Photography noob needs some help

[Bavaria-guy]

Hey guys im just getting into photography and was looking for some advice. I just bought a Nikon D3100 on an impulse buy. It came with the 18-55mm lens and also a 55-200mm lens.(package deal). Is this camera decent or should I sell it and get something else? If I got some better lenses for it, could it be just as good as say a D90, D300, or a Canon Tsi? I guess i'm not looking to do this professionally but I would like to know that I have the right equipment that I could grow with. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Kielan]

Its a good entry level DSLR for sure. Get used to it, upgrade your glass as you get better, and you are sure you want to keep going with it. It takes time to get good, and even longer to be great. You will know when you are using the camera to its full potential and its time to upgrade. But for right now you have the ideal setup for a beginner, get out there and shoot as much as you can.

I recommend once you get better that you upgrade your lenses first (as these will be compatible with other Nikons down the road as you upgrade).

[C.Johnston]

ya thats a good starter set up. however i would ditch the 18-55, get a tamron 17-50 2.8, an afs 35 1.8, and at least a sb600. that should be all you need for a while. that said, there is lots of people getting great results with what glass you have now on even older bodies. the afd 50 1.8 is a nice, cheap lens but will be mf only on your d3100.
congrats and welcome to nikon.

[Withers]

ya thats a good starter set up. however i would ditch the 18-55, get a tamron 17-50 2.8, an afs 35 1.8, and at least a sb600. that should be all you need for a while.

Why not suggest he get to know the camera and the lenses he has instead of recommending that he go out and buy $2k worth of equipment right off the bat?

[B. Aust]

Advice from another amateur

Why not suggest he get to know the camera and the lenses he has instead of recommending that he go out and buy $2k worth of equipment right off the bat?

Agreed, I started with a Nikon D60 and I found that the 18-55 and a 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 was enough to get pretty good results, I got a Canon 7d yesterday with a 24-135 f/3.5-5.6 but that was after 3 years with the D60. So after my little story my advice would be keep what you have and get used to it until you find you have outgrown it, then perhaps look at the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G, it's a great little prime lens that will work with your crop frame DX sensor, and/or a 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF lens with Vibration Reduction and Extra Low Dispersion Glass which will give you an actual zoom of 105-450 because of your DX sensor. Just get to know what you have and whenever a situation arises when you find you cannot complete a task with what you have look into equipment that can.

PM me if you want anymore help

[Bavaria-guy]

Some good advice here guys, thank you. I think I will keep it for awhile and get used to it. I think my first upgrade will be the sb600 because ive already had a few instances where my stock flash just wasnt enough.

[Bimmerteck]

Buy a tripod, and leave the camera in manual mode, otherwise you should be good with what you have until you learn the controls and make sure your going to stick with the whole photography thing. Better glass will not make you a better photographer but knowing how to use the glass you already have to it's fullest extent will.

[Kielan]

I'm gunna go ahead and say don't use full manual right off the bat, use Av and Tv, those two modes will help you learn all about what changing aperture, shutter speed, ISO, all do, and how to use them effectively.

[Bimmerteck]

With full manual mode you will learn the relationship between aperture and shutter speed much faster where as with Av and Tv you learn one and use the camera as a crutch to set the other for you.

as a bonus if you truly know how shoot full manual then you can pick up nearly anything from a 1Ds to rolleiflex, to a kodak landcamera from the 1920s and take a picture.

[Kielan]

With full manual mode you will learn the relationship between aperture and shutter speed much faster where as with Av and Tv you learn one and use the camera as a crutch to set the other for you.

as a bonus if you truly know how shoot full manual then you can pick up nearly anything from a 1Ds to rolleiflex, to a kodak landcamera from the 1920s and take a picture.

I am well aware of how full manual mode works thanks...

Full manual mode is so confusing for a straight up beginner, Av/Tv, both allow you to ease into it, and can provide you with a fairly good grasp of what is going on. Where as starting out in full manual, you have no idea why your pictures aren't being exposed correctly, or why you are having 2 second exposures at 4pm... Understand the basic relationship works using Av/Tv allows you to see what each does, and how that will effect all the factors that go into taking a picture.

I also suggest you read the manual OP, as dumb as it sounds, it will help you a great deal to understanding all the functions of the camera, and what everything means.

[Bimmerteck]

I am well aware of how full manual mode works thanks...

Full manual mode is so confusing for a straight up beginner, Av/Tv, both allow you to ease into it, and can provide you with a fairly good grasp of what is going on. Where as starting out in full manual, you have no idea why your pictures aren't being exposed correctly, or why you are having 2 second exposures at 4pm... Understand the basic relationship works using Av/Tv allows you to see what each does, and how that will effect all the factors that go into taking a picture.

I also suggest you read the manual OP, as dumb as it sounds, it will help you a great deal to understanding all the functions of the camera, and what everything means.

Full manual mode allows the beginner to make mistakes, and with a digital camera they can learn from those mistakes in seconds when the preview image doesn't turn out. It cost them nothing, and they can immediately readjust and take another shot until it does turn out learning what each change does as they go.


I spent $1600 on film my first year of college(before digital cameras were available) to learn photography/videography, much of it went in the trashcan so I could learn the functions of the cameras, anyone holding a digital body today with no experience can learn in hours what many of us spent days or weeks shooting, taking notes, developing, and evaluating our prints to learn photography.

To the OP Kielan is absolutely right about reading the manual, and regardless of what mode you use starting out the best way to learn is to get out there and take pictures, lots of pictures, if you have a shot you can't get try your best to get it then feel free to come back and ask what you can change to make it come out better next time.

[Kielan]

We can agree to disagree then, obviously we have 2 very different teachings from 2 different time periods. But you make valid points regardless.

OP its really on you how you want to learn, but I HIGHLY stress not upgrading or buying new lenses or gear for a few weeks at least, make sure you really want to spend money on this, (its not a cheap hobby, and if you don't like it you are wasting a ton of money).Get out and shoot as much as you can, learn how the camera works, get to a point where you are comfortable with your composures, your style, etc, and then buy new lenses and gear as you get better and your current gear holds you back... Well at least thats what I would do.

[B. Aust]

We can agree to disagree then, obviously we have 2 very different teachings from 2 different time periods. But you make valid points regardless.

OP its really on you how you want to learn, but I HIGHLY stress not upgrading or buying new lenses or gear for a few weeks at least, make sure you really want to spend money on this, (its not a cheap hobby, and if you don't like it you are wasting a ton of money).Get out and shoot as much as you can, learn how the camera works, get to a point where you are comfortable with your composures, your style, etc, and then buy new lenses and gear as you get better and your current gear holds you back... Well at least thats what I would do.

Amen.

[Bavaria-guy]

Ok so i've been taking alot of pics the last few days and decided to pick up a 35mm f1.8 lens. I was really impressed right off the bat. I love the way the backgrounds look really smooth and not just blurry (if that makes sense). It was a relatively inexpensive investment but I think it was worth every penny. Now I want to take pictures of everything lol. Here are a couple pics with the new lens. (remember im still fairly new to this)

[Ownagespot]

Haha its been two days and you already got a new lens?

I just picked up a D3100 a few months ago also, and im lovin it. Still gonna hold off on getting new lenses so i can learn the most about what it has now. Anyways good luck and have fun with it