New DSLR...need advice

[Fordman9870]

Easy way to start to learn manual, turn dial to auto and get ready to take picture, press shutter button down half way to lock settings. Take note of settings. turn dial to manual put settings back in and adjust to your liking up or down stops, iso, etc. Dont be scared to test. you always have a delete button

 

[HYBRED]

Easy way to start to learn manual, turn dial to auto and get ready to take picture, press shutter button down half way to lock settings. Take note of settings. turn dial to manual put settings back in and adjust to your liking up or down stops, iso, etc. Dont be scared to test. you always have a delete button

Good advice right here. I still do this sometimes on still shots.

 

[James Snover]

This. With digital, and shooting action, just hold the shutter button down and get it all. There will be a good one in there. Often more than one.

Jim Snover

That was the first thing I liked when digital cameras came out. No film and developing costs.

You can just experiment to your hearts desire. Just try everything until you discover the settings that you like.

Agreed. The Priest at the Catholic School my daughter use to attend asked me one time.

"Why do you shoot so many pictures?"

I told him, "Because I can shoot almost 1,000 pictures on this digital card before it is out of space and I know there is going to be at least one good picture!"

He laughed and said OK.

Thats the neat thing about digital you can keep snapping and make small adjustments or moves and then pick the best when you review them.


OP - Auto mode to start and then start playing with the settings. AND RTM....READ THE MANUAL!

 

[harry gilbert]

And I have seen people fill the card with incorrectly focused and exposed shots. No, my advice is to learn the basics of photography and how to use your camera's controls.

 

[Predatorbird]

Instead of using the Manual setting, start out using either Aperture priority or Shutter priority. Using Aperture priority, you select the aperture and the camera selects the shutter speed based on the light and ISO setting. Use a small aperture (large number) to get more in focus, and a wide aperture (small number) to get narrow depth of field, like when you want to blur out the background and emphasize the subject (car, pretty girl).

Use Shutter priority when you want to freeze action. For example, at the drag strip or races, birds in flight. Choose a fast shutter speed (1/500 or more).

The rule of thumb when handholding a camera (no tripod) is don't let the shutter speed drop below 1/3rd the focal length of the lens. If you have the lens zoomed out to 100mm, the slowest shutter speed is around 1/30th second.

The cleanest image (least "noise") is by using ISO of 100 or 200. You increase the ISO when light is low, or you are using either small aperture or high shutter speed. 400 is a good general purpose setting. Your camera should give decent images up to about ISO of 1600; past that and you will start to see visible graininess and speckling (noise) in the shadow areas.

When in doubt, take lots of pictures at different settings.

Auto setting is also good to start out with, but it's limitation is that it is unaware of your subject. There are other options on the dial (portrait, landscape, etc.) that are like Auto but tell the camera the shooting situation.

These are the only two setting I use. I'm not a pro so I don't want to mess around with the settings in full manual. I figure out what I want out of the shot and I let the camera do the rest. If I'm shooting still shots, I use Aperture Proiority since I'm mostly concerned with DOF. If I want to shoot at the drag strip, I'll use Shutter Priority so I can get the right amount of background blur. You still have to set the ISO and WB, but that's easy to figure out.

 

[harry gilbert]

Once you get the camera under control, start working on mastering post processing. Don't discard your early photos, post processing can "save" a marginal photo, and make a good one look spectacular.

 

[BLK93GT]

A lot of great info! I still have not pulled the trigger one a camera yet, my budget is pretty low so I am not sure what I am going to get yet.

 

[Boomer v3.8]

I bought a N3100 when they first came out.
Love it.

Starting to find a couple little 'wish it had this' options..but its an entry level DSLR.
There were also some glitches in the shipping firmware. Check to make sure your firmware A/B is at 1.01. If not, look on Nikons website to see how to upgrade it.

The one thing I found is the 3100 will more than take great pictures, but lens quality is a must!

 

[DRTHV8R]

Nikon has Apps in the app store.. look them up