Baby girl coming in June - best way to capture her life?

[ilyapitin]

<p>Hello all,<br>

My wife and I are expecting our first child, a baby girl, in June. :)<br>

I want to be able to capture her life on film (well, an SD card). I currently have:<br>

Nikon D300, Sigma 30 1.4, Sigma 10-20, Nikkor 105 2.5 AIs (manual focus, almost useless for moving objects because my MF skills are not great), Nikkor 50 1.8, and a Panasonic Lumix LX-5 (pocket camera). For some reason I always dreamed that I would purchase a Nikon 85 1.4 when I have my first child, because it would be a great focal length for "every day" moments. What do you think? Is my current set-up good enough, or do I need to change some things?<br>

Thank you,<br>

Ilya</p>

[dan_brown4]

<p>You current set-up is more than "good enough".</p>

[phule]

<p>Indeed, you are lacking nothing. I spent the first 6 months of my first child's life using nothing more than a 50mm f/1.8 and a carry-everywhere point and shoot. YMMV, of course.</p>

<p>Congratulations! </p>

[jose_angel]

<p>As you say, maybe you lack a short AF tele lens. <br>

I`d prefer an AF micro lens to the 85 portrait, the minimum focus distance is a limitation to me. <br>

Other than this, your setup is fine.</p>

 

[JDMvW]

<p>I simply found that my wife's instinct to just get a point and shoot camera was the right one.</p>

<p><strong>The kid is the thing</strong>, not the blasted camera, swapping lenses, worrying about settings, etc.</p>

<p>Spend time with the kid, always carry a decent p&s, and grab pictures as you go. Just toss the camera in the diaper bag, but of course, not with the used diapers. I would have regretted seeing the early years of my daughter's life through a camera lens. The documentation is far less important than the events.</p>

<p> </p>

[purplealien]

<p>My recommendation is take one head shot each birthday in the same pose/lighting/background etc then by the time she leaves home you will have a slideshow of her face changing as she turns from baby to woman!</p>

<p>Chris </p>

[CvhKaar]

<p>First , congrats with your newborn on the way !!<br>

I'd say you maybe could use some kind of tripod, and a remote so you can also take pic's with yourself , your wife , and your newborn all in one frame now and then...</p>

[jean_yves_mead]

Make sure you have a phone with a reasonably good camera. Chances are that's what you'll have to use

to take her first photos.

[vrankin]

<p>Yes, congratulations and blessings... your life is about to change in now unimaginable ways. We just experienced the birth of our first grandchild last November, and she is almost constantly being photographed. Your Sigma 30 and especially your Nikkor 50 prime will be wonderful in that low light around feeding and nap times, using your D300 at ISO 800 and above. The image quality of your LX5 will fall far behind at the higher ISOs. Again, Congratulations!</p>

[photo5]

<p>Congrats on the baby. The D300 is a superb camera that has yet to be replaced with a better one by Nikon (I don't consider the D300s to be a replacement, it is just the same camera with video and an SD card slot of questionable value added). Just take at least one photo of her a day.</p>

[joseph_smith3]

<p>You have plenty of stuff. If you need more, my "grand daughter" lens I bought for my D 300 has served me well these 22 months--Nikon 35mm f 1.8 AFS G lens. Sharp, fast, fast AF, light and a small profile. It is great for people shots. The AF works much better than the AF on my 50mm f 1.8 AF, especially indoors. My next used lens for her is one of my "nature" zoom lenses--70-200mm f 2.8 VR AFS. But I already had this. Joe Smith</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Oh, and you'll need to save money anyhow so you can get the minivan. ;)</p>

<p>The statement that your life is about to change is really an understatement. And, congratulations for sure. My little baby is about to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j6avX7ebkM">spread her wings</a>, but the end is, I think, <em>I hope</em>, in sight. I wouldn't have missed it all for anything.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>Wow, JDM, thanks for the link. Awesome. I <em>want</em> that recording.</p>

<p>(BTW, together with the 50 and 105VR, another thing I find useful is a flash, and maybe a cord to shot it off hot-shoe (depending on the head or tastes, with CLS it`s not needed). Some rooms in my house are north oriented& yellow painted& ugly lightning, I like to use an SB when I have to shoot there).</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>A more traditional treatment of <em>Summertime</em>, and one that is available more widely, I think, is Fitzgerald and Armstrong (

).<br>

One of my all time favorite songs in whatever version.</p>

[cc_chang2]

<p>I don't think you need a 85/1.4, not yet, as least. For a DX camera, you will find a 50 or 35mm fast lenses very useful because for the first 6-8 mon she will be mostly indoors and you do not get to use a long lens very much due to the long working distance. Get a nice flash. I also agree with others for the value of a P&S. LX5 should be great, and I have a S95. You need something that you can carry with you all the time b/c in so many ways, they will do something that you wish to capture. When we go out, while I carry either the D90 or GH1, my wife will take the S95.</p>

[bill a.]

<p>Something that fits in the diaper bag, and you can shoot one-handed.<br>

Seriously.</p>

 

[kris-bochenek]

<p>Congrats on your new baby. Our little girl will be year old in June. You have more then enough gear to be able to capture great moments. Just be there at the right time. I have taken over a thousand of pictures of our daughter, they grow so fast.<br>

Your 30 1.4 will be perfect for most of the shots.</p>

[Karim Ghantous]

<p>Babies are just writhing blobs. Wait until the child grows a personality. Then maybe take some photos.</p>

[tri-x1]

<p>The point and shoot camera becomes useless as soon as a child can walk because of shutter lag. You push the release and before the shutter trips the kid is three rooms away.<br>

The 85mm would not be big on my list because inside, unless the subject is posing, you have a very limited area of coverage. I have found a medium WA to be of more use shooting kids indoors--plus a few years down the road you will wish you'll wish you could see more of the background.</p>

[ilyapitin]

<p>THANK YOU ALL!<br>

Looks like I'm sticking with what I already have. :)</p>

[moi1]

<p>I have the 24-120 F/4 to take pix of my 3 months old son and love it.... </p><div></div>

[john_roberts17]

<p>Think your 30mm 1.4 will do a good job. I have a 2 year old and have my nikon 35mm f/2 on the camera most of the time.<br>

One nice thing to do, when a year is up make one of those photo books and pick the best photos from the year. Makes a nice way to look back rather than keep all the images hidden away on a hard drive.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>All I've <em>needed</em> to <a href="../photodb/folder?folder_id=908598">photograph babies</a> for the past several years have been a good midrange zoom and a flash. For my DX format D2H I've mostly used either the modest 18-70/3.5-4.5 DX Nikkor or 35-70/2.8D AF Nikkor. And the SB-800 has been a major asset.</p>

<p>Before getting a dSLR my usual kit for photographing babies was a 35mm SLR and good midrange zoom, often the very good 28-90mm Vivitar Series 1 varifocal with decent closeup performance. It was wide enough, long enough, fast enough and sharp enough for every situation. And I was comfortable enough with manual focusing that I didn't miss any crucial photos. My flash then was a much less sophisticated non-TTL model, almost always with some sort of diffuser or bounce doodad. But I wouldn't want to go back to manual everything now - I'm not that quick anymore. Autofocus and TTL flash are amazing tools - I wouldn't give 'em up.</p>

<p>Occasionally I've found other lenses handy but not essential. I'd often tuck into my bag a 50/1.8D AF Nikkor for dim available light or 85/2 AI-S Nikkor for better isolating the baby from cluttered surroundings, and a closeup diopter for tighter framing with those primes. I seldom actually needed any of that stuff.</p>

<p>Incidentally, a common question from new-parents-to-be is whether camera flash is safe with newborns. <a href="../casual-conversations-forum/00XMu4">Here's a fairly recent discussion about that, with several references</a>.</p>

[robert_k1]

<p>Congrats.</p>

<p>Anne Geddes' dressed up babies are way over the top for my taste. I much prefer this photographer's. Perhaps being the baby's mom helped.</p>

<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoQVa86EvPA</p>