I need some advice! I am a new Nikon N80 owner.....

I have just purchased a N80 after spending what I think was a

lifetime trying to pick out the best camera body in my price range.

Now that I have the camera, I am not sure what I need to go with it.

I purchased the camera from Ritz with a AF 28-85 f/3.3-5.6D lenses. I

know that is not the best lenses in the world but it was only $100

and I know I need something better. I am a complete and total SLR

novice. I am taking a college class this spring in SLR photography

and photo developing, but right now I am limited to the program mode.

I would really appreicate some suggestions from nikon n80 users or

nikon users in general of some good lenses and other things i need to

create a nice system to get started in the photography world with. I

want a good lenses probably in the $200 to $300 range, i would love

to hear some good experiences people have had with this body and the

lenses you own with it! :)

Buy a 50/1.8 lens (50/1.4 if you can afford it, e.g. buy it used) and truly learn how to use the camera (how the different appertures and shutter speed affects the lightning, Depth of Field, use different perspectives, angles etc. -- you can all pick this up from any decent camera book. Or take a class.)

 

Just remember to bring the camera with at all time, think before hand what type of image/photo you want to create and why, adjust the controls accordingly and remember write down which settings you used and how that affected the results.

 

Happy snaps!

A great walk thru introduction to your new N80 is the book "Nikon N80/F80 by Artur Landt, Peter K. Burian".

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1883403774//002-1383829-4649604?v=glance

 

This whole line of camera specific books is great aid for those who find the manuals really tough to learn from. Good luck and enjoy that great new camera!

Don't bother with a different lens right now. You'll learn what you need with time..when you've outgrown the one you have. Spend the $2-300 on film and processing..much much wiser use of your funds for learning. Optically perfect glass will do you no good at all until you learn to take sharp, well composed, perfectly exposed photos. If you are just itching to buy equipment the get a good tripod and head with that $300.

 

BTW, don't restrict yourself the P mode...why would you? Go buy "Photography for Dummies" or some other beginning photography book that appeals to you. Read it cover to cover so you get a basic understanding of exposure and composition...what changing the f-stop does and what changing the shutter speed does and why when one changes the other has to change. Then, go put the camera in A mode for a few rolls playing with depth of field. The shoot some film in S mode varying the shutter speed--are you seeing the blurring of motion at slower speeds? Now you're learning photography.

 

There is no reason that $100 lens can't serve you very well for the next 3-5 years even if you work very hard at photography...you may well add a telephoto zoom in a little while for added range, but that's probably it unless you get very good and very serious.

--evan

A 50mm f/1.8 might have been a better starting lens choice for about the same money, but that is history. Your 28-85mm f/3.3-5.6 will do nicely (but it will be a bit harder to manually judge the critical focus distance).

 

Film and time working with it are what you need now. BTW: Try zooming with your feet instead of with the lens.

 

If you want to be forced to learn exposure, shoot slide film instead of negative film. With negative/print film, there are two exposures, the one you make with the camera, and the one the lab print machine makes onto the paper. This makes it difficult for beginners to judge their exposure because they lack the darkroom experience of evaluating negatives. With slide film, there is only one exposure and the film is less forgiving (less lattitude or ability to render a wide range of lighting differences).

Sure it would be nice to have a tripod-and-head combo or a new lens or an SB-80DX speedlight to add to your new N80, and none of those things would be a waste of your money, but...

 

Right now you have a lovely new camera with a nice lens, and it's a one-piece outfit you can carry around all over the place, taking pictures. Before you start adding to your equipment arsenal, just keep a few rolls of film handy at all times and keep the camera nearby so you use it often.

 

The biggest favor you can do for yourself right now is to become familiar with the operating modes of the camera, so that when your college class begins in the spring you can learn "how to take great photos" instead of learning "what button do I press to get this $#@!!*%$# camera to do what I want??"

 

Have fun, think about what you and the camera are doing, take lots of pictures, learn the tool itself for now and you'll get MUCH more out of your class.

Stick with the lens for the time being but most definitely get a tripod! You will be amazed by how much sharper images you will get - espcially in moderate to low light conditions. You will not need a very expensive pod to start with, better one that you will be likely to use than one that you will leave home most of the time (think weight). Compose freehand shoot from the pod.

you have a great camera and a real good lens, thats all you should need for now, invest in a good quality tripod, slik makes a $100 model thats will serve you well for years.

take the next hundred dollars and take a basic photo course.

leaning how the camera works will be worth more then a $300 lens.

and so you saved a hundred bucks, you can send me fifty.

have fun

doug

In addition to the previous suggestions, consider a circular polarizer.

 

Alex

Best zoom in that focal range for the money by far is the Nikkor 28-105. You might consider that or perhaps the Nikkor 85 f1.8D. I would sell the 28-85 ASAP and get one of those.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! WOW, this is my first real experiance with photo.net and everyone is so nice so again thank you. Everyone seems to agree that I need a tripod, can anyone offer me some good suggestions of which one to buy??

D'Ann, the best tripod to buy is one you can both afford and that you'll use....I don't mean that to be flippant. It is just to easy to get lazy and not use a tripod if it is cumbersome or heavy or difficult to use.

 

I don't think there's any point in spending more than $100 or so on a tripod right now...just something to help steady the camera a little bit and to slow you down to make you think about composition, exposure, etc. Just like the lens issue, you'll know when you're ready for something bigger, better, heavier, or when you need a fancy $400 ball head and such. I'm sure some people will give you some specific names and numbers for different pod & head combos, check them out, but don't get hung up on equipment issues this early in the game. Learn about light, learn about film, learn about exposure and composition, and try to learn a little about equipment as you go...this stuff all takes time and having the best of everything will do you know good at all if none of the basics are in place.

--evan

I still say just play with the new toys you've got for a while, but if you want to add a tripod right away...

 

Look at Bogen (also known as Manfrotto in some markets around the world). It's a fine compromise between price and function. Various models are available with the main criterion for you being how high the tripod goes without having to extend the center column (because the most stable arrangement is the three legs, and a raised center column detracts somewhat from the stability).

 

You'll need some sort of head on top of the tripod... there are pan-and-tilt types (the sort of critter found on camcorder tripods for example) and ballheads.

 

Some heads have what is known as a quick release... one piece screws onto the bottom of your N80 and lives there... it snicks quickly into a shaped recess in the head. Other heads just have a screw mount to which you attach the camera (takes a little longer to do but not a big deal).

 

What you want is a combo of tripod and head that, with your camera attached, will extend enough so that you can look through the viewfinder without stooping over and giving yourself a crick in the small of your back after a lovely day taking pictures of the canyon or hillside or glacier or Galapagos tortoise or whatever. Ideally its three legs will extend to the correct height without your having to extend the center column.

 

Bogen is not the only brand in the world... there are many from which to choose. But my own experience and that of many other photographers is: avoid the temptation to get by with a flimsy $50 or $75 setup, because it will prove unsatisfying and you'll wind up stuffing it in a closet and spending $150 or more anyway on a setup you really appreciate.

 

I think my Bogen 3021 legs and 3262 ballhead cost about $150 or so when I bought them a few years ago. The legs are just great. The ballhead is adequate but there are newer designs that probably work more smoothly so shop around a bit.

 

You could spend $800 for fancy and lightweight carbon fiber legs and an Arca Swiss ballhead or Wimberly gimbal doohickey, but that wouldn't be fair. No one is supposed to get stuff that good for their FIRST tripod.

 

Have fun,

Thanks everyone for your input, it has been very helpful. I just got my first roll of film developed and I am very impressed! The pictures turned out wonderful especially since I have no real experiance with this sort of thing. I took some of the picure in the P mode and some in the Aperture priority and Shutter priority modes and a few in manual and I took the time to learn briefly what aperture and shutter speed control when it comes to light so i could determine some of the settings myself. The camera's flash metering with the little pop-up flash is awesome also, i thought that i had taken some of my pictures to close to my families faces and that their faces would be blasted white like with my old point and shoot but they were not. They were completely perfect as far as light on the face. I can't wait to learn how to use this camera in all its glory (and all its features!). Right now i am trying to learn what bracketing is and how it works and what it does. :)

By the way, I thought you might want to see an example of one of my first pictures so I am attaching one to this message. The actual picture I took is very clear but I have a pretty crappy scanner so the picture on here does not look quite as good.<div></div>

Beware of bracketing - it easily turns into a bad habit known as "BLH" (Bracket Like Hell). There are situations where it is very useful but you will learn a lot more by making a few mistakes and gain experience on how to use the cameras metering options to your advantage instead.

Not trying to crack wise, but the best advice I could give is to read and re-read the manual. I owned a few Nikon bodies before the N80, and it took a while to get use to some of the custom functions (make sure you carry your secret decoder ring as well.) The modes are pretty consistent with newer bodies.

 

As far as accessories, you may want to get an MB-16 so that you can spend more on film than batteries. The 50mm/1.8 is probably the best deal on a lens - IMHO.

Good luck.