Nikon questions (and where to a get a deal).

What does this mean? I know the autofocus works fine, does it mean I need a particular lens to have autofocus?

Just means all the lenses must have a motor for the autofocus to work. Some older lenses don't have motors in them, but if the camera has the motor you can use them.

GREG
 
Todd, before you go look into a 50mm 1.8/f lens. They are awesome and its a nice piece of glass for a small price($220)
 
Todd, before you go look into a 50mm 1.8/f lens. They are awesome and its a nice piece of glass for a small price($220)

Thanks Jokester but I think my budget is on hold for now!!! I will look into it when I get back, who makes it?! :lmfao
 
Todd, before you go look into a 50mm 1.8/f lens. They are awesome and its a nice piece of glass for a small price($220)

$220? Wow, Canon only charges $120 for their 50mm 1.8. I've got one, and I agree it's an essential lens. Lets you capture all kinds of cool shots.
 
$220? Wow, Canon only charges $120 for their 50mm 1.8. I've got one, and I agree it's an essential lens. Lets you capture all kinds of cool shots.

Well, since the D3100 and D5100 don't have internal AF motors you have to buy the lens with the AF motor in it. This drives the price up by $100 bucks. The regular lens without the AF motor built in is $120.

Everyone says that the 50mm is so good that it will make you search for better images from your kit lenses and you will end up wanting to upgrade. Photography is an evil, expensive hobby. Thank god for play cash from detailing!
 
Well, since the D3100 and D5100 don't have internal AF motors you have to buy the lens with the AF motor in it. This drives the price up by $100 bucks. The regular lens without the AF motor built in is $120.

Everyone says that the 50mm is so good that it will make you search for better images from your kit lenses and you will end up wanting to upgrade. Photography is an evil, expensive hobby. Thank god for play cash from detailing!

Canon's $120 lens has an AF motor in it.... :inspector:

Just sayin'. :bubba
 
Sorry that happened to you Todd!

But Im sure your new camera will be even better and more fun.



Maybe Santa will be extra good to you this year!:present:
 
Todd, before you go look into a 50mm 1.8/f lens. They are awesome and its a nice piece of glass for a small price($220)

I have a Nikon 50mm f1.8 but do not use it. I may try to post on trade and see if I can pick up a polisher or something.
 
don't forget to gps micro chip this one so we can hunt down the low life if this cam disappears, or maybe an explosive charge embedded. there's not many problems that can't be solved by the proper application of high explosives. no wait, having flashbacks again.
 
What makes the 50mm so great? I would think with a fixed focal length and a limited aperture you would be very limited to what types of photos you can take?
 
What makes the 50mm so great? I would think with a fixed focal length and a limited aperture you would be very limited to what types of photos you can take?
If you like I can put you in touch with my buddy Bill Morton his the one to ask when it comes to anything having to do with photography I know he would be more then happy to help you .His also known as LegacyGt on the forums .
 
What makes the 50mm so great? I would think with a fixed focal length and a limited aperture you would be very limited to what types of photos you can take?

Limited aperture? Actually you have a higher degree of options where aperture is concerned with that lens. A 1.8 lets a ton of light in to the camera for shallow DOF shots, and you can dial it down to an extremely small aperture to have deeper more balanced shots when you want/need them. I also find that the 50mm 1.8 works very nicely as a macro lens.

Here's a handful of different shots I've taken using my 50mm prime....

Portrait-style pics (taken while doing some training for an AGO member who contacted me):

G110v2a.jpg


washing.jpg


Before, after, and process pics:

2Vettes.JPG


Dashboard.JPG


Grille.JPG


after2.JPG


During.jpg


Bloodbath_2.jpg


Defect shots:

roof_scratches.JPG


swirls2.JPG


swirls2gone.JPG


RIDS.JPG


RIDSgone.JPG


Plenty of variety to be had from the fixed-focal, large-aperture lens. You just have to play with the settings and manual modes a bit to see what works best for your style. I tend to use aperture priority a lot with my Canon 60D and 50mm f/1.8-II EF lens.

If you like I can put you in touch with my buddy Bill Morton his the one to ask when it comes to anything having to do with photography I know he would be more then happy to help you .His also known as LegacyGt on the forums .

Good call, Adam... Bill is an awesome source of information; he's the one who turned me on to the 50mm f/1.8 when I first got my DSLR.
 
i believe the 50 mm is what they call a normal lens. it keeps the photo in the same proportion that human eye sees in. not magnified or minimized.
 
i believe the 50 mm is what they call a normal lens. it keeps the photo in the same proportion that human eye sees in. not magnified or minimized.

For a full frame camera, that's correct. If you have a crop sensor (in my case for example the 60D is a 1.6x crop) then a 50mm lens will have a different "actual" focal length... so for me it's actually an 80mm lens.
 
If you like I can put you in touch with my buddy Bill Morton his the one to ask when it comes to anything having to do with photography I know he would be more then happy to help you .His also known as LegacyGt on the forums .

Adam I'll take you up on that when I return from The GWN.

Shiny- Once upon a time I took a photography class, but honestly that has been so long ago. I remember going over lens and ratings but I think (long ago) that we did it on film cameras.

In your pictures the background is out of focus, is this a function of the lens or the FS you had the camera set on? What would be the FS of a standard 18-55 lens? Or does it vary depending on the zoom?

Thanks

 
Shiny- Once upon a time I took a photography class, but honestly that has been so long ago. I remember going over lens and ratings but I think (long ago) that we did it on film cameras.

I can kinda relate to that; when I first learned about this stuff I was shooting with my dad's old Canon AE-1 Program, which was a 35mm SLR with no auto-focus. It did have auto exposure and automatic shutter speed settings, but for the most part it was a manual camera. A lot of the basic principles are still the same now, but the technology backing it up has changed drastically.

In your pictures the background is out of focus, is this a function of the lens or the FS you had the camera set on? What would be the FS of a standard 18-55 lens? Or does it vary depending on the zoom?

What you're seeing is a "bokeh" effect, which is largely lens-dependent. A larger aperture lens makes this easier to achieve, and in the case of the 50mm prime lenses the optics provide very crisp and clear transitions between the in-focus object and the out-of-focus foreground or background.

All it really comes down to is playing with depth of field, and for that the larger the aperture (FS), the shallower the DOF. That's why I like shooting in aperture-priority, it gives me control over DOF and lets the camera worry about the rest.

For a kit lens like your 18-55m the range is f/3.5-5.6 (3.5 is the largest aperture through the middle of the focal range, 5.6 is the largest from mid-range to the highest focal length) which will give you decent bokeh in some situations, but it's not ideal for creating those kinds of shots at all. If you want a lens with a consistent aperture throughout its focal range (speaking in terms of zoom/telephoto lenses), an "L" type lens would be needed. Those are much more expensive, though.

Here's a video I found that kind of demonstrates what I'm describing:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRJMisfK_-Q]What is Bokeh? - YouTube[/ame]
 
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