Author Topic: Just been given a nikon d50 (Read 1690 times)

luke · « **on:** 09 February 2012, 13:29 »

Just been given my late grandads nikon d50 as he used to enjoy taking photos and filming weddings for free, I will get used to the camera, only have one lens, have a jessop flash also

DubFan · « **Reply #1 on:** 09 February 2012, 13:56 »

Nice.
What's the lens you've got with it? Is it the "kit lens"? It'll say something like 18-55mm on the front.

6mpixels will be fine for screens and printing anything upto A4 size.

I would suggest, once you've got a hang of it, buy two more lenses; a 50mm "prime" lens for around £100 and then a zoom lens something like a 70-210mm.
And that should keep you going for sometime. Then later, if you find yourself flush, you can upgrade the camera body with something newer whilst keeping the lenses.

Have fun, learn the basics, experiment with the manual settings, but also think about where you're aiming the camera. The camera could be brilliant but if you point it at the wrong thing you can end up with a rubbish shot.
Here's a good list of 10 tips for composing your shot.
http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules

Also, look at other people's work (flickr.com is great for that, a lot of us are on there) for inspiration and post your own photos so other people can comment. It's a great way to get feedback and have other people tell you what they like and didn't like in your shot.

luke · « **Reply #2 on:** 09 February 2012, 14:10 »

just found the other lens

it is the twin kit lens thingy, also have the receipt totalling upto £730

stuck it on charge, going to take it out tonight and have a play with it and see what i can do, i used to be into photography as i had 2 praktica film slr's which almost got me a photography apprenticeship but got pipped to the post

DubFan · « **Reply #3 on:** 09 February 2012, 15:58 »

Even better.
I would still recommend some reading to refresh yourself on photography, perhaps just a bit of reading about DSLR specific settings like ISO, white balance, focus points and so on.

I also had a Praktica SLR, an MTL5 with 50mm and 135mm lenses.

What are the two lenses then?
If one of them isn't a prime, I would definitely suggest getting one.

luke · « **Reply #4 on:** 09 February 2012, 17:39 »

I read that link, surprisingly it was a good read, you look back and think, wow, the background does actually take your mind away from what the main point is, I'll get some snaps tonight and also see what lens they are

mcgee9t2 · « **Reply #5 on:** 09 February 2012, 20:51 »

lucky you

get some pics up matey

luke · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 February 2012, 00:05 »

One lens is 18-55 which I'm currently using and the other is a 55-200, took a few snaps with both flashes in the dark but they show too much light, plus it was snowing so it shows in the photos, is there a free photo editor which is simple to use to get used to editing photos