Saturday, January 12, 2008

Camera Talk

Stacy at The Land of K.A. has put out a call for some camera talk. She has a list of questions to get us started:
  1. DSLR or point and shoot? Brand and model.
  2. Love it? Hate it? Not sure yet?
  3. Why did you choose this brand?
  4. If you have a DSLR, what lenses do you have or want to have.
  5. Add a link to your favorite image(s) you took with your camera so others can see what it is capable of creating.
  6. Anything else you think is important for someone buying a new camera to know.

1. DSLR Nikon D40x, I also use a Canon PowerShot S400 P&S sometimes, that's my "old" camera.

2. LOVE IT!!! I couldn't love a camera more. Absolutely, totally in LOVE.

3. I chose Nikon pretty much because my Dad uses Nikon (D70 and D80) and I can borrow all his stuff. I read a lot of reviews before I bought and it seems like both Nikon and Canon have their camps, but that they are pretty comparable, especially for my level of photography.

4. I have the kit lens (AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II ED) and a zoom lens (AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm 1:4-5.6G ED) I would love to have a fixed focus lens with a low f-stop.

I have actually been using the kit (18-55) lens a lot lately. Now that we are indoors all the time I can stay close to my subjects and still get a lot in the frame. I used to have the zoom lens (55-200) on all the time and love how I can zoom in really close to something. It also gives a really nice bokeh (the fuzzy part in the background).

5. Some of my favorite images:

Taken with the 55-200, zoomed in close and a really nice bokeh:


And with the kit (18-55):



I am no expert, by any stretch, I mostly don't know what I'm doing. But I point and I shoot and I am amazed at what comes out. I generally let the camera make all the technical decisions, but I have enough of a basic understanding to get by. My photos are sharp, the color is rich and I just love the images I get.

6. If you are looking to buy a DSLR: Do it! I would recommend mine in a minute. Just let the camera do the work to start and then you'll figure out what need to be tweaked.

2 comments:

Stacy said...

Thanks for participating! You have nice images with your camera. I found this on the D40 lenses:

"AF-S lenses = everything works.

AF lenses = meter works, but you have to focus manualy.

Anything older = meter doesn't work but you can still mount and use them.

The problem with AF-S lenses is that there are NOT many primes in that style, yet. If you want a 50mm, it will be the AF version and you'll need to focus manualy. Or..you get a nice short zoom in the AF-S style and use it at the 50mm range."

jamestownboys said...

It's fun to see others having as much fun with their cameras too :).
Fun post!