I bought the D80 but...

[rooky]

Well guys, I just went and bought a new D80. I bought a kit actually, so it did come with 1 lens, a 18-55 AF-S Nikkor 1:3.5-5.6 G. So, I came home and charged the battery and plugged in the Sd card and decided to give it a try. So, I took a few shots inside and outside and well, I thought the camera was ok. I wasnt blown away yet. Maybe its because I dont know enough about the camera yet, not sure.

One thing I did do is try and take pictures of cars when they passed by the house and increase the shutter speed. And wow, I go some very dark images. Much more sensitive the my regular 35mm SLR's. And that makes me nervous. I'm going to try this thing in the plane some And I'm not sure how to speed up the shutter with the this thing and get the correct exposure. So, I'm still tinkering. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Note: When I use a regular 35mm slr, I use to se the shutter to 1/250 sec and used 200 spd film. On this camera, that setting gives me a very dark image. So, I tried a setting of "200 low" as it calls it and it was still too dark, so i then used that setting with a higher iso, like 800 and it helped some. I even tried higher, but the images did look more grainy. LOL grainy on a digital camera, never woulda thunk it. LOL Anyway, any advice guys? Should i adjust the exposure setting some as well. ?

 

[DigiJay]

Look in the view finder, you will see an exposure meter.
Make sure you adjust ISO, SS, AP in order to "zero" the meter and your pictures will be "correct"

 

[rooky]

I admit, not sure which number is it lolo... i guess im old timey.

 

[rooky]

It is safe to say that I am no pro with the d80 but i have been tinkering alot with it. I went an d bought a 8gb SDHC card too today for it. I needed more room.

I have been getting better results from my shutter adjustments but I am still getting some results that im not sure how to control. For example, I have noticed that there is some blurr or maybe more acccurately a lack of sharpness when i use a shutter speed over say "160 low".I am not sure how to remedy some of this. As a matter of fact, I have noticed that the camera in general seems to have a softer picture result than say a 35mm negative SLR. And I'm not sure how to get a sharper picture image. I have taken the RAW images and converted them to a TIFF format and them used photoshop's contrast slide rule to crisp it up a bit.

I understand that with faster shutter speeds, lack of detail in background images is sometimes a consequence but I wonder if there is a setting on the camera which can help me with this. Something that I dont yet understand. I also am not quite clear about all the different focus settings the D80 has. any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[djacobox372]

The conclusion that the film camera takes brighter photos then a digital is mistaken--unless there's something wrong with you camera body.

iso200 digital is exactly the same light sensitivity as iso200 film. Photo's taken with your 35mm film with the same aperture, shutter speed, and iso level should have identical exposure as the same photos on the d80 body.

Of course when you develop your film the lab may be pushing the exposure to make up for the dark image, effectively upping the iso of the film.

The kit lenses you bought with your d80 are rather slow, could it be that your 35mm film has a wider maximum aperture? Many film slr's were bundled with a 1.8 or 1.4 lens, which would take MUCH brighter photos then your d80 lenses.

 

[deudeu]

It would help to know what settings you are using.

Since you are learning about the camera right now i would set it up to Auto ISO, speed priority, and centre weight or matrix metering.

 

[Overread]

might also be the fact that most DSLRs normally underexpose a little more than SLRs - you can combat this in one way by changing and shooting in RAW mode, then after the shot is taken you can change the exposure of the shot in your computer as you decode the RAW images (you should have a CD with the camera which will have software on it which can decode the RAW files)

 

[rooky]

I appreciate the input guys. I did finally get it all figured. I had to learn a little more about what I was doing but I got it now. The camera is working wonderfully. And it does do a 20x30 enlargement.... no sweat, on its maximum quality settings. I think I got it whipped now. It does do a very good job with color. Much more reliable really than my film slr's once I got it sorted out.

 

[tirediron]

It is safe to say that I am no pro with the d80 but i have been tinkering alot with it. I went an d bought a 8gb SDHC card too today for it. I needed more room.

I have been getting better results from my shutter adjustments but I am still getting some results that im not sure how to control. For example, I have noticed that there is some blurr or maybe more acccurately a lack of sharpness when i use a shutter speed over say "160 low".I am not sure how to remedy some of this. As a matter of fact, I have noticed that the camera in general seems to have a softer picture result than say a 35mm negative SLR. And I'm not sure how to get a sharper picture image. I have taken the RAW images and converted them to a TIFF format and them used photoshop's contrast slide rule to crisp it up a bit.

I understand that with faster shutter speeds, lack of detail in background images is sometimes a consequence but I wonder if there is a setting on the camera which can help me with this. Something that I dont yet understand. I also am not quite clear about all the different focus settings the D80 has. any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

First off, I'll address the "160/low" comment. This is your camera's light meter telling you that it can't open the apeture enough to get the light required to take a picture at the selected shutter spd (in this case 1/160 sec). Therefore, you can either reduce the shutter speed, or increase the sensitivity (ISO).

As far as the focusing options go, what I would suggest is that you read that section of the manual carefully, and then play with each mode. I don't own a D-80, but I assume it has the same three selections that the upper end Nikons have (Manual, single-servo, and continous-servo). If I were to recommend one, I would say single-servo, simply because I find it a little less annoying than the continous-servo mode.