Switching Cameras

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ashleynicole87

Senior Member
I've worked in a corporate studio where my love for photography developed, but we were unable to adjust the settings on the camera. I had a decent SLR and point and shoot but have recently gotten a DSLR. I am trying to find the easiest process to reteach myself the shooting process. I've read the manual and purchased some online photography classes, but I feel that just doing it will be the most beneficial process for me. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for my transition or similar experiences?


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WayneF

Senior Member
Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera: Bryan Peterson: 0884798534707: Amazon.com: Books

It is an easy fun read, and is inexpensive, and possibly may be in your public library. First essential fundamentals. The title is "Understanding Exposure", however there are many combinations of settings that can give the same exposure. Only a little of it is about "exposure" (which the light meter does anyway).

This subject is about why and how of choosing specific of those several combinations of settings for purposes of your better picture. Point&shooters may not know or care, but this is the basic first fundamentals of photography. Essential knowledge. If we don't know this, then we don't know nothin'. :)
 
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RocketCowboy

Senior Member
What camera make/model are you shooting at work?

Most of the books I've attached myself too have been model specific, up until the point last month that I declared my intention to get the CPP certification from the PPA.

That said, I'd still like to check out the book Wayne mentioned above.


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ashleynicole87

Senior Member
RocketCowboy said:
What camera make/model are you shooting at work?

Most of the books I've attached myself too have been model specific, up until the point last month that I declared my intention to get the CPP certification from the PPA.

That said, I'd still like to check out the book Wayne mentioned above.


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Click to expand...

The studio i was working in shut down and I'm not sure of the exact model, but it was canon.
 
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ashleynicole87

Senior Member
I've ordered the book mentioned before and hopefully will be receiving it in a couple of days. I'm also looking into model specific books and reviews on those. Thanks for the input guys.


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okulo

Senior Member
I assume that because you have posted in this section, you are considering buying a D5500 and whilst this is a camera which I have and quite love, I would say that if you are interested in learning about photography, buy the simplest camera you can find which has just M A S P settings - I might actually suggest just M but I doubt that such a DSLR exists these days though I may be wrong. The fewer tricks it can dazzle you with, the better. Not only will you not be tempted to use gimmicks rather than learning by making mistakes, they won't get in the way - they won't make it difficult to find what you want when you are trying to navigate your way around the camera.

Hopefully, you will learn very quickly and you might want to buy something more sophisticated, you could either trade in your camera body or whole kit and upgrade or add to your kit - there is no need to feel that you are stuck with your first camera.
 
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skene

Senior Member
Depending on how far into photography you are trying to get, I would suggest another model that offers a bit more control at the fingertips vs the menu based D3XXX/5XXX. While there is nothing wrong with menu based, adjusting everything on the fly would be better for someone trying to grasp the basics of photography.
 
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Vincent

Senior Member
ashleynicole87 said:
...have recently gotten a DSLR
Click to expand...

Which one did you get? It seems from the section the D5500.

ashleynicole87 said:
... I feel that just doing it will be the most beneficial process for me.
Click to expand...

Indeed read and follow online courses (on youtube), but it is useless unless you take pictures.
Learn to be systematic:

Every time you want to take a picture:
1) What is light situation (can you improve it?).
2) What is the subject, does it need special settings (ISO 100 for high dynamic range, Shutter speed over ... for moving subjects, special depth of field, panning effect, etc...)
3) Can you work on M (full manual), do you need S (shutter speed priority) or A (Aperture priority) settings. P is still acceptable but avoid the rest for learning.
4) What are the ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed you need from the first points to get a reasonable exposure (you might under/over expose on purpose). Should you use extra lights?
5) What is the result, is it like you expected? Do you get the result on camera and in post processing (shoot for post processing?) as you want it.
6) If you have the time, do experiment with what you think might not work, maybe you are wrong and you like the result of "crazy" settings.

Clearly: as most of us have, why did I forget to be systematic and left the settings of last night now that it is lunch?
 
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kkchan

Senior Member
my opinion is, since a DSLR doesn't not take any film, which means each shots won't cost you any money, I suggest just shoot and shoot and practice then get a hang of it. There are no such written rules about pictures taking.
When I first switched from film cameras to dslrs 10 years ago, I was having a tough time , and my first paid assignment was completely shxtty trash :(
 
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ashleynicole87

Senior Member
Vincent said:
Which one did you get? It seems from the section the D5500.



Indeed read and follow online courses (on youtube), but it is useless unless you take pictures.
Learn to be systematic:

Every time you want to take a picture:
1) What is light situation (can you improve it?).
2) What is the subject, does it need special settings (ISO 100 for high dynamic range, Shutter speed over ... for moving subjects, special depth of field, panning effect, etc...)
3) Can you work on M (full manual), do you need S (shutter speed priority) or A (Aperture priority) settings. P is still acceptable but avoid the rest for learning.
4) What are the ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed you need from the first points to get a reasonable exposure (you might under/over expose on purpose). Should you use extra lights?
5) What is the result, is it like you expected? Do you get the result on camera and in post processing (shoot for post processing?) as you want it.
6) If you have the time, do experiment with what you think might not work, maybe you are wrong and you like the result of "crazy" settings.

Clearly: as most of us have, why did I forget to be systematic and left the settings of last night now that it is lunch?
Click to expand...

I don't work in anything but manual so i will learn. Light is definitely where I'm struggling most. I seem to overcompensate or undercompensate a lot.

Speaking of, is the d5500 not capable of coupling with an external flash wirelessly?
 
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Vincent

Senior Member
ashleynicole87 said:
....is the d5500 not capable of coupling with an external flash wirelessly?
Click to expand...

There are different systems:
- Not clear to me if the build in flash of a D5500 can act in commander mode (that is a control with light flashes), the flashes need to see each other to use this. Look in the manual.
- I use a cheap RF trigger/receiver system on the flash hotshoe, works sufficient for me. (easy to find)
- The SB-5000 is the first Nikon RF system
 
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SteveH

Senior Member
Yongnuo make pretty cheap, easy to use but very flexible flashes and triggers - There are many users of them around here. I personally use the Yongnou 622 triggers which work great.
 
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ashleynicole87

Senior Member
Vincent said:
There are different systems:
- Not clear to me if the build in flash of a D5500 can act in commander mode (that is a control with light flashes), the flashes need to see each other to use this. Look in the manual.
- I use a cheap RF trigger/receiver system on the flash hotshoe, works sufficient for me. (easy to find)
- The SB-5000 is the first Nikon RF system
Click to expand...

I read the manual and it confused me, but it I think that they can't. I just wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly. Thank you.
 
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MaxBlake

Senior Member
I jump back and forth between three cameras fairly often: the D3300, the D550, and the D7200. The best I can tell you is that the more frequently you do it, the easier it gets. It's also fun to do because at times, it reminds you about the strengths that each of the cameras bring to a situation and why you bought that particular model in the first place. I just pulled some photos tha I'd shot during the past couple of months out of the D5500, for example, and was delighted with the results ... a reminder of how good that model really is. Not sure if that helps or not, but it's what comes to mind.

Nice to have you on the site, by the way.
 
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