Nikon D5000 Hints and Tips

LeeMac13

LeeMac13

Well-Known Member
Evening everybody, I was wondering if I could ask for some advice? I have finally made the jump to DSLR and purchased the Nikon D5000 with a 18-55 VR lens and a 55-300mm VR lens.

Im slowly getting to grips with it but wondered if there was any info, tips or tricks that you think may be of use to me? Especially whilst using it photographing animals.
 
Practise with the camera - in other words, take lots of pictures! Get familiar with handling, focussing etc.
Read the instruction book. I know it's boring and some pages are not easy to understand (they are usually the ones about the features you are not interested in anyway).
Practise some more and read those instructions again ;)
If you want a good introduction to using the camera with plenty of detail, but easier to read than the instructions, I recommend Thom Hogans CD guides to Nikon cameras - at least look around his website Thom Hogan's Nikon Field Guide and Nikon Flash Guide.
Happy shooting!

Alan
 
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SMR said:
which oddly enough didn't duck behind a bush or run away the moment I raised the camera. ;)
Click to expand...

It must have been sleeping.

:p :p :p

Hix
 
Thanks everybody for your advice hoping to visit Chester this weekend to give it a proper testing. At the risk of sounding extremely stupid are their any precutions i should take with camera regarding using it in say the butterfly house at Chester or in bad weather? Humid conditions etc.
 
I have the D5000 and my first suggestion is don't touch the scene modes at all. Dive straight in and start using aperture and shutter priority (A & S suprisingly!!!) the camera will balance the rest of the settings for you but you can begin to play with putting your own slant on your shots.
If you need fast off the cuff shots and don't want to mess around with settings you don't really understand yet use Program mode which is "intelligent auto".

You may find as soon as you get one or two other lenses, you won't use the 18-55mm kit lens. A 50mm prime lens would be a nice alternative.

I have a Tamron 90mm, Tamron 70-300mm and a Sigma 12-24, I still have my 18-55 kit lens but I haven't used it in months.

yy8.jpg


london1-1.jpg


56-monkey.jpg
 
LeeMac13 said:
At the risk of sounding extremely stupid are their any precutions i should take with camera regarding using it in say the butterfly house at Chester or in bad weather? Humid conditions etc.
Click to expand...
Check whether the body and lens are environmentally sealed. Some of Canon's L Series lenses are, but not all of them, and I don't know about Nikon but would assume it's the same so some research is in order. If they're not, then shield the camera from rain and extreme temperature changes.

The Butterfly Journey is always problematic, whatever you do don't changes lenses in there.
 
SMR said:
Check whether the body and lens are environmentally sealed. Some of Canon's L Series lenses are, but not all of them, and I don't know about Nikon but would assume it's the same so some research is in order. If they're not, then shield the camera from rain and extreme temperature changes.

The Butterfly Journey is always problematic, whatever you do don't changes lenses in there.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that I will look into it. Would you recomend i use the 55-300mm lense in the butterfly journey?
 
JerseyLotte said:
I have the D5000 and my first suggestion is don't touch the scene modes at all. Dive straight in and start using aperture and shutter priority (A & S suprisingly!!!) the camera will balance the rest of the settings for you but you can begin to play with putting your own slant on your shots.
If you need fast off the cuff shots and don't want to mess around with settings you don't really understand yet use Program mode which is "intelligent auto".

You may find as soon as you get one or two other lenses, you won't use the 18-55mm kit lens. A 50mm prime lens would be a nice alternative.

I have a Tamron 90mm, Tamron 70-300mm and a Sigma 12-24, I still have my 18-55 kit lens but I haven't used it in months.

yy8.jpg


london1-1.jpg


56-monkey.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks for that and some really nice shots :) I have had a bit of a play around today in my back garden trying to find out how to change the apperture settings which i have so far been able to do by playing around so may have to bite the bullet and consult the intruction manual. :P
 
LeeMac13 said:
Thanks for that I will look into it. Would you recomend i use the 55-300mm lense in the butterfly journey?
Click to expand...
That depends on the minimum focal length at any given zoom. Supposedly you can get as close as 1.4m with that lens, although you might find that the combination of that amount of zoom, the minimum f/4.5 aperture, tiny DOF and the low(ish) light means that you'll need some sort of camera support (or a high ISO).

You'd be much better in there with a "proper" macro, but it's always worth experimenting, try close-ups in your back garden first.
 
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