Nikon User Thread

Got my camera! :) So cool.
Im trying to learn how to use this thing fully manual as im used to shooting with my 35mm film camera.
I have a few questions.
When i put my setting on 'M' and turn all the auto functions off and take a photo i get a black image. i get no image at all. I cant figure out what it is. At first i was getting an 'F E E' notice, which means i have to set the lense to the lowest f stop, so after i set that still no image. what am i doing wrong?
Second- is there a way i can soften the flash? so that it isnt so harsh? are there different flash setting?
I havent had time to read the manual yet so any help would be appriciated.
Thanks!
 
do you get an image in auto or one of the priority modes? if so, i would think that when in manual mode, either your aperture needs to open up or you need to slow down your shutter time. if that doesn't fix it, then maybe there is a problem with the camera.
 
D50 One Image no changes. Baby

D50 One Image no changes. Baby

Here is one I shot of baby. No changes made.
thanks for starting this thread.
 

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a 30 second shot from last night. i'm entering this in the "30 seconds or more" challenge on dpchallenge.com

hwblvd.jpg
 
I was in DC yesterday seeing the Yankees beat the Nationals (I don't want to talk or think about today's game...) and got tons of pictures. We were in the 400 level seats, the lower section of the upper deck and my longest lens is a 210mm. I need to get a 300-400mm if I want to continue to take any pictures at a sporting event. It was just way too far away.

That being said, I am finally happy with the stock 17-55mm lens that came with my D50. At 17mm it is really quite wide and does a great job for those stadium shots, even if it is quite slow.

Between a quick walk around DC and the ballgame =200 pictures.

My younger (24) brother's birthday party tonight = 275 pictures.

This camera is getting a ton of use.

Now, a question... Does anyone know anything about that Shutterbug or anything like that? Let's say I want to take a bunch of these images and post them for my brother or his friends to check out... There is no way I'm resizing almost 500 pictures....

Anyone have any ideas for web publishing? Thanks!

-Jeremy
 
I actually found www.snapfish.com

They are letting me upload 250 at once... but says that it will take 75minutes. Doesn't matter to me, I'm most likely never going to get prints of anything that isn't corrected, but still, nice to be able to mindlessly upload everything.

I'm going to check that site out though. Thanks!

-Jeremy
 
cheezweezl said:
a 30 second shot from last night. i'm entering this in the "30 seconds or more" challenge on dpchallenge.com

hwblvd.jpg
Click to expand...

I love it. Looks really nice, sharp, and I really like the rim that you can see in the lower right. It really conveys a sense of time and movement within the image. Great job!

I can't really point out anything significant to say where it could use some improvement other than maybe around the yellow bulb and how that reflects upon the tree... But I don't know what could be done about that... Very nice job.

-Jeremy
 
TheYankee said:
I love it. Looks really nice, sharp, and I really like the rim that you can see in the lower right. It really conveys a sense of time and movement within the image. Great job!

I can't really point out anything significant to say where it could use some improvement other than maybe around the yellow bulb and how that reflects upon the tree... But I don't know what could be done about that... Very nice job.

-Jeremy
Click to expand...

i can think about quite a few spot djustments i would make but for the 30 sec contest, you can only cc the whole pic. no burn/dodge, rubber stamp, etc. this was taken thru the car windshield and there is a spot in the lower right corner. probably bird poop. can't fix that either. i set my tripod up on the passenger seat and strapped it in with the seatbelt. then i just used the remote to snap at red lights. this one came out best.

you mentioned not wanting to resize 500 pics. do you know about actions and batch processing in photoshop? tedious tasks like that can be knocked out in a snap.

here's a cool pic of my dog, "hops"

hops.jpg
 
Cheezweezl,

The dog shot is lovely. He looks sort of sad and I love the tone of the wood.

The 30 second shot is great. I agree, the visible rim makes the shot work for me.

Chris

p.s. matwpc, nice shot of your kid. Those baby eyes are amazing.
 
I don't know anything about batch processing but tht snapfish thing ended up working great for me. I just pointed to the files and hit upload and so far I've gotten close to 1000 pics uploaded.

The weird thing is I would never get anything printed from one of these places that I didn't have a chance to adjust the levels, so these are all just straight out of the camera, but I figure that is what a couple of my friends want to see anyway (especially from my brother's birthday party). Regardless, I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

I'm going to the park again in a little while with a friend of mine to take some pictures of her for her indie CD demo that she's putting out... I'll post some of the better ones when I get back tonight

-Jeremy
 
cheezweezl said:
do you get an image in auto or one of the priority modes? if so, i would think that when in manual mode, either your aperture needs to open up or you need to slow down your shutter time. if that doesn't fix it, then maybe there is a problem with the camera.
Click to expand...
Yes i get an image on every other setting. When i turn the flash on i get an image with the 'M' Setting, so i think its something to do with my settings.
My guess is the camera is not letting enough light in.
Im so used to my old camera that i havent figured the settings yet.
Its looks something like (2ooo F5.6)
I dont know how to open up the iris to let more like in without going with a flash or long exposure.
Help me :)

Oh also, with the vingatte you guys sometimes have do you use a filter or do you apply that in photoshop? if so how?
Thanks again!
 
infokill said:
Yes i get an image on every other setting. When i turn the flash on i get an image with the 'M' Setting, so i think its something to do with my settings.
My guess is the camera is not letting enough light in.
Im so used to my old camera that i havent figured the settings yet.
Its looks something like (2ooo F5.6)
I dont know how to open up the iris to let more like in without going with a flash or long exposure.
Help me :)

Oh also, with the vingatte you guys sometimes have do you use a filter or do you apply that in photoshop? if so how?
Thanks again!
Click to expand...

at 1/2000 shutter speed at an aperture of f5.6, you would pretty much need to be in bright sunlight to get anything.

to adjust your aperture in manual mode, hold down the +/- button next to the shutter button and rotate the wheel.

in your viewfinder you have a meter. when in manual mode set your aperture wide open (lowest number) then adjust your shutter speed until the indicator on the meter rests in the center. this tells you that you will have sufficient exposure. if you end up with a low shutter speed, you may need to use a tripod or other means to stabilize the camera. using this method and a tripod, you can take great shots with no flash at all, provided what you're shooting doesn't move....

when there is ample light you can play with your aperture setting to adhust your depth of field. higher number = deeper depth. of course, closing the aperture allows less light to get in so a longer shutter speed must be used to compensate.
 
CMessineo said:
Cheezweezl,

The dog shot is lovely. He looks sort of sad and I love the tone of the wood.

The 30 second shot is great. I agree, the visible rim makes the shot work for me.

Chris

p.s. matwpc, nice shot of your kid. Those baby eyes are amazing.
Click to expand...


thanks!! he always looks sad. i think it's a golden retriever thing. i used a lot of burn on that wood to make it look more distressed. i've been using photoshop for years and never really touched burn/dodge until recently. i saw that kid joey lawrence's work on here and it made me want to learn.....
 
Well I took those pictures for the CD of that girl today... Here is the original and the corrected version. I like this, but she wants black & white.

The problem is that I used some auto settings and therefore there is some noise because I think that the camera adjusted the ISO waaaaaay too high. Still, I'm happy with the image.

This one was shot on the 18-55mm with it at 55mm, 5.6, and 200 shutter. I don't know the ISO, but I'm guessing it was pretty high.

Original
Marny%20Original.jpg


Adjusted
Marny%20Corrected.jpg


Lots of level adjustments, curves, despeckle, lots of burning, no doding, unsharp, despeckle, more burning, more burning, more burning... wait, did I mention burning? Selective color... 50% desaturated, more burning... unsharp

Comments are welcome and appreciated!

-Jeremy
 
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Here are two more from my trip to DC. This is in Alexandria, VA right outside the hotel I stayed at. I guess there is a ton of urban renewal in the area because everything is being redone.

Shot on D50, 17-55mm lens, Fstop of F19, no filter, ISO200, Shutter 1000

For correction it was really simple:
Levels, Curves, Saturation, Contrast
Select Sky -> Levels, Curves, Hue
Unsharp Mask the whole thing.

Original
Building%20Original.jpg


Corrected
Building%20Corrected.jpg


Comments and suggestions welcome and appreciated!

-Jeremy
 
OK, one more just for giggles. My brother works at the Westin, so we get really really really cheap rooms. Here is my self portrait at the Westin.

Corrections: Level, Hue, Saturation, Curves, unsharp

Original (after crop)
Self%20Portrait%20DC%20Original.jpg


Adjusted (well, still after crop)
Self%20Portrait%20DC%20Corrected.jpg


Comments, suggestions, advice (other than go on a ****ing diet) are welcome and appreciated.

-Jeremy
 
I like those buildings in DC, they really come alive for me. Around the edges of the buildings there seems to be something strange going on, though.
 
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