Into the DSLR arena!!!

Hey all,

Well, after talking about a camera for a long time and being tired of cell phone pics and so on I have finally stepped into the digital camera game again.

I wasn't going to spend a million dollars either but I wanted something good, something I could put good lenses on and take good pics with.

I decided on the Nikon D5100 DSLR. I found one with almost no use on it from a friend of a friend they wanted to get rid of cause they needed some cash and never used it.

I got 3 different lenses with it as well as 3 batterys, the wireless remote system and all the bells and whistles. This thing is pretty sweet. I just got it today.

Now I have work to do to get good with it and learn about all the different things that came with it. Half the attachments and such I don't even have a clue with they do yet at this point.

So anyone wanting to give tips I am all ears.

Amazing what you can spend on lenses for these bad boys. I have looked at ones as high as $17,000.  

Just in lenses alone that came with this camera its in the thousand dollar range.

I have 4 different tele converters also. I am guessing with little research on them yet this must be pcs you can add onto you telephoto lens to increase the zoom amounts and so on. Interesting stuff cause I am certainly interested in taking some long range photos at sporting events and things of that nature.

The largest lens I have now is this lens and its pretty big but always looking to get closer.

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2197/AF-S-DX-NIKKOR-55-300mm-f%252F4.5-5.6G-ED-VR.html

Congratulations! I am envious! My best advise I can think of right now is to join this web site and do your searching around for any questions you might have and if you can't find the answer, ask. Most of the people are very helpful.
http://www.dpreview.com/
You should get some great shots with that outfit!
Yes, the teleconverters are exactly what it sounds like. They will add on zoom capabilities but often times, you are better off not using them as they can also take away some from the image quality. Sometimes you can get better shots with your zoom lens and then just blow it up when you edit it.
Where's Prime Focus when you need him! He is the camera GURU of GURU'S!
Anxious to see some of your shots. They might frown on you trying to take it into the stadium with you tomorrow though. They don't seem to like the bigger cameras. They let me take mine in but mine is a sort of crossover type digital camera. I did get some pretty good shots last week with it though. It has, in affect a 624 mm zoom optical lens with about a 3000mm digital zoom. Neat little camera.

Sweet deal! looking forward to seeing your pics

That is awesome! Should make some sweet videos too right?

Now for a good tripod, so you can stream LIVE your fishing trips on Wednesday when the rest of us suckers are still at work!  

Sounds like a Nice setup. I'm waiting to find a deal like that someday, I've always wanted to get in the game.

Here is just one of a bunch of family photos we took with it today at Pollmiller.  

Still have a ton of work to do with the editing software to get good with it.  I took this using the remote.  Pretty handy having that remote.

Chopper wrote:

Sounds like a Nice setup.  I'm waiting to find a deal like that someday,  I've always wanted to get in the game.

Yeah, crazy deal. I almost feel bad I got the deal I did. Granted the people needed some cash and I helped them out but once I figured up the cost of all the lenses, teleconverters, camera body, batteries and so on this bag of stuff is worth likely over $3000.00 and I gave them $300.00 and they got what they needed out of it.

I guess as long as they are happy I shouldn't worry about it but I got one heck of a deal.

WOW! $300...that's crazy! Heck of a score there.

300.00  

Yeah, I don't know what else to say other than I got a good deal.

I posted that picture on Nikon's forum that I became a member of so that I could talk to a lot of Nikon pro's about the lenses, and shots and things I should do differently and so on and so forth. Amazingly enough so far I have got almost no criticism of it so far. Most think its an amazing shot considering it was day 1 with the camera. Only thing mentioned is I could have got a little more background in the pic at the top and sides but the focus of the subjects vs the softer out of focus background is about perfect.

Granted I have spent countless hours over the last week reading and watching tons of You Tube videos from photographers using the D5100 as well as tons of reviews from places that do comparisons on camera bodies, lenses and you name it. There is so much good info out there. Its no different than good fishing info. If you take the time and do your homework you can learn so much in short period of time.

I have some other great candid shots of the kids in the timber as we were searching for other stops to take pics and so on. Candid shots are always much better in my opinion over posed shots. Much more natural looking and true facial expressions and so on. Posed pictures are very hard to make look natural because they aren't. Really no easy when you throw 2 dogs in the mix and get them to look the right direction at the right time and not wanting to jump around and so on. Very happy we got the pics we did with the dogs. Not sure how we convinced them both to be looking at the camera as much as we did.

Either way it was fun, kids enjoyed hiking through the trails looking for the places for the best shots and so on. Certainly had them more interested in doing it than they otherwise would have been.

It is a big challenge to get kids to look the direction you want them to when you want them to. Dogs as well. I have been taking pics almost all my life and there isn't anything much harder than getting a good candid shot of kids. You just got to take several. That is the great thing about digital, you don't have to worry about taking to many shots like we used to with film.

My bad on moving the photo. Its back up now.

I was going to mention the pic was gone but I want sure the reason you got rid of it. Anyway, it looks great! The only thing I can nit pik at would be the shadow on Bonnie's face. Since you asked, not trying to be a prick. Lighting is so tough with the sun, hard not to be squinting or stuck in a shadow. But anyway... Holy chit Collin is big! He looks like a 20 year old!

Chopper wrote:

I was going to mention the pic was gone but I want sure the reason you got rid of it.  Anyway,  it looks great!  The only thing I can nit pik at would be the shadow on Bonnie's face. Since you asked,  not trying to be a prick. Lighting is so tough with the sun,  hard not to be squinting or stuck in a shadow.  But anyway... Holy chit Collin is big! He looks like a 20 year old!  

Yeah, due to the sun being to the left of us in that pic it put the shadow of Savanna on Bonnie.  
I could have fixed that with a different lens and positioning the camera much closer to us.  Then using the flash to try and add some fill flash into the picture covering up some of that shadow.  With the 55-300mm lens its just too far away for fill flash to really be affective without a bigger flash.  Something that I am already looking to invest in.  It takes a big flash to make much difference when taking pics in high light conditions and outdoors.  
Or I could have moved the jettie to a different position.  That might have been a little more challenging.    

Yep, Collin is a big dude.  I have to assume he is about done growing.  I hope so cause he is going through cloths like its water.   I am the tallest in my family and no one is overly tall in his mom's family either so I am not sure how much taller he can get really.  He is wearing a size 12 shoe.  I only wear an 11 1/2.   So who knows.  
Matt on the other hand just don't seem to have hit is big growth spurt yet.  I am sure its coming but for now he is still little Matt.

Yeah Matt looks about the same, I know a haircut will make him look older! Gunner didn't want to every cut his but we finally got him to and now he's fine. I didn't like Gunners hair long but I figured I'd let him be a kid and find whatever look he was after. Lol

Yeah, Matt goes through this phase every fall where he don't want it cut.  Until around Christmas time and then he is sick of it and having to comb his hair and wash it every morning before school so he can make it look like something more than a train wreck and so on.   Long hair is a pain in the ass on a kid.   They don't want to do crap with it themselves so it ends up in giant knots.    

My constantly giving him crap about his hippy surfer hair might have something to do with when he cuts it.

Either way Savanna needs to grow some yet or she is soon to the smallest in the family. All of them are skinny as tooth picks. Probably throw all 3 of them on a scale and have a hard time knocking down 200#. Little drown rats. I suppose thats much better than the alternative.

Man, Collin is gonna pass you up! That is cool. Love the pic too, glad Savannah was around for it. Is she back in the area now, or returning back north?
You really got a steal, I was thinking about buying a good camera for the family for Christmas this year, but I know it will be like anything else and I won't find the time to use it right. Might have to look at the higher end of the point and shoot ones, I don't think I want to drop 3G on a toy we won't use properly.

Cowboy wrote:

Man, Collin is gonna pass you up!  That is cool.  Love the pic too, glad Savannah was around for it.  Is she back in the area now, or returning back north?
You really got a steal, I was thinking about buying a good camera for the family for Christmas this year, but I know it will be like anything else and I won't find the time to use it right.  Might have to look at the higher end of the point and shoot ones, I don't think I want to drop 3G on a toy we won't use properly.

Shannon,
Look at some of the so called "bridge cameras". Some of them have great optics and powerful zooms. I am using a Panasonic FZ 200 right now. The "optical zoom" with a Leica lens goes from a 25mm equivalent to 600mm.
Nice to have the wide angle for close ups or wide angle distant shots and the zoom is incredible.
This tells you everything you need to know and is a great learning site on any camera:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz200
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Let me know and I might be talked out of mind to get a newer model.

Cowboy wrote:

Man, Collin is gonna pass you up!  That is cool.  Love the pic too, glad Savannah was around for it.  Is she back in the area now, or returning back north?
You really got a steal, I was thinking about buying a good camera for the family for Christmas this year, but I know it will be like anything else and I won't find the time to use it right.  Might have to look at the higher end of the point and shoot ones, I don't think I want to drop 3G on a toy we won't use properly.

She is living in Ft Madison again. So she is around the area for now. She was living in Iowa City for a few months and got on as a customer service/tech rep for verizon and they had an opening in Keokuk at one of there call centers so her and her boyfriend moved back to Ft Madison.

I think as far as the camera goes there is no way I ever would have thrown down that kinda money for a camera either but now that I have it it will be getting a lot of use. Its almost daily that I find something that I can use it for.

One thing I would say is that if your ever in the market for a DSLR you might want to consider frequenting pawn shops around the area. I myself never think about going in them but you'd be surprised how often nice cameras show up in pawn shops and the pricing on them. I know Savanna got her Cannon DSLR from one. Don't remember the model but its a very nice camera too and she got a great deal on it. Just something to think about. Don't know if any of you have decent pawn shops in your area but I know there are a couple in Burlington that have some very nice quality stuff in them.