My New Camera !

[grubyhalo]

...Yashica FX-3...

What did you do with that FX-3? Any chance you still have it?

 

[longshanks]

Congratulations!!!

Panasonic does make some fine cameras.

 

[nitinbose]

What did you do with that FX-3? Any chance you still have it?

Yes... I still have it... thought its not been used atleast for the last six years.

 

[grubyhalo]

Yes... I still have it... thought its not been used atleast for the last six years.

If you decide to let go of it, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Asit]

Hi folks,

Just yesterday I bought a D-SLR. It's the entry level Nikon D3000 with the AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm VR lens. Paid 32K with bill and warranty here in Kolkata. If any body has this camera (which is fairly new), please share your experience. Since I am new to D-SLR (not new to film SLR), I am currently going through the manual.

I previously had a Nikon FE film SLR (bought in 1982) which currently has a shutter problem; in addition, I can't find it anywhere in the household, just wondering if my wife gave it away to somebody. In addition I have a Canon Photura film camera with 35-105mm zoom (bought in 1992). I also have a Canon A85 digital camera (bought in 2004).

I was feeling the need to buy a reasonable camera of late, and so was on the lookout for cameras. Initially I was looking at the megazooms like the canon sx1, sx10, Lumix fz28, newly launched fz35 etc. But then their low light performance (from dpreview and the like) was not quite up to the mark, because I like to do a lot of low light photography without flash. Then I was looking at cameras like the Lumix LX3, and the new (to come to market end of this month) canons G11 and S90 models. But then the prices of these are around and above 30K for which I can get an entry level D-SLR. For me the choice was between Canon 1000D and Nikon D3000. The 1000D is at least 5K cheaper and with live-view (but does not have IS lens in the kit sold in India). The Nikon D3000 does not offer live-view (does not matter because I mostly like to use EVF, in sunny conditions is there any other option?), but it has a better 11 point auto-focus, better metering and VR lens in the kit. In addition, it has a better grip than the 1000D IMO (grip is very important) and looks better and more solid than the 1000D.

Now it's up to Cranky to deliver the speaker stands and once that is done, I can replace in the showcase thread the old crappy and grainy pictures (taken with the A85) of my AV set-up with new sparkling pictures (with my speakers on even more sparkling stands designed by Cranky) taken by the Nikon D3000.

Regards.

 

[grubyhalo]

Congrats on your new toy! If you're doing a lot of low-light work and don't need a large focal length, please try and pick this prime lens up. It's an absolute steal for the performance and you could use it for most of the situations you'd come across...

 

[adder]

Hi folks,

Just yesterday I bought a D-SLR. It's the entry level Nikon D3000 with the AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm VR lens. Paid 32K with bill and warranty here in Kolkata. If any body has this camera (which is fairly new), please share your experience. Since I am new to D-SLR (not new to film SLR), I am currently going through the manual.

I previously had a Nikon FE film SLR (bought in 1982) which currently has a shutter problem; in addition, I can't find it anywhere in the household, just wondering if my wife gave it away to somebody. In addition I have a Canon Photura film camera with 35-105mm zoom (bought in 1992). I also have a Canon A85 digital camera (bought in 2004).

I was feeling the need to buy a reasonable camera of late, and so was on the lookout for cameras. Initially I was looking at the megazooms like the canon sx1, sx10, Lumix fz28, newly launched fz35 etc. But then their low light performance (from dpreview and the like) was not quite up to the mark, because I like to do a lot of low light photography without flash. Then I was looking at cameras like the Lumix LX3, and the new (to come to market end of this month) canons G11 and S90 models. But then the prices of these are around and above 30K for which I can get an entry level D-SLR. For me the choice was between Canon 1000D and Nikon D3000. The 1000D is at least 5K cheaper and with live-view (but does not have IS lens in the kit sold in India). The Nikon D3000 does not offer live-view (does not matter because I mostly like to use EVF, in sunny conditions is there any other option?), but it has a better 11 point auto-focus, better metering and VR lens in the kit. In addition, it has a better grip than the 1000D IMO (grip is very important) and looks better and more solid than the 1000D.

Now it's up to Cranky to deliver the speaker stands and once that is done, I can replace in the showcase thread the old crappy and grainy pictures (taken with the A85) of my AV set-up with new sparkling pictures (with my speakers on even more sparkling stands designed by Cranky) taken by the Nikon D3000.

Regards.

congrats the nikon D3000 is a excellent ,only drawback is the lack of built in auto focus motors,but as long as the AF lenses are cheap,no big deal.
i agree the eos1000d grip is a joke,couldn't stand that cameras grip.

 

[cyrus]

Congrats Asit on your new cam.

Please post some sample pics please. Love to see them.

I used to own a FE and a FM2. But in all the moving and shifting over the many years I seem to have misplaced them somewhere.

I am looking for something small and easy to carry. Was considering the Canon S90...

Any suggestions would be great.

 

[argho]

Congrats Asit on your new cam.

Please post some sample pics please. Love to see them.

I used to own a FE and a FM2. But in all the moving and shifting over the many years I seem to have misplaced them somewhere.

I am looking for something small and easy to carry. Was considering the Canon S90...

Any suggestions would be great.

If you have Nikon F mount lenses, I would suggest the Nikon D90.
I have it, and am very happy with it.

I see it as the complete enthusiast DSLR.

I have owned and used the Nikon D50, D300 and D90.

 

[soundsgreat]

Hi,

Hi folks,

Just yesterday I bought a D-SLR. It's the entry level Nikon D3000 with the AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm VR lens.

Congrats Asit:clapping: !! Thats a very choice !! Hope to see some action from it !!

Me in Delhi cannot keep quite isn't it ?? so just clicked some,that too on account of surprise rain !!

Hope to you guys like it !!

Regards.

 

[Asit]

Thanks for your encouraging responses.

Gruby, that's a very reputed lens. Will surely consider it at a later time.

Adder, yes, the grip of the 1000d is not great, although its ISO performance is really great for a D-SLR that costs around 27-28K.

Cyrus, the S90 would be a great compact camera with a large LCD with good resolution and good ISO and DR performance. It does not have a viewfinder though. The sample images in dpreview are truly very very good. Once it comes out in the market in a matter of weeks, you can also consider a cheaper compact, the Fuji Finepix f200exr (a very worthy performer with decent ISO performance and great DR performance) and compare that with the canon s90. I usually have a grip problem with all these super compacts. You have to hold them in your hands and see if you are comfortable in all operations. I love the grip on my Nikon so far.

Argho, I'd love to get my hands on a d90, but with the kind of lifestyle (read busy) I have, at times the camera would be lying idle for months on. Besides, my son is showing some interest in graduating from P&S to D-SLR. For him too, an entry level D-SLR would be good.

Soundsgreat, thanks for starting this thread and hopefully you would not mind me dropping in here with the news of my new camera. Your two shots are simply wonderful (taken with your Lumix FZ50, I am supposing) and would like to know the settings you used. The Lumix cameras have great optics in Leica and Panasonic implements the whole package very nicely. I was considering the current FZ35 very very seriously, called up all the Pana brand shops in Kolkata, even called up some of the Pana brandshops in Chennai because I was about to spend 3 quiet days in a resort just south of Chennai Sept 28 - Oct 1. But these guys did not even hear about this camera, I had to tell them that this is now featured in the Panasonic India website. When Canon and Nikon can get their new releases immediately to India, I do not know what prevents Panasonic to do the same. I think with so many wonderful products (not just cameras) they need a revamp of their sales strategists in India.

Regards.

 

[cyrus]

Thank You Asit. Yes, I will look into the F200EXR too.

AFAIK you can check out the FZ35 at Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 Digital Camera With 6 months Vendor Warranty They seem to be located in Chennai. It seems they only offer vendors warranty for this model. Please keep that in mind.

 

[soundsgreat]

Hi,

Soundsgreat, thanks for starting this thread and hopefully you would not mind me dropping in here with the news of my new camera. Your two shots are simply wonderful (taken with your Lumix FZ50, I am supposing) and would like to know the settings you used. The Lumix cameras have great optics in Leica and Panasonic implements the whole package very nicely.

No Thanks needed,And no I absolutely don't mind you posting your big news here hyeah:!!

Thanks for liking the pics,I usually like to work with low f ratio's and such ! the settings were Aperture 4 one pic and 4.5 while the ISO was 100,Exposure was 1/200,Focal Length was approx 88MM !!

Yes I do agree that Panasonic does a clean job of it thats the reason for me to go for it,also Lumix was a Top Notch company before the panasonic buyout and still is !! But I say you've done the best choice of going for Nikon, Although I like the my Camera but in Low light its bit noisy and I hate it !! So as you said since you like to take pics in low lights and no flash its the right choice for you !!

Here are couple a more pics just for fun !!

Regards.

 

[iaudio]

Soundsgreat, The first shot,you have captured a great moment, would have been great if the image was sharper.
The second shot of the pigeon is very good too. A good example of P&s/ superzoom giving excellent bokeh!

Asit ji, Congrats on the Nikon D3000. Me too now a Nikonian, using NIKON D200, 50mm f1.8 prime and 70-300 sigma. I was using a Canon S3 IS before that, it was an excellent cam too, but was longing to move to a DSLR.

I too believe that with a good photographer at the helm, present day high end point and shoots give fantastic results.
But as Roc said, the sensor size is something that cant be ignored. With Aps-c the bokeh I get is far better and with a full frame it is even better. I cant even imagine the case of exotics like Heisselblad, Mamya and the like.

 

[soundsgreat]

Hi,

Soundsgreat, The first shot,you have captured a great moment, would have been great if the image was sharper.
The second shot of the pigeon is very good too. A good example of P&s/ superzoom giving excellent bokeh!

Thanks for the comments !! You are right it would've been much better,but there were many issues due to which I had to be content with what I got !

First off it was raining (you know what that does),second I was very far from it ( Say 100 odd meters) and to top it all I was not on the same plane as object in the Image ( As in the bird ) !! So with all the above I gave my best shot and got the above result !

Me too now a Nikonian, using NIKON D200, 50mm f1.8 prime and 70-300 sigma. I was using a Canon S3 IS before that, it was an excellent cam too, but was longing to move to a DSLR.

Hmm every one seems to be having a eye for the stuff !! Welcome to the Nikon Club (although Am not in it ) !!

I too believe that with a good photographer at the helm, present day high end point and shoots give fantastic results.

Very true hyeah: its the most important factor then the equipment,else if you even give the stuff with Heisselblad or Mamya it would still be of no use and the pics would be worst !

Regards.

 

[adder]

sound great,those shots look realy nice.a jem of a camera the FZ50,sad that they stopped it nor did they get a true successor.

 

[Asit]

Hi iaudio,
You have a great camera there. Is the sigma lens good? How much did it cost? I'll have to buy a reasonable zoom, sometime later. Unfortunately in my case the Nikon 1.8 lens (that you have) would not allow auto focus in my camera, but manual focus would be fine.

Hi soundsgreat,

Thanks for sharing the data. Your latter two shots are also superb. You are indeed extracting some very very good results from your camera. I especially like the one with the pigeon.

Last night I played around with options for auto-focus, ISO sensitivity, white balance, metering etc for indoor shots. It'll take me a while to extract the best out of the camera. In a sense my old film SLR was much much simpler. Once you put in a film, there is nothing more one can do with the film speed. Go to aperture priority (my favourite mode for not too fast moving objects) or fully manual, compose, manually focus and shoot. That's it. The results were usually superb.

However, I must say, some of the performance parameters of the D3000 have already impressed me tremendously. There is almost no noticeable shutter lag, and the autofocus is very very fast and very accurate.

Regards.

 

[iaudio]

Hi iaudio,
You have a great camera there. Is the sigma lens good? How much did it cost? I'll have to buy a reasonable zoom, sometime later. Unfortunately in my case the Nikon 1.8 lens (that you have) would not allow auto focus in my camera, but manual focus would be fine.

Hi soundsgreat,

Thanks for sharing the data. Your latter two shots are also superb. You are indeed extracting some very very good results from your camera. I especially like the one with the pigeon.

Last night I played around with options for auto-focus, ISO sensitivity, white balance, metering etc for indoor shots. It'll take me a while to extract the best out of the camera. In a sense my old film SLR was much much simpler. Once you put in a film, there is nothing more one can do with the film speed. Go to aperture priority (my favourite mode for not too fast moving objects) or fully manual, compose, manually focus and shoot. That's it. The results were usually superb.

However, I must say, some of the performance parameters of the D3000 have already impressed me tremendously. There is almost no noticeable shutter lag, and the autofocus is very very fast and very accurate.

Regards.

For someone who has mastered film slrs, Dslrs would be piece of cake! I mean you are used to using your brain for each shot, unlike guys like me who just click and check result on lcd to see where i got lucky!

Asit, you have to get the 50mmf1.8, its vfm and stunning performance! The sigma is built to a price and hence sharpness suffers. But at wider fl it gives decent results.
The D200 is a fantastic camera, but sadly I am nowhere near the skill level of putting it to the best use
Couple of shots,

Taken with a sony cybershot w200

Taken with my ol' faithful Canon s3is

 

[gobble]

Nice pics. Clean. But I guess there would have been some more contrast to them as they look like day light photos taken under sun.

What I liked about the pics is the sense of cohesion in the composition. The dynamics are also pretty ok. Upper range is nice so is the lower dark/blacks. The timing of the shutter is also spot on! The imaging is great!!

Did I miss anything critical that audiophiles should always evaluate?

Cheers

 

[gobble]

But then their low light performance (from dpreview and the like) was not quite up to the mark, because I like to do a lot of low light photography without flash. Then I was looking at cameras like the Lumix LX3, and the new (to come to market end of this month) canons G11 and S90 models. But then the prices of these are around and above 30K for which I can get an entry level D-SLR.

Just FYI - I just got a lumix LX3 from ebay for 26K. which is a fair price going by internation rates. My other camera is a canon s5 powershot which I now intend to dispose off.

Cheers