My brother got me a nice birthday present, a DSLR! He was tired of me using the shitty Olympus 35mm camera I had that took blurry photo's.
The camera he got:

Linky


He got it on sale for around 1000 w/ Tax with a lense, rechargeable battery, bag/case, car charger, 2GB card and a few other things. He said he bought it blindly, he asked for the best camera under a grand and that's what they gave him. He told me that if there was a better camera for the same price or better, to give him the model name and he'd return it and get that (he is stupid and wise with his money!) Are there any better camera's less than a grand?

Also are there any good books I should pick up so I can do some good reading and learn a bit more? Also I'll be joining this area and tuning in more to the camera section!

Thanks for the help guys! Also I know; my bro's one of a kind!

 

Here is a good place to start.... https://acurazine.com/forums/cameras-photography-44/%2A%2Adigital-slr-faqs%2A%2A-372410/

I would pick up 'Understanding Exposure' by Petersen

 

+1 on getting Understanding Exposure, I would get a book on the D90. http://www.amazon.com/David-Buschs-N...8542464&sr=1-3


Plus would should start watching Scott Kelbys d-town http://www.dtowntv.com/ or you can subscribe via itunes.


BTW Congrats on a great camera

 

Congrats on your new camera, you'll have plenty of fun with it.

On the "shitty Olympus" I have to say that Oly makes some very nice equipment in their format. All cameras can produce a blurry photo, so holding the camera steady, tripod and shutter speed all come into play when avoiding blurry photos.

So start posting some Fl. photos from your new camera already

 

The lense was bad on it, although it's lasted the test of time since 1998...

I'm going to keep this camera, I feel pretty stupid now asking if there was a better one now, a quick Google would have given me a response.

I'm going to run out to best buy and buy a UV filter for the lense so I don't get it scratched, and as well the warranty for it.

I bought the book that the first poster linked, it should be here in a few days, thanks for the suggestion! I think I may visit the local photo place where there's a genius who takes pro photos for various companies and chat with him for a bit! Thanks for all the help

 

Here are some photo's I took in the day that turned out great!

Some mary-golds that I have in the front yard:

No filter on the camera

Here's the view I have from my eat-in kitchen window that faces the lake (that's the Maple tree I have in the Back-yard):




These last two photo's had a filter/s; one has the Polarization and UV filter, one of them just had the UV filter since I realized you could put two on at once. I think these were shot in M mode with f5.6 and 1/100 shutter speed

However I had the focus and VR on auto and just adjusted the view of the lens (not the focus). All 3 photos are unedited and straight from the camera; I hope I did good for a noob with DSLR's.

 

The Marigolds: You did what's called clipping, or clipped the highlights. This means the image is overexposed. Even if your camera shows you a prefect exposure for metering you can still be over exposed. You need to use the histogram to be sure what you get. You never want (in most cases) any of the histogram to be touching the right of the screen, also if you have a RGB (color) histogram, you don't want the reds touching the right of the screen either. I say don't want under normal conditions.

Here's something to help you understanding a little better. http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/how...histogram.html

 

On the Marigolds you were at F29 and 1/30th, for shutter speed you want to be at the focal length at of the lens. That shot was at 105mm, your shutter speed should be around that length. Adjust the aperture bigger (lower number, I'd say to about F11) to get your shutter speed up. Your ISO was at 560, sounds like you're letting the camera pick the ISO. I would turn that off, Keep your ISO at 200 during the bright sun, maybe 400, but 200 is best for Nikon.

 

Ok, I guess the camera was in Auto mode then or maybe in P.... I took that photo at around 2-3 PM if I remember correctly. So I should keep it at f11 and 1/100 shutter with 200 ISO, right? I'll try again tomorrow, and thanks for the link! I'll be reading that right now.

 

No if you keep in manuall mode, you should keep shutter at focal length and adjust your aperture to match what would be a proper exposure. You'll never be able to set aperture and shutter speeds to one setting and be able to take pictures. It all about the light. For what you shot with the Marigolds F11 and 1/100 shutter speed would be good, but that will change because you should keep the ISO for your camera at 200 (my suggestion because that what Nikon has determine to be the best shutter speed for your camera model, but of course that will change when you don't have enough light), you make it larger for when light is less, this will keep your shutter speed faster.


I know, so much info. Again these are the basics the understand how to get the "proper" exposure for your image, once you get into it, you will over or underexpose to get the shot you want.

 

Ah. Understood; I'll try toying around with the various f's and shutter speeds to figure out the right combos for different situations. I'll try keeping the ISO at 200, and up it or lower it depending on the lighting conditions (lower light higher ISO setting for a better photo, right?)