graham_marsden

I'm a bit with Anthony on this one. I suppose it's 'horses for courses'. There is so much I need to learn about my D80 yet, and I would have preferred to see portraits or landscapes compared, both with perhaps the Nikkor 50mm <i>f</i>1.8 on board.

Hi Malcom. The Setting marked in green on settings wheel (top left of camera) and saying Auto, does in fact 'grey out' the 'optimise image' setting in the Shooting Menu.

 

For a start, twist it to P and all will be well and your 'optimise image' setting will be available. I suggest P while you get used to the camera. It allows you to change aperture/shutter speed while maintaining a correct exposure. Then you can move on to more complicated settings.

 

good luck !

For my photography I can't see any advantage to shooting JPEGs at less than maximum size.

 

Most of my stuff is reduced in my PC to 1024 for monitor use, and for my blog. But I might get lucky and capture a great shot which I want to print A3.

 

Then I would be sorry if I'd set my camera for smaller JPEGs....

Thanks very much Michael. Found it, done it, and uploaded it.

.

Sorry to be stooopid folks. <IMG

SRC="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif"> How do I

add more information to my 'user profile'? I've searched everywhere without

success.

Hi Thangavelu. Just an addition to the excellent advice above. Don't forget that with your D200, as with the D80, you can adjust sharpness levels in your camera settings.

 

But with all the above - <i> be careful not to over do it </i>. The results of over-sharpening look very unnatural.

That is obviously right Frank. I had misunderstood the question. Camera Control Pro (<i>referred to in Jeff's reply</i>) is mentioned in the D80 manual which Gunpreet will obviously have. I googled for the programme and the suggested $80 seems about normal.

I don't think I'm fully understanding the problem. <a href="http://picasa.google.co.uk/#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-emea-uk-google&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=picassa"> Picasa 2</a> is completely free and will download the contacts of your camera onto your PC or Laptop, either by SDcard or the USB lead. When the pictures are 'on screen' remember <b> not to click</b> the 'clear the pictures from your card' option. You can then either unplug the lead or put the card back in your camera and the pictures will still be there, safe and sound.

Just a big thank you really. The fact that I haven't posted much doesn't mean

I'm not here.

 

I'm a little disabled and my photography means so much to me - and since I

discovered you all I don't have any more boring periods in my day. I can

browse and browse and.......then browse some more, until my wife 'tells me off'.

 

I have your Nikon forum widget on my <i>i</i>google home page and my eyes are

drawn to it first.

 

Thanks again !

Did you look in the original D80 box? Mine came supplied with the MC-DC1 cable remote.

 

Re your question:- Yes, it is better to use a remote because however sturdy your tripod, fingers on shutter-buttons always cause some shake.

 

If you consider the ML-L3 infra-red release (not supplied) remember that you need to be in front of the camera to operate it.

I too have a Tamron, a 70-300mm which I bought for 99 pounds sterling when I bought my D80 kit. It always has difficulty focussing and even on manual is still soft. My opinion is <i>"What do I expect with such a cheap lens?".</I> It performs better at 270mm than when fully extended but still not good.

 

Whereas the Nikkor 18-70mm which was bundled with the camera is outstandingly good

Whatever else SD cards are, they are pretty rugged. Intending to work on the pictures I inadvertently left one from my granddaughters compact in my top shirt pocket. It went through the entire washing-machine cycle and tumble-dry. When I retrieved it I apprehensively put it in my PC and, lo and behold, there were all the files apparently unscathed. Phew !!

Hi Grant. I agree with the others but, why with a portrait do you want to use autofocus? People in portraits don't generally move around a lot and manual focus gives you much more precise control of what is going to be sharp and what isn't.

 

As has been pointed out, if one section is out of focus, amid an otherwise sharp area, it sounds like a lens issue or things just needing a good clean.

Thanks folks ! I understand it now.

I am v. pleased with my D80. But I have a small niggle.

 

If I use a 1GB SDcard, with the camera set to JPEG fine, it always shows that I

can take 134 shots. This morning I wanted to take several flower pictures for

a 'collage' so when the counter reached 121 I decided to see what my 13 pictures

looked like.

 

Amazingly, I had taken 28 shots. It does this all the time. Is it the camera

that can't count, or is it me?

.

Hi Ryan, I can only speak for my D80 and I'm not a techie'. I find that if I switch to manual I can click even when not in focus. But more importantly, when doing close-ups I can get a few centimetres closer in manual than auto-focus can deal with. Also, with a wide aperture, you can precisely decide what is in/out of focus.

In the old 35mm film days a 90mm lens was the favourite for portraits. With the conversion you need to do, i.e. one and a half times the lens and the 50mm is closer to ideal than the 85mm. As others have advised if you really are a beginner I would use the 50mm which you have, and only spend money when you are absolutely sure. The 50mm 1.8f lens is a super lens and widely praised.

 

I have done many portraits with mine and have had not one complaint yet from a subject. Make sure you get things right re lighting - natural 'north' light is ideal (your subject isn't going to move around much so a fast shutter speed isn't essential. Use a wide enough aperture because you don't want unintentional blurry bits. And with you DSLR set it on 'soft' to flatter your subject a bit.

 

Happy snapping !

I'm only 6 months into my Nikon D80 and I've just made a discovery. While

doing close-ups of flowers I can get maybe 2 centimetres closer if I switch to

manual focus. Is this due to the camera's autofocus design? Or is it normal

across the range?

You will soon get to prefer the viewfinder approach. The instant playback of each picture means you can recompose etc., at once anyway.

 

Being a bit disabled though, I would like a live LCD facility for low-level shots, or when I want to hold the camera higher than I am. Not sufficient reason for changing to Olympus (where you can have a live LCD) in my opinion.

Thanks Darren. You are right about batches in Picasa and I was wrong. Great programme though, in my opinion.

Matt Laur is on the right track. For a freebie, Google's Picassa2 is excellent. It will open your NEF files quickly and the quickest way to produce a JPEG is, when you have the picture open, go to top left corner and click 'file' then click 'save a copy' in the drop down menu. This immediately produces a JPEG. I don't think you can do a batch though. But the programme is so quick it won't take long to do your wedding shots.

Just to add to the excellent advices above. Contrary to what you would expect in low light, use the lowest ISO setting you have, you will after all be using a tripod. The reason is that with higher ISO settings you can get noticeable 'grain' in the sky area.

On my D80 I find that, in order to use 'P', it is sometimes necessary to half depress the shutter button and then twirl the main command wheel (the rear one). You don't need to maintain the half-pressure, it justs seems to activate the facility. Don't give up on 'P' because when you get into it it is brilliant; particularly for changing f-stop quickly!! Happy snapping !

Hi Margaret. Lots of sound advice in the letters above. If you really are as you say 'very new to photography' I should wait a while before upgrading. There is always such a lot to learn and when you actually NEED to upgrade you won't need to ask the question. regards G

6 months ago I also was a newcomer to DSLRs and am pleased I decided on the D80. It is a great camera and the so-called exposure problems are insignificant. If you can obtain it bundled with the 18-70mm lens I would recommend that because it is a super lens. Happy snapping !