TE DSLR Owner's Thread

V

vb86

Adept
Hi,

As some of you might know, I bought my first DSLR last week. I decided to open this thread to discuss the hardware, software and guides that all of us here use. Initially, I thought of opening a separate thread under the "Applications" section to discuss the software, but this would be easier.

My gear for now:

Nikon D90

18-105mm VR lens (included in kit)

Parco bag (freebie but decent)

Parco tripod (freebie, again decent)

Toshiba 8gb Class 4 SD Card (freebie)

Free screen protectors, Nikon towel and an Adidas t-shirt were also given which aren't relevant to this thread. Just mentioning it to inform you guys of the deal I got.

Also bought:

Hoya UV filter

A triangle bag to use when I just carry the camera with one lens.

Thinking of buying/getting:

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby (Volume One for now)

Nikon D90 - Magic Lantern Guide

kelbytraining.com - The Nikon D90

Recommendations needed:

Guides

Tutorials

Magazines

Software for managing editing and processing

PS: Please do mention your gear in your first post.

Thanks.
 
Here's my Gear...

Bodies : Nikon D90 and Nikon D70s

Lenses : Nikkor 18-200mm F3.5/5.6 VR, Nikkor 18-70mm F3.5/5.6 (Kit Lens with D70s), Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 prime, Tamron 70-300mm F3.5/6.3

Memory : Kingston 4GB CF + Kingston 1GB CF (for D70s) and Sandisk 4GB SD C2 for D90

Other Accessories:

Vivitar V3000 tripod + Moonwalk tripod

UV filters for all lenses.

Haven't bought any books specifically for photography as such, although I occasionally buy Better Photography, as I like their cover articles and expert's suggestions section.

I mainly use Aperture (OS X) for my RAW management work-flow. Although I'm thinking of switching to JPEG for general photography... but the idea of having original RAW with me is making think twice.

Currently I'm frustrated with Nikon's software team, as they haven't released NEF codec for 64-bit Vista/Win7... and none of the third party RAW-capable image viewers were satisfactory. Each of them have nasty habit of auto-adjusting exposure while viewing. Thinking of buying FastPictureViewer, as it seem to be best so far to view RAW files on my desktop.

If you're still on XP, Microsoft's own RAW image viewer is actually very good. It does what it's supposed to do, without being oversmart with your images.

Apart from all these, thinking of buying a decent budget bag specifically for my camera and lenses. Currently I'm using the stock V-bags in my Samsonite laptop backpack while traveling. It's good, but not good enough for rough traveling.
 
Ok, I'm a little confused over which software to use. A copy of Nikon ViewNX was included in the package. Do I need to install it?

Nikon also has their own software which can be purchased like Capture NX 2 and Camera Control Pro (1 and 2). Are they really required?

What about Photoshop and Lightroom?

I have no experience with RAW formats and also need a good cataloging software.
 
Lightroom is perfect for majority of Photography cataloging requirements... Photoshop, only if you want to edit your photographs beyond usual adjustments.

There are some other apps like ACDsee photo pro, but I've no idea about how good those are compared to Lightroom.

Frankly speaking, the only advantage of RAW is that it's read-only nature. You can adjust RAW file, but you need to save it as some other format. You can make multiple versions of same photograph with different look and feel, but your original file will remain as it is, as you can't save the RAW file itself.

Of-course, like everything else, RAW also has it's downsides. It's heavy for processing, too large file size compared to JPEG, require special programs to read it... in short, it's inconvenient unless you're the kind who carefully tweak each shot. JPEG brings convenience, speed and ease of use to your workflow, while RAW gives you non-destructive work-flow (original master file which you can't save on itself, even accidentally), which is kind of best option for archiving purposes, RAW also gives some finer controls over Noise Reduction as compared to JPEG editing.

So, you need to decide which workflow suits you best. I'm a trigger happy photographer, so I shoot lot and lot of shots... for which JPEG is kind of best suited work-flow, but I prefer shooting in RAW. At the end of it, I select my shots carefully from the loads of photographs, and then I prefer spending time on each of the selected shots, carefully tweaking them and getting into nitty-gritty. Though, I've now decided to adopt JPEG for casual shootings as processing RAW files for general or casual shooting is too time consuming and even unnecessary overhead on storage space.
 
@vb86

could u plz mention the price at which u bought ur D90 and where did u get it frm...i am planning to buy one for me during the xmas time...could u suggest some place where i can get D90 for cheap...bill or no bill dosen't matters but d box should b sealed...thnx
 
Heres what I have:

2x Canon EOS450D

3X Batteries

EF-S 18-55 IS, EF-S 55-250 IS, EF 50mm f/1.8

All lens have a Hoya UV filter and also have a Hoya Purple 58mm CPL.

Thinking/Gonna :)P) buy:

EF 24-70 f/2.8 L

Canon 7D/5D Mark 2

Speedlite 430EX II
 
akhilesh1407 said:
@vb86

could u plz mention the price at which u bought ur D90 and where did u get it frm...i am planning to buy one for me during the xmas time...could u suggest some place where i can get D90 for cheap...bill or no bill dosen't matters but d box should b sealed...thnx
Click to expand...

The D90 including the freebies mentioned above cost me HK$ 8980 from a proper store - Broadway, in Honk Kong.

You can but it from the grey market in India. The MRP is 84-85k but they kit in the grey market should be for approx 62k. In Delhi, there is a camera market in Chandni Chowk which I've heard about. You could try Pallika Bazaar also. However, only some grey market dealers are able to provide a sealed box.

It is an awesome camera. If you have any other questions in mind, I'm sure you'll find plenty of people to help you out here at TE.
 
i have

Canon 1000D with 18-55mm Kit lens + EF-S 55-250 IS+EF 50mm f/1.8

Understanding Exposure by bryan peterson is highly recomemnded on internet

i like chris orwig(lynda.com) Photoshop CS4- Portrait Retouching Essential Training video
 
Hardware:

Canon EOS 40D

Canon 50 f1.8 / Tamron 17-50 f2.8

Hoya UV Filters

Sandisk 2GB CF Card

Software:

Adobe Photoshop CS3 (OSX)

Adobe Camera RAW

I'm looking at the Canon 100 f2.8 Macro and a 70-200 f4L IS somewhere down the line..
 
^^hey am consider that Tammy, how good is it over the kit lens??
is it better to have canon 1000d with canon 17-55 2.8F or
40D/50D with the Tammy?
 
Canon EOS 1000D with 18-55mm IS lens.

Planning to get a Tamron macro sooner and perhaps a telescopic lens in future.

Man these lenses are expensive :(

Cu,
 
salluks said:
^^hey am consider that Tammy, how good is it over the kit lens??
is it better to have canon 1000d with canon 17-55 2.8F or
40D/50D with the Tammy?
Click to expand...
Miles ahead of the kit. The kit lens is basically unusable after its dark. The Tamron is great with low light. Ridiculously sharp as well.

The 17-55 is definitely a better lens though. I would still probably go with the 50D + Tamron because the Tamron is not that far behind the Canon and the 50D is an awesome body.
 
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