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Posted on 28/06/08 00:22:26 AM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply  |
New camera
I was looking at a Nikkon D40 today. I need something with a wider angle lens for my stair pics. I thought someone on this forum had some good things to say about the D40 but I couldn't find the link. Any thoughts anyone? Keep it simple, I don't really know any photography terms. 
Thanks |
Posted on 28/06/08 09:59:24 AM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply  |
Re: New camera
Steve Probably the best way to get a feel for the camera is to Google it and you'll find a few good sites where cameras and lenses are reviewed by people who have bought and used the product. The good point about Nikon is that their lens mounts have not changed for years, so lenses bought years ago will still fit. Nick |
Posted on 28/06/08 10:00:41 AM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply  |
Re: New camera
The D40 is supposed to be a really good camera. Some would say better than the Canon 400D, its current competitor; I don't think there's much in it, really. Personally, I'm in the Canon camp and am still happy with my (now almost archaic) 300D. They both come with stock 18-55/70 lenses but I think you'd probably need to go a little wider, 10-20mm, perhaps, to be able to capture in-situ shots. I believe there is a new Canon coming out soon so keep an eye on the prices of the current range, there's a lot of stock clearances and cashback offers going on. _________________ A happy-go-lucky chap, always dressed in black |
Posted on 28/06/08 11:08:13 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4033 Reply  |
Re: New camera
Hi Steve, The Nikon D40 is a perfectly ok camera with the only (slight) limitation being the 6.1 Mp imaging chip which gives you roughly an 18MB file. You need to ask yourself if this file size is ok for the work you want to do. As for a wide angle lens I use a Sigma 12 - 24mm lens which gives excellent images and is the equivalent of 18 - 36mm on the 35mm format. David's mention of Canon cameras is perfectly valid. I got locked into the Nikon system many years ago but have for a long time wanted to go over to Canon. Being a Hasselblad user I would quite happily ditch both Nikon and Canon for their recent H3 with a 39Mp digital back but at roughly £28,000 ($55,000) without a lens it might have to wait awhile! Whichever camera you get I'm sure that you will be quite happy with it. Gordon |
Posted on 28/06/08 12:19:21 PM |
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powerslave
Custom Cobber Posts: 136 Reply |
Re: New camera
Hey Steve dpreview is about the best site for reviews and forums. D40 forum is here http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1034 Review here http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40/ or 40X http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40x/ Due to the crop factor of the sensors that take the photo the Full Frame SLR's will give you a much wider view of the stairs from any point using the same lens but Full Frame SLR's cost more than the D40, something I thought you should know. Therefore your 18mm lens wont give you 18mm on a D40 but about 27mm on a 35mm equivalent measurement. So if I have lost you, what that means is what David said go for something like 10mm and factor that into your thinking. Unless you plan to use a tripod all the time then a lens with Image Stabilization will also be beneficial to you because stairs don't move...usually 
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Posted on 28/06/08 12:52:06 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply |
Re: New camera
Thanks everybody for your feedback and links. It sounds like I will probably go with the D40. I currently have a Cannon Powershot S1 which I would rather just use as my "keep with me at all times" camera. I had my S1 with me yesterday when I went to the camera shop so the owner and I went outside and took the same picture with my S1 and the D40 to compare. Definitely a wider shot. It was about 25% wider than mine. At this point, the price matters too. $500 is about all I can spend so I will have to wait on the wider lens. Also, this camera shop has free two hour seminars with a rep from Nikon on all of the features specifically for the D40. Gordon, you mentioned the Sigma lens. Is that a different brand that can be used with the D40? The D40 also has RAW format. What is the advantage of RAW? Thanks again everyone! |
Posted on 28/06/08 2:13:50 PM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply |
Re: New camera
There are two main 3rd party lens manufacturers, Sigma and Tamron. They make compatible lenses which are often cheaper than the brand maker's own. You do have to be wary as sometimes their older lenses have problems on newer bodies. I had a Sigma 300mm that crashed the camera if I tried to shoot on anything other than the widest aperture. I could have sent it away to be re-chipped but it wasn't really worth the hassle. I have a Tamron 18-200mm lens which is excellent for all-purpose shooting as it has such a good range of focal lenth. It does suffer from heavy fringing in some situations though. My advice would be to spend more on a specialist lens (wide angle in your case) as it will certainly pay for itself in the long run. I always shoot in RAW if I have the option, it makes it far easier to correct exposure, colour, etc. plus you always have the best quality image to begin with as there is no in-camera compression, which you get with JPEGs. If you're going to be doing a lot of post-processing, you would be wise to look into buying Lightroom or Aperture (if you're Mac-based) as they are purpose-built to make the RAW workflow as smooth as possible. _________________ If you hold on to the past, sooner or later you'll lose your grip. |
Posted on 28/06/08 3:12:12 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4033 Reply |
Re: New camera
As David says there are two main independant lens manufacturers. The Sigma 12 - 24mm is a fairly recent lens and can be bought with a variety of different camera mounts including, of course, Nikon. It works perfectly well with my Nikon D200 and D100 and gives superb images. David's advice about paying for a good lens is sound. It's the photographer that takes the picture - not the camera. A good photographer just needs a good, sharp lens. The camera itself is just a box that separates the lens from the photographer's eye/film/imaging chip. RAW shooting gives you what is effectively, a digital negative which means that you can tweak the original to your heart's content and still have the original image as it was shot. It gives the best image quality. Recent versions of Photoshop can open and process RAW images using the RAW plug-in but do be aware that Nikon's own RAW image processing software comes (very, very naughtily) at an added cost, although Nikon have recently been doing some package deals that include the software in the price of the camera. As far as I am aware all the other manufacturers include their software with their cameras......the way Nikon ought to be doing........ Are you reading this Nikon??? |
Posted on 28/06/08 5:48:28 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply |
Re: New camera
Thanks Guys. I believe the D40 comes with a 18-55 mm lens. I guess I should shop around for a substitute for the wide angle. I was told it is $400 for the wide angle lens which I think is 12-200 mm. I agree it's the photographer that takes the pictures not the camera. That is part of my concern. I'm not really a photographer but I do need to learn how to take better pictures. It's not the fact that I need a better camera, I mostly need one that can shoot wider angles. I'm sure a professional photographer could get much better pictures with the camera that I have now, it's a matter of knowing how to adjust it to the situation. The shop owner did mention an editing software for Nikon which was $80. I'll stick with PS for now. Can you save RAW files right from your card to your computer like you would normally or do they need to be saved a certain way to be kept as RAW files? I hope that makes sense. I obviously don't understand RAW format yet. Thanks again |
Posted on 28/06/08 6:00:39 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4033 Reply |
Re: New camera
You transfer the RAW files to your computer as RAW files in the same way you would transfer any other file. When you work on a RAW file and save it you will get a 'Save As' dialogue box and choose the usual jpg or tif or psd options. That way the original does not get overwritten and you can always go back to it and tweak it in a different way. If you lose track of all the tweaks that you have made to the file you just 'reset' it back to how it was originally shot and start again. |
Posted on 29/06/08 03:59:21 AM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply |
Re: New camera
Thank you Gordon. I appreciate this. Thanks everybody, this was very helpful! |
Posted on 29/06/08 12:19:29 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4033 Reply |
Re: New camera
You might want to compare prices before you buy your camera. B&H in New York is an excellent place to buy and very competitively priced. It's an amazing Aladdin's cave (a very BIG Aladdin's cave!!) of photographic goodies and they do a very efficient web-based mail order as well. |
Posted on 29/06/08 12:58:09 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply |
Re: New camera
Thanks Gordon. You wouldn't happen to have a web address would you? |
Posted on 29/06/08 2:11:20 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4033 Reply |
Re: New camera
Steve, www.bhphotovideo.com or just google B&H. By the way there is also, slightly confusingly, a Nikon D40x which has a 10 Mp imaging chip. |
Posted on 29/06/08 7:05:28 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply |
Re: New camera
Thanks again Gordon. I'll make sure I verify the model number first. |
Posted on 06/08/08 02:41:00 AM |
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Pierre
Constructional Confabulator Posts: 637 Reply  |
Re: New camera
I may be late in the info but be aware that the D40/X only support certain types of lens for auto-focus. In the Nikon world those are designated as the "AF-S" and "AF-I" type lens. Other Nikon mount lens will partially work. You may lose the auto focus, or other functions. That is one of the reason the D40 is so inexpensive. I am not certain if the Sigma/Tamron/Tokina brands have lenses that have this charateristics. BTW, a new contender in the wide angle lens is Tokina (actually it's not new, they just released new lenses). They have a 10-16mm that has great reviews and is about the same price as the 10-20 from Sigma but the Tokina has the advantage of a bigger aperture (2.8 as opposed to 4) which may of value to you when shooting your stairs indoors with not too much ambient light. Still, check about the auto-focus for Tokina as well. Hope this helps, Pierre _________________ |
Posted on 06/08/08 12:55:33 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply |
Re: New camera
That helps a lot Pierre, thanks. So is a D40/X a different camera than the D40? |
Posted on 08/08/08 03:45:48 AM |
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Pierre
Constructional Confabulator Posts: 637 Reply |
Re: New camera
The main difference is the 6Mp (D40) vs 10Mp (D40X) and a couple 100 bucks I think.. I have an older D70 that shoots 6Mp and I never needed anything bigger so far. And I can print high quality on 11X14in. And D40 is cheaper. One of the main reasons to get more Mp is if you think you will need to crop your pictures drastically and print them on a fairly big size. Even then, Photoshop (and Steve) have helped me a lot to do that. Which makes me think that you can get a D70 used for about 350$ nowadays and that they have way more lattitude in their potential adjustments (but also have full automatic) and don't have the auto-focus lens problem I mentioned before.But they don't come with a lens if you buy them used. Happy to help about Photography, so just ask away! Pierre _________________ |
Posted on 08/08/08 12:53:01 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply |
Re: New camera
Thanks Pierre. I'm still trying to learn about cameras so all of this is a great help. My heart is not set on a D40. If anyone knows of other cameras that can handle the wide angle for stairs I'd love to know. Thanks Steve |