I got a new SLR! Now what?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My Dad is a professional sports photographer. He just upgraded*, so asked me if I wanted some of his “old” equipment.

Yeah, I suppose, Dad…

He gave me his Nikon D2H

Plus the following to give me a good start:

Nikkor ED AF 300mm 1:2.8 lens (pictured)

AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm 1:2.8 lens

Tamron SP AF 35-105mm 1:2.8 lens

AF Nikkor 85mm 1:1.8 lens

Nikon TC-14B 1.4x Teleconverter

Nikon Speedlight SB600 flash

I am still learning how to use it. There’s a pretty good-sized learning curve

I am going to New York for a week in June and want to bring both my Point & Shoot (Canon S5 IS) and my SLR. I like to take shot of the skyline and plan on doing such things as Top of the Rock, Circle Line Cruise, Brooklyn Bridge, and other areas.

I like to use it to shoot my daughter (especially with a bokeh background). But other than the lenses zooming in, how would a SLR benefit me more for daytime skyline photos than my point and shoot?

  • He now has a Nikon D3.
2

Can I start by saying I’m deeply jealous? I’m a Canon person myself, but to be given that as a starter kit is… phenomenal.

You’ve got a pretty good selection of lenses there, and to answer your question more specifically, an SLR will have the following benefits

  • More manual control
  • Better control over depth of field
  • Lower noise exposures, meaning better large prints
  • Far, far more accessories and high-quality lenses with which to expand
  • More dynamic range, which is particularly useful for daylight photography

I’d say these benefits far outweigh the downside of having to lug more gear around, but as always YMMV.

3

When I started on an SLR (a lowly Nikon D40x with a kit lens…so jealous of your set-up), I did everything on manual and took a ton of photos of completely random stuff. Most of my early photos weren’t because I wanted a photograph of the object, but because I wanted to know how to photograph the object. A year later, I use mostly shutter-speed priority and auto-focus, but I have a good idea of how the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO balance each other.

My biggest suggestion? Learn how to set your white balance manually. Your camera can look at a piece of white paper and know that it is white in that light. From there, it can work out what every other color is supposed to look like in that light as well. You can use auto white balance, or even one of the presets like flash or incandescent, but I’ve consistently gotten the best, most true to life, colors by setting it myself. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds and it saves a lot of time with processing photos after the fact.

Oh, and if you find that your camera bag is too heavy, let me know. I might be able to take some of that equipment off your hands for you. :wink:

4

I’d bring the 35 - 105 and the 80 -200 lens. Most of the time you’ll want the wide end of the 35- 105 so you can get as much of the city into your shot. When you are down on street level, you’ll have fun controlling how much depth of field you’ll have in the shot. So you can have your daughter in sharp focus and then have the background in a nice soft focus.
That 85mm prime is a great portrait lens.

5

Nice set-up. I’m another Canon shooter (just got a 5D last week).

You’ll eventually want something wider than 35mm, though, since the APS-C sensor narrows the field of view on all lenses. I’m not familiar with Nikon’s lenses, but you’ll want a zoom in the 17-85mm range.

The other most important thing you’ll want is the owner’s manual for the camera. I can’t stress enough how important this is. I’ve been shooting for twenty-five years, professionally for the last decade, and digitally for the last four years, and I never go anywhere without my manuals, and hardly a week goes by that I don’t find myself looking something up.

Oh, and while that’s a nice case in the picture, it pretty much screams “steal me!”.

Enjoy the camera. Especially the 8 FPS.

6

The S5 is quite a bit more than a Point & Shoot. It offers full manual control, including shutter speed, aperture, focus, ISO, white balance, flash intensity, flash sync (1st or 2nd curtain), and the ability to save custom settings. It has a hot-shoe (for external flash with TTL metering), live histogram, and 12X optical zoom. Also, the high-resolution Movie mode is instantly accessible from any other mode, and allows you to use the zoom (a rare feature in still cameras), record in very good quality stereo sound, and shoot stills while shooting a movie.

Also, all digital non-SLR cameras have “Live View”, meaning that you can view a scene on the LCD screen while you are composing your shot. Most digital SLRs (including the Nikon D2) do not have this ability. You look through the viewfinder, compose your shot, press the shutter, and then review the image on the LCD screen.

In the case of the Canon S5, you have one other great feature: a swing/tilt screen that allows you view scenes from a variety of angles. This is useful when (at close range) you are trying to get all of a building in your frame, or you are taking shots over the heads of other people and you want to see what you’re shooting *before * you shoot. Or, you can angle the screen to minimize reflections. Also, you can turn it around 180 degrees and use it to view yourself when you are using the self-timer to include yourself in a shot.

And, finally, the Canon S5 has Image Stabilization (to offset hand shake), and Face Recognition, which optimizes focus and exposure when shooting people’s faces. Both of these features can be turned off.

Okay, but your new Nikon is a far better camera, several steps above the S5. The main difference you’ll notice right away is its responsiveness, especially in low or unusual lighting conditions. You think the shot and it takes it. Also, the zooming is far easier than it is on the S5. (But, I’m sure you’ve already noticed.)

By far the biggest difference is in image quality. Practically everything about the D2H is better than the S5. (The Nikon uses a 4 megapixel sensor vs the Canon’s 8 megapixels, but there are other considerations besides number of megapixels.)

And, the biggest reason for the better image quality is the lenses. Again, not even in the same league. (FWIW, the S5 is considered to have average quality, even for a non-SLR.)

One more benefit of the Nikon is the variety of controls available, on the camera’s body and in the menus, and the (relative) ease of accessing those controls.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy the D2H, but, as you know, it is far heavier and bulkier – some would say “more substantial” and “easier to hold”. And, you’ll need to take at least two lenses (the two lenses that **Zebra ** suggests) and change them when necessary.

I’m curious about how it works out for you.

7

What is this camera crap? I thought you meant you got one of these:

http://www.desktopmachine.com/framepic.php?id=7530&size=1024

8

Go hang out at the train station on 125 Street in Harlem and take lot of pictures.