The plunge has been taken...

[_dobbo_]

I have purchased a D70.

I tell myself it's ok, and although I could have got a 300D with a bag, tripod and 2GB memory card for the same money, I know I am better off with the Nikon.... Aren't I???


YES I AM. I AM. REALLY I AM. YES. Too late anyway...

I managed to get Jessops to price match £711 for the 18-70 DX lens package... not bad I think.

Anyway, if everyone could refrain from posting how much less they paid now, and for forever, that would be great!

Now I just have to learn how SLR cameras work... Wish me luck!

THe battery is charging. I have had a few pints so am having to resist touching all the other bits in the box till the morning... must resist...


Tomorrow I am either:

a) going to take the best photo in history and post it up here...

b) be lucky to get a single picture I like...

I'm off to bed now with option "a" in my head. I am the next david bailey... Good night and sweet dreams to you all!

[parrot of doom]

Remember, its not the paint brush that paints the picture.....

Don't go all snap-happy. Take your time, think about shots, double check your framing, and have fun

[LongQ]

parrot of doom said:

Remember, its not the paint brush that paints the picture..... Don't go all snap-happy. Take your time, think about shots, double check your framing, and have fun

Hang on POD - this is digital we are talking of.

Whilst I agree with the principles you espouse (vital for 35mm etc., imho) it is much more interesting to be able to get virtually instant feedback on ones efforts at zero cost. A much faster learning experience if approached the right way.

And then a load of time with your favourite picture editor(s).

Take a load of stuff which looks vaguely interesting. Have a look at it on the PC. Work out what you like and looks 'right' to you. Work out why that looked right and the others looked wrong.
Use that knowledge next time.

With stuff that is technically ok but not very artistic - play around with cropping the images and see what you can make that looks 'better'. Then consider how you might have approached the shot to make the original image better in camera. That may save time in post-processing later but also may improve quality.

For example if you can make a good picture from a subject that only half fills a frame you have potential for a better technical print result if the subject you want completely fills the frame.

Summary - take loads of stuff but only of you are prepared to analys and learn from the results.

If not that method - then follow POD's advice and think and plan carefully first.

After a while, do both!

[parrot of doom]

LongQ said:

parrot of doom said: Remember, its not the paint brush that paints the picture..... Don't go all snap-happy. Take your time, think about shots, double check your framing, and have fun Whilst I agree with the principles you espouse (vital for 35mm etc., imho) it is much more interesting to be able to get virtually instant feedback on ones efforts at zero cost. A much faster learning experience if approached the right way.

I disagree. How can you learn about photography, if you just run around snap snap snapping?

My point is, if you find yourself with what looks like a nice photo opportunity then take your time and think about what you're doing. If you then get back home and view the results, you can see what mistakes you made, and not make them again. Running around taking loads of pictures, and you won't remember what you were doing from one moment to the next!

[_dobbo_]

parrot of doom said:

LongQ said: parrot of doom said: Remember, its not the paint brush that paints the picture..... Don't go all snap-happy. Take your time, think about shots, double check your framing, and have fun Whilst I agree with the principles you espouse (vital for 35mm etc., imho) it is much more interesting to be able to get virtually instant feedback on ones efforts at zero cost. A much faster learning experience if approached the right way. I disagree. How can you learn about photography, if you just run around snap snap snapping? My point is, if you find yourself with what looks like a nice photo opportunity then take your time and think about what you're doing. If you then get back home and view the results, you can see what mistakes you made, and not make them again. Running around taking loads of pictures, and you won't remember what you were doing from one moment to the next!

Well after a day of playing and having taken about 250 photos of nothing much, I would have to say I fall in to the middle of the two camps...

It's great to be able to snap away, and the fact that the camera stores the settings in the photo itself make it easy to see what works and what doesn't when you come to look at it later on. However just twiddling the knobs is pretty pointless - you need an objective!

I've been trying to get really shallow depth of field, and took about 60 photos of the same subect until I was happy that I understood the effects of aperture and shutter speed on the the depth of field.

I just couldn't have done that with film... Which is why I chose digital.

Yes I could have read up on the subject and learnt it all in theory before applying that knowledge, but I want to be much more hands on than that - something that yuo can do when snap snapping away has no fiscal implications!

[pug406]

Just do your thing till you get the hang of the camera. It cost nothing xcept time and as previously stated you can delete what ever you want. Oh, and welcome to the D70 massive.

Edited to say my D70 cost almost £1000 in October so you did OK

>> Edited by pug406 on Sunday 9th January 19:10

[Paul.B]

Welcome to the D70 world Dobbo.

Paul.B

[Mad Dave]

parrot of doom said:

LongQ said: parrot of doom said: Remember, its not the paint brush that paints the picture..... Don't go all snap-happy. Take your time, think about shots, double check your framing, and have fun Whilst I agree with the principles you espouse (vital for 35mm etc., imho) it is much more interesting to be able to get virtually instant feedback on ones efforts at zero cost. A much faster learning experience if approached the right way. I disagree. How can you learn about photography, if you just run around snap snap snapping? My point is, if you find yourself with what looks like a nice photo opportunity then take your time and think about what you're doing. If you then get back home and view the results, you can see what mistakes you made, and not make them again. Running around taking loads of pictures, and you won't remember what you were doing from one moment to the next!

When I picked up my D70 a fortnight ago (paid £750 BTW - nice haggling!) I fell into the same camp as LongQ - I was a bit snap happy and all my photos were awful, I was spending my entire life sat in front of the computer, and my photography was really suffering - I was taking no time to compose my pictures, as I knew it was free. I had a rethink, and now spend just as much time composing a shot as I did with film - being able to check my results is excellent, but ultimately im taking less shots - I shot a particular landscape today and I shot 3 frames. I took about 5-10 minutes to compose my shot, set my ND Grad filter in exactly the right place and get my exposure spot on. IMHO I agree with our doomsaying Parrot friend here - if you just snap away, your photography may go downhill, not up.