Would a Nikon D50 with the 18-55mm lens kit have macro capability out of the box?

10" Red Devil

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I was thinking about possibly trading up my Canon S2 IS digital camera for the Nikon D50 kit. Mainly because the Canon cannot white balance under metal halides. Plus I have an old inferior nikon 2500 camera that does better then the Canon.

Although the Canon is superior in so many other ways to the old Nikon.

Anyway I am wondering if the Nikon is going to have Macro capabilities out of the box though?

Thanks.
 
No. Not out of the box with the kit lens. You will be able to get some incredible images that you can crop close and will appear to be close to macro ...

here's an example, these were imaged with my D70 with its 18-70 kit lens ...


Got-my-eye-on-you.jpg





a82e3fda.jpg



If you do decide to get a macro, you can get a little closer ...

like this


bfbfddaf.jpg


This was taken with the D70 and a Sigma 105mm Macro (~$400)
 
Well my ole nikon coolpix 2500 had no problem. So Im assuming all Nikons have this ability!

Thanks very much for your info! Those are awesome pics and exactly what Im looking to do! I think in the future I could purchase a dedicated macro as well as a zoom lens, but I want something that would do me for now until I could afford the macro lens.

Unfortunately I am a graphic designer and dont make much for an income despite doing it for 8 years.
 
Well, with D70 or most nikon and canon dslrs, you can custom White balance your session. Any cameras will have problems in Auto WB mode with lighting over 10k. All you need to do is put a piece of off-white plastic into the tank, shoot one shot, then custom wb the series in camera, OR in postprocessing if you are shooting RAW.

Nikon D70 is a great beginner SLR, specially when combined with a Nikon Flash, because of its commander mode. Look into that. You will do wonders with even a kit lens, using wireless flash. Or with sub $100 50mm 1.8 lens.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8064040#post8064040 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beerguy
It's not the "Canon" having the problem with WB. :D

Haha go drown yourself in some more beer buddy.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8064136#post8064136 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by APFparadise
Well, with D70 or most nikon and canon dslrs, you can custom White balance your session. Any cameras will have problems in Auto WB mode with lighting over 10k. All you need to do is put a piece of off-white plastic into the tank, shoot one shot, then custom wb the series in camera, OR in postprocessing if you are shooting RAW.

Nikon D70 is a great beginner SLR, specially when combined with a Nikon Flash, because of its commander mode. Look into that. You will do wonders with even a kit lens, using wireless flash. Or with sub $100 50mm 1.8 lens.

Okay I know how to set a custom white balance. I should have been a little more detailed I guess in the deficiency of the canon I have. Anyway I am telling you it could be that mine is defective but I have tried using a opaque white kalk lid and all sorts of things and the color will never look the same as what my eye sees. I can however get exact color from my ole nikon coolpix 2500.

Thanks for your suggestions.
 
It could be a lot of things. First of all, the shot has to be COMPLETELY the white board, filling the frame, not just it in the tank. Second, it has to be positioned in the tank where it gets a good "average" exposure same as MOST other items in the tank. And even then, it's not always going to work 100%.
 
I would rather shoot in a RAW mode and post process to taste, there are times when the color shift is a good thing.
 
LOL, I agree that you can color shift to add detail or make certain things stand out, but the problem is that you want to shoot Correctly and then decide what to do, not leave it all to a program that may or may not be able to do it right. I shoot RAW also, 100% of the time, but I dont believe in just because I shoot RAW I dont need to worry about doing things PROPERLY the first time.
 
I was bored today and it was raining so I did a little shooting. As I was looking at this thread again and i noticed the green monti in my second image, that was about a month after it was introduced to the tank, here it is today, note the xenia, near the bottom right of the original, this image is about 4 months later ...


Green-Monti.jpg


Sorry, didn't mean to thread hog ... :)
This was imaged with the Sigma 105
 
Shooting for tank color, by way of not over-compensating for white balance isn't always a bad thing, as I stated earlier ...

Aside from spectral highlighting, there are no whites in this image.


Actinic-Zoos-II.jpg
 
Well I jumped on a deal for a Pentax IST DL 18-55mm kit at my local circuit city for $419 when the rebate is processed. Normally $569 but I got them to take $50 off in-store and then there is a $100 rebate.

I am excited, but I am already experiencing difficulties with getting color to be exact. I will have to try and more carefully calibrate the white blance setting.

I hope this was a good deal. I shoped around online and could not find one for less.
 
I have not had my 'hands' on a Pentax IST, I've only read of them. getting the color exact, seems to be more of an art than a science. As with all things, practice makes perfect.
 
Yeah I have to get used to the fact that you can no longer view how your image is going to look like until you actually take the picture.
 
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