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This is actually just the OP i made for the nikon thread in the dorkroom with all the text deleted. the last post was all pulled from the pentax me superthread.            Well, Canon has one, and we should too. The Bodies Nikon bodies can generally be divided into four categories, which is why comparing them with equivalent Canon bodies can get sorta confusing. In terms of naming, entry-level and prosumer generally follow D 3x00, D5x00, or D7x00 (formerly Dxx), and compare roughly to Canon's xxxD series. Semi-pro bodies are Dxxx, and compare to Canon's xxD series. Pro bodies are Dx, and compare to Canon's xD lineup. Entry-level bodies include the D3200 and D5200, and formerly the D40(x), D50, D60, and D5000, D5100, D3100, and D3000. They typically lack the autofocus screw (except the D50), which means they can't autofocus with screw-drive lenses (such as the excellent 50 1.8 and 85 1.8). They also can't meter old AI/AI-S lenses, although they can mount them. The D5100 and newer have the more current sensors that are far more capable of high iso. Prosumer bodies include the D7000 and D7100, and formerly the D70(s), D80, and D90. The D70 could go either way, really. These bodies all have the AF screw, and most of them can meter AI/AI-S lenses. They can also all use their pop-up flash as a CLS commander. Semi-pro bodies include the D600 and D800, and formerly D100, D200, D300, and D700. The build quality is significantly better (magnesium bodies), they have pretty good weather sealing, PC sockets, and basically all the nice little touches that make good cameras fun to use. There's a lot more buttons, meaning a lot less going into menus to change things. They also tend to feature faster/better AF, bigger buffers, and faster continuous shooting speed. All of them can meter AI/AI-S lenses, and all of them can use their pop-up flash as a CLS commander. The D800, D700 and D600 are full frame cameras, with the D800 and D600 featuring the newer, nicer sensors. Pro bodies, at this point, are the D4, and formerly, the D1(x/h), and D2(x/h/hs) and D3 and D3x. They have an integrated vertical grip, and are basically awesome in every way something can be awesome. The D3, in DX crop mode, can shoot at eleven god drat frames per second. These don't feature pop-up flashes, so you'll need an SU-800, SB-800, or SB-900 if you need a CLS commander. Every aspect of these bodies is a head and shoulders above the semi-pro line (including the price). The Lenses There are a few basic categories of Nikon lenses. The first is DX/non-DX. DX lenses are intended for use on crop-sensor bodies, which is anything below the D700. They will mount and function on full-frame bodies, but the camera will enter 'DX crop mode', which essentially just uses a smaller center portion of the sensor to avoid what would otherwise be laffo vignetting. It also means you get smaller images, since it can't use the entire sensor, so this can be bad. There are two types of autofocus used on current Nikon lenses, screw-drive and AF-S. People sometimes mistakenly call screw-drive AF-D - AF-D lenses can be screw drive, but not all screw drive lenses are AF-D (the D indicates that it reports distance information to the body). Screw-drive lenses will only autofocus on the D70 or above (and notably, not the D5000). AF-S lenses have the focusing motor in the lens itself, and will autofocus on any Nikon DSLR. The last major category is G/non-G lenses. G lenses don't have an aperture ring. This isn't a big deal for most people, but it does mean you can't use them on a lot of older film bodies. For older lenses, you might come across "Non-AI" or "Pre-AI" lenses. These will mount but not meter on the D40 and such. They will not mount on anything that can actually meter then without actual mechanical modification, and if you try to mount them anyways, you will probably break your AI indexing tab off your camera and get laughed at. The conversion isn't hard, you can do it at home with Dremel or send it out to get done by someone else for cheap. The Flashes Nikon's current flash technology is called iTTL. Their older TTL flashes will not work on current Nikon bodies, with the exception of the D100, which I don't think anybody is calling current. Nikon doesn't have that many flashes, so we may as well go through them individually. SB-R200: This is meant to be used with their close-up kit, or as a tiny stick-anywhere remote flash. It can only be fired via CLS. Not only can it not be fired on a hotshoe, I don't think it even has a hotshoe. They're great for either the close-up work they were intended for, or for when you just need a tiny pop of light somewhere. SB-400: This is, by all accounts, pretty worthless. I'm sure it fills the needs of some people, but it's basically a pop-up flash with a bounce head. Can't be triggered via CLS, nor can it be a CLS commander on bodies which either can't use their pop-up for that or lack a pop-up. SB-600: This is their real entry-level flash. It can do CLS, has a bounce/swivel head, and basically all the things you'd expect from a hotshoe flash. It can't act as a CLS commander, though, but can be a CLS remote flash. It does, however, have a built-in wide-angle diffuser. SB-800: Out of production now, but was/is awesome. It could be either a CLS commander or CLS remote, had a kickass built-in optical slave, a high-voltage port on the front to use with external battery packs, and an optional 5th-battery attachment for hilariously fast recycle times. It also featured a wide-angle diffuser and built-in bounce card, as well as dedicated modeling light button. SB-900: The current five-hundred-dollar hotness. Advantages over the SB-800: Head zooms to 200mm, has options for distribution of light, improved/added gel holder, significantly better controls. There have been some reports of them overheating REALLY easily, which is unsurprising since they get the same recycle time with 4 batteries than the SB-800 got with 5. One slight issue with Nikon flashes is that their locking mechanism doesn't work overly well on non-Nikon shoes, such as those found on lightstand adapters and such. The solution is to buy one of these, if your flash has a PC port or you're using CLS. They hold the flash tight enough that the shoe is likely to break off before the clamp does. The Thread Title On lenses with an aperture ring, on Nikon DSLRs, if you don't have the aperture stopped down to maximum (like f/22 or whatever), the camera will report an 'fEE' error and will refuse to take a picture. It's probably one of the most confusing and annoying errors for a newbie. Most modern lenses have locks on the aperture so you can just set it there and lock it. If you prefer to use the aperture ring to set your aperture, on the D200 at least, there's a custom setting in the "Command Dials" section that lets you do it this way. Nikon Trivia Nikon's lens division, Nikkor, has been around since before Nikon made cameras, or even existed. They used to, and still do, make microscope optics and things of that nature. Nikkor has made lenses for Leica screw-mount, among others. When getting into the SLR market, Nippon Kogaku was trying to find a name for their new line of SLR cameras. They considered several, including 'Pentax', before settling on Nikon. Nikon has a weird thing where their macro lenses are called 'Micro'. According to their '1001 Nights' page, which has a lot of great lens history on it, this was because their first close-up lens couldn't actually do 1:1 without an extension tube, only 1:2. Since they already made microscope optics, they figured they'd probably get called out for calling it a 'macro' lens when it actually wasn't, and 'Micro' just sorta stuck. So, all that being said, here's a thread for discussion and questions of all things Nikon. EDIT FOR CLS CLS is Nikon's optically-based wireless flash system. Basically, you set up CLS-capable flashes as slaves (SB600/800/900/R200), and use either your pop-up flash or a CLS commander to fire them. You can use TTL metering, set the power manually, assign various flashes to various groups, etc. It's a cheap and easy way to use off-camera flash if your body supports using the pop-up as a commander. It works quite well indoors, and moderately well outdoors. EDIT FOR LINKS http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/photography.htm is an excellent resource for all things Nikon, both film bodies and also pretty much every lens they've ever made. http://bythom.com is good too I guess, I don't go there much. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm nielsm posted:Nikon film bodies: Mightaswell posted:I'd like to make note of a seldom mentioned Nikon camera with a unique feature set. Dr. Despair fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Aug 25, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2012 03:25
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:29 |
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Add most of this to the op (the f75 is an excellent camera especially for it's price)
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Nov 20, 2012 06:33
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Mightaswell posted:I'd like to make note of a seldom mentioned Nikon camera with a unique feature set. Added.
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Nov 20, 2012 18:35
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red19fire posted:The MX was, and probably still is, the preferred camera for mountaineering. Why? because it's all mechanical (with an independent meter as an afterthought), meaning no batteries to freeze in sub-zero mountain temperatures and revert to some crappy f/22 limp-along mode. Just know your Sunny 16 rule and you can shoot on Everest, nerds. Fixed it for you. (And added your original post to the OP).
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Nov 20, 2012 21:42
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The d7000 does use the newer battery style though. e. don't let that deter you, it's an amazing camera. Dr. Despair fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Nov 24, 2012 |
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Nov 24, 2012 19:19
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Doggles posted:I'm looking to upgrade my zoom lens. Currently I have the 55-300mm DX lens and I'd like to move up to the 70-200mm 2.8 lens. Quality is probably not going to be as good as the Nikon, but I haven't been able to find a review directly comparing the two. One other thing to look for is Tamron's new lens, they just announced a 70-200 2.8 with VC (their version of VR). Might be worth waiting to see how that compares, it should be out before the end of the year.
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Nov 26, 2012 22:45
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Legitimate Pape posted:I have a Nikon FE that's having the same problem described on Ken Rockwell's website. My FE had this issue once, I put it in manual mode and fired off 30-40 shots and it stopped doing it. If that doesn't help replace the batteries and try again. If that doesn't work then buy my FE. Also m90 is not going to be doing anything with auto exposure, it's Mechanical 1/90, there's only 1 shutter speed. e. might not be the same problem, mine would flip the mirror up and it'd sit there for a few moments before actually firing the shutter, so maybe it's a different problem?
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Nov 28, 2012 19:00
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Lord Rupert posted:I am looking to do some more film long exposures, and I don't really want to burn through a bunch of batteries shooting in the cold. I guess I am looking for suggestions for some Nikon SLR along those lines. It would be just grand if it was either the 10 pin or the 'normal' shutter release. I have a nikon FG and FE for sale in the buy/sell thread right now, both of which have a fully mechanical bulb mode and accept a standard cable release. The FE will even lock up the mirror via the timer in bulb mode with no batteries installed.
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Nov 29, 2012 05:01
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Legdiian posted:IIRC the D7000 and D5100 share the same sensor? Would I see a noticeable improvement in the autofocus department? Any difference in video modes? Does the D7000 do the same thing the D5100 does where you have to exit and re-enter live view mode when you change the aperture? I'm pretty sure if you change the aperture in live view it'll update when you actually take the picture. Even my d5000 can do that.
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Dec 3, 2012 18:01
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Legdiian posted:I think the issue is only when shooting video. Hmmm. I know the d800 can do that, but the d600 can't, so I'm betting that the d7000 can't.
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Dec 3, 2012 18:54
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So put dial in some exposure compensation, that's what the button is there for.
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Dec 9, 2012 04:18
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BonoMan posted:Even in regards to the D600 over exposing compared to all the other cameras set at the same settings as seen here: http://www.borrowlenses.com/blog/2012/12/is-the-canon-6d-under-exposing/ ? That link you linked is talking about bent aperture levers. Is your aperture lever bent? If yes: send it in for repair(or return it and buy a different one). If no: dial in exposure compensation.
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Dec 9, 2012 04:42
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Aramek posted:So, I'm poor and own a D3100 because I'm firmly and forever set in the hobbyist basket of all this, and I've never owned a flash. (Speedlight? Strobe?) So, thinking ahead, I'm planning on getting one in the Spring when my tax return comes in. Was reading the Lighting thread, but, I've got a lot more to read as I'm getting lost on some of the hardware. Does the sb-700 sync on other flashes? I know my yongnuo can use the onboard flash to trigger, so I've gotten by with setting the onboard flash to minimum power and letting the offboard flash do all the work. Otherwise you can get cheap wireless triggers like this http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-...ireless+trigger but i'm not sure you'll keep functionality like i-TTL though. e. Mustket's trigger option looks much nicer in that regard.
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Dec 12, 2012 16:19
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Well, yongnuo supremacy then. All hail our chinese flash overlords. (I love my yongnuo) http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-YN-56...eywords=yongnuo is the one I use. http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-YN-56...eywords=yongnuo will give you ttl but otherwise the specs don't seem as nice (longer recycle time, higher minimum power, things like that).
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Dec 12, 2012 16:31
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Listen guys, you're over thinking it. The field of view is simple "2*arctan(sensor dimension / (2 * focal length)). " where sensor dimension is just a length of the sensor, so say for 35mm film you could use d = 36mm. So lets look at this, an 18mm lens that can cover FX. We have 2 * arctan ( 36mm / (2*18)) = 90 degrees (how about that!) But what if we have an aps-c sized sensor. 2 * arctan (25mm / (2*18)) = 53.13010235415597870314438744090658934240842859929044 degrees So the image that you get only covers a little more than half the field of view. But what if we have a 24mm lens on the FF camera. 2 * arctan ( 36mm / (2*24)) = 73.73979529168804259371122511818682131518314280141911 degrees. So no, an 18mm lens on DX isn't quite teh same as a 24mm lens on FF. Basically, what musket said is right, it's FoV that's an changes based on sensor size, not focal length (which is a property purely based on the lens itself).
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Dec 13, 2012 23:04
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Dec 14, 2012 01:52
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Musket posted:No, let Nikon keep making lovely bridge cameras to fund FX consumer lines. If you want a fullframe compact from nikon in Fmount, get an FE and 40mm pancake or an Nikon S rangefinder. But only if that rangefinder is stamped Made in Occupied Japan, anything less is scrubtier. Just for the record I have an FE for sale if someone wants to listen to Musket. Just go check out the buy/sell thread!
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Dec 14, 2012 17:26
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I only either use k-mount lenses or G lenses on my film bodies
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Dec 14, 2012 18:05
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Musket posted:That sweet f/22. N75 supremacy (even VR works)
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Dec 14, 2012 18:09
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a foolish pianist posted:I'd recommend this 35mm lens: I'd recommend the Tamron 70-300 VC over that nikon. Similar price point but all the reviews I've seen say that the Tamron preforms better. I love my 70-300 VC. http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-70-300...amron+70-300+vc
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Dec 16, 2012 22:15
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SoundMonkey posted:The 90mm is a macro lens, but it can do anything any other 90mm lens can do - portraits, medium-telephoto, it's still pretty versatile for a fixed focal length. The tamron 70-300 that everyone's been talking about (the VC model) doesn't have a macro mode, you're thinking of the cheaper one they make (which is pretty eh although not terrible I suppose). Wouldn't consider it if you can afford the VC model though. I mean it's not a fast lens, but hell, the VC works well enough that you can handhold 1/20 shots at 300mm:  DSC_0513.jpg by MrDespair, on Flickr
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Dec 17, 2012 02:15
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FISHMANPET posted:After more expirimentation it turns out it does do Auto ISO in Auto mode even if Auto ISO is turned off. Please post examples, tia.
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Jan 15, 2013 19:49
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Goldmund posted:Is there any third party battery grip that is considered better than the others? I've always heard good things about the zeikos grips.,
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Jan 16, 2013 00:42
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Augmented Dickey posted:If you prefer your lenses a little softer, allow me to direct you to the Pentax megathread THEM BE FIGHTING WORDS
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Jan 25, 2013 02:59
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Augmented Dickey posted:drat...nine minutes? You're losing your edge, Mr. Despair. I was eating dinner 
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Jan 25, 2013 03:12
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DaJe posted:I've had my D80 for about 5 years now, and it's served me pretty well. However, I've always thought about possibly upgrading to something else some day. Lately, I had someone talking to me about cameras and such, and mentioning to me how old and outdated my D80 is. I know it's a little aged, what with mine being 5 years old and all I guess, but I don't know if it's outdated. But I did start to wonder a bit, and think on it a little. I haven't been keeping up enough with camera technology is recent times, so I don't really know exactly what's good right now. Do you use or plan to use older af-d or ai-s lenses? If the answer is no and you don't care about the other prosumer features (extra buttons and weathersealing) the d5200 is out now and should be a step above the d7000 in image quality.
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Jan 25, 2013 17:10
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Eegah posted:The 3200 isn't a whole lot different from the 3100 apart from a higher megapixel count (14.1 vs 24.2), a better live view screen and I think a bit faster burst speed (4fps vs 3fps). I've had my 3100 for two years now and it's served me perfectly well, even if I am looking for an upgrade now. Basically I think it comes down to whether or not the extra 100 quid is worth having 70% more room for cropping, which will depend on what you shoot (it is in my case as I mostly shoot dogs playing, which is drat near like bird watching when it comes down to little Chihuahuas). Stop the lens down (shoot at f/16 or f/22 or something) and use a flash (ideally not teh onboard flash, it won't really have the reach), it'll make it less frustrating.
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Jan 26, 2013 21:08
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Go find a copy of http://www.amazon.com/Understanding...anding+exposure (buy it, check it out from the library, whatever). Nikon still hosts the manual for it too, it's pretty useful to read as well. http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/archive/F3.pdf
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Jan 31, 2013 08:30
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SoundMonkey posted:You actually can, just not very precisely. Set aperture with lens mounted normally, hit DoF preview, look at roughly how big the aperture is, reverse mount it, press on the aperture tab until it looks about the same. You can do that with any lens. The 50mm 1.8D does have the aperture ring, but I don't think it has a focus motor. If you're going to reverse mount I'd say to just get a cheap manual focus 50mm off of ebay or something, having an actual ring is real handy. M42 lenses with the auto/manual switch are nice too, set the aperture to what you want, look through the viewfinder, and then flick it the lever and it'll stop down to whatever ring you have it set to. Same idea, but with less "winging it".
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Feb 2, 2013 04:05
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Meh, that's nothing.  I saved with layers embedded for that one so I could go back later. The flatted tif is only 800 megs. I'm sure an LF guy will come in here and shame this too if they want.
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Feb 5, 2013 05:40
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Hell, I use an epson 4490 even for 120 film. It's good enough for a casual shooter.
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Feb 6, 2013 20:27
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BonoMan posted:So my D600 has a masssssive amount of oil on the sensor. Doesn't show up in much stuff we've shot since I rarely go above F8, but I noticed it on a shoot the other day (luckily not for any footage we needed). Probably these would be your best bet. http://www.amazon.com/Sensor-Swab-Type-Box-12/dp/B0029WUKVG You'll want some eclipse cleaning solution probably too.
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Feb 7, 2013 17:16
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Sell the f3 and buy the d5000 I have for sale, it'll do all your fancy pants stuff. 
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Feb 8, 2013 01:14
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I replied to your pm and pointed you to my post in the buy/sell thread. And I have to say that when in full manual mode I can control everything vital (iso, aperture, shutter speed) without going into any menus. Remapping the fn button to control ISO and figuring out the aperture control shortcut comes in real handy though, it's not really intuitive out of the box. That and every camera I've held has that same "cheap plastic feel", even the higher end ones. It's just the way they coat cameras nowadays. The weight/size of the camera seems to be the bigger difference than me (with a d3xxx being smaller than a d5xxxx being smaller than a d7xxxx, etc). Dr. Despair fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Feb 8, 2013 |
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Feb 8, 2013 01:47
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Shampoo posted:Oh, you manage to keep it if you never buy a flash Mine was missing for months before I bought a flash. Stop babying your camera.
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Feb 12, 2013 03:00
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The eos-3 seems go go for around 1-200 bucks from a quick look, so for an equal price that'd probably get you an f100 or an f4s body. If he doesn't need all the bells and whistles you could find something like an N75/F75 for much cheaper and still have a quality camera.
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Feb 20, 2013 03:12
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Brosnan posted:I ran a forum search but didn't see any mention of this, but does anyone have any purchasing experience or secondhand knowledge of mellodigital.com? I'm looking to pick up my first real flash for my D7000, and their prices seem to be substantially better than anything else I'm seeing online, to the point that it seems mildly suspicious: http://www.mellodigital.com/productdetail.asp?productid=4591 5 seconds of googling tells me that they're a shady site known for bait and switch sells or railroading customers into buying accessories. If you don't want to pay 300+ buy a used SB-700 or just buy a yongnuo and shoot manual.
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Mar 9, 2013 01:25
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Birding always worked better for me with single point focus on my d5000.
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Mar 15, 2013 21:15
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Hmm, My first bet if you're looking at the micron scale would be to look at a microscope, but that's probably a bit of overkill, plus I'm not sure you'd be able to focus on something 6" away. I'd probably look into getting a set of bellows instead of extension tubes, they'll give you a lot more flexibility, other than that I'm not sure. If you start getting more resolution you're probably going to start losing DoF. But really, that 6" working distance is probably going to be the limiting factor. A canon mp-e would get you down to 100 micron pretty easily from what I've read online, and a good reversed prime lens on the bellows can probably get close too, maybe a microscope element at the end like some people in the macro thread were doing (I believe people were stacking photos like mad though, probably can't do that with an action shot!). With any of those you're probably looking at less than 6" of working distance though. Is the 6" the distance from the thing reacting to the window, or from the window to the closest you can get to the box? Also if the window is made of crappy glass/plastic that could make things harder to resolve too. Might also want to consider using an ND filter instead of stopping way down on the lens, depending on whether DoF or diffraction is giving you more issues (if you're stopping down to f/22 you're going to likely be losing some detail in exchange for getting more in focus). e. to be clear if you're reverse mount a lens onto the bellows you're probably going to want to reverse mount something wider than the 100mm, If I remember right my pentax 67 75mm/4.5 lens reverse mounted gave me about 6" of working distance but I'm not sure I got down to 100 microns of resolution either. I knew I should have photographed my calibration slide while I was at it. :| Dr. Despair fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Apr 11, 2013 |
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Apr 11, 2013 22:21
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:29 |
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Krelas posted:Would I be correct in assuming this is not worth the money to get repaired? drat, that's gnarly. Is it functional at all apart from the flash? p.s. nice pentax
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Apr 26, 2013 17:33
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