Now the learning starts. All pic's so far has been with my Canon Point N Shoot. The battery is charging, the strap is attached now I have to wait to play with it.
Does anyone else have that camera, what do you think?
I am brand new to the DSLR, still waiting to use it. So what suggestions or tips do you have? Sorry, I'm just excited and have to communicate with someone about this.
Congrats.....my advice is that if you don't understand the relationship between ISO/Aperture/Shutter speed, that you should put the camera on P see what the settings are and then move it to manual and adjust the settings to see what the results are....it will help you to start understanding the relationship....also a "for dummies" book would probably be a good addition to your library....will give you simple explanations for a lot of daunting terms....my two cents!
My first suggestion is to read the manual that comes with it.... it will tell you what all the different settings are and how to navigate the menu to select various options. I recommend that one option you enable is RAW. Shoot in RAW format... if you don't have software that will allow editing a RAW image, then shoot in both RAW and JPG because you're going to get hit with "the bug" and you'll want software that will allow to do various things in post processing and its much better to work with RAW files because they store way more light information.
My other suggestion is, since I know you're interested in HDR, is to google "how to set up Nikon D5100 for HDR"... that's how I figured out how to set up my camera for HDR.
I went from a simple p&S to the Nikon 5100, and I have been very happy playing with my new toy. I have SO MUCH to learn. I echo what @shadesofgrey said, "p" mode works well for me because it still takes me a long time to think through my mind how ISO/aperture/shutter speed interrelate (and, I'm still slow to figure out how to do each adjustment when in manual mode). I want to transition to manual, but I feel like I need a couple of weeks off of work to devote to just shooting 24/7, lol. :) Will be fun learning together! :)
I learned a TON by throwing the camera in Manual mode and forcing myself to learn the relationships between Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. The first month of pictures sucked, but doing that helped me to learn so much!
Using 'Manual' before you really understand how aperture, shutter speed and ISO relate to one another might not be your best plan of action despite what others are saying here.
It's important to realise that the three work in conjunction to produce a result but you'll also have to understand that to get a given result, one of the three will have to take priority over the others.
Sometimes you'll need a fast shutter speed, other times it will be a wide (or otherwise) aperture. Changing the ISO can help to achieve either of these but do you know how it does so? Or when and why you'll need it to?
'Program' is only a small step up from full 'auto' insomuch as it doesn't make you think for yourself.
Try 'Aperture' mode. It's probably the most commonly used and it will give you a clearer understanding of the relationship between the aperture and the shutter speed. It will teach you why you need to set a particular aperture to get a particular shot. Get that right and shutter speed becomes secondary in nearly every case.
Altering the ISO will alter both aperture and shutter speeds, although they will remain relevant to each other.
Keep the ISO set to the lowest figure that you can, provided you can still use an aperture that will work in whatever conditions you're in.
There are quite literally hundreds of tutorials out there, most of which are dead easy to understand. Read some of them, then read some more. Have a go at it and learn from your mistakes; there will be plenty!
Most importantly, enjoy the experience.
If you get stuck, give me a shout.
Most of my pictures on here have been taken w/ my phone, but Community Ed usually will offer a beginner class for DSLR users. I took one right when I purchased my camera. It helped me alot. We also took 2 field trips w/ the class, one day & one night where the teacher taught us some cool tricks. I figured it would be worth the $60 for the 6wk class if I just dropped $500+ on a camera. Have fun!
P.S. Not sure if you're on Pinterest, but here is my board of collected photography tips about aperture, shutter speed & ISO. http://pinterest.com/jrj97tink/photo-tips/
@shadesofgrey@rvm@jsw0109@rockinrobyn@floriandra@dolittlemd@traeumerlein87 Thank you very much for all your advice! I am going to take up everyone's suggestions. I want to learn about the relationship with apeture, shutter speed & ISO (that's one reason I wanted a DSLR), Jeff I like your suggestions regarding the RAW & JPG and exploring more about HDR. I will get that book for dummies and put it in the p to see what happens. Lisa, my point & shoot is a Canon and I love it, it was hard to know what to pick but I hope I made the right choice. Thank you all for sharing my excitement. Now what is taking that battery so long to charge (actually it's only been 50 minutes and they said 1 hr 45) but just seems so long when you want to try it.
Oh wow! I wish you many happy hours with your new camera! I've been thinking about upgrading - but after reading all the comments above I think I'll wait a few months or so!
Congrats on your new camera. I git my Nikon d90 less than a year ago.
I echo Shades of Grey .. the FOR Dummies book is my lefeline . It also explains the old aperture . speed / iso thing very simply.
Small steps and ENJOY
@jester The reason I said P was that it sets both aperture and shutter, gives you a solid starting point and a place to go from in Manual, not a crutch to rely on...I could have been a little more clear that to start out, if you are in a setting where you can play around this is ideal, versus out and about where you would need to get the settings right because the moment is gone after your one shot (pun intended). Also to only play with one setting at a time to see what that particular one does in the setting..... I don't disagree that using A or S mode will help you out but it's harder (in my eyes) to understand the relationship because you are turning the dial to adjust one and the other seems to arbitrarily change....if you don't understand the relationship already....
I started out on film SLR's. I had to read a lot of photography books and went through a lot of film before I got the relationship down in my head....those books gave me a starting point based on available light, film speed and desired DOF (if that is taken into account) As far as I can tell, P mode gives you roughly the same starting point, albeit w/o the info gained from the why part....which is why I recommended the book.
just my two cents though, everyone learns a little differently.
Kathy, whichever way you decide to go, make bold adjustments and you will see the extremes of what the setting does, then you can bracket them in so you find out where you need to be to get the desired effect....
Congratulations Kathy. Everyone has given you great suggestions. Here is what worked for me. I read the camera manual. There will be some things you don't understand right now. But that's ok. Get familiar with what is there. I got the book Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. He makes it easy to understand ISO/ Aperture/ shutter speed. I haven't shot in anything other than manual and raw files since I read the book.
i was just looking at a promo flyer for nikon and looking at both D3100 and D5100 but like gillian @kwiksilver with all the comments i've read here, methinks i'm sticking with the p&s for now. i haven't even read the manual of my finepix and i just found out it had a super macro function. tee-hee! you take really great photos so i'm sure in about a week you will get the hang of the new toy. looking forward to your pics. enjoy!
Congratulations Kathy! You are going to have so much fun. Dont be frigtened by the amount of memory shooting RAW+JPEG takes...just upload every night and start again fresh...besides memory cards are cheap. If you don't use your RAW files for a while just put them aside until you have the software to deal with them. I agree that running for a week or to on P is ideal. then slip into A (aperture priority) so that you can start to learn the relationship between aperture and Depth of Field.
Set yourself a different task every day (ie: shooting moving subjects, night shooting, shooting in monochrome) and then read the manual to see how to shoot that particular task. And a great way to improve your skills on the DSLR is to do a lot of self portraiture - you don't want crappy self portraits, so you'll make yourself learn the proper settings faster, and do a lot of long exposure night shooting - a fun way to get to know all your settings on manual, and every shot is like opening a present, you have no idea what you're going to get:)
Hey.. I have a Nikon 5100. I love it. My first DSLR. It has taken me months to get the hang on it but now I am shooting in Manual. All trial and error. Great camera.
I saw this on Facebook and didn't get a chance to congratulate you. How exciting!! My DSLR is on a much lower end scale, but I was soooo chuffed when I got it last year.
I don't have any wisdom to impart-- just wanted to share in the excitement :)
Mine arrived yesterday. I got a refurbished one with the kit lens ($120 cheaper than the "new" version and with a one-year warranty) and the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 prime (new).
The "refurbished" camera had been used a grand total of 900 shutter actuations. It looks as if it came out of the factory yesterday, not a scratch, bump or any kind of imperfection anywhere. All of the packaging was brand new. I ordered on Friday and the camera shipped for free on Monday before 11 AM. It was in my hands Wednesday around 3 PM.
I spent a week or so in agony deciding between the D5100 refurbished and preordering the D3200 but at the end the D5100 fits my needs. I spent a lot of time shooting the Sony DSC-HX100V which has a tilting LCD and I refuse to go back to a fixed LCD model.
@pvera So far I LOVE my D5100 and I think you made a great choice. It's so exciting. I will follow you on 365 and look forward to seeing your D5100 shots! I see a difference
I am starting a new challenge "Camera Settings Challenge" where an experienced photographer will provide a camera setting challenge for the week. Anyone who wants to learn more about camera settings will be a part of. Experienced photographer like many of you will comment and make suggestions - offer kind & constructive feedback. It would be great if you would participate as either offering suggestions or entering the challenge (depending on what level you are). I think this will be good to help break the fear that I see many new DSLR owners have - and learn from the best - YOU!
Judith Greenwood is going to provide the first Camera Settings Challenge tomorrow.
@myhrhelper - i suppose i could do the challenge, just that my little p&s' capabilities are limited, but i've pushed more envelopes to the max in my life, so this would be a real challenge. and plus i've just read four pages of (89-93) my 120 pages manual so that should help. (oh, god, help me!) thanks, kathy.
1. Don't be so sloppy with the 35mm prime, since VR is in the lenses, not in the camera like my Sony DSC-HX100V and the 35mm doesn't have VR.
2. Figure out once and for all how focus smoothly when taking videos. Again, I got spoiled by the Sony DSC-HX100V.
3. Find a workflow for dealing with RAW that actually works for me. I am not impressed with Capture NX 2, and Picasa seems to be handling NEF files fine. The problem is that at my level my JPEGs look better than my processed RAW files. I am going to leave the camera shooting RAW+Fine, but only for backup purposes, I just don't see myself relying on the RAW files except for something very specific.
I just got the D5100 too and upgraded from the D50. There is a big difference and I am learning too. I will have to follow you now to see what you come up with :) Good luck and enjoy it!, Kim
1. Me and my Nikkor 35mm DX f/1.8 are now BFFs. I don't think I have touched the kit lens in close to a week, and I am using manual focus a lot more.
2. Videos are still a struggle but I am starting to get a hang out of leaving the camera in manual and setting the AF to wide area. It doesn't go berzerk like if I were to leave it in full AF-S. I've been reading DSLR Cinema: Crafting the film look with video ( http://www.amazon.com/DSLR-Cinema-Crafting-Film-Video/dp/0240815513) and it has been very handy.
3. I found a workflow that is not a pain! I let Picasa pull all of my pics off the card, eject the card, shut down Picasa and do the work through Lightroom 4 (the reason I eject the card is so I know Lightroom is looking at the right files). So far I am very pleased with the results, especially once I figured out how the presets work. The one thing that puzzles me is that Lightroom doesn't like to open Photoshop Elements 10, it yields a weird error, yet if I open Elements 10 manually and open the NEF, it will recognize the adjustments I already did from Lightroom.
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My other suggestion is, since I know you're interested in HDR, is to google "how to set up Nikon D5100 for HDR"... that's how I figured out how to set up my camera for HDR.
And finally... HAVE FUN!
It's important to realise that the three work in conjunction to produce a result but you'll also have to understand that to get a given result, one of the three will have to take priority over the others.
Sometimes you'll need a fast shutter speed, other times it will be a wide (or otherwise) aperture. Changing the ISO can help to achieve either of these but do you know how it does so? Or when and why you'll need it to?
'Program' is only a small step up from full 'auto' insomuch as it doesn't make you think for yourself.
Try 'Aperture' mode. It's probably the most commonly used and it will give you a clearer understanding of the relationship between the aperture and the shutter speed. It will teach you why you need to set a particular aperture to get a particular shot. Get that right and shutter speed becomes secondary in nearly every case.
Altering the ISO will alter both aperture and shutter speeds, although they will remain relevant to each other.
Keep the ISO set to the lowest figure that you can, provided you can still use an aperture that will work in whatever conditions you're in.
There are quite literally hundreds of tutorials out there, most of which are dead easy to understand. Read some of them, then read some more. Have a go at it and learn from your mistakes; there will be plenty!
Most importantly, enjoy the experience.
If you get stuck, give me a shout.
P.S. Not sure if you're on Pinterest, but here is my board of collected photography tips about aperture, shutter speed & ISO. http://pinterest.com/jrj97tink/photo-tips/
I echo Shades of Grey .. the FOR Dummies book is my lefeline . It also explains the old aperture . speed / iso thing very simply.
Small steps and ENJOY
I started out on film SLR's. I had to read a lot of photography books and went through a lot of film before I got the relationship down in my head....those books gave me a starting point based on available light, film speed and desired DOF (if that is taken into account) As far as I can tell, P mode gives you roughly the same starting point, albeit w/o the info gained from the why part....which is why I recommended the book.
just my two cents though, everyone learns a little differently.
Kathy, whichever way you decide to go, make bold adjustments and you will see the extremes of what the setting does, then you can bracket them in so you find out where you need to be to get the desired effect....
i was just looking at a promo flyer for nikon and looking at both D3100 and D5100 but like gillian @kwiksilver with all the comments i've read here, methinks i'm sticking with the p&s for now. i haven't even read the manual of my finepix and i just found out it had a super macro function. tee-hee! you take really great photos so i'm sure in about a week you will get the hang of the new toy. looking forward to your pics. enjoy!
I saw this on Facebook and didn't get a chance to congratulate you. How exciting!! My DSLR is on a much lower end scale, but I was soooo chuffed when I got it last year.
I don't have any wisdom to impart-- just wanted to share in the excitement :)
The "refurbished" camera had been used a grand total of 900 shutter actuations. It looks as if it came out of the factory yesterday, not a scratch, bump or any kind of imperfection anywhere. All of the packaging was brand new. I ordered on Friday and the camera shipped for free on Monday before 11 AM. It was in my hands Wednesday around 3 PM.
I spent a week or so in agony deciding between the D5100 refurbished and preordering the D3200 but at the end the D5100 fits my needs. I spent a lot of time shooting the Sony DSC-HX100V which has a tilting LCD and I refuse to go back to a fixed LCD model.
I am starting a new challenge "Camera Settings Challenge" where an experienced photographer will provide a camera setting challenge for the week. Anyone who wants to learn more about camera settings will be a part of. Experienced photographer like many of you will comment and make suggestions - offer kind & constructive feedback. It would be great if you would participate as either offering suggestions or entering the challenge (depending on what level you are). I think this will be good to help break the fear that I see many new DSLR owners have - and learn from the best - YOU!
Judith Greenwood is going to provide the first Camera Settings Challenge tomorrow.
http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/12394/camera-settings-challenge
1. Don't be so sloppy with the 35mm prime, since VR is in the lenses, not in the camera like my Sony DSC-HX100V and the 35mm doesn't have VR.
2. Figure out once and for all how focus smoothly when taking videos. Again, I got spoiled by the Sony DSC-HX100V.
3. Find a workflow for dealing with RAW that actually works for me. I am not impressed with Capture NX 2, and Picasa seems to be handling NEF files fine. The problem is that at my level my JPEGs look better than my processed RAW files. I am going to leave the camera shooting RAW+Fine, but only for backup purposes, I just don't see myself relying on the RAW files except for something very specific.
Except for those three things? Pure joy.
1. Me and my Nikkor 35mm DX f/1.8 are now BFFs. I don't think I have touched the kit lens in close to a week, and I am using manual focus a lot more.
2. Videos are still a struggle but I am starting to get a hang out of leaving the camera in manual and setting the AF to wide area. It doesn't go berzerk like if I were to leave it in full AF-S. I've been reading DSLR Cinema: Crafting the film look with video ( http://www.amazon.com/DSLR-Cinema-Crafting-Film-Video/dp/0240815513) and it has been very handy.
3. I found a workflow that is not a pain! I let Picasa pull all of my pics off the card, eject the card, shut down Picasa and do the work through Lightroom 4 (the reason I eject the card is so I know Lightroom is looking at the right files). So far I am very pleased with the results, especially once I figured out how the presets work. The one thing that puzzles me is that Lightroom doesn't like to open Photoshop Elements 10, it yields a weird error, yet if I open Elements 10 manually and open the NEF, it will recognize the adjustments I already did from Lightroom.