# My first thread noob D5100 and I need help!long post.



## TammyCampbell (Dec 2, 2013)

Both Claire and Alice found adventure by tripping | Outlanders and adventurers welcomed WordPress.com siteIm new to the forum .. And my DH bought me the Nikon d5100  too,  I'm looking to make it more complete. I have the Nikon DX  nikkor 18-55 mm  so I need a longer lens..Looking at a lot of gear. The sigma 70-300 lens looks promising, and I'm trying to decide what wide angle adapter and telephoto adaptor is worth buying.right now I'm very comfortable with my canon powershot. So not use to the Nikon at all. I am a true novice to anything other than a point and shoot with a uv filter.tamandjohn | Smile! Im working on being my best WordPress.com site ever the links are to my blogs.. Mostly taken with my canon powershot. With a uv filter. I have a flicker account too. I've been shooting like a crazy lately. So no editing has been done to my photos other than cropping. I was having fun Now I have to learn how this camera works.. Lol. 
So this grasshopper is looking for some. Nikon instruction..I've taken a few photos with it but I'm frustrated with how limited my range is and my lack of knowledge of the camera.. This batch here on flicker is basically test shots between the two cameras the photos that say nikon snow are the ones shot with it. But I only took 50 shots and the camera battery died. I don't know if that is normal or not. The pictures at the end of the set are the comparison pictures. http://flic.kr/s/aHsjN76wcn​


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## robbins.photo (Dec 2, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Both Claire and Alice found adventure by tripping | Outlanders and adventurers welcomed WordPress.com siteIm new to the forum .. And my DH bought me the Nikon d5100  too,  I'm looking to make it more complete. I have the Nikon DX  nikkor 18-55 mm  so I need a longer lens..Looking at a lot of gear. The sigma 70-300 lens looks promising, and I'm trying to decide what wide angle adapter and telephoto adaptor is worth buying.right now I'm very comfortable with my canon powershot. So not use to the Nikon at all. I am a true novice to anything other than a point and shoot with a uv filter.tamandjohn | Smile! Im working on being my best WordPress.com site ever the links are to my blogs.. Mostly taken with my canon powershot. With a uv filter. I have a flicker account too. I've been shooting like a crazy lately. So no editing has been done to my photos other than cropping. I was having fun Now I have to learn how this camera works.. Lol.
> So this grasshopper is looking for some. Nikon instruction..I've taken a few photos with it but I'm frustrated with how limited my range is and my lack of knowledge of the camera.. This batch here on flicker is basically test shots between the two cameras the photos that say nikon snow are the ones shot with it. But I only took 50 shots and the camera battery died. I don't know if that is normal or not. favs of the day - a set on Flickr​



I don't generally recommend wide angle or "telephoto" adapters that screw onto your existing lens, the image quality is usually pretty bad when using them.  For a telephoto lens a Sigma 4.5-5.6 70-300 mm isn't a terrible choice, but if you can afford it I highly recommend the Nikon 70-300 mm 4.5-5.6 with VR instead.  It is probably one of the best telephoto lenses you can get as far as sharpness and image quality without spending an arm and a leg.  Nothing in it's price range really comes close.












These are just a couple of images I've shot with my Nikkor 70-300 mm, you can see a whole lot more on my Flickr account (link is in red in my signature line) if you'd like to see a few more and get a good idea as to the IQ you can expect.     

Ok, so took a quick look at some of your bird photos, odds are good here that the autofocus was probably set up for an area mode - on the photos where the bird is behind the branches it looks like the cameras autofocus mode got confused, thought you were aiming for the branches, and that's what it focused on - since the shot was taken at f5.8 the depth of field wasn't sufficient to keep the bird in focus as well.  

I'll post a little bit longer explanation on how to use the focus points on the D5100 or increase your DOF (Depth of Field) to help in situations like this one in a few minutes, will take a bit to type it all out.. lol


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## robbins.photo (Dec 2, 2013)

Ok, to adjust your autofocus mode on the D5100, if the info screen is already on the screen press the info button so you can change settings.  If not, press the info button to get to the info screen, then press it again to allow you to change your settings.

Use the up and down of the multicontroller button to change the menu selection, what your after is the autofocus area mode selection, it should be the 4th option from the bottom.  Arrow up or down till you get to that option, then press the ok button.  This will get you into the sub menu that controls the cameras autofocus.

If your in a situation where your shooting through branches or other things that might cause the camera to pick the wrong focus area, change to single point focus mode.  What this does is whatever autofocus point you choose when shooting, that's what the camera will focus on regardless of how much other clutter might be in the way.  Once you've changed hit the info button again and you'll be ready to shoot.

When you look through the viewfinder the "point" your using to focus with will be highlighted in red.  You can select whatever point you want but to start with for practice you might just want to leave it on the center point.  Put the center point on whatever you want to focus on, press the shutter halfway down and bam - the camera will use that point and bring it into sharp focus for you.  Press the shutter the rest of the way and you should get a nice, sharply focused image in that area.

You can change the autofocus mode whenever you need to by going back to the info screen and back into that sub menu, going from area to single point, 3d - whatever works best for your current shooting situation.

Ok, now, on depth of field - to change this you need to be able to change the aperture on your lens.  The aperture controls how much light the lens lets into the camera.  The smaller the F number, the wider the lens opens (yes, it's backwards, but that's how it is).  However the smaller your F number the "thinner" your depth of field becomes - meaning that things that are on the same horizontal plane as whatever point your focused on will be in focus, but the further away you get from that horizontal plane the more out of focus those objects will become.  Photographers often use this to separate a subject from the background.  However in the case of your cardinal photos you can also "stop down" your lens - by raising the F stop number it will increase your depth of field, meaning more and more of those elements can be brought into sharp focus even if they are not on the same plane as your focus point.

However decreasing the aperture does have a disadvantage as well, the lens won't be allowing as much light into the camera so as a result to get a properly exposed image you might have to decrease your shutter speed or increase your ISO.  Decreasing the shutter speed means that the shutter stays open longer and allows more light into the camera, however the downside is that the slower the shutter speed the more susceptible the camera is to camera shake (VR can make a big difference here) or if your subject (the bird) moves you will most likely get motion blur as a result because the shutter is open long enough that the motion of the bird blurs the shot.  So really for critter pictures you want a higher shutter speed whenever possible.  So your other option is to increase your ISO - the disadvantage here is once you get your ISO high enough you start introducing noise into the image.

So for shooting wildlife I normally use A mode - Aperture priority.  By default when using the aperture priority when I use the thumbwheel it allows me to change the lens aperture, setting it up or down as needed.  I select my aperture, then I change my ISO until I get my desired shutter speed.  For smaller birds 1/1000 or higher is great if you have enough light.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 2, 2013)

Thanks. So the macro lenses they aren't a good buy either? 
I just wanted to let you know the bird ones were with the canon. I haven't learned how to make my nikon take an action shot. And those were at long distances. I don't quite have the distance lens yet for my nikon, only the starter lens. 18-55mm nikkor Dx the next links are photos taken with the Nikon . 
Nikon photos snow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Nikon photos snow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Nikon photos snow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Nikon photos snow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Nikon photos snow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 2, 2013)

This is a lot of great information,  I'm looking through my functions right now, THANKS SO MUCH!


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## robbins.photo (Dec 2, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> This is a lot of great information,  I'm looking through my functions right now, THANKS SO MUCH!



Lol.. well, there's more.  On my D5100 first thing I did was to hit the menu button, select the icon that looks like a pencil, and scroll down to the controls menu.  Under controls you'll find a menu option, "Assign /FN Button".  If it doesn't say ISO already, select it and change it to ISO.  What this does for you is to assign your ISO settings to the function button.  The function button is on the left hand side of the camera below the flash button.  Now what you can do is press and hold that function button, as long as the function button is held down when you move the scroll wheel on the back of the camera you can very quickly adjust your ISO up or down.

This lets you stay in A mode and very quickly adjust your ISO and Aperture to get the desired settings, your shutter speed will adjust automatically based on those settings to get proper exposure.  Now using the center focus point works great if you want your subject that your focusing on in the center of your shot.  But if you want to focus on something that isn't in the center, you have a couple of options.

You can change the focus point by using the up/down left/right buttons on the multicontroller - it allows you to pick any of the available focus points so you can focus on something that isn't necessarily in the center of your picture.  The other method is to recompose.  To recompose, put your selected focus point on whatever you want to be in focus and press the shutter button halfway down.  Keep the shutter button depressed halfway, then move the camera until you have the shot framed the way you want, then when you press the shutter button all the way down the camera will stay focused on whatever you focused on before you moved it.  

That pretty much covers the basics - I use A mode probably about 85-90% of the time, most of the rest of the time I'll use S mode but that's a longer conversation entirely.. lol


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## robbins.photo (Dec 2, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Thanks. So the macro lenses they aren't a good buy either?
> I just wanted to let you know the bird ones were with the canon. I haven't learned how to make my nikon take an action shot. And those were at long distances. I don't quite have the distance lens yet for my nikon, only the starter lens. 18-55mm nikkor Dx the next links are photos taken with the Nikon .
> Nikon photos snow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
> Nikon photos snow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
> ...



Action shots are pretty much all about shutter speed.  In A mode you can adjust the ISO, the higher the ISO the faster the shutter speed.  The info screen will shot this as 1/something - where the something is your shutter speed.  If your looking through the viewfinder this will be the first number on the left hand side, so you can keep an eye on your shutter speed while you shoot.  The higher this number the faster your shutter will open and close, and the faster that speed is the better the camera is able to stop something in motion.  

20131201 1253 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This was shot at 1/800 - pretty much freezing the birds wings in mid flap.

DSC_0304 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

That one was 1/500 - if you look closely you can see a little motion blur but not a whole lot.

DSC_0667 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

That's 1/4000 - which is usually enough to stop most anything in it's tracks

Almost forgot, can't really give you a recommendation on the macro filters, I don't really do much macro photography so I've never tried them personally.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 2, 2013)

Thanks so much.  I'm becoming literate in camera.. Your shots are gorgeous !


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## robbins.photo (Dec 3, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Thanks so much. I'm becoming literate in camera.. Your shots are gorgeous !



Thanks, I try to get a little better on each outing.  As you can see I spend a lot of time at our local zoo.. lol


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 3, 2013)

You have a year pass? We did once upon a time when we live near one. nikon learning.. - a set on Flickr Well I had no luck with animals today..It was a foggy morning . but some of the photos were decent. Im just bummed I cant get a closeup on a lot of things.  they still were out of reach of my current lens. I need a longer lens. . they say we have eagles near by. I spent 7 hours trying. My favorite shot today.. http://wp.me/p45MUk-3u


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## robbins.photo (Dec 3, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> You have a year pass? We did once upon a time when we live near one. nikon learning.. - a set on Flickr Well I had no luck with animals today..It was a foggy morning . but some of the photos were decent. Im just bummed I cant get a closeup on a lot of things. they still were out of reach of my current lens. I need a longer lens. . they say we have eagles near by. I spent 7 hours trying



Yup.. bought the one year pass - paid for itself in about 2 weeks.. lol.  You've got some really great landscape shots in there - really liked the bridge shot, though you might want to rotate it just a smidge to square up the horizon.  Looks like your off to a flying start though.  Keep an eye on Ebay and see if you can get a good deal on a Nikon 70-300 mm 4.5-5.6 VR, they really are worth every penny.  You can also check sites like Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH - and see if they have any refurbished or even used.  All of them are very reputable sites.  Found a refurbished model on Adorama that's got a pretty good deal going on it right now.  I actually purchased mine used from Ebay, spent about $210 on it with shipping.

Refurbished Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR Lens - Refurbished by Nikon USA 2161B


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 3, 2013)

Thanks.. It wasn't easy.. I took to heart what you said to me yesterday.  I left my mistakes in there too. lol.. Some over exsposed and underexposed. and some just unfocused.. I'll get there. I think.. lol. Ill check those links out too.. so the  55-300 mm one you wouldn't recommend?


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## robbins.photo (Dec 3, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Thanks.. It wasn't easy.. I took to heart what you said to me yesterday. I left my mistakes in there too. lol.. Some over exsposed and underexposed. and some just unfocused.. I'll get there. I think.. lol. Ill check those links out too.. so the 55-300 mm one you wouldn't recommend?



Depends on your budget really, the reviews on the 55-300 mm are a little more mixed than they are for the 70-300 mm - but a lot of folks swear by them and certainly they are a bit cheaper.  Thing that's nice about DSLR is you can always buy a 55-300 mm yourself, try it and see if it suits your needs, if not you can sell it and buy something else.  Sure, you'll take a bit of a loss on it that way but if you by refurb the loss isn't usually huge.

In fact I ran across a 55-300 mm refurb on ebay.. let me see if can find that link again:

Nikon Nikkor AF s 55 300mm F 4 5 5 6 VR DX Ed G Lens USA Warranty Free Shipping 0018208021970 | eBay

From the reviews I've read it sounds like overall it's a pretty good lens, one of the things a couple of reviewers pointed out is that it's not an internal focus like the 70-300mm, meaning that when the lens goes to focus the lens itself will actually rotate.  This really isn't too terribly important in most situations however it might come into play if you start using certain filters like CPL's that you need to adjust by rotating.  

The other thing that is often mentioned is that the autofocus feature on this lens is slow by comparison to a lot of others, so that might be something to really consider.  If you're going to be photographing birds/wildlife in particular my guess is you'll probably outgrow this lens pretty quickly.


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## alv (Dec 3, 2013)

i use the 55-300 lens ,im new to this also. most pics on my flicker account are with this lens.i like it ,it seems to search alittle al


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## robbins.photo (Dec 3, 2013)

alv said:


> i use the 55-300 lens ,im new to this also. most pics on my flicker account are with this lens.i like it ,it seems to search alittle al



You've got some nice images in there - I've never used the 55-300 so I can only go by what I've read, would you say the autofocus is good enough to keep up with a moving target, say the airplanes, under decent lighting conditions?


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 3, 2013)

Well. I am looking really hard at the 55-300 Thats a pretty big price difference.  Maybe Ill earn the high speed ones a little later.. So I want the lens, a filter kit, and a hot shoe 3 axis level. because I have a stigmatism amd a remote. that would be a good start I think.. .. lol


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## robbins.photo (Dec 3, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Well. I am looking really hard at the 55-300 Thats a pretty big price difference.  Maybe Ill earn the high speed ones a little later.. So I want the lens, a filter kit, and a hot shoe 3 axis level. because I have a stigmatism amd a remote. that would be a good start I think.. .. lol



Lol.. sounds like a pretty good start.  As for filters, really I wouldn't worry to much about them, you don't really need much.  In my bag for the telephoto lens I have a UV filter and a CPL, and that's pretty much it.  There are really two schools of thought on the UV filter, some folks really dislike having them on the lens at all and then some folks prefer to leave them on all the time.  Me, I'm in the leave it on crowd.  The arguments basically break down into two major camps, the folks that say the UV filter "protects" the lens and the folks that say that it really doesn't and it degrades image quality.   

Being the resident heretic I actually don't agree with either camp - I've shot both with and without the UV filter and even using photoshop to pixel peep, I couldn't find a difference.  You might see a bit of difference in some limited situations such as ghosting or flaring but really unless your shooting into a pretty bright light source, which is something I can't imagine myself doing anytime soon, it's not something that your likely to see so I just haven't in my experience seen where shooting with the UV filter on degrades the image quality to any noticeable degree.

I also am not in the "it protects the lens" camp for the most part, again in very limited situations (blowing sand or debris, for example) it would probably protect the lens, but how often do you find yourself taking pictures in such a situation?  For me that would be pretty rare.  So why do I leave the UV filter on pretty much all the time?  Two reasons.  First whatever glass is exposed on the end of the lens is bound to get dirty.  It's going to pick up thumbprints and dust and condensation, etc, etc - and it will need to be cleaned.  When you clean it you will eventually, no matter how careful you are, impart cleaning marks - very small scratches.  These won't affect image quality of course, but I'd much rather put them on a relatively cheap filter as opposed to my expensive lens.

I could of course take the UV off to shoot, put it back on again later, etc, etc - but I'm basically pretty lazy and since I can't really tell the difference in the final product, I just leave it on.  If I were shooting with a higher MP camera or full frame?  Well maybe that might make a difference if I tried it with our without UV - but since I'm not and there just doesn't seem to be any difference, well I'll leave the darn thing on there for now.  As far as filters are concerned I prefer to spend a little more and get the better quality.  You don't have to get completely crazy and go top of the line, $100+ filters - I generally look for Hoya, I prefer multicoated and they usually are in the $20-$30 range.  

The CPL I don't really use much, it comes in handy in certain situations for cutting down on reflections - which is great for shooting through glass if you have a light source behind you that is reflecting off it.  Comes in handy occasionally at the zoo.  Other than that most of the other "filters" I might consider I can do all of that with photoshop at home after the fact.  I might eventually pick up an NDL if I get more into landscapes but for right now just the two and I'm pretty much set.

The hot shoe level is really handy for shooting on a tripod and their dirt cheap so that would be a good one to pickup, also protects the hot shoe so it's sort of a double whammy really.  Other than that it's just a matter of getting out there and shooting, and never be afraid of a bad shot.  Those will be a lot more useful to you in the beginning than the good ones.  Each time you get a shot that is bad, analyze it and try to figure out what is bad and why - did I miss my focus point?  Was my aperture set wrong?  Shutter speed to low?  EXIF data can be a huge help in this because it records the cameras settings for each shot.

Most important of all of course, is have fun with it.  Look forward to seeing some more images in your Flickr account, and if I can be of any help at all don't hesitate to ask.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 4, 2013)

Thanks.. I agree. I would rather scratch the inexpensive filter lense over the actual optics. I just makes sense. A CPL. I'll look into it


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## alv (Dec 4, 2013)

mostly, i will pan and have had good luck the lens seems alittle soft at300 and searches some but for the price it is not bad .my eyes are old and i am amazed at detail i see in photos ,like being young again haha


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## robbins.photo (Dec 4, 2013)

alv said:


> mostly, i will pan and have had good luck the lens seems alittle soft at300 and searches some but for the price it is not bad .my eyes are old and i am amazed at detail i see in photos ,like being young again haha



Lol.. well appreciate the info, I've never used one myself so I'm always interested in first hand accounts.


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## Braineack (Dec 4, 2013)

The 55-300 isn't *bad* per say.  The IQ is there, it's just slow and clumsy compared to the 70-300.  Considering what the 70-300 sells for used, it's hard to acutally recommend the 55-300.

It's cheap, smaller/lighter, and It can focus a LOT closer to subjects than the 70-300, so it has some benefits of its own 

for frame of reference I've owned teh 55-200, 55-300, and 70-300.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 7, 2013)

nikon learning 2 - a set on Flickr  Well my new lens came unfortunately the light was failing by the time I had a chance to try to figure it out. I kept switching between the new 55-300mm to the 18-55 as I felt the shot needed. I really didnt have any luck with animals but I wasnt surprised the light had failed by the time I sighted a bird I could shoot. Here ya go..


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## robbins.photo (Dec 7, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> nikon learning 2 - a set on Flickr  Well my new lens came unfortunately the light was failing by the time I had a chance to try to figure it out. I kept switching between the new 55-300mm to the 18-55 as I felt the shot needed. I really didnt have any luck with animals but I wasnt surprised the light had failed by the time I sighted a bird I could shoot. Here ya go..



Looks like your off to a great start!  The sleeping cat pics - if you look at the EXIF data it will show you that your shutter speed was 0.3 - meaning the shutter was open for a very long time, and since it was and I'm guessing the camera was probably being hand held that's what causes the images to be blurry.  Since your shooting in A mode, try turning your ISO up - on a shot like this probably ISO 800 would be a good place to start.  As you turn your ISO up, you'll notice your shutter speed will increase.  For handheld start with 1/60 and above for a shutter speed.   For a moving target you'll want to go higher to stop motion and avoid motion blur, but for a stationary target you just need enough shutter speed to where camera shake doesn't become an issue.

Love the shot of the cat in the garland - and looks like you've got a couple of really nice landscape captures there as well.

Oh, one other tip - when you do switch lenses make sure you shut the camera off first, switch the lens, then turn it back on.  You don't want to remove or put on a lens if the camera is switched on.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 7, 2013)

Oooops.. good to know.. I think I did that a couple times. switched lenses while it was on.  Yeah I came in from shooting and there he was wrapped up in the garland.. couldnt resist him.. lol..


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## robbins.photo (Dec 7, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Oooops.. good to know.. I think I did that a couple times. switched lenses while it was on.  Yeah I came in from shooting and there he was wrapped up in the garland.. couldnt resist him.. lol..



Well most of the cats I usually take pictures of are a bit bigger than this one, but they all have one thing in common.  They are total hams.. lol


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 9, 2013)

Very much so.. He is cute . when he goes out into the snow he leaps to catch snow flakes falling.. very amusing. He was a feral cat. found him as a kitten and he bit the bejeezus out my thumb. lol. He was born under a log.


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## 18.percent.gary (Dec 9, 2013)

Looks good!

You've got a really good eye and you're *putting it to use*  which is the most important thing for a beginner. Keep shooting the  things that you love as that will help keep you motivated to continue  and improve.

Critique wise I was starting to think "utt-ohhhs" about  half way through the set... I'm starting to feel nauseous from the  tilted horizons... but by the end of the set they were back to level  again. Just keep that in mind when you're taking the shot so you don't  have to worry about straightening things later on the computer. Overall a pretty solid set... and I don't even like cats!


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## robbins.photo (Dec 9, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Very much so.. He is cute . when he goes out into the snow he leaps to catch snow flakes falling.. very amusing. He was a feral cat. found him as a kitten and he bit the bejeezus out my thumb. lol. He was born under a log.



He was born under a log?  Whacky coincidence, so was I .. lol.


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## cmhbob (Dec 9, 2013)

/me waves to Tammy. We used to live over by Georgesville & 270. Nice to see photos of the old home area.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 9, 2013)

Hey , waving back.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 9, 2013)

Yeah I was really hurried. I wasn't being as careful as I should've been. Losing the light.and hoping the rangers wouldn't kick me out too soon. lol sorry for the sloppy..


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 9, 2013)

Lol. Joker.


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## robbins.photo (Dec 9, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Yeah I was really hurried. I wasn't being as careful as I should've been. Losing the light.and hoping the rangers wouldn't kick me out too soon. lol sorry for the sloppy..



Pshaw - No need to apologize.  Your going to take a lot of shots that are out of focus, underexposed, etc, etc - As you get better it will happen less, but it will still happen occasionally.  Nothing to worry about at all, just the nature of the beast really.  The more practice you get with the camera's settings the more "keepers" you'll get and the better your shots will get over time.  Nobody expects you to pickup a guitar and play like BB King first time out.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 9, 2013)

So buying used is safe to do.?I almost bought an "imported" model on Amazon. I almost didn't catch that It was a knockoff. But I caught it . It was 200 dollars with a bunch of accessories. I ended up going through modern electronics on Amazon.and getting the 55-300 .found it through http//www.lenshero.com. It has the 5 year USA warrantee . Came with cap, 3 lens filters, cap keeper and cleaning kit. And the lens bag.  Payed 130 dollars more. But I wanted something sure. I'm learning but I definitely think my forte so. Far is landscapes.


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## LakeFX (Dec 9, 2013)

Buying used lenses has the same risks as buying anything else used. If you are careful about who you buy from then you can save a lot of money. The only piece of equipment I have that I bought new is my 50/1.8 because it was only $75 new.


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## robbins.photo (Dec 9, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> So buying used is safe to do.?I almost bought an "imported" model on Amazon. I almost didn't catch that It was a knockoff. But I caught it . It was 200 dollars with a bunch of accessories. I ended up going through modern electronics on Amazon.and getting the 55-300 .found it through http//www.lenshero.com. It has the 5 year USA warrantee . Came with cap, 3 lens filters, cap keeper and cleaning kit. And the lens bag.  Payed 130 dollars more. But I wanted something sure. I'm learning but I definitely think my forte so. Far is landscapes.



LakeFX pretty much nailed it there, Most of what I have I bought used - just couldn't afford new.  I got most everything from Ebay - but I've found that as long as you read the descriptions carefully and ask questions before bidding you can get some really great deals that way.  I shy away from sellers with limited feedback (less than 50 for cheap items, less than 100 for more expensive stuff).  I also shy away from sellers who don't put any sort of description of the item in their ad, and if they don't mention something (like say the condition of the LCD screen for example) I'll ask - basically I get everything I feel is important specified in writing before I bid - and I don't rely on the pictures.  Trying to see a scratch on an LCD screen in a picture is pretty difficult, but if I ask and they say "Nope, no scratches" then I'm covered.  That sort of thing.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 9, 2013)

We are our own worst critics.. Artists do that. Want perfection always.. Lol. Your right only getting out there and learning the camera limits will teach me.


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## robbins.photo (Dec 9, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> We are our own worst critics.. Artists do that. Want perfection always.. Lol. Your right only getting out there and learning the camera limits will teach me.



Yup, pretty much.  Just relax and have fun with it - your off to a flying start so I don't think it will take you much time at all to master the basics.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 10, 2013)

I'm so excited.. I caught tons of  birds today.. and not the rude ones Flickr: tam_and_john's Photostream


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 12, 2013)

Well I bought a hot shoe level.. but sometimes I like to be a little sideways.. lol... but I understand. I was more concerned with filling the scene and not leveling it. I do all of these by hand right now. I will start using my tripod soon though.


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## robbins.photo (Dec 12, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> Well I bought a hot shoe level.. but sometimes I like to be a little sideways.. lol... but I understand. I was more concerned with filling the scene and not leveling it. I do all of these by hand right now. I will start using my tripod soon though.



You can also use a post processing program of some sort (photoshop, light room, the gimp, ad infinitum) to edit your images after you take them, they come in real handy for little things light straightening your horizon (if it happens to be a little off kilter), etc.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 13, 2013)

I will get me a photoshop. as soon as possible.


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## robbins.photo (Dec 13, 2013)

TammyCampbell said:


> I will get me a photoshop. as soon as possible.



In the meantime you can download a copy of a program called "The Gimp" for free - it was originally developed for linux systems however they have made it available for Windows.  It does have a lot of photoshop's features - I prefer photoshop myself because I'm used to the interface but certainly couldn't hurt to give the Gimp a look in the meantime.


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## TammyCampbell (Dec 16, 2013)

Well, Im using the Nikon software I have. and so far.. its better. Not as many editing options. but still an improvement I think. I also did the water exercise from Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum edits and nef conversions - a set on Flickr


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## RobMelone (Dec 16, 2013)

Robbins,

Thanks for that "Assign /FN Button" tip. I went to make that change on D5100 as well. That does make it easy and fast to change the ISO. Thanks again...


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## robbins.photo (Dec 16, 2013)

RobMelone said:


> Robbins,
> 
> Thanks for that "Assign /FN Button" tip. I went to make that change on D5100 as well. That does make it easy and fast to change the ISO. Thanks again...



No problem at all Rob, happy to help


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