Photography questions

[zarnill]

Hi guys. I'm stuck in an airport on the way to St Martin. I get a lot of one off photo questions. So, for fun, I'm going to give you my perspectives.

Point and shoot vs DSLR. Both if you can afford them. They serve completely different functions.

Point and shoot- I recommend something that fits in your pocket. If you have a camera you don't carry you get no photos. So a larger camera with lots of features you will never use sees less action. I love the Sony tx-30. It is small and rugged as well as waterproof. It writes slower than I like meaning more delay between photos but the sensor size is good and the 18mp is good. Sony, canon, Olympus, Nikon make good point and shoot cameras.

Megapixels the ugly lies- sensor size rules over MP. The phone makers keep pushing the MP game and have fooled a generation of people into thinking they don't need a camera. Phone photos look good on the screen but horrid blown up. Those blown up Apple pics you see on billboards are run through a pixel replacement programs. An 8mp DSLR with a large sensor will outshoot a 18 mp point and shoot and crush a 20 mp phone sensor. In Nikon land there are two sensor types (all the big DSLR have equivalent). Fx which is the size of 35mm film and 1.5x larger than dx. I recommend the full size fx sensors because they match decades of lenses and future lenses. Cropped sensors are a short lived blip in the technology timeline.

DSLR- as I just mentioned I prefer you get a full sized sensor. The smaller sensors were a 1/2 way technological stop on the way back to the 35mm standard. That means all lenses are not optimized for fx if made for dx. When buying a camera you need to stop and shift focus to lenses. Do not invest in cameras. Invest in lenses. I'll spend $5k on a lens that will outlive several cameras (another reason not to buy old technology dx). Spend more on lenses and less on the camera. You will get another camera soon enough but you won't buy replacement lenses; you will have them for decades. What brand? I use Nikon. But the reality is canon and Nikon is like arguing Mercedes vs rolls Royce. Don't fall into that trap. Both are awesome. I use a D800. I have a boat load of lenses. But start with the 24-120 f4 which I use or the awesome 24-70 f2.8 which I don't own. D800 was replaced By D810. I tend to ignore photographers who argue which brand is better. They are technocrats not artists.

Family shooting - all those posed pictures are boring. Remember your family by what they do and how they do it. Candid action photos are the best. Take a photo of you kid playing Legos or doing homework. When you look back pictures of actions and activities will jog your memories. The graduations, weddings etc are important but don't lose the day to day activities of life.

Starting in DSLR land- a guy once asked me what DSLR he should get. I asked what he wanted to do. He wanted a fully automatic camera. I told him to get a point and shoot and save a ton of cash. So how do you learn all those buttons and dials? There are three ways. First you MUST get a copy of Adobe Lightroom. Not the creative cloud but your own copy you download which Adobe makes hard to find. This program downloads and organizes the photos along with editing. How it helps you learn the DSLR is that it tells you what you settings were when you look at the photo. You get feedback on every photo. Secondly, go to meetup.com and find DSLR groups. Join one hang out and learn. And lastly don't read the manual. Buy a good book specific for your camera. There are great books. Then go have fun!

Lenses for DSLR- what do those damn numbers mean? I would lookup on the Internet for a full explanation. Basically the prime lenses have a single f number like 1.4 or 1.8. The smaller the number the more light the lens allows into the camera. Zoom lenses may have one or two numbers. One number f4 for example will allow the same amount of light in the lense no matter how far you zoom. Lenses with ranges like 3.5f-5.6f -means the light is reduced the more you zoom. Lenses are a serious complex topic that deserves research but these are the basics.

Summary
Phone cameras are for emergencies
Point and shoots have to be convenient
DSLR cannot be matched for quality but you need practice
Invest in lenses not cameras

Examples of my shoots. Please note this site is specifically for models so that is the focus. Warning the site has nudity. http://www.modelmayhem.com/3271328

Enjoy!

[Suntuz]

Almost any Nikon lens will fit any Nikon SLR right? Besides the auto focus bit the mount has stayed the same?

[Gorkeyah]

Almost any Nikon lens will fit any Nikon SLR right? Besides the auto focus bit the mount has stayed the same?

Pretty much... there's some caveats on really old lens but I forget the details.

[zarnill]

Almost any Nikon lens will fit any Nikon SLR right? Besides the auto focus bit the mount has stayed the same?

Yes from the 1970s in most cases. Dx lenses work just fine on fx even but that I don't recommend. The fact that lenses from the 70s work great today is why I recommend investing in lenses not cameras