Is a Nikon D40 capable...

Sultan AlZaabi · Feb 13, 2008

What Nikon D40 can do check down here.. ^__^

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click here to see the black&white photo

Nikon D40 | NIKKOR VR 105mm f2.8G IF-ED SWM
ISO 100 | f-stop 4 | length 105mm

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AbuDhabi Archive

Emirates Palace Gate

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Nikon D40 | NIKKOR DX 12-24mm f4G IF-ED SWM

laylooo · Feb 13, 2008

wow, but for those, it will definitely require a different lense than the one included in the kit right?

Jam_Man · Feb 13, 2008

Ive got a D40 as well and been using it for about a year, a novice like yourself

If you look onthe flickr site you can actually search for shots taken using the D40 by other people and its amazing what they get out of it.

Ive taken a lot of pictures and am getting better as I go along and learning all the time.

The way I look at it is its like one of these people who are learning to play the guitar and complain their guitar isnt any good. An experienced guitarist comes along and makes it sound fantastic showing just where the limitation is!

The D40 is clearly capable of good things its learning how to wield it and understanding lighting and composition etc.

The learning can be frustrating, but it can also be extremely rewarding at the same time!

Sw1tchFX · Feb 13, 2008

Socrates said:
Ask Ansel Adams to take a picture of a black cat on a coal pile at midnight. Give him a camera with no flash, one shutter speed (1/125), one aperture (f/22) and ASA/ISO 25. Of course, he's dead so it really doesn't matter but, hopefully, you see my point.

no problem, I'm sure Ansel himself is smart enough to be able to set up a continuous light source scheme bright enough to shoot at that setting. All he'd have to do is backlight it and presto! Black cat!

He wouldn't have used any sort of strobe or flash, he'd have enough or bright enough light sources to shoot at f/22 ISO 25. The camera didn't make the decision to use the lights, Adams did!

ghpham · Feb 13, 2008

laylooo said:
on the lens, it says 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 GII ED....
completely clueless to what those numbers mean

I'd suggest you purchase the book "Understanding Exposure". That will go a long way helping you achieve pictures like those...any decent DSLR is capable of making those shots, but you need a good eye for composition and a keen sense of using the lights.

nhsmitty · Feb 13, 2008

I've had a D40x for a couple of months. I'm a novice at photography and I've enjoyed my D40x.

Read as much as you can about photography and shoot as many photos as you can, indoors and out. Take not of the settings and numbers for pics you like and also the ones you don't like. While I have the 55-200 lens I haven't even mounted it on the camera yet because I want to learn one lens at a time.

Don't let all the talk about which lenses won't work on the D40 get you down, just shoot with what you have for now and enjoy.

Main thing... Read as much on photography in books and on the internet as you can. And then read it again!!

f8lranger4x4 · Feb 13, 2008

It's not the camera that makes the picture it's the photographer and their skills!

SamSt · Feb 13, 2008

Someone look at the EXIF info so we can figure out what the aperture is!!

Tayfun · Feb 14, 2008

Hello; As a beginner your 18-55 kit lens will be enough for you and as my opinion by that lens, at good light conditions you can shoot excellent photos. By time you will learn much more (if you are interested by photography of course) and then will need to make lens choices according your photograph purposes and you will have a lot of lens opportunities because of the great range of Nikon compatible Lenses (even by D40). So my advice is not to worry and begin to practice by your D40 which is capable to shoot any kind of photo

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JerryPH · Feb 14, 2008

laylooo said:
wow, but for those, it will definitely require a different lense than the one included in the kit right?

Not only a different lens, but there was a TON of post processing done to the landscape pics.

This points back to another thread where a newbie asked a similar question and someone posted some HDR pics. Poor newbie user went out and bought the "suggested" camera thinking they would just go out and shoot HRD style pictures.

I am not a big fan of people that post super-processed pictures and say "see what my camera does", its so far from reality that it is TOTALLY unfair to the OP. In these cases, the responder is more stroking their ego than helping someone.

To answer your questions, if you practiced enough, there is no reason you could not take pictures as good as the ones in your suggested thread (http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111612).

adolan20 · Feb 14, 2008

laylooo said:
wow, but for those, it will definitely require a different lense than the one included in the kit right?

They have been enhanced a bit in photoshop so that's another way to get great photos. But I'd rather start with a great photo and edit a little bit than a bad one and edit a lot.

passerby · Feb 14, 2008

laylooo said:
of taking pictures such as the ones taken by Rachel Fellig on this thread?

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111612

I just received the D40 as a birthday present (so I'm a complete beginner), and I'm really wanting to take pictures like those!

Most definetely yes. That includes my coolpix l10, nokia n73 and one of an unknown brand I bought from ebay - and ofcourse my stolen sony cybershot. I have used them all for family portrait - for adult and children.

Children are very willing participants in photography, therefore by right it supposed to make life easier for those who are taking the shots.

When I just bought the L10 I took a shot of my sister with her husband sitting on the squeezy verandah. Than I turned around and shoot my other brother in law at the opposite corner. Than I gave my sisters the printed results and she said: Oh what camera did you use? it look so good.

Yet, when I took a shot of my friend at work he look like someone ready to strangle me. I will give him the print soon - for him to know himself what he does look like when he does not smile

.

Shoot the children outdoors (no flash here), let them play, pure natural shoots and no editing.

What you see is what you get, no more and no less

Tasmaster · Feb 14, 2008

Since nobody mentioned it yet, most pictures in that thread are at f/3.5 or higher. Only two of them are f/1.8 (girl dancing). Yes, your camera and lens can handle such shots easily, but it is up to you to create them.

As for the extremely post-processed ("photoshopped") pictures, i think they are confusing and not helping, especially a beginner. Posting the originals along with these would be way more helpful to show what you can do with digital photography in general.

Layloo, i suggest reading up on the technical basics of photography like exposure, ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, aperture and depth of field. It's no big deal, just spend 5 minutes to understand what these things are and you will see how many options your camera gives you - getting them right is tha hard part! I'd say any beginner's website will do to get you started (avoid lengthy analysis with formulas and such, you don't need that). You can even read up a bit on composition tips for making your photos more interesting.

95% of the time Auto mode will give you good results, until you feel comfortable to take more creative control. Try to not use the flash unless there is no other option - you can experiment with it and see the difference. Experimenting is a good thing!