11 replies to this topic

[N1Hawk]

Hey guys for Christmas I'll be getting a NIKON D3000 W/ 18-55 DX II LENS Anyone know if this is a good beginners Camera for someone getting into SLR Photography??

Thanks

N1Hawk

Edited by N1Hawk, 28 November 2009 - 03:37 PM.

[PogMahone]

Hey,

As you probably know already, the D3000 is a pretty good camera for beginner DSLR users. A really cool feature it has is a Guide mode. It'll actually help you set up various scenes (soft background for instance) and will automatically set your camera for those scenes.

[abandonedfreak]

I have no complaints so far, Im slowly figuring mine out. Sometimes frustratingly slow, but still working at it.

[N1Hawk]

after 1 year almost of having this camera, i'm still figuring out this darn camera.

[abandonedfreak]

N1Hawk, on 28 January 2011 - 06:28 PM, said:

after 1 year almost of having this camera, i'm still figuring out this darn camera.

yeah, i dont see me mastering it anytime soon either

[Chaindrive]

lol.

Good thing I don't have some fancy camera - I'd kill it for sure.

[abandonedfreak]

Chaindrive, on 30 January 2011 - 02:27 AM, said:

lol.

Good thing I don't have some fancy camera - I'd kill it for sure.

Oh trust me there are times its tempting to yell at it and give it a "love tap" for not giving the pic I want

[faust]

Try playing with it in manual mode. Most of the automatic modes will only frustrate you. Put it in manual, open the aperture to it's widest setting (lowest number), set the ISO for the appropriate lighting conditions( Higher ISO for lower light, so ISO 1600 for low light and ISO 100 for sunny days), and then you can control your shutter speed with the wheel next to the shutter release. If you can't get enough light or you get too much light at either extreme with the shutter speed control then adjust your aperture or ISO until you can get the right amount of light. I probably shouldn't type when I'm tired...I hope this make sense. If you want a quick down and dirty demo then let me know and we can hook up on skype and i can walk you through the basic controls on your camera.

[faust]

Also, when you're looking through the viewfinder and half depress the shutter release button you can see the light meter...the needle or dot or whatever your display uses should be in the middle of the meter for proper exposure. Up (for a vertical meter) or to the right (for a horizontal meter) is too much light and the opposite is not enough light. Playing with the controls while checking the meter should give you an idea if what setting you need. The meter also changes how it "sees" the area you want to photograph depending on what metering mode you use. I shoot a lot of concert photos so I tend to use spot metering or center weighted average. If you're trying to balance light for the whole scene like a room rather than a single face then evaluative metering might be better. And the meter will always try to give you a "perfect" exposure, which you may not always want, so don't be afraid to go above or below to get the look you're after. If you look at the photos I've posted recently you can see what I like to shoot. I almost always shoot 1/3rd stop to a full stop underexposed and then pull the shadows up a little in photoshop. Hope this helps.

[abandonedfreak]

faust, on 03 February 2011 - 04:59 AM, said:

Also, when you're looking through the viewfinder and half depress the shutter release button you can see the light meter...the needle or dot or whatever your display uses should be in the middle of the meter for proper exposure. Up (for a vertical meter) or to the right (for a horizontal meter) is too much light and the opposite is not enough light. Playing with the controls while checking the meter should give you an idea if what setting you need. The meter also changes how it "sees" the area you want to photograph depending on what metering mode you use. I shoot a lot of concert photos so I tend to use spot metering or center weighted average. If you're trying to balance light for the whole scene like a room rather than a single face then evaluative metering might be better. And the meter will always try to give you a "perfect" exposure, which you may not always want, so don't be afraid to go above or below to get the look you're after. If you look at the photos I've posted recently you can see what I like to shoot. I almost always shoot 1/3rd stop to a full stop underexposed and then pull the shadows up a little in photoshop. Hope this helps.

Ok, to start, I have been using it in manual mode and adjusting shutter speed to compensate for low lighting, which works fine, except for the time being I max out at 30 seconds for exposure time becase I don't have a remote to get longer times yet. But I would appreciate any help I can get since I do want to get this thing mastered, That is the most frustrating part, knowing some of what its capable of, but not being able to make it do it. And I guess that was a mistake I was making, I thought that the lower the ISO setting for the lower the lighting. Im not too sure about the rest of this as I havent tried it or didnt really know what it was, I knew their was stuff inside the viewfinder, but never really paid attention to it.

Edited by abandonedfreak, 05 February 2011 - 12:04 AM.

[Marcel]

I have this camera! LOVE it!

[N1Hawk]

Faust,

Thanks for the info about manual mode I'm just starting to play with my manual mode but I love auto mode it's so easy to shoot with it