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Nikon D40 as a beginner camera?

I have a Nikon D40 with an 18-55mm lens (standard) and also a wide angle lens to fit. Im still a very amerture photograpgher and really consider myself as a hobbyiest right now. But I would love to start my own photography business in the future. Right now I am just doing trial and errors shots wit my camera and playing around with different settings. I have so much to learn and feel like Im learning little by little, but im only touching the tip of the iceberg. I also plan on buying a 55-200mm lens in the future... reviews???

Id like some suggestions and reviews on the D40 for a beginner camera? Im also doing a practice maternity shoot with my friend indoors and outdoors and would like some ideas. She has some great natural lighting in her house but Id also like to "create" my own lighting (maybe clamp shop lights with a diffuser over?) and some backdrop ideas (someone suggested a mate shower curtain taped to the wall!).

Im a beginner here, so go easy on me :) lol
 

C. Fessler

New member
Hey there,

a D40 dosen't have a lot of feautres of more expensive models, but if you are trying to work on your 'eye' and learn the ropes of a dslr, it'll work just fine. I would reccomend getting the extra battery hand grip though (Targus makes a good one), it obviously gives you room for an extra battrey, but it also gives you more hand space for the smaller d40.

If you're going to be doing mostly portraits, I would say skip the 55-200 and pick up a 35mm 1.8, it is a killer portrait lens.

Good luck with your shoot....let us know how it goes.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Welcome Kristen,

The 18-55 mm lens, although a kit product should allow you to get the principles right. I agree that the 35 mm lens would make a great addition. Starting with just one fixed lens is recommended and the 28mm or the 35mm is a good choice for the D40 camera. However, if you are really planning to photograph a delivery, then a Nikon 12-24 mm lens is the very best you can buy but a Tokina can be had for just $499 and will work just fine for you in the close quarters and small space you have to work in. Trust me you will need this capability. (Beware of the cheaper version at $399 which does not allow autofocus on the D40!).

As for light, use just one Nikon flash and add a Stoffen Diffuser and that will be fine. You cannot expect to have a lot of gear and umbrellas n the way.

In the meanwhile, practice shooting pictures of cookie making, sweeping floors, washing windows so that you are comfortable with the controls and quickly get your brain used to composing.

See your camera to aperture priority for now and never alter that until you are ready down the road to go to manual. Wide aperture for narrow depth of filed and more light. Keep the aperture a 2.8-5.6 most of the time and you wll be fine. For extra narrow DOF, open up more. For greater DOF venture to f8.0 or even f11 but not more. Forget higher numbers.

Just keep the ISO high enough so that your speed is above 1/60 in general and you mostly do not have to go above 1/200.

Shoot, select and post here for feedback. Don't zoom in too close as you cannot create what you do not include but you can always crop away. For memories, the ambience and firends around are needed. So ignore any suggestions to "frame close". You can crop to your hearts delight after the fact.

When you are a pro, your framing will be so close and good that it can go direct to the production facility for prints with your instructions. Right now, the job is to be able to expose well and get a sharp picture with everything needed included. Gradually, you will learn that you need less, but that will be particular to your own signature style. At the computer monitor you can think about cropping in leisure and not store any of the bad choices. However, that way, you will learn what makes the picture more effective to express your own ideas as they develop.

Always shoot in RAW, even if you are not going to use those mages right now. Later there will be pictures you can develop and correct that will be robust enough to be rescued.

Good luck,

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Kristen,

Just rethinking this. With a newborn one does not want flash!

So let's think of increasing the aperture of your lens. You might also consider the Sigma 30mm f1.4. This is going to give you a lot of low light capability and the equivalent focal length would be 48 mm perspective of a full frame camera. This is $439 from B&H and is reasonable choice. The next in line for just under $200 is the 35mm Nikon f 1.8.

Asher
 
Asher,

if the baby newborn is asleep with it's eyes closed, hopefully in that optimal first two week period, do you still see an issue with the flash?

Hi Kristen,

You'll startle the baby nevertheless. I've witnessed it myself with a 5 day old I had to portrait, I knew (to avoid risk) that flash was not an option, but even switching on the positioning lights of my flash setup (to get more light for shorter shutter speeds) startled the little guy. The eye-lids only attenuate the light, but they are not all that dense. The lesson I learned was that constant light is less of an issue, but sudden changes are unpleasant.

I'm not sure if the flash will do actual damage, but it isn't an experience you want to put them through anyway.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Mike Nogle

New member
Hi Kristen, I am fairly new to digital photography as well and can tell you what I have learned. I started out with my main goal being travel and nature photography. And when you have a good eye you can get some good, and very interesting photos. For this kind of photography I got a Nikon 18-200 and keep it on my camera all the time if I don't have a shooting goal already in mind. Later I started to really admire the artistic expression that comes with a more shallow depth of field. Everyone kept telling me that you can have a cheap camera and a cheap lens, it is all up to the photographer. This simply is not true, if it were, then all the pros would have d40 and kit lenses intead of 50 or 60 K worth of gear. Think about three things, 1. How serious are you about trying to make money with photography? Know that most people making money have very nice and fast lenses, and it is them that you will be competing with. 2. How much disposable income do you have to invest into photography? 3. Is photography somthing you want to be passionate about for the rest of your life regardless if your gear ever pays for itself? Your D40, actually, is a great choice starting out. Cameras advance very fast, so no problem to learn on a lower model because the advanced models will be much better than they are now when it is time to upgrade. Quality lenses, however, can outlast your career, and you get what you pay for. If you are serious, then it can actually be a waste of money to buy inferiour lenses only to replace them later. I learned this the hard way. There are some lenses that you just should buckle down and buy. If you want to start out with portraits, the Nikon 85mm 1.4 is legendary and for good reasons. (oh how I wish I owned this lens!) you will be paying at least a grand for it though.

I would discourage taking photos including elements that distract or do not add to the quality of the photograph, only to crop later. Start practicing framing now. Cropping is in essence cutting out pixels, so you will be losing data, and it will make your photos pixelated and blurry when trying to blow them up into 8x10s or larger.

welcome to one of the best hobbies ever!

Mike
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Quality lenses, however, can outlast your career, and you get what you pay for. If you are serious, then it can actually be a waste of money to buy inferiour lenses only to replace them later. I learned this the hard way. There are some lenses that you just should buckle down and buy. If you want to start out with portraits, the Nikon 85mm 1.4 is legendary and for good reasons. (oh how I wish I owned this lens!) you will be paying at least a grand for it though.

Here Mike it's easy to agree! One cannot lose getting good lenses as they hold their value and give superior results.

I would discourage taking photos including elements that distract or do not add to the quality of the photograph, only to crop later.
Mike,

Of course, having distracting elements is not only to be discouraged but to be eschewed completely. However having extra space around a composition is a great idea. Pictures are not readily ruined for lack of 5-10% pixels but shooting exactly the final composition is part of training for particular types of work and styles. Framing at the time of pressing hte shutter is part of LF photography with planes of focus being altered and a long setup. With faster digital photography, getting the picture in the camera is the critical thing. A sunset scene changes rapidly. One can take overlapping images and stich before anything changes significantly. Framing slowly may not be an option.

My own belief is learning to frame in general should be done by the exercise of walking around without a camera, just a cardboard cutout frame. That's how I practice and plan shoots and that's how I trained two of my sons who are good photographers.

Start practicing framing now.
Agreed! But taking pictures of moments that occur fast, such as the birth of a newborn with family around, should be done fast with excess framing. Creative cropping comes later.


If one becomes a wedding photographer, correct framing will come fast, as the shots will become standardized ,however creative. Otherwise, always have more real estate to continue the creatve process of choice, right down to final presentation decisions.

Cropping is in essence cutting out pixels, so you will be losing data, and it will make your photos pixelated and blurry when trying to blow them up into 8x10s or larger.
Not when one s only getting rid of 2-25% of the pixels. You will not even notice the loss!

welcome to one of the best hobbies ever!

Agreed and seconded!

Asher
 
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C. Fessler

New member
it will make your photos pixelated and blurry when trying to blow them up into 8x10s or larger.

Mike

I have to disagree with Mike here. As long as you are not cropping out a supstantial amount of the frame, you'll notice very little difference (if any) when sizing up to an 8x10", and possibly even larger.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I loved my little Nikon D40 and have recommended it to friends who are looking for a smaller easy to carry around dslr camera - that produces top notch image quality.

My D40 was a mainstay on my first extended shooting spree in Costa Rica * where I shot over 10,000 images with it (plus another 5,000 with my Olympus E-510). Also I used it as a professional camera for my weddings for around 6 months (after my D200 had died and I was deciding on whether to purchase the D300 or move to Olympus with the E3).

Hi ISO is far better than the Nikon D200 was and not that far behind the current breed of crop sensor Nikons. The 6MP resolution was ample for several 20x30 and 24x36 prints that I made for customers - also adequate for my double page album spreads that are 10"x20" or 14"x22". I am a Jpeg shooter, crop my images and process them heavily sometimes. Focus was not quite as fast as I'd want in a real fast paced shooting scenario or in sport events - - - but I managed just fine with my weddings and had no problems with my deliberate portrait sessions. The camera reminds me much of my favorite first Nikon dlsrs - the D70's I used professionally until I go the D200 - - - only the D40 is even better than the D70's. Like the D70, the D40 (not x version) provides 1/500'th sync speed - which is so valuable to me, but few cameras have that option.

My favorite lenses - and the ones I used all of the time for my work with the D40 - were the 18-200VR that focused fast had stabilization and allowed the most versatility in all scenarios - - - and my Sigma 10-20 for ultrawide to wide. With that combo I could do anything. I never used a 50mm lens with my D200, so didn't really care that it couldn't be manually focused with my D40. The 35mm range is not suitable to me and so I never even considered the Sigma 35mm f1.4 for its speed (have to close down a stop of two anyway to be useful). When converted, it is basically a 50mm equivalent - - - and that is a boring focal length for me. I never used my 50mm on my film cameras except to hang a filter on. For macro and closeup or with gorups of people I would never want to use an f1.4 or 1.8 lens anyway - generally f5.6 is a minimum with f8 to f11 being more useful.

Most important - - - just shoot with it and use what you have. There is nothing wrong with the kit lenses and I have used them to produce salable images. Don't worry about whether it is right or the best. Any modern camera can produce incredible results. Any limitations one camera has over another - - - will be minor and can be worked around. have fun.

* a couple of the D40 shots from costa rica showing dof and lowlight ablity with 18-200 VR

3699539211_e407188a4b.jpg

D40 with 18-200VR : Shot at 1/250'th @ f5.6 using 800 ISO

3700501560_996d20ca20.jpg

D40 with 18-200VR : Camera aimed at the ceiling - 1/4 second @ f5.6 using 1600 ISO
 
I started with the D40 myself and liked it a lot. It did really well straight out of the box and when I first got mine that was a good thing because I knew nothing at all on what I was doing. I did not know if the "hobby" would stick or not so the price and quality of the camera made great sense to me at that time.

The "hobby" soon turned into a passion or as my wife called it, a sickness. After about 6 months I went to the D200 and then a few months after that I ended up with the D3. I think I am good now on the body but still have the "sickness" when it comes to lenses.

The most important thing in my mind is to practice, practice, and practice some more and study and learn from your practice. Read all you can and visit places like this. It is not so much the camera as it is the person behind it and how well they see.

James Newman
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Might I recommend the nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens. For portraits and most anything it is top notch with a very low price. I think it is better than the f/1.4 one.

I have never used a D40 but have seen results by others. Not much wanting there..for the price of course.

Good luck and share with us.
 
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