I think I'm getting my d7000 tomorrow.

[pwrstrk02]

Well anyway, I'm getting excited.
Things to get on the side of the kit. I'm getting the kit lens and will upgrade when I see fit to do so.
Tripod of my liking
2x 16gb high speed cards.
Back pack.
An at home printer.
A cheap photo editor.
And a computer capable of running the program.
And a back up hard drive.
And mabey a digital picture frame or two.
Do I need external flashes of any sort to start out.
Most of my starting out pics will be friends, pets, and rodeos.
Any other suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
And just to push some of you the wrong way. I'm pro now that I have my D7000, right? Yes I knew it! I'll get the business cards out in the mail pronto.

 

[IanMoone]

I don't know cameras that well yet, but I sure do know computers. If your willing to pay the extra cost upfront a Mac will go a LONG way for you.

 

[pwrstrk02]

And here comes the fight between Mac and pc. For me. Throw a penny in the air. If it lands tails you gat a pc. If it lands heads you get a Mac that costs twice as much and does the same thing. I'm so at a loss on that one.

 

[Seekwence]

Save money and get two 8GB cards instead.

 

[IanMoone]

Im not interested in a Mac or PC debate, but your coin flip is an unfair analogy. I own plenty of macs and plenty of pcs, computers are how I pay my way through college. The fact of the matter is, Macs have the best customer support and the far more reliable software. Everyone knows that you don't buy a mac for the hardware, you can get that cheaper and probably better from someone else. You buy a mac for the software, the operating system, and their overall longevity. Not to mention they last longer than a PC. But anyways, shutting my mouth.

 

[pwrstrk02]

I take tons of pictures on my phone. I have 12gb of photos from this phone alone. Still two 8's?

 

[SrBiscuit]

or if you wanna carry 32gb...
get 4 x 8gb.

16gb is a lot of photos to lose if your card takes a ****.
smaller capacity in higher quantities for me. :thumbup:

 

[Ken Rockwell Fan]

I only buy 4gb cards. Makes it easier to copy and backup to DVD because it fits. Plus if one craps out, like SrBiscuit said "16gb is a lot of photos to lose if your card take a ****."

Congrats on the D7000. I'm jealous!!!

 

[Jcampbelll]

I take tons of pictures on my phone. I have 12gb of photos from this phone alone. Still two 8's?

DSLR's pictures take up more space then what a phone would. I would start off with two 4gb and get more if needed. Macs are known for their build quality and user interface. That is why I prefer them. If you have the money get the best, if you don't, there are plenty of other options.

 

[yepp]

i was going to go D7000 route, but opt'd to go with the d90 seeing as I got it with a 55-200vr for 879shipped to my door 2days later. And it being my first DSLR, it was a much better choice seeing as It'll take me forever just to learn the d90 and didn't really need the extra stuff that the d7000 has. the few primary things I really wanted with the d7000 were: better high ISO's, a real iso100, the two custom settings on the selector knob, magnesium shell and weatherproofing. of course there's a few more things with the camera but those were at the top of the list, and too me it just didn't seem worth spending almost 500 more for a camera that was only nominally better. at my stage it just wouldn't have been a smart decision. Definitely happy with my purchase, but if the d7000 were less expensive, around 900-1000, I may have gone that route.

Now I need more lenses, Tokina 11-16, 50mm, and maybe the 18-55. Haven't really decided on the last one but that will be my initial lens choices, we'll see what happens after that. I would like a really big zoom lens, but not a priority. I primarily like landscapes but do plan on taking some motor sport photo's along with other basic random pics. Oh yea and the lens baby is kinda cool.

 

[Robin Usagani]

really.. save your money and buy it online. It sounds like you are going to buy all of these from a best buy or something. I am not saying best buy doesnt have a good price. You just dont have that many selections for the cheaper (and good) options. Plus online you can research the product a bit.

 

[rainking]

Here's my time line. D7000 w/ kit lens, a month later I got the 50mm 1.8, a month later got the sb-600. I shoot RAW so I wanted a big card. I got a 32 GB. That gives me about 900 RAW images. My next lens will be the Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 VRII. Yes, I know, need to start saving.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

I shoot a Canon 7D with RAW and I use 8GB sandisk cards. They are not too small and not too big, they aren't too expensive. ( I got them for $16 a piece on sale at Costco and included a free 100 4x6 print coupon ). I have had a 16GB card take a dump on me at my first wedding because I didn't listen to the same advice on this same forum. Luckily I was able to recover the files, but it cost me added expense and extreme anxiety. Also, personally, I wouldn't invest in a cheap photo editor. I know there is the debate about learning to do everything in camera and blah blah blah, but the fact of the matter is, every professional photograph you ever see in magazines, posters, billboards, are all post processed. So it can be very discouraging as a beginner to go into things with the silly notion that you are going to achieve some crazy shot like the ones you are inundated with every day in the media, with just the click of the shutter. Now thats not to say there aren't some great shots taken with very very minimal processing, but at the very least, you need something to handle your RAW files since they will look pretty crappy SOOC usually. I would recommend Adobe Lightroom 3 if you are on a budget. Or Photoshop CS5 if you aren't on a budget. If you are a student, you can get a great discount on either.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Im just saying dont go all out and get all the stuff on the same day.. take it easy one by one. Buy used stuff too! (bag, tripod, lenses etc.)

 

[sobolik]

Well anyway, I'm getting excited.
Things to get on the side of the kit. I'm getting the kit lens and will upgrade when I see fit to do so.
Tripod of my liking
2x 16gb high speed cards.
Back pack.
An at home printer.
A cheap photo editor.
And a computer capable of running the program.
And a back up hard drive.
And mabey a digital picture frame or two.
Do I need external flashes of any sort to start out.
Most of my starting out pics will be friends, pets, and rodeos.
Any other suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
And just to push some of you the wrong way. I'm pro now that I have my D7000, right? Yes I knew it! I'll get the business cards out in the mail pronto.

"2x 16gb high speed cards" My D-90 and a 16gig card held over 2800 photos at max quality settings. And a few videos. It still had room for more. (one trip to Costa Rica)

"A cheap photo editor. " Get Photo Shop elements 5.0 I've seen it on eBay for TEN! dollars and free shipping

"And a computer capable of running the program " Forget the MAC One of the TV Radio engineers friend here in Milwaukee says everything you want for a MAC costs more and is more limited. Get a PC. Any one on sale nowadays at a cheap cost (4-500.00) will work perfect.

"And a back up hard drive." Also open accounts with Walgreens etc to use for online storage/ordering as well.

"And mabey a digital picture frame or two." Use your lap top to do slide shows on your 600" 1080 LED wonder gizmo TV screen. Now that is a digital photo frame.

"Do I need external flashes of any sort to start out" Yes get one that you can bounce with. I use the Nikon SB 400 for about $120.00

"Any other suggestions would be helpful" Yes, buy the Tokina 12-24mm zoom. $400 or so used. It is awesome. I did one wedding some 2500 photos almost exclusively with this lens. I am pondering getting the D7000 to use with the Tokina 12-24. (I crop several compositions out of the original one wide angle)

"And just to push some of you the wrong way. I'm pro now that I have my D7000, right? Yes I knew it! I'll get the business cards out in the mail pronto"
Why not! Every beginner on every forum plasters a water mark "Peter Paul and Mary Photography" on every photo as if they have been in business for 20 years.

Better yet just forget the entire thing and send me the D7000 and I'll send you my D-90 - again I am pondering getting the D7000 to use with the Tokina 12-24. (I crop several compositions out of the original one wide angle)