Good deal on the D90?

[Elganja]

So i have been thinking about getting either the Canon 50D or the Nikon d90... I was just looking at prices and such on amazon, came across this:

Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

then you add this lense:

Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

and get an instant 200 bucks off at checkout...

good deal? makes it worth it to get this over a 50D kit? I know they are in slightly different leagues, but they seem to be compared a lot...

edit:

I know I will have to get some SD cards, filters, hoods, backpack and such... if you have any suggestions let me know

 

[Elganja]

man i'm impulsive... just bought it. I'm sure I will be happy with it... I am a noob to the DSLR world though but hope to learn a ton. If anyone has any good starter tutorials let me know (both inside and outside shooting)

I'm going to Dubai for a week then India (I'm indian, more a less a forced family vacation )... I hope to get a little up to speed before then.

 

[tdawg]

You're going to love the D90. For guidance, you might want to run to the library/bookstore and read through some books on exposure, along with basic camera settings (iso, aperture/f-stop, shutter speed) and how they relate.

 

[Elganja]

anyone recommended backpacks? i've been looking at amazon and they seem rather expensive.

 

[RKS]

anyone recommended backpacks? i've been looking at amazon and they seem rather expensive.

I went with the LowePro Slingshot 100 for my wife. Lowepro Slingshot 100

 

[u3laptoper]

The camera itself is more than adequate for semi-professional use, but at the hands of a beginner or intermediate learner, it's a huge waste of money or talent.

Not to mention as a buyer, you have put into your hands of two low-grade zoom lens. With these apertures, you are never in a good position to compose under best possible lighting conditions.

Poor purchase decisions, a point and shoot camera is more suitable for your purposes.

 

[soydios]

The camera itself is more than adequate for semi-professional use, but at the hands of a beginner or intermediate learner, it's a huge waste of money or talent.

Not to mention as a buyer, you have put into your hands of two low-grade zoom lens. With these apertures, you are never in a good position to compose under best possible lighting conditions.

Poor purchase decisions, a point and shoot camera is more suitable for your purposes.

Well that's...encouraging. A DSLR with entry-level lenses is right away far superior to any P&S.

@OP to counteract the above quote: the 18-105mm VR is a fine and dandy walkabout lens, which you could replace with the 16-85mm VR in the future. The 70-300mm VR is known as a good performer and will serve you very well for outdoor sports or other outdoor telephoto needs. Furthermore the D90 supports off-camera iTTL-metered flash and screw-driven autofocus, which are key things if you choose to explore with an SB-600 or some of the less expensive but still very fine AF-Nikkor lenses, respectively.

 

[whoiswes]

The camera itself is more than adequate for semi-professional use, but at the hands of a beginner or intermediate learner, it's a huge waste of money or talent.

Not to mention as a buyer, you have put into your hands of two low-grade zoom lens. With these apertures, you are never in a good position to compose under best possible lighting conditions.

Poor purchase decisions, a point and shoot camera is more suitable for your purposes.

Wow, way to offer CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

First, the 18-105 is not a "low-grade" lens - it may be a kit lens but it's widely regarded as a very GOOD kit lens. I can't comment on the 70-300 so I won't.

I started on a D40 and was quickly wanting more. It took two years but I have moved to a D90 and never regretted a second.

Elganja, go pick up a copy of "Understanding Exposure", read it cover to cover. Make sure you know how to adjust all of the settings on your camera. Then run to your favorite place in the world and start taking pictures, but do NOT use program mode. Either run aperture or shutter priority, and throw some manual mode in there as well. Play with changing ISO, shutter speed, aperture and then go home and review your results. Pick a particular type of photography you like and just do it. You'll learn quickly and probably have a lot of fun doing it.

Don't let u3laptopper get you down, you made a good purchase on a camera that will allow you to grow and develop your skills (no pun intended).

I would recommend picking up the 35mm f/1.8 that Nikon just released - it's about $200 but worth every penny, and it will give you a chance to play with some very narrow depth of field as well as force you to think about composure more as you won't have a zoom to play with. Not only that but it takes very nice photos as well.

Hope this helps.

 

[jpeyton]

The camera itself is more than adequate for semi-professional use, but at the hands of a beginner or intermediate learner, it's a huge waste of money or talent.

Incorrect. The D90 has a VGA screen, a large pentaprism viewfinder, built-in CLS commander, and in-body AF motor. I'm not a professional, but I'd definitely pay a little extra money for those feature now.

Also, a "huge waste of money" is completely relative. The D90 is ~$850 for the body, which puts it squarely in the "consumer" market as far as pricing goes. If he was buying a D300s or D700, you might have had an argument.

Not to mention as a buyer, you have put into your hands of two low-grade zoom lens. With these apertures, you are never in a good position to compose under best possible lighting conditions.

Now I wonder if you're even qualified to give advice, since you're completely contradicting yourself from one paragraph to another. First, the OP was too much of an amateur to deserve owning a camera like the D90, and now he's an idiot for not having purchased professional lenses?

Not to mention the fact that I can name several professionals (who actually make a living off their photography) that vouch for the 70-300mm VR as one of Nikon's best telephoto lenses under $1000: http://www.lesjones.com/2009/05/29/in-praise-of-nikons-70-300mm-vr-lens/

Poor purchase decisions, a point and shoot camera is more suitable for your purposes.

Enjoy your camera, OP. It will take much better pictures than any point-and-shoot camera on the market. Take some time to read the manual, learn the settings, and do some online reading about photography (controlling aperture, shutter-speed, ISO).

 

[Elganja]

Thanks for the constructive comments, i've been looking at beginner guides and tutorials all day on aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity (iso), depth of field, etc... some if it is really interesting. Camera should be here tomorrow or Tuesday, can't wait!

whoiswes, I will go ahead and get that lense too since it is fairly cheap, but after that I'm going to cut myself off from buying stuff until I get some experience under my belt.

jpeyton, I do agree it is relative how much you want to spend. For me, the D90 is well within my budget I set for myself.

 

[soydios]

Whoiswes gives good advice, the 35/1.8 is the "nifty fifty" of the DX market.

Elganja: play around and experiment with the camera. It's digital, so every shutter click is free. If you have any questions whatsoever, just post them here or PM me or one of the several other D90 users in this forum and we'll be happy to answer.

 

[VorpalBunny]

Elganja, I went through the same learning curve about 8 months ago. I also have the D90 with 18-105 and 70-300. I love the 70-300 and do a lot of shooting including macro. I know you're looking for materials that will help you learn the in and out of all the technical details. Might I recommend the blue crane series of tutorial DVDs. There's one specifically for the D90. But on the same token I would also look for a book to suppliment whatever you learn on the DVDs. There are a lot of resources in Northern Virginia. I'll plug the Washington Photo Safari. I learned a lot last time I went out on their safari. If memory serves me, they have a D90 clinic coming up. Next Saturday December 5th I think. Good Luck! This should be rather exciting time.

 

[Elganja]

Elganja, I went through the same learning curve about 8 months ago. I also have the D90 with 18-105 and 70-300. I love the 70-300 and do a lot of shooting including macro. I know you're looking for materials that will help you learn the in and out of all the technical details. Might I recommend the blue crane series of tutorial DVDs. There's one specifically for the D90. But on the same token I would also look for a book to suppliment whatever you learn on the DVDs. There are a lot of resources in Northern Virginia. I'll plug the Washington Photo Safari. I learned a lot last time I went out on their safari. If memory serves me, they have a D90 clinic coming up. Next Saturday December 5th I think. Good Luck! This should be rather exciting time.

VorpalBunny, the class coming up is for the D-60, but I'll keep an eye out for a D-90 class. I'll check out those dvd's too that you mentioned.

edit: I take that back, on their calendar it says one thing, but in the list of events it says another. I think it will be a little too soon for me to take that class though. I want to play around with the camera a little bit before I take a class on it

 

[qbfx]

The camera itself is more than adequate for semi-professional use, but at the hands of a beginner or intermediate learner, it's a huge waste of money or talent.

Not to mention as a buyer, you have put into your hands of two low-grade zoom lens. With these apertures, you are never in a good position to compose under best possible lighting conditions.

Poor purchase decisions, a point and shoot camera is more suitable for your purposes.

Wow, some people here don't know what they're talking about. I myself purchased a Canon XS two months ago and now I'm finding myself wanting to upgrade to something like the 50D for the better AF performance, faster continuous mode and better ISO performance. Op's decision to opt for a higher class body is very practical IMO and saves money in the long run.

I cannot comment on Nikkor lenses because I'm a canon guy but I've heard good things about the lenses op was talking about. And those are VR, apart for shallow DOF, I don't see what the 18-105 and the 70-300 are lacking as to cripple op's composition possibilities under low light.

You don't know what op's purposes are so your last sentence doesn't make sense.

 

[Aharami]

I went with the LowePro Slingshot 100 for my wife. Lowepro Slingshot 100

i have the slingshot 200 and i just love this bag. it doesn't offer much in terms of carrying capacity, but it's perfectly sized for me, and I love the ease of access this bag provides

and welcome to the world of DSLRs. I'm new to it myself, and I'm loving every minute of it. Just yesterday I drove out to Brooklyn to take pictures of the Brooklyn bridge and lower Manhattan skyline. I dont think I've ever driven 1 hr out to somewhere just to take pictures for 30 mins before I got the XSi

 

[Elganja]

I went with the LowePro Slingshot 100 for my wife. Lowepro Slingshot 100

i have the slingshot 200 and i just love this bag. it doesn't offer much in terms of carrying capacity, but it's perfectly sized for me, and I love the ease of access this bag provides

I ended up going with the Kata R-103. Was able to find it on ebay for a little cheaper then amazon + 10% bing cashback.

I went with this back because I liked the design and access of the compartments, it's a bag with 2 straps for comfort (over the slingshot design), and it has an area for a laptop. Pretty much can replace my normal book bag i take on trips that usually houses my netbook, ds and chargers.

 

[ProfJohn]

Here is my 2 cents

1. The D90 is an awesome camera, I upgraded from a 70s and am very happy with it.

2. Nikon's kit lens have gotten cheaper in the last few years. The 18-105 is a decent lens, but probably not worth the money vs what you could buy on your own. Especially if you bought a pre-owned off name brand lens such as a Sigma or Tamron.

3. Learning about aperture and shutter speed etc is all fine and dandy, but 99% of the time you will be letting the camera do all that type of work. What you should REALLY work on is composition. That is what sets a professional apart from an amateur. Look at some of the photo threads on this site. It isn't the technical ability that sets the good photographers apart from the hacks, it is their compositions.

4. My buying advice: The 35mm 1.8 is around $200 I believe, skip it and buy the 50mm 1.8 instead since it is about half the price and use the saved money to buy an SB-400 (Nikon's cheap flash) it is worth every penny and is a MUST have for indoor portraits and even outdoor stuff to use as a fill flash. (If money isn't an issue buy the bigger flash.) Also, buy the cheap remote, again worth every penny. Finally, Kingston makes something called a "MobileLite" USB reader, very cheap and a great way to get your photos off the camera and on to a PC, plus it comes with a 2gb sd card

 

[Elganja]

Here is my 2 cents

1. The D90 is an awesome camera, I upgraded from a 70s and am very happy with it.

2. Nikon's kit lens have gotten cheaper in the last few years. The 18-105 is a decent lens, but probably not worth the money vs what you could buy on your own. Especially if you bought a pre-owned off name brand lens such as a Sigma or Tamron.

Will keep that in mind about the off-brand lenses

3. Learning about aperture and shutter speed etc is all fine and dandy, but 99% of the time you will be letting the camera do all that type of work. What you should REALLY work on is composition. That is what sets a professional apart from an amateur. Look at some of the photo threads on this site. It isn't the technical ability that sets the good photographers apart from the hacks, it is their compositions.

4. My buying advice: The 35mm 1.8 is around $200 I believe, skip it and buy the 50mm 1.8 instead since it is about half the price and use the saved money to buy an SB-400 (Nikon's cheap flash) it is worth every penny and is a MUST have for indoor portraits and even outdoor stuff to use as a fill flash. (If money isn't an issue buy the bigger flash.) Also, buy the cheap remote, again worth every penny. Finally, Kingston makes something called a "MobileLite" USB reader, very cheap and a great way to get your photos off the camera and on to a PC, plus it comes with a 2gb sd card

I got the SB-600 flash on the way also (forgot to mention it earlier). As for the lense, I already bought the 35mm one. For now I am done buying stuff though until I get a bunch of experience under my belt.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[ProfJohn]

Sounds like you have everything you need to take some great photos. At this point I doubt you need to get anything else unless you really want to become serious or have a lot of money to spend.

Just go out and play with the camera now and have fun.

In the future you should be looking at a cheap tripod for night shots or long exposures, does wonders with waterfalls etc. Get the remote, it is only $15, you will find yourself using it more than you make think.

 

[Elganja]

Sounds like you have everything you need to take some great photos. At this point I doubt you need to get anything else unless you really want to become serious or have a lot of money to spend.

Just go out and play with the camera now and have fun.

In the future you should be looking at a cheap tripod for night shots or long exposures, does wonders with waterfalls etc. Get the remote, it is only $15, you will find yourself using it more than you make think.

I actually got a wireless remote, it came part of a package free, with some fitlers I got (circular polarizer). It's this one

 

[ProfJohn]

Link isn't working. Have fun with camera, show us some of the shots

 

[MotF Bane]

Link isn't working. Have fun with camera, show us some of the shots

Link works fine.

Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control for Nikon D40, D40x, D60, D80 & D90 Digital SLR Cameras, at Amazon, $9.49.

 

[VorpalBunny]

Just go out and play with the camera now and have fun.

Agreed. Experimentation and practice is cheapest and best advice. Even if the weather is bad outside (like it has been around here) or you don't feel like running off somewhere because you don't want to deal with traffic nonsense, setup a table of objects at home. I recently did this with my lenses because I wanted to test minimum focus distance. (I'm in the market for a macro lens.) I also wanted to test depth of field and how zoom and aperture impacts my composition. Then for fun, I shot under low light learning how aperture affects shutter time. In that experiment, I use aperture priority. But I ran another test with shutter priority so I could gain an better understanding from both sides. I've even run several tests where I will take a shot using automatic settings (auto). Then I review the settings the camera decided to use for the shot. I would then set my camera to manual and retake the same shot using various aperture settings. Doing this forced me to figure out how to adjust other settings like ISO and shutter time to create the *same* looking picture. Not over exposed, not underexposed, as close to the original auto shot as possible. This was a great experiment for me and I recommend this kind of play.

 

[whoiswes]

Here is my 2 cents

1. The D90 is an awesome camera, I upgraded from a 70s and am very happy with it.

2. Nikon's kit lens have gotten cheaper in the last few years. The 18-105 is a decent lens, but probably not worth the money vs what you could buy on your own. Especially if you bought a pre-owned off name brand lens such as a Sigma or Tamron.

3. Learning about aperture and shutter speed etc is all fine and dandy, but 99% of the time you will be letting the camera do all that type of work. What you should REALLY work on is composition. That is what sets a professional apart from an amateur. Look at some of the photo threads on this site. It isn't the technical ability that sets the good photographers apart from the hacks, it is their compositions.

4. My buying advice: The 35mm 1.8 is around $200 I believe, skip it and buy the 50mm 1.8 instead since it is about half the price and use the saved money to buy an SB-400 (Nikon's cheap flash) it is worth every penny and is a MUST have for indoor portraits and even outdoor stuff to use as a fill flash. (If money isn't an issue buy the bigger flash.) Also, buy the cheap remote, again worth every penny. Finally, Kingston makes something called a "MobileLite" USB reader, very cheap and a great way to get your photos off the camera and on to a PC, plus it comes with a 2gb sd card

I know the OP already responded and all that but I have to comment on a few of your points for posterity:

1. you make a good point about composition, and I don't disagree that good composition can save a technically deficient photo. my original point in advising the OP to learn the technical aspects of composition is that they are just as important as the artistic components. If he doesn't understand DOF and fast versus slow shutter speed and just used program mode all the time his pictures will never live up to their potential, no matter how well they are composed artistically. I also have to advise against "99% of the time you will be letting the camera do all that type of work". I'd say that's how I started out, in program mode 95% of the time, but for the most part I'm now running aperture or shutter priority (depending on the situation) 90% of the time and relying on program when I just want to snap something quick. Knowing how to compose the technical aspects of the frame the way I want is invaluable, versus allowing the camera to decide for me.

2. the 50mm 1.8 on a crop camera is a mild telephoto and, while a good lens, isn't going to be as versatile as a 50mm equivalent (which on a crop camera is 35mm) for a walkaround lens (which is what I'm guessing the OP is after). Remember that the 50mm equivalent is about what our eyes "see" at. Which leads right back to your point about composition. Also, the SB400 is a waste of money since it cannot do portrait oriented bounce flash. Glad to hear the OP bought the 600 as it's MUCH more versatile.

My $0.02, take it or leave it.

 

[ProfJohn]

My 3 cents

1. I am in program mode almost all the time. The only time I take it off program is when I am trying to do something specific, such as fire works or water falls etc etc. Otherwise I let the camera do the work because I know I will get a good photo nearly all of the time.

2. I don't think of the 50mm as a 'walk around' lens, but more as a special use lens. I tend to switch between the 50 and my 18-70 depending on the situation. As for the 'as our eyes see it' concept. I never stand in one place anyway but am always moving foward or backwards when taking pics trying to get the best shot.

3. I love my SB400. It was much cheaper than any other flash I could have gotten at the time and it does a wonderful job in limited situations. It makes a great bounce flash, but only in landscape mode, and does a decent job as a fill flash. Now I would certainly recommend the SB600 to anyone who has the money, but to a beginner I think the SB400 is a great flash and a HUGE improvement over the built in flash.

Anyway... back to taking pictures