New with a D40, Help requested.

My was son was sitting in my lap when I was opening this up and I think the first pic scared him lol... My fault.... lol But that one is a little wierd... and the head is cut off...

The other two are good and crisp... I'm thinking that they may look better in color and if you zoomed in on the girl and dog and cropped the background out... After all they are your focus and there isn't really anything interesting back there.

A normal lens is (in simplified terms) one that sees close to what we see when we look straight ahead. On a film or full frame camera a 50mm lens is considered normal, but this lens will end up being a little too long on our cameras. This is, however, great for portraits and for shooting certain things further away. If you plan on shooting wildlife, you will probably want either longer fixed length lenses (often referred to as primes on here, but keep in mind that technically not all fixed lenses are primes since not all of them have a focal length that is a prime number - i think the prime designation refers to the actual focal length, not what's on the lens; for example, a 50mm lens might actually be 53mm, which would make it a true prime) like an 85, 100, 200, 300 or 400mm lens, or long telephoto zooms like the 70-300, 55-200 etc. Starting out with the zoom lenses will probably be cheaper (maybe unless you get a fast pro level zoom) and allow you to figure out which focal lengths you like to use the most so you can choose the right fixed lenses later on.

Thank you, that is the kind of info I am looking for. The lingo is new to me. Yea I think I am going to get a kit lens, like you said I don't know what focal length I will like the best yet. I am assuming that with these "primes" you get a better picture? For example if I set a 55-200mm to 200mm, it is a lesser quality than a 200mm prime?

Does that question make sense?
 
I have what I consider to be a very good starter kit, D40 with 18-55 kit lens, a Quantaray/Tamron 70-300 zoom and the SB-400 flash. This makes for a nice kit that goes in a small bag and can be carried everywhere. I would suggest a 70-300 rather than a 55-200 just for the extra reach.

Definitely look at the Tamron and Sigma 70-300 lenses, you may find they are all you need, and if you do decide to upgrade later you won't have lost too much money.
 
I have what I consider to be a very good starter kit, D40 with 18-55 kit lens, a Quantaray/Tamron 70-300 zoom and the SB-400 flash. This makes for a nice kit that goes in a small bag and can be carried everywhere. I would suggest a 70-300 rather than a 55-200 just for the extra reach.

Definitely look at the Tamron and Sigma 70-300 lenses, you may find they are all you need, and if you do decide to upgrade later you won't have lost too much money.

When I looked at the Tamron, I read that you lose the autofocus, is that true?
 
I have been with my Sigma 70-300. I've had it for about 4 months. If you look at my albums, mainly on Picasa, a lot of those were used with the 70-300, especially the snowboarding pictures.
 
wouldnt the 70-300 nikon VR lens be better? the sigma doesnt have VR on it
 
both Lightroom and Aperture (Mac only) offer free trials, and they each have their own list of pros and cons....I would Google comparisons of them to better understand their capabilities.....
 
both Lightroom and Aperture (Mac only) offer free trials, and they each have their own list of pros and cons....I would Google comparisons of them to better understand their capabilities.....

i would just download the trials... before i got aperture, i read all the reviews and comparisions... got aperture (because from what i read, it seemed to be the better program), and wasnt impressed by it, so then i got lightroom, it was very easy to use (it took me a couple days to figure out aperture,) i figured out lightroom within an hour

get them both (trials) and try them both and decide for yourself (give them each like a week)

if you decide on lightroom, be sure to subscribe to the "killer lightroom tips and tricks" podcast because it completely changed the way i was using lightroom (for the better)
 
it doesnt turn or anything.. it just points directly at the subject.. yes you can bounce it with a bounce card, but, that would be no different than using the built in

Hey Chris, chick this out:

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flipit400_index.jpg
 
wouldnt the 70-300 nikon VR lens be better? the sigma doesnt have VR on it

Yes, it would, but it's $400 more. I thought about getting it but went the cheap option, now I'm glad I did because I want a faster lens, that realization only cost me $150 instead of $550.
 

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