Ok! The time to retire my Sony Cybershot DSC-F707 has finally come. Especially after my trip to Japan, the limitation of the 128MB memory was painfully obvious. While I think I somehow managed to take a few “decent shot” with this camera,
I somehow did this shot without a Tripod, was a decent result I think
I did this shot by putting the camera on a bench table and angled the lenses up, fairly unique feature of the F707
there were just not enough memory to store images. I wasn’t too happy with the quality and clarity of the images either. So the time to make the jump has finally come. I have been studying a few DSLRs recently and I was drawn to the Nikon D3000 initially because Nikon is advertising their new camera as entry level and amateur friendly and the price is quite cheap too! Amazon currently sell their default kit Nikon D3000 with the 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom lenses for $599.95, and the Nikon D40 with Kit lens has seen a price reduction and had gone down to $481. I know any self respecting camera otaku wouldn’t even touch the kit lenses but the pricing is sure pretty cheap! But upon further research, I have stumbled upon the Nikon D5000, the main draw for me to consider the D5000 is the vari-angle LCD screen. I am sure at least some of you are already familiar with my interest in taking ground level Dollfie Dream pantsu shot such as below, the vari-angle LCD screen will sure come in handy for such an application!
But something held me back to buy the camera before my vacation… it was known as the SDS symptom of the Nikon D5000. Apparently, there was some production issues associated with the D5000 and majority of the cameras sold on the streets had to be recalled to the Nikon facility for repair, Amazon even pulled all of the D5000 out of their inventory. And in earlier this month, Nikon issued another recall for their European customers for another preventative maintenance procedure. While this recall has certainly dampened my spirit to purchase the camera outright, but the words on the streets right now is the channel is getting cleaned up now and Amazon began offering the D5000 again. The following list is the list of camera I have been considering.
I have heard a lot of good things about the D90 and how it is a superior and better build quality camera, etc. But considering I am still a newbie to DSLR, I don’t think I need to make the jump toward the high end entry level DSLR just yet. And I got to mention again, I love taking ground level pantsu shots!
So with the camera selection almost out of the way (I would love to hear any feedback on my selection though!), I got to think about lenses. I have been reading up on prime, macro and zoom lenses for the past couple of days and I am honestly not sure what I need immediately. My main goal is to take pictures of my Dollfie Dream and do figure review. I have very little distance to work with indoor (my room is pretty cramped!). So the shorter the minimum focus distance, the better it is for me. The two lenses I am considering right now are these two:
The AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.8X)
And the AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f2.8G ED
Since my application for this camera is rather narrow (at least for now anyway), namely to take photos of my Dollfie Dream and do figure review, am I better off to get the 18-105mm lenses first or get the Micro lenses? I really don’t mind getting up close to my Dollfie to take close up shots but I am a bit worried about getting too close may cause other problems outdoor such as having my own shadow casted over my dollfie when I am taking close up shots. Any opinion would be greatly appreciated!
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Goddamn I love that gundam statue. They need to build a 1/1 Gunbuster next!
Anyway, in terms of lenses, I’d say get the 18-105mm, I’ve got a macro lens, and whilst I love it, I do find it a little too limited at times.
I went to a local Best Buy and played with the 18-105mm, I was rather pleased with the result. It was too bad that the D90 at the store was already too worn out and had error every shot I took.
A 1:1 Gunbuster would be too big no
I always thought Gunbuster is a lot bigger than Real Robot.
I am not a photography expert by any means and I only own two lenses (the cheap Canon 50mm lens and the kit lens), so take my words with a grain of salt.
I’m assuming that you’re primarily intending to take figure pictures. Figure pictures are very straightforward; in most cases, your figures aren’t going to move and you have near-total control over lighting conditions, and you don’t really need a lot of fancy equipment to get good pictures.
I have no experience with Nikon gear, but the Canon kit lens is fine, and I still use it for some of my shots. I’m guessing that more experienced photographers dispense with it, but it’s a good all-purpose lens and I found it very useful for learning how to use the camera. I’m not planning on buying a macro lens since my available space is very limited (I already have to back up about a meter from my figures to get them in the frame while using the 50mm lens) and I don’t think overly close-up pictures of figures are all that interesting.
My recommendation would be to buy the camera body with a kit lens or some other inexpensive portrait-type lens, learn how to use it, and then evaluate your needs from there. Photography is as much an art as it is a science; you can learn all about the latter from a few hours of research, but the only way to get better at the former is to take a ton of pictures.
.-= Tier´s last blog ..Saber from Fate/stay night (Clayz Version) =-.
I am not too interested in taking very close up shots, just having a comfortable distance to shoot Dollfie and figure pictures. I don’t think I like the 18-55 kit lenses that comes with the D5000, rather than getting that, I would much rather just save the money and get the 18-105mm.
I prefer to get 18-105, I was using that for taking dollfie, 60mm Micro is good for taking small toys, for dollfie, for me,the view is too narrow…
Thanks for your respond, I think I am going after the 18-105mm now ^^;