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my new toy

zCypher

zCypher

Diamond Member
I've always had somewhat of an interest in photography but never got much into it, never had a "real" camera aside from any ordinary point and shoot. After having a blast playing around with a buddy's Canon 60D and seeing some of the pictures he was able to take with it, I made the decision. Many hours of research later, I finally decided on the Nikon D5200. I got the camera + 18-55 kit for about the same price as the body goes for at most stores here, just a little more than the Panasonic GX1 + PZ 14-42 kit I picked up for the gf a little while back.

I was pleasantly surprised at the size and how it feels to hold the camera. Pretty compact and light. Love the swivel screen and the layout of the controls, didn't take long to get used to at all. I was honestly expecting a harsher learning curve, very happy with the initial experience.

Here's my first attempt at taking a shot in low light, from my place facing downtown: http://flic.kr/p/f7o65E

Another one from last night: http://flic.kr/p/f9M68c
Friend's D3100 which looks very similar: http://flic.kr/p/f8ucC5

Lens cap chilling, trying to look all cool: http://flic.kr/p/f8wXUQ

Random shot walking around town: http://flic.kr/p/f8hPpK

Been a lot of fun so far. This forum has already been a big help. 😀
 
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I'm a big fan of Nikon's 24MP APS-C sensor. I have a D3200 and the photo quality (even in low-light) is fantastic.
 
jpeyton said:
I'm a big fan of Nikon's 24MP APS-C sensor. I have a D3200 and the photo quality (even in low-light) is fantastic.
Click to expand...
Nice. I have a couple friends with, I believe the D3100 and the D5100, they both take some awesome pics. Though I started looking at Canon initially, I got drawn in by Nikon's low/mid-range offerings. Pretty impressive value.

Just tried the fast shutter thing. so much fun! :-D http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGSoz7C
 
Those photos are 5 and 20 second exposures... obviously not hand-held.
Your cell phone photo (missing) must have been hand-held.. not fair.

Learn how to get off ISO 100 so you can capture more low-light scenes hand-held ( when necessary ).
 
thanks! last night i took a stab at some fireworks pictures since that was happening in old montreal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/sets/72157634735241136/

most of them came out somewhat blurry which i expected (no tripod or good place to put down the camera), but i got a few that i was pleasantly surprised! I edited a few others to still be somewhat cool looking, but you can tell they aren't too amazing as far as quality goes.

i played with various settings a bit. was a lot of fun.

i have tried with higher ISO a little bit, and in some cases it has actually made an otherwise impossible picture possible. pretty awesome. i definitely notice more noise at the higher end which I know is to be expected. still I have to say I'm pleased with the performance given my noobness.

the moon looks awesome tonight, but I don't have a tripod to use. the best moon shot I could manage hand-held last night was : http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9338600781/ <--- bleh
 
CuriousMike said:
Those photos are 5 and 20 second exposures... obviously not hand-held.
Your cell phone photo (missing) must have been hand-held.. not fair.

Learn how to get off ISO 100 so you can capture more low-light scenes hand-held ( when necessary ).
Click to expand...

true, when you put it that way it isn't a fair comparison. sorry for the missing photo, i did some cleanup on Flickr. i guess it goes without saying that a d5200 should produce better pictures than a cell phone at night, even for the camera-challenged 😛
 
zCypher said:
the moon looks awesome tonight, but I don't have a tripod to use. the best moon shot I could manage hand-held last night was : http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9338600781/ <--- bleh
Click to expand...

Moon photos = faster shutter speed than you think; you had 1/3 second ( which was impressively sharp hand-held !)

Next time, try something much faster... 1/15 or even faster.
You won't have your tree as exposed, but you'll see more details on the moon.

This was during an eclipse, 1/25th of second ( but high iso )
DSC_1870.jpg
 
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zCypher said:
thanks! last night i took a stab at some fireworks pictures since that was happening in old montreal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/sets/72157634735241136/

most of them came out somewhat blurry which i expected (no tripod or good place to put down the camera), but i got a few that i was pleasantly surprised! I edited a few others to still be somewhat cool looking, but you can tell they aren't too amazing as far as quality goes.

i played with various settings a bit. was a lot of fun.

i have tried with higher ISO a little bit, and in some cases it has actually made an otherwise impossible picture possible. pretty awesome. i definitely notice more noise at the higher end which I know is to be expected. still I have to say I'm pleased with the performance given my noobness.

the moon looks awesome tonight, but I don't have a tripod to use. the best moon shot I could manage hand-held last night was : http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9338600781/ <--- bleh
Click to expand...

Taking the picture of the moon is like taking a picture of a light bulb. You need fast shutter speeds if you don't want to blow everything out.

EXIF and an example:

Exposure Time: 0.0166s (1/60)
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 300mm (450mm in 35mm)

_DSC1583-L.jpg
 
zCypher said:
thanks! last night i took a stab at some fireworks pictures since that was happening in old montreal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/sets/72157634735241136/

most of them came out somewhat blurry which i expected (no tripod or good place to put down the camera), but i got a few that i was pleasantly surprised! I edited a few others to still be somewhat cool looking, but you can tell they aren't too amazing as far as quality goes.

i played with various settings a bit. was a lot of fun.

i have tried with higher ISO a little bit, and in some cases it has actually made an otherwise impossible picture possible. pretty awesome. i definitely notice more noise at the higher end which I know is to be expected. still I have to say I'm pleased with the performance given my noobness.

the moon looks awesome tonight, but I don't have a tripod to use. the best moon shot I could manage hand-held last night was : http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9338600781/ <--- bleh
Click to expand...

Remember it's daytime on the moon. Force a low ISO and higher shutter speed, maybe 1/320
 
Wasn't the best night for that, but I got a bit more detail:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9349526070/in/set-72157634592778441

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9346767687/in/set-72157634592778441

I guess I was still shooting with fairly slow shutter speeds compared to what has been suggested, but I just didn't seem to be getting good results. I'll probably try with my buddy's tripod next time it's clear out.

I had more success shooting a nice looking sky a bit earlier that night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9349435282/in/set-72157634592778441
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9349364566/in/set-72157634592778441

😀

flowers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9349235114/in/set-72157634592778441
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98062368@N02/9346500961/in/set-72157634592778441
 
We got nice clear skies tonight, so I tried shooting the moon at low ISO, fast shutter speed.

Here is ISO-100 and 1/320 shutter: http://flic.kr/p/ffBykr
This is ISO-100 and 1/1600 shutter but I edited a bit more, brought out the stars a bit: http://flic.kr/p/ffBzhP

I'm actually really excited about these results considering caffeinated noob hand-held at night with a kit lens! I can't wait to try some tripod action and maybe a zoom lens.
 
I like the composition of a lot of your shots. For someone who claims to have had somewhat of an interest I'd say you're well on your way. Just keep shooting.

It's amazing how many garbage pictures I get for every one that makes me think wow.
 
VulgarDisplay said:
I like the composition of a lot of your shots. For someone who claims to have had somewhat of an interest I'd say you're well on your way. Just keep shooting.

It's amazing how many garbage pictures I get for every one that makes me think wow.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the compliment! Couldn't be more true about shooting many more crap than good pics. I think this is just something that happens, and discourages some people from going on. I've taken so very many completely worthless pics! Well I say worthless, but I'd like to think that most of them taught me at least something. 😀
 
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