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Draggar
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Hello all, New here (obviously) & glad to be here. I've loved digital photography (well, photography in general) for a long time. Cheap cameras my parents gave me (remember the Kodak Disc?), then got into digital photography in the 1990's (I worked at Staples in the mid to late 1990's, loved the Sony Mavica 91 (yes, the one that took 3.5" floppy discs), then during my time with HP I went though some of their cameras (C200, C500, and a later model (forgot the #), then went with a Sony (step below DSLR) and an Olympus (for pocket use) combo and earlier this year (with last year's Christmas money, gift cards, and saved money) I got a Nikon D5500 kit, it came with two lenses: AF-S 18-55mm, f:3.5-5.6 GII AF-S 55-300mm, f:4.5-5.6 GED Basic, but good and over the time I've gotten some filters to play with etc. This is also the first camera that I'm really stepping out of the "automatic" and "scene" selections on the camera - actually playing with F-stop, ISO, and exposure time for night time stars (not hard for me to get to areas with little to no light pollution). I primarily like to shoot scenery (New Hampshire is a relatively small state so I can make anywhere in the state a day trip - but I love the mountains (was there today, too). I'm mainly here to learn how to get the most out of my camera and even get suggestions for lenses (posted already) and filters etc. |
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Robert
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Hi and welcome to the forum! You have a fair range of zoom with your two kit lenses, I would suggest given your interest in astro photography that you get some non zoom lenses (sometimes known as primes) because they can give much better results and are usually faster (brighter) than budget zooms. Well worth considering are Samyang or its other equivalent name brands, Bower and Rokinon for astrophotography, with one caveat, you must be prepared to return for exchange these lenses until you get a good sample, the first lens you get may not be perfect but once you get a good sample they are worth the trouble and are generally significantly cheaper than alternatives especially the equivalent Nikkors. If you have a local dealer, as I have, it's probably worth using them because it may be easier to exchange an imperfect sample. This is a useful resource for astro photography: http://www.lonelyspeck.com There is a ton of very useful info and it's put across in a friendly and helpful way. In difficult conditions (low light, high contrast etc.) may I suggest making an exposure in fully auto, as well as exposures at your own settings. Compare the fully auto with your own exposure and compare the EXIF data, it can sometimes be surprising how good the fully auto can be, which doesn't mean you shouldn't strive to master exposure or creative results, it can just be handy as a learning tool. |
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jk
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Hello welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a reasonably good setup with your Nikon and lenses. You can do most stuff except for specialised types of photography. In time you may find that filters are less useful as you can easily achieve the same effect in Lightroom or Photoshop. The only really useful filters in this digital age are graduated filters, circular polariser and neutral density. Hope that we can help you enjoy your hobby. If you have problems then just ask away. If it is something that wehave answered before we will direct you to the relevant posts. |
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Draggar
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Thank you for the replies. Buy and return - that might be a problem. All the Bower lens dealers are big box retails (well, for the ones within a day trip for me) and everything they have for DSLR lenses is online (which can be a pain to deal with returns). Rokinon is the same issue (although where I am doesn't help, I'm 45 minutes from my nearest Walmart). I may put astrophotography on the back burner for now and concentrate on landscape photography. The lenses I have are good, and from research it seems that the zoom lens usually packaged with my camera is a 55-200 (mine is a 55-300) so I think I made out with that. I do like playing with filters and seeing what I get. Photoshop is expensive and Lightroom is a monthly subscription (personally I hate that but it seems that a lot of software companies are doing that now, as opposed to buying it outright). I may look into Photoshop elements again (if its available still) , it's much lighter than Photoshop and did a good job when I used it years ago. I am sure Nikon also has software I could use for basic editing. |
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Robert
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Well I get Lightroom AND Photoshop for less than £8 a month? (I think, or thereabouts!) Lightroom used to be about £230 for a perpetual licence and Photoshop over £600 for a perpetual licence, which actually only covered one major version. Thats darn nearly £1000. I am paying about £100 a year so it will take about ten years before I have paid £1000 and by that time I would probably have needed to pay for a major upgrade at least twice due to incompatibilities with the OS. I scarcely notice £8 a month, I have heard a packet of cigarettes costs almost that... Also I get the latest updates several times a year. No I don't work for Adobe!!! |
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jk
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Draggar wrote:Thank you for the replies. Adobe will never get me on a Subscription purchase scheme. I will use another software before that. |
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Eric
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Forgive my ignorance guys..... if these third party lenses, mentioned in Roberts link, are the preferred choice for sharp celestial captures, why are we using them for everything else? Surely, sharp image detail is a requirement for many other photographic subjects? Why are we struggling with expensive Nikon lenses? |
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jk
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Because the lenses are Manual Focus only and some of us are lazy! |
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Robert
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As well as... They may not have the last word in various attributes normally considered important for general photography but are not critical for broad astro stuff, not telescope mounted. They are fast and cheap with no frills. For occasional astro whole sky (as opposed to narrow field telescope mounted) photography they are ideal. BUT being cheap it seems the sample quality can be iffy, good samples are said to be excellent but there are a variety of optical issues I have read about like out of focus at one side or not reaching infinity... Important for Astro stuff!!!  |
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Draggar
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jk wrote:Because the lenses are Manual Focus only and some of us are lazy! Q.F.T.  But - I've noticed that auto-focus HATES nighttime photography (especially the late night ones- like the one of Mt. Washington at midnight (and no, it wasn't light out) so I have to use manual focus out as far as possible (and I have the F-stop at the lowest setting (widest - lower the number the wider the aperture?). |
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Draggar
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Right now money is very tight (and I usually do my photography and hiking on days I need to go to Conway to do shopping so I don't waste too much gas). (As for why I'm looking for a new lens - I got some Amazon gift cards for Christmas and may get quite a few Best Buy ones). Photoshop Elements is $150 (about as much in Euros, too). I tend to use software until it either doesn't meet my needs or Microsoft decided to kill it with a new version of Windows. I've used it in the past (long time ago) and it was good for basic editing but personally, just something about, even just touching up a photo in software, makes me feel like I'm faking it (yes, I know, it's done A LOT). |
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Robert
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Sounds like we are both in the same boat! My pension is pretty tight. I have bought most of my lens gear on the cheap, choosing stuff that most people would ignore, mainly non zoom, manual focus lenses but they are all full frame and generally pretty fast, like my Nikkor 105mm f2.5 pre IA, which I converted myself. I have a 105mm EL f5.6 enlarger lens for my bellows/extension tubes which I use for UV photography of flowers. Some of the old lenses are gems, others are crap, you have to know which are which! If you get lucky you can snap up a bargain if the seller hasn't realised what they have and don't describe it right. Rummage in boxes at jumble sales, sometimes you get lucky. However, photography uses expensive gear, on a budget everything is a compromise. With imagination you can get wonderful results on a shoestring, even a pinhole lens can make a nice image with patience. |
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Draggar
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Ace - quite happy in the new snow. :) (Sadly I don't trust the other dog off lead). Attachment: ace.jpg (Downloaded 15 times) |
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Ed Hutchinson
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Nice shot of Mr. Ace Ed |
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