference is based on a point and shoot experience, I'd agree with all those statements. The D7000 is undoubtably a highly sophisticated bit of kit and I need to take my time learning all it's features and then report back in due course and maybe share some pics. I've ordered a guide book to the D7000 by David Busch which had good reviews, and one of my friends is a keen amateur photographer and is chomping at the bit to see my camera and no doubt he will sort me out.

Thanks again for the comments, and I loved the car analogy 'Horoscope Fish', totally understand the point you're making!

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

AC016 - thanks for your comment, you mentioned you had the same camera and lens as me so I wondered how you get close up pics at a certain distance, say 15ft away? Is it a case of cropping it on the computer or do you have specific camera settings to assist you? Regards

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

deftones1976 said:

AC016 - thanks for your comment, you mentioned you had the same camera and lens as me so I wondered how you get close up pics at a certain distance, say 15ft away? Is it a case of cropping it on the computer or do you have specific camera settings to assist you? Regards

Click to expand...

There are a few ways you can skin this cat. First, you can try to get closer to your subject. Second, you can crop afterwards, not a sin. YOu have a great sensor in your camera and your IQ will not go down if you crop a bit. Third, you may hav to invest in another lens to get you closer. I do have the same lens as you, but not the exact same camera. I have a 7100. It has a nice little built in crop feature when shooting photos. Have fun!

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Understand what you're saying, thanks! Was looking at the 7100 but figured the 7000 would be more than sufficient for my purposes and it was several hundreds cheaper!

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Deftones, I understand, I overbought on my camera (got a 7000) after getting a 5200 and returning it thinking it seemed easy enough and I wanted a camera I could grow into. I had used SLR's yrs ago but it is like learning a new language. It will be worth it. I've had mine 2 months and its starting to finally get fun again. Keep learning and practicing. There are lots of tutorials on Youtube also.

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Thanks

Welcome aboard.

Re: New user, very confused and need advice!

Most people new to photography dont realize that at around 70mm is the same as what you see when not looking through the view finder. Meaning when setting any lense to around 70mm the view you get will be very close to what you would normally see. So if you have a 24-70mm lense you not going to get any magnification beyond what you would normally see. And really, from 70mm to 105mm there really isn,t that much more zoom. When I shoot with my 70-200mm you would think that with a lense that size you could really pull in some distance between you and what ever subject you trying to shoot. At least thats what I assumed when I first started into photography. You do but not as much as I thought. But theres more to it when having An DSLR over a P/S, and the more you learn about how much more usefull having one over a P/S the more you will appreciate it. The fact that you can grab your camera, turn it on and almost instantly take a photo is reason enough for most people to own one. I did a little experiment a while back. I was taking shots of my boy playing baseball and a mother came to me and asked. So why is having one of those better than the P/S she was holding. I told her to turn it off and we both turned our cameras on the same time and to take a shot as fast as we could. With my D3s I shot off about 30-40 shots by the time she was able to get off just one. Pretty important most of the time. And thats just the start of all the benefits you'll soon appreciate. But realize that a DSLR isnt necessarily better just differant.