what else i need to get stared???

[SuperMiguel]

Whats you guys opinion on non oem batteries?

 

[sandollars]

Whats you guys opinion on non oem batteries?

:thumbdown: IMHO, It's not worth the savings... :thumbdown:

 

[slow231]

i'm with tailgunner here... wth are you guys doing to need extra batteries? seriously, i've shot full events (1000+ shots with mounted flash) on a d7k without even getting close to burning down the battery. the d600 seems pretty similar, i've gone on plenty a shooting spree and have never needed to replace the battery during a trip or shoot (sometimes memory cards though!). the EN-EL15 battery has proven more than stout for my purposes at least. shoot a bit and see what you need. i sometimes suspect that some old advice that's no longer relevant is just getting regurgitated. that's not to say that some might really need to carry around extra batteries, but i'd venture to guess that for most purposes one would do just fine...

 

[bc_steve]

I don't have an extra battery. I haven't for years. I've been meaning to get one, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Hasn't been a problem once. They seem to last a lot longer than they used to.

What you have is fine. All you need right now is practice, and learn as much as you can when you are shooting. Pay attention to why you like the shots you like and why you don't like the ones you don't. Experiment lots, and get to know the manual settings.

When you need something new, you'll know what you need and why you need it.

 

[Dinardy]

It's not necessarily about shooting the life out of your battery in one sitting. It's just nice not having to wait for a battery to charge while you want to be out taking pictures.

I like to cycle my batteries all the way through until they are done... I have three in alternation because of the grip. I sometimes go a week or more without changing out.

Ultimately... It's up to OP

Different strokes

 

[Tailgunner]

It's not necessarily about shooting the life out of your battery in one sitting. It's just nice not having to wait for a battery to charge while you want to be out taking pictures.

It only takes an hour or so to fully charge a battery pack. Just pop it in the charger before bedtime or while you're eating breakfast.

 

[PaulWog]

So im new to all this photography thing... My previous camera was my iphone and a 15MP point to shoot camera I just purchased a D7100 the kit that comes with the 18-105 lens, i also purchased 2 32GB sandisk extreme memory (45 ones), and got a case for it i want to mostly take family picures, like at the beach, cruise, party, etc, etc...

So what else do i need? some one recommended an extre lens 50mm f1.8g or 35mm f1.8g... So what you guys think? Anything else i need?

If you're heading out on a vacation and you won't have an option to pick anything else up, start shooting now and get some practice in. I'd be shooting in aperture-priority mode and learning what aperture settings you want to be in & what ISO you want set (and let the camera automatically do white balance & shutter speed). Keep track of when shots turn out blurry or not sharp and look at what your shutter speed and focal length was at (there are rules of thumb). Shoot in raw of course (not jpeg) -- I keep jpeg off entirely so I have more room on my memory card for my raw shots (about 950-1000 per 32GB card). Get Adobe Lightroom if you don't already have it, learn it, and use it.

I had the same sort of questions when I picked up my D5200 and 16-85mm VR lens. My first lens purchase after the 16-85 + body was a 35mm 1.8G, followed by a Nikon 70-300mm VR.

Personally I'd say take a look at the 35mm 1.8G and the 50mm 1.8G. I have the 35mm 1.8G, and I definitely want a 50mm 1.8G (as well as an 85mm 1.8G - but that's not as much of a walk-around). Since you have the 18-105, I'm thinking the 50mm 1.8G would be the way to go for another lens... and then don't buy anything else until you know what you're doing and you figure out what you want.

The reason I'm saying pick up a 50mm 1.8G (or a 35mm 1.8G if you want that focal length) before you know what you like in a lens is because you need to experience a prime that can reach an aperture around f1.8. If you just use your 18-105, you'll figure out lots of stuff, the focal lengths you enjoy, apertures above 3.5, etc, but you still won't get the experience with a fast lens. You need to understand and be able to use an f1.8 lens as well as a variable f3.5-f5.6 lens. You'll need to figure out that at 18mm on your 18-105 that you might want f7.1 or f9 or f11 for a shot of a person or landscape for increased sharpness and keeping more things in focus. You'll need to understand when you want your prime to be set to f1.8, or when you want it stopped down to f2.2 or f2.8 for increased sharpness in a shot while still getting a blown-out background with nice bokeh.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Get a 35mm 1.8G or 50mm 1.8G, learn your lenses, and then determine what you like from there. I personally love the 50mm focal length perspective, and on DX it's at that sweetspot (75mm equivalent range), where it's easy to walk around with, but also has a decent amount of reach. You may however find that the 35mm 1.8G provides a superior effective range for walking around and close shots (52.5mm). I'm not as much of a fan of the perspective of the 35mm for walking around (50mm shots look nicer to me), but that's exactly what you need to figure out for yourself. I'd take your 18-105mm out right now and snap some shots at 35mm and some shots at 50mm and decide which you feel will be more useful, and then pick up the corresponding prime lens.

edit -- A tripod is a definite must-have (a good one! not a dinky one... be careful about what you buy). Getting a good flash unit may or may not be something you want to get (it's something I'm now looking into -- and bummed about not having built-in commander... which you do have).

 

[Dinardy]

It's not necessarily about shooting the life out of your battery in one sitting. It's just nice not having to wait for a battery to charge while you want to be out taking pictures.

It only takes an hour or so to fully charge a battery pack. Just pop it in the charger before bedtime or while you're eating breakfast.

Arghhh Fine!

You don't need a second battery pack it's a waste of time, money and resources.

But you should invest in a inverter for the car just in case.

 

[Tailgunner]

It's not necessarily about shooting the life out of your battery in one sitting. It's just nice not having to wait for a battery to charge while you want to be out taking pictures.

It only takes an hour or so to fully charge a battery pack. Just pop it in the charger before bedtime or while you're eating breakfast.

Arghhh Fine!

You don't need a second battery pack it's a waste of time, money and resources.

But you should invest in a inverter for the car just in case.

You can't go wrong with an inverter...they can be real life savers.

 

[SuperMiguel]

If you're heading out on a vacation and you won't have an option to pick anything else up, start shooting now and get some practice in

Since you have the 18-105, I'm thinking the 50mm 1.8G would be the way to go for another lens... and then don't buy anything else until you know what you're doing and you figure out what you want.

Thank all for the replies.. Indeed im going to the Niagara falls in November and wanted to be ready by then... I hope i have enough time to determine what i need to take there and hope to be ready skill wise...

Also i read somewhere that the 50mm because it is an FX it would not auto focus on my camera is this true?

 

[Solarflare]

You need to read the manual. And read intros into photography, as they can be found all over the net with the help of Google, Wikipedia, YouTube.

And get out shooting. As many different kinds of photography as you can.

And keep re-checking the manual whenever you have a question.

And read a good book about composition, once in a while.

And check out the work of famous photographers.



About gear to get:

- Extra batteries are needed in the long term, just so if your first battery fails, you have a spare, and if you really shoot a LOT of pictures, such as with action events (usually sports) when you use continous shooting and a thousand pictures arent so many, suddenly. I always bought a spare battery. Its comfortable. For everyday use, you can just pop the current battery into the charger and get the other one fully charged, at any time. For real events, having a spare ready is nice, too. But yeah, not really urgent in the beginning.

- 35mm f1.8 is what my D5100 is married to now, ever since I have a D600 as main camera. It always was my default lens before. Its a sharp lens even at f1.8 and its bright enough to comfortably shoot indoors without a flash. Its also lightweight, small, robust, and cheap.

- 50mm f1.8 is for portraiture. I dont get the hassle about it, since the Bokeh is rather meh. It also doesnt have this all around metal build of the 35mm. Its quite sharp, though.

- Macro lenses, which for some reason Nikon calls "micro". Tons of options, tons of opinions, I myself despise photographing insects and flowers, so I havent bothered to form an opinion myself. But I would probably get the micro AF 200mm f4, if I wanted to do it; thats a very expensive lens, though. The Tamron 90mm is apparently very popular.

- The AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR is the cheapest lens to get for good action photography. The more expensive (and heavy) 70-200mm f4 and f2.8 VR and of course the really, really, REALLY expensive long primes (300mm f2.8 VR etc, for 5k$ and up) are still even better, of course.

- Tokina lenses are currently popular for wide angle, it seems. The Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 or the Tokina 12-28mm f4 would be my choice for a wide angle on a Nikon DX system.

- Flash. I didnt put too much research into this, but apparently the SB600 is a good solid choice. There are also a lot of secondary providers, though, like Metz etc. I havent found a good source of information for all that, sadly.

- Tripods have many uses. They are also large and bulky and arent much fun to carry around, though.

- Remote release to photograph yourself.

- Extension rings for filters. You do not want to get every filter multiple times, once for every lens you have, you want the largest diameter you will ever need and just use expension rings to use them on those lenses which have a smaller diameter.

- Polarization filter. This is probably the most important kind of filter to get stronger colors in certain light conditions.

- Neutral Density Filter. A three step one is good for shooting wide open even in bright sunlight, so you can get shallow depth of field even then. A ten step one, combined with a tripod, can be used for funny effects (such as removing cars from a busy street with a long exposure).

- Gradient Neutral Density Filter. A two stop one for landscape photography (to compensate the typical setting of bright sky, dark land)

- Variable Neutral Density Filter. For Video, or in general if you want to choose shutter speed and aperture more independently.

- USB3 Card reader. They are very cheap, but I couldnt believe how much easier it is to get my photos on the computer now. No longer searching for the damn USB cable for the camera in question, no need to have the camera on, and its much faster too.

- Editing software. So many options, so much to learn ...

 

[kundalini]

I really can't see needing an extra battery for chasing the family around the house or beach. I mean the factory battery is good for a 1000 shots? I run around town at night taking long exposures (30sec or longer) with my D7100 all the time which drains battery power and never need a second battery. If you got the extra cash, go for it but if you don't, use that money on good solid comfortable camera strap. Chances are you're going to use that strap more than a spare battery...at least until you start taking 200-300/30sec star trail shots.

Off the top of my head, 3 things can and will go wrong.

1) You never refreshed the battery after the last few outings because "I can get 1000 shots on this battery" and while at your child's birthday party it dies.

2) Because of the episode at your child's birthday party, you are vigilant about recharging your one and only battery. When you get to the family Christmas gathering to take group shots, you realize the battery is still sitting in the charger at home.

3) The battery simply fails, for no apparent reason, at your sister's wedding reception.

 

[runnah]

If it helps I have 8 batteries and a grip thing that allows for AA batteries.

 

[TheLost]

Don't buy anything until you know you need it... otherwise your just wasting your money.

Do you need a tripod? most people don't... yet lots of people buy crappy tripods when they first get a camera. I've got a $$$$ tripod that collects dust 364 days a year. However the one day i need it i know it will fit my needs.

Do you need a flash? The built in flash works great when your starting out...

Do you need an extra battery? The stock battery can take 1000+ pictures on one charge.

Don't buy crap you don't need... and when you buy stuff you need don't buy crap.. buy quality.

Somebody asked about 3rd party batteries: Wasabi Power EN-EL15 can be found on Amazon.com for $24. A great batter at 1/2 the OEM price... highly recommended.

 

[SuperMiguel]

Somebody asked about 3rd party batteries: Wasabi Power EN-EL15 can be found on Amazon.com for $24. A great batter at 1/2 the OEM price... highly recommended.

Ya i asked about them, so those wasabi are as good as OEM? some one mentioned a memory issue when using non OEM batteries something like that,...