Finally done it, getting a camera. Help a n00b !

So I've (almost) finally done it and am getting myself a half decent camera to play with.

I've been offered a D5100 with an 18-55 lens and 3 batteries from a friend for a price too good to say no (!) as he's upgrading to a 7100. So now I need to know what I don't know and what I need to get.

I'll be starting slow, the odd pic of this and that, bridge pictures (of course) so I need to get my head around fstops ISOs and the like.
I also need to consider another lens and have been advised to get the Nikon VR 55-300mm.

So, does anyone have any good starting suggestions for me whether it be kit, how-to's or general tips?

Thanks as ever hexites!

Rob

The D5100 is a good camera and the sensor is decent in low light. I would advise you to get the Tamron 70-300mm vc if you want to get a Tele lense.

Regarding starter lenses the Nikon 18-105mm is pretty sharp and can be had relatively cheap secondhand.

Play! With digital there's no excuse for not spamming away and looking at the settings in the file properties afterwards.

Before getting any new kit find out how you are limited with your current kit, so you can ensure you can do something with the new kit that you couldn't before (that you wanted to do).

I think the D5100 has scene modes and some inbuilt tutorials, so have a look at them - in particular pay attention to what the camera is choosing in terms of aperture for a given picture type, so you can start to learn what settings to chose for yourself in the normal modes.

And if you're in a rush for a particular shot, stick it in auto because getting an OK shot (and it will usually still be very OK) is infinitely better than either missing the shot, or ruining it because you left the camera in some obscure setting for an experiment/a particular shot.

I don't own any Nikon stuff as I'm a Canon shooter, but primes (lens with fixed focal lengths) might also be a good place to start, like the 35mm f1.8. It's a very standard focal length and it will let in plenty of light stopped down, and give you very nice subject isolation.

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Originally Posted by Rob_B

I'll be starting slow, the odd pic of this and that, bridge pictures (of course) so I need to get my head around fstops ISOs and the like.
I also need to consider another lens and have been advised to get the Nikon VR 55-300mm.

So, does anyone have any good starting suggestions for me whether it be kit, how-to's or general tips?

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WEX is a good place to find used kit - I've found their descriptions to be accurate, and they offer a 12 month warranty on used kit unless otherwise stated. http://www.wexphotographic.com/used/s1008

That said, my advice to you would be to spend absolutely nothing further for now. Get used to the camera to start with, and the kit lens is fine for that. Get your head around fstops, ISOs, shutter speeds, VR, DoF, WB etc etc etc. Get an idea of what you enjoy shooting.

Then and only then start considering another lens.

That said here are my lenses:
Nikon 18-105 VR. A cheap upgrade over the 18-55 kit lens (mine was £110 used from WEX, rated 9). Nothing spectacular, but adds a bit more range. Plastic mount puts some people off, but I'd happily buy another.

Tamron 70-300 Di VC (not to be confused with the fairly bad 70-300 Di LD). Great telephoto lens for the price, I've never seen such good image stabilisation although it does work in an odd way. It "freezes" the image, then it moves and freezes again. Other OS systems seem to just slow the movement.

Nikon 50mm F/1.8. I love this lens. Not overly expensive, well built and great for low light. It's fairly sharp wide open, and stopped down slightly it's pin sharp.

Cambridge in Colour have some excellent free tutorials, available online here:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/lea...y-concepts.htm

I'd consider joining a club in your local area, it's a great way to learn, find out which kinds of lenses you like best and make new friends etc. You can maybe find one on meetup.com

cheers guys, all useful stuff!

I didnt want to spend £100 on a lens before id even decided if I was enjoying it but it seems like I probably should, plus I reeeeealy want more than the 18>55 gives me.

This book.. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understandin...nding+exposure

The reviews don't lie.

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Originally Posted by Rob_B

I didnt want to spend £100 on a lens before id even decided if I was enjoying it but it seems like I probably should, plus I reeeeealy want more than the 18>55 gives me.

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I'd say wait. You don't want to spend £100 on a lens, that you won't love.

If you are able to join a good local club, you will no doubt make friends who will let you try their lenses and the like. It's very subjective what you will use most, just because some bit of glass is optically brilliant, doesn't mean it will fit your use!

I'd say it's probably worth getting say a Circular Polarizer first!

Yeah I agree with the above, you definitely don't want to spend on a sub £100 lens, particularly if it's a zoom one - you'll get horrible image quality, probably worse than your kit lens. The only lenses I would get for under £100 would be second hand primes

To be honest, the 18-55mm range is a good enough range to walk around with, so you should stick with it and see if you're actually going to get in to photography. 18-55mm is equivalent to 28.8-88mm in full frame terms, and compared to the 24-70mm I use professionally for events, it is not as wide angle but allows you to zoom in a little bit further.

Photography is a very expensive hobby, and my lenses actually cost more than the camera body!

If you really *must* get a lens, then in the £100-£150 range you have 3 options, a fast prime (35 or 50mm), the Nikon 55-200, or the 18-105.

The Nikon 55-200 is meant to be reasonable for the price and, with your kit lens, would give you the full 18-200, albeit having to change lenses.

The 18-105 would only give you half that zoom range, although you wouldn't need to change lenses. If not wanting to change lenses is a priority I'd save your pennies until you can afford the 18-200.

The 50mm F/1.8 G is great for portraits, and for low light situations. You'll be unlikely to replace it, making it a safe investment. The other lenses you may replace down the line if you catch the bug and want more speed/image quality, but not this one.