What difference a new camera makes!

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Harriet
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What difference a new camera makes!

Post by Harriet »

Upgraded my old Nikon D50 to the new D7000. Light years difference in the cameras' features functions hardware et.al., but here is the most obvious difference. The top photo is from the old camera, bottom from the new. Settings are the same. The difference is because of the hardware and the better lens. The old camera would never have handled the light so well.
COMPARISON.jpg
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Of course you don't have to go to the expense of this kind of upgrade, but if your digital camera is as old as mine was, it might be worth looking at upgrades.

I have also attached a badly focused first snap with my new macro lens. Oh boy, this is going to be fun!
007.JPG
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daiv
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Re: What difference a new camera makes!

Post by daiv »

Congrats! Looking forward to those macros!
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CoronaCactus
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Re: What difference a new camera makes!

Post by CoronaCactus »

Sweet! D50 to D7000 is a chasm of a jump, i bet you're having fun with that toy!
but you coulda got a Canon! *ducks for cover* :mrgreen:
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Harriet
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Re: What difference a new camera makes!

Post by Harriet »

CoronaCactus wrote:but you coulda got a Canon! *ducks for cover* :mrgreen:
Canon is an excellent choice, but I couldn't afford one... I have too much invested in Nikon lenses!

Speaking of which, it is going to take more time to get used to the macro than I expected. It will work much better with a tripod, and I am not the patient tripod type. It (and all the others) would also work much better if it would just stop raining!

BUT, here are some practice shots from this week...
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D7K_0040.JPG
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D7K_0099.JPG
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D7K_0106.JPG
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I think it handles red pretty well... and I also think I'm going to have to adjust file size as these things are mega huge!
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Peterthecactusguy
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Re: What difference a new camera makes!

Post by Peterthecactusguy »

sheesh, there is nothing wrong with Nikon Cameras.. in fact for a long time they were the best cameras in the world. speaking of cameras I need to upload pictures. My camera is at home tho, tomorrow. I have said this for around 30 days in a row!
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SnowFella
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Re: What difference a new camera makes!

Post by SnowFella »

Almost wish I would of gone with either a Nikon or Canon rather than the Sony I did buy, nothing really wrong with the camera itself but it's a pain to find accessories to it! Stores around here just doesn't seem to carry any lenses or stuff for Sony, it's all Canon or Nikon, and I don't really want to buy without trying first.
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Re: What difference a new camera makes!

Post by DaveW »

Are you using autofocus with your macro lens Harriet? If so switch to manual as autofocus is unreliable close up. There is enough depth of field in conventional photography to cover any imprecision in autofocus, but in macro photography you may only have a centimeter or less depth of field, a few millimeters in some cases. Autofocus anyway does not always know what you wish to focus on and close up and with small depths of field you may need to focus midway between two parts of the plant where there is nothing for autofocus to focus on in order to spread the small depth of field over the subject. There is still no automation that beats the human eye using screen focusing close up, particularly for static subjects like plants. Just use manual and adjust focus until things appear sharp on the focusing screen. Don't rely of the focus confirmation light either close up as it simply works off the autofocus sensor, therefore is no more accurate than autofocus close up.

As you will be focusing using the focusing screen I presume you have properly set the diopter adjustment on your viewfinder? The correct way to do this with a Nikon is to switch the camera on, since you cannot do it without a battery in and the camera switched on these days with most DSLR cameras because the focusing screen is now overlaid by an LCD display of focusing marks etc and will not clear properly until the power is on. Next you adjust the viewfinder diopter setting for your eyesight by adjusting it until the autofocus area marks on the screen are at their sharpest. Don't try and adjust it by viewing a normal scene because it's the focusing screen your eye needs to be focused on in order to screen focus the camera properly. This should be in the Nikon manual, but very few people read those and if they rely on autofocus do not realise their viewfinder diopter setting is not already set correctly for their eyesight as the camera comes out of the box and so requires adjustment.

Once you have your viewfinder focusing set correctly and manual focus I think you will see a big difference in the sharpness of your macro shots.

This was taken with a 70-180 Micro Nikkor on a Nikon D200 on a tripod using manual focus and remote release to avoid camera shake.
Turbinicarpus schmiedickianus rubriflorus.jpg
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Harriet
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Re: What difference a new camera makes!

Post by Harriet »

Thanks for the information. Life has intervened in my pursuit of hobbies over the past several months, and I have not had time to experiment with the macro lens. But, I will keep your advice in mind when I can get back to it!
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