Nikon D3300 on order :)

[LucasLand]

I'm just getting into photography and have just ordered the Nikon D3300 with a large accessory kit. I can't wait to start taking some pics. looking forward to the new photos app that will be coming out for OSX. Since they have stopped support for aperture, I don't think I'll even waste time learning it. probably just use iPhoto for the time being.

I'm also looking forward to trying out video in 1080p 60FPS. should be fun.

I'll be making an unboxing video when i get it.

I bought the red version. i thought it looked cooler

 

[Apple fanboy]

Welcome to the Nikon club!

Here is a set up guide you might find useful.

http://froknowsphoto.com/nikon-d3300-users-guide/

As for the unboxing video, I never did understand why people do them. Unless its the first, we all know what they look like.

 

[LucasLand]

i love that fro knows guy. been watching him the past 2 days. when i realized i would be buying the nikon, i searched on youtube for videos about the d3300 and on photography 101 and discovered his vids. I was planning on watching more of his. there is another guy named dicasafilm on youtube. I watched a photo 101 video he made and learned a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axKEUnxqWZY


as for unboxing videos, i love them. whenever i'm about to make a big purchase i like to watch other peoples vids so I can see exactly how it comes packaged. Sometimes they will buy something from a smaller store and I may see something that might change my mind about buying from them. Plus if i'm happy with my shipment, then i don't mind spreading the word about the store with the video.

 

[Apple fanboy]

i love that fro knows guy. been watching him the past 2 days. when i realized i would be buying the nikon, i searched on youtube for videos about the d3300 and on photography 101 and discovered his vids. I was planning on watching more of his. there is another guy named dicasafilm on youtube. I watched a photo 101 video he made and learned a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axKEUnxqWZY


as for unboxing videos, i love them. whenever i'm about to make a big purchase i like to watch other peoples vids so I can see exactly how it comes packaged. Sometimes they will buy something from a smaller store and I may see something that might change my mind about buying from them. Plus if i'm happy with my shipment, then i don't mind spreading the word about the store with the video.

Yeah I find the weekly RAW talk entertaining whilst doing a bit of photo editing. He does talk a bit of sense amongst all the rubbish. Most importantly;
Shoot RAW
Get out of Auto
Two things that helped me a lot (been shooting 1 year now).
It's an expensive hobby though if you get sucked in like me.
Don't forget to shoot lots and post plenty in the POTD thread.
Best way to learn.

 

[ChrisA]

Yeah I find the weekly RAW talk entertaining whilst doing a bit of photo editing. He does talk a bit of sense amongst all the rubbish. Most importantly;
Shoot RAW
Get out of Auto
Two things that helped me a lot (been shooting 1 year now).
It's an expensive hobby though if you get sucked in like me.
Don't forget to shoot lots and post plenty in the POTD thread.
Best way to learn.

Actually you can argue that it is better to
1) place the camera on "full auto"
2) Shoot JPG

It is NOT an expensive hobby unless you want it to be. A Used SLR kit can cost under $200.

The advice to shoot a LOT is good. I'd add that you should also shoot with a purpose. Make a self-asignment and evaluate your work against some goal.

The reason I'd (maybe) argue for using auto is that you first need to learn PHOTOGRAPHY. Later you can learn camera operation. So many beginners confuse the two subjects. "Photography" is all about the subject and saying something about the subject. And for 90% of the time the auto setting will pick exactly what you'd likely do in manual mode. Why bother learning those 10% cases? The more important thing is the content.

Why JPG? Because a complex work flow again gets in the way of learning photography. You want to learn how to "see" the subject and how to take photos other people will want to look at.

If you start out teaching camera operation and raw work flow what you get is a student who can make really well exposed "snapshots" that are boring. By NOT teaching camera operations you loose 10% to 15% of the shots for technical reasons (camera shake, exposure, motion blur, poor use of DOF,....) but the plan should be to address the odd-ball cases later AFTER learning the #1 most important thing which is where to place and aim the camera. Where to place the subject relative to the background, colors and lines.

I'd also argue to start with just one 50mm prime lens and leave the camera on full auto. YES you miss hundreds of shots with these limitations but you get enough shots to learn about camera placement (the prime lens FORCES you to think about camera location.) Once you are making good images then expand the kit to allow "A" mode or "P" mode operations, then add exposure compensation and so on and so on but slowly.

The problem this solves is the very common case where the person learns what every button and dial does but still can't create an image that people care about.

Good beginner books to get are some oversized "coffee table" photo books. Nothing about about "how to work you camera" but books that contain photos you like. Then try and emulate them.

Later there is time or technical stuff. Use it to solve a specific problem.

 

[BJMRamage]

Congrats on the purchase.
After reading both posts, though they seem to be opposites...they're both good.

The idea to learn how to capture the scene/memory better than a snapshot (leave it on Auto/JPG) is good to visualize the photo.

Switching to RAW/non-Auto is great as it lets you do more than push a button.

It depends on you skill level or if you've used a camera before. you need to be comfortable behind the camera first, know what you are shooting--not just snapping away--and once you have that down, learn how to achieve more with your photography.

I've shot with a SLR for about 20 years now. First 10 were with film camera. Then the switch to Digital...and a better DLSR a few years back. I tried RAW early on and opened it in Photoshop or Bridge (not sure which) and didn't see any positives for it...looked like my JPGs and just took more space, so i reverted back to JPG. Last year I finally switched to RAW and shooting more Manual and actually understanding photography. I really understand the power/potential from RAW and try to use my mind to understand what I want to do with the camera before shooting. (Though with 2 wild kids under 5, i sometimes shoot quick and chase after–last vacation my son was getting too close to a waterfalls edge as I shot.)


You have to be comfortable behind the camera, knowing you are taking photographs, not snapshots, understand the basics of those dials. you will refine your skills but you won't get any better if you don't take risks. I shot in RAW for about a month before we went on a Disney vacation. I decided to go RAW and mostly Manual on vacation. I had to risk my vacation shots because I knew it would make them better. and glad I did.

a book worth reading, Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure: http://amzn.com/0817439390

and some shots I took in RAW and later edited in Aperture to fix some issues.
with some I forgot my last setting and took a shot, only to see it was overexposed...or my wife too an underexposed shot, i had a bad color-cast that could be corrected.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVFcneX

 

[Apple fanboy]

Actually you can argue that it is better to
1) place the camera on "full auto"
2) Shoot JPG

It is NOT an expensive hobby unless you want it to be. A Used SLR kit can cost under $200.

The advice to shoot a LOT is good. I'd add that you should also shoot with a purpose. Make a self-asignment and evaluate your work against some goal.

The reason I'd (maybe) argue for using auto is that you first need to learn PHOTOGRAPHY. Later you can learn camera operation. So many beginners confuse the two subjects. "Photography" is all about the subject and saying something about the subject. And for 90% of the time the auto setting will pick exactly what you'd likely do in manual mode. Why bother learning those 10% cases? The more important thing is the content.

Why JPG? Because a complex work flow again gets in the way of learning photography. You want to learn how to "see" the subject and how to take photos other people will want to look at.

If you start out teaching camera operation and raw work flow what you get is a student who can make really well exposed "snapshots" that are boring. By NOT teaching camera operations you loose 10% to 15% of the shots for technical reasons (camera shake, exposure, motion blur, poor use of DOF,....) but the plan should be to address the odd-ball cases later AFTER learning the #1 most important thing which is where to place and aim the camera. Where to place the subject relative to the background, colors and lines.

I'd also argue to start with just one 50mm prime lens and leave the camera on full auto. YES you miss hundreds of shots with these limitations but you get enough shots to learn about camera placement (the prime lens FORCES you to think about camera location.) Once you are making good images then expand the kit to allow "A" mode or "P" mode operations, then add exposure compensation and so on and so on but slowly.

The problem this solves is the very common case where the person learns what every button and dial does but still can't create an image that people care about.

Good beginner books to get are some oversized "coffee table" photo books. Nothing about about "how to work you camera" but books that contain photos you like. Then try and emulate them.

Later there is time or technical stuff. Use it to solve a specific problem.

Whilst I agree leaning about Composition is important, I think that can still be learnt at the same time as propper camera modes. I'm not suggesting the OP starts in Manual mode, but Aperture Priority is a good way to go.
Shooting RAW actually helps the new photographer to recover photos where his settings may have been a bit off.

 

[MacNut]

If you are going to just shoot auto why bother with a DSLR in the first pace. A decent point and shoot can give you the same results at half the price. The idea of a better camera is to get more creative with your shots. Sure start off in auto but don't stay there. The only way to get great shots is to experiment. I quite enjoy the post processing to touch up something. Just snapping and posting seems to take the joy out of it.

 

[ChrisA]

If you are going to just shoot auto why bother with a DSLR in the first pace. A decent point and shoot can give you the same results at half the price. The idea of a better camera is to get more creative with your shots. Sure start off in auto but don't stay there. The only way to get great shots is to experiment. I quite enjoy the post processing to touch up something. Just snapping and posting seems to take the joy out of it.

You likely use the auto for 80% and would disagree with its setting about 20% of the time.

My suggestion to use auto was for teaching photography to beginners. The idea was to introduce the most important concepts first. Those have to do with the subject and are not technical.

The SLR does offer things you can't get with a point and shoot even if both cameras are left on full auto
1) The larger sensor is more sensitive to light, you get better color and less noise
2) the SLR handles fast with almost zero shutter lag. This is I think the #1 advantage.
3) Every point and shoot camera I've owned does in fact allow you to control shutter speed, f-stop and ISO. It's just not convenient as these are buried in a menu. The SLR is faster

The automatic system on a modern SLR is very good especially if you use the scene modes for close-up portrait and landscape, macro or whatever.

Of course later you might have an image in your head and you KNOW the automatic system would not create that image so you decide to (maybe) add a stop and a half more exposure or some fill-in flash. But first you need to know what the automatic meter would do.

I've spent a few years studying how people learn new skills, the bottom line is "don't hit then with a fire hose blast of new information. Only after they can compose and pre-visulize images then give then a problem and a solution and then practice, then another problem and so on. If teaching yourself this goes double.

The most important thing to learn is how to place the subject and background in the frame. For that you need to decide the "proper" subject to camera distance and subject to background distance and you will have to move both camera and subject to get this. But you give a beginner a zoom lens and he never even thinks about this. Just watch what they all do and you will see.

When yu think about it, an SLR with a prime lens set to full-auto is VERY limiting in the photos it can take. It FORCES the user to think really hard but at the same time does not require they know any "technical stuff".

 

[MacNut]

You likely use the auto for 80% and would disagree with its setting about 20% of the time.

My suggestion to use auto was for teaching photography to beginners. The idea was to introduce the most important concepts first. Those have to do with the subject and are not technical.

The SLR does offer things you can't get with a point and shoot even if both cameras are left on full auto
1) The larger sensor is more sensitive to light, you get better color and less noise
2) the SLR handles fast with almost zero shutter lag. This is I think the #1 advantage.
3) Every point and shoot camera I've owned does in fact allow you to control shutter speed, f-stop and ISO. It's just not convenient as these are buried in a menu. The SLR is faster

The automatic system on a modern SLR is very good especially if you use the scene modes for close-up portrait and landscape, macro or whatever.

Of course later you might have an image in your head and you KNOW the automatic system would not create that image so you decide to (maybe) add a stop and a half more exposure or some fill-in flash. But first you need to know what the automatic meter would do.

I've spent a few years studying how people learn new skills, the bottom line is "don't hit then with a fire hose blast of new information. Only after they can compose and pre-visulize images then give then a problem and a solution and then practice, then another problem and so on. If teaching yourself this goes double.

The most important thing to learn is how to place the subject and background in the frame. For that you need to decide the "proper" subject to camera distance and subject to background distance and you will have to move both camera and subject to get this. But you give a beginner a zoom lens and he never even thinks about this. Just watch what they all do and you will see.

When yu think about it, an SLR with a prime lens set to full-auto is VERY limiting in the photos it can take. It FORCES the user to think really hard but at the same time does not require they know any "technical stuff".

Actually I use manual about 80%. I only shoot auto if I am at a party and the light sucks but I need the shot fast.

I always shoot manual focus.

 

[shinji]

I always shoot manual focus.

Did you have a bad childhood experience with autofocus?

 

[MacNut]

Did you have a bad childhood experience with autofocus?

Just bad experiences with it. One of the greatest joys in getting a DSLR was the control over focusing on what I wanted, not what the lens thought I wanted

 

[ChrisA]

Actually I use manual about 80%. I only shoot auto if I am at a party and the light sucks but I need the shot fast.

I always shoot manual focus.

There was a time when I shot 100% manual focus. There was no other option. I never had an issue with focus but today most people can't do that because the camera's focus screen is not designed for manual focus. The old screen had split prisms and micro prisms and really made it easy to see. The new screen are just plain flat glass.

Today our eyes need to be nearly super human to manually focus a modern SLR. I bet no one over 40 year old can do MF any more.

OK I do manually focus macro shots that are made on a tripod. The autofocus never picks the exact spot I want to be sharp but I let the AF get it close and I have a 6x magnifier that slips over the view finder.

But no matter how good your eyes I bet you don't shoot birds in flight with MF.