Photography

Hi Gary, congrats on your new camera, you don't tell us any more than which body you have, so it would be good for everyone to help you if they know what other kit you have, particularly lenses and maybe a good sturdy tripod?  Also you don't say if you have any photo experience?

Perhaps as a starter you could look at Neil Smith's images on Flickr which shows the EXIF info for his shots so you can see the kit he uses for the great shots he produces. His Flickr user name is neil smith2010.

RobO

Hey there Rob, I knew I had left something out on my original post :)

I bought the Nikon D5300 18-55mm VR II Kit. It came with a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VRII

Since Christmas I have also bought two more lenses, the Tamron AF70-300 f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 and a Vivitar 500mm Mirror Lens f/ 8.0 MF

I have a nice vivitar tripod too on which I use a little hand held remote shutter release.

I have zero photography experience either but I am really getting hooked on using my new toys. I am so looking forward to April when I can get my hands on my new Hawke Endurance ED 16-48x68 Spotting Scope too. Cannot wait to take that to Frampton Marsh.

Hi-

Ruff- august 2013 Frampton- Lumix 200

S

Hi Gary. One tip I would give you in regards to getting clearer shots is this: Your particular camera has what is called a crop factor. Without going into too much detail, the crop factor on the D5300 is (I believe) 1.5x. If you have your camera set on ‘full auto’, the camera will make all of the decisions in regards to exposing the shot, and with moving subjects such as birds, this can often lead to the shots being blurred due to the movement of the subject. If I could suggest that you perhaps try setting the camera to ‘shutter priority’…’S’ on your selector, and make sure that the shutter speed is set to at least ½ again the length of your lens. In other words, if you’re using your Tamron 70 – 300mm lens, at 300mm, have your shutter speed set to at least 1/450th of a second (300 x crop factor of 1.5 = 450). This should help to eliminate camera shake, especially if you’re shooting ‘handheld’. Even though you have set the shutter speed, the camera will work out the rest of the exposure for the shots. I hope this might help you a wee bit at least. Whistling Joe has posted some interesting info which can be found HERE if you fancy reading up a bit more about camera settings, and how they might affect your shots. I look forward to seeing your photos when you get out and about.

Paul

Thanks so much for that info Paul, I am currently testing my camera out on garden birds but I will try out your suggestions tomorrow. I have not come across the 1.5x thing before so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I will also check out the link you provided. All info greatly received :)

I'd been toying with doing a part 2 in the Getting off Auto info, and have been reading this thread with interest as it coincided with a conversation in a hide about exposure - so here's part 2, if it's any help :-)