New to photography, need help!

[DeepThought]

Hello world,

I have recently had the camera bug bite me. I see all of these beautiful and stunning photos around on these boards and I thought to myself - Why can't I take pics like that? So,... I am on a quest.

I have already read the stickies, - at least twice. Thank you BlueCorn for the wonderful writeups, I really appreciate the time you have taken and the attention to detail.

Since the photographer, lens, tripod and then the camera are the order that great pictures are taken, I have chosen to go with a Nikon D80 camera body. However, I am a bit confused on the lenses and other accessories.

I have been advised by a buddy of mine who takes professional pics to purchase a Tamron or Sigma brand 28-300mm macro lens for basic every day photography - and use an extension tube and/or telescopic lens to get decent macro shots. I was also advised to buy a set of polarizing filters and a wireless shutter. My question is, am I being lead on the right path or do I need to modify my search?

This camera and lens will take photos of not only my tank and others, but also of my family, vacations, and get togethers. Please advise.

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

I dont know if you need that kind of length for a lens. 300mm is good for wild life and other longer shots. With that said, I have an "everyday lens" similar to what you posted but it takes a lot of prperation to make it even 1/2 way effective for macro.

The #1 problem with the scenario your talking about is light. Lenses with that kind of range are typically "slow" lenses. That is, they cant shoot a very wide aperture. If you look at the specs on that lens, it is likely something like f3.5-5.6. this is actually pretty slow. What does this mean? Simply that you must slow down your shutter speed to get a correct exposure. Or increase your ISO which diminishes image quality unless youre using a very high end body that can handle high ISO.

Adding extention tubes only further decreases light which makes the lens even slower.

In MOST situations we are exposed to, shutter speed=image quality. The higher the better.

Another thing you get with a fast lens is you get a beautiful bokeh http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/bokeh-photography/
Which for many photographers is THE bees knees in a quality image. the faster lens will get you that "spot specific" focus area with the rest of the image fading into a beautiful bokeh blur. AND, you can dial up the aperture to bring more depth into focus without sacrificing too much shutter speed.

So, the bottom line is, what is your biggest photography desire? All around family stuff, or aquarium/macro stuff? Where Im going with this, is you really need two lenses. An all around, and a fast macro. If you can only afford one, get the all around now and youll have fun photographing everything (including your reef) When you wanna get serious about amazing, jaw dropping coral images, get a good macro lens.

this is the all around lens I use and I love it! It isnt fast but the focal length handles everyday situations nicely, including mid range bird photography which I do quite a bit...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=747931&Q=&is=REG&A=details


Good luck! And welcome to another VERY expensive hobby!

 

[SpentAllMyMoney]

I second JaYbIrD1969's opinion! Get a lens that you'll use constantly to start with. Then add a telephoto macro lens and extension tubes later. I have many lenses and the one that is usually on my camera body is a 28mm-135mm lens because of its versatility. My 70-300mm macro is heavy and doesn't get lugged around with me very often.

At last tally I've taken at least 30,000 images, although I'm new to tank photography. You want a camera/lens combo that are easy to leave the house with so you can get more practice! Then it'll be more natural to understand when to use aperture-priority and when to use shutter-priority and when to use manual.

Best of luck! Look forward to seeing your tank shots!

 

[CBrady001]

You need a "fast" lens and good lighting, off brand lenses are crap, when it comes to glass you get what you pay for!

My recommedation is that you get the Nikkor 105mm f2.8 Micro, the OLD one, get one used from www.adorama.com or ebay, do not get the newer "VR" version!

Then you need to get a flash with a diffuser and get that flash off of the camera and off to one side either via cable or IR/RF signal to avoid a glass hotspot in your image.

Photography like reef keeping is NOT a cheap hobby, it CANNOT be done cheap with good results period, I have been a professional photographer for 30 years, trust me, I know a little about this!

CB~

 

[CBrady001]

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PS. Apeture priority, Shutter priority etc. are amateur cheats...get used to shooting 100% manual and you will find that you have far better control of the image!

Pay close attention to your ISO and white Balance settings as well, I see many people here complaining about how the colors are represented in the final images, this is due to their WB and ISO settings being off.

CB~