New camera, could use some tips..

[Skiddz]

Just ordered my 1st digial SLR, a Nikon D80 and that damn-near-impossible-to-find Nikkor 18-200 VRII lens that the photo mags/sites have been raving about...

Up until recently, I'd been shooting airshows etc with a 25 year old Pentax ME Super and have a lot of really nice pics in my albums from it.. With that rig, I shot in shutter priority mode and let the camera deal with the aperature settings and I handled the focus/zoom chores manually..

Anyone got a "quicky" setup I can try with this camera? It's going to show up on Thursday afternoon and I'm headed to the Miramar (San Diego) airshow Friday and Saturday and I'm not going to get a lot of time with the manual between shows..

I'm thinking shutter priority is the way to go as I like prop planes to have rotating propellors in my photos and hate it when the shutter speed stops the props or they're just a translucent blur..

Anyone got a decent starting point for autofocus and bracketing or any oher pertinent settings? I figure bye the time the airshow comes back next year, I'll have a good handle on the camera, but could use some pointers for this one..

Thx!

[Nate Dogg]

set it to shutter priority just like your old one. Shoot in RAW format if you can and if you can shoot both RAW and jpg at the same time, even better. The raw format requires some computer work, but it can really save your pictures from bad exposure.
I bracket at 1.5 stops, but if you shoot RAW, you can get this exposure later and you can change your white balance later too.
if the autofocus gives you a problem, just set it to focus only on the center point, then focus and frame your shot.
good luck!

[miami6]

unless you have the plug in for raw files for the D80 i would not use the Raw mode yet

use the Sandisk Extreme V cards to get the most out of the # FPS feature if you can't find the Extreme II are also great this new model uses SD format cards

[DebianDog]

RAW mode is pretty dang sweet! I have saved some low light stuff I never thought possiable!

If you have a Mac http://www.apple.com/aperture/

[Skiddz]

Nope, no Mac here.

Is the raw format the same on the D80 as it is on the CoolPix 5700? If so, I'm good to go as I shoot raw fomat on that one and tweak as needed then convert to .JPG for "distribution".

Haven't picked up a nice high speed SD card yet, but have been doing some online shopping for 2G cards.

I was going to shoot at the local airport trying +1 to +2 bracketing and take 5-6 pictures at each setting, change it up, take another 5-6 and compare the images. I figure Friday will be "test" day at the airshow and Saturday will be "Fill up the media" day..

Can't wait until the UPS truck shows up tomorrow morning...

[Nate Dogg]

the camera should come with the RAW plugins that you need... Costco has some great deals on SD cards, the sandisk extreme II and III's 2gigs are around 69 bucks...

[Skiddz]

Yep, headed there tomorrow at lunch. Camera is in the local UPS facility as of 6:02 this evening and I'll have a charged battery and a media adapter by mid-afternoon.. By dinner tomorrow my eyes should be good and red from all the manual reading. :)

[oscillator]

Skiddz,

what is your camera background? Are you familiar with other Nikon SLR cameras (film or digital)? If so this will help.

After years of using film I got the D70s about 18 months ago. Probably the best advice is to just play with it around the house and burn lots of shots (hey, its free) and notice what works and doesn't for you.

Oh, and don't ignore the idiot modes (the little icons on the wheel for portrait, landscape, sports, etc). While I mainly shoot in Aperture priority mode and use an assortment of different custom settings depending on my task, I still find the idiot modes useful when you don't have time to change all the settings (much better to get the shot than be programing the camera).

Enjoy!

-Mark

[Skiddz]

Like I mentioned initially, I've been flogging my 25 year old Pentax ME Super for a long time. I've had it completely rebuilt twice in that time and parts/service for it are no longer available. (Thankfully, it's still working very well) I've shot everything from airshows to open heart surgery (My sister is a cardiac nurse) to extreme insect closeups. I once won an award for a black and white shot of Crunchy Cheetos shot with a macro lens from about an inch away. :)

After reading a couple dozen sites (Especally Richard Seaman's) I think I've got a good handle on how I'm going to set up a couple custom programs. The camera should be here in a couple hours and I'll probably spend the rest of today and a good chunk of tomorrow "burning film"..

I'll have the 1st airshow pics posted Friday night when I get home and wade through the "ugly" ones.. Hopefully Saturday's pics will net some jewels like my trusty ol' Pentax has been doing...

Thx!

[Skiddz]

Woohoo! Camera is here in my grubby paws.. Waiting on the batteries to finish charging and then I'll start snapping. So far I'm really liking the thing. Reading the manual it appears as if everything is fairly straightforward and looking at the buttons on the body and lens, I think it'll be a quick process to learn where each one is so setup changes should be quick and easy...

Can't wait to power it up and start playing!!

[kaptkaos]

The new Camera RAW 3.5 update from Adobe is out already. It works fine. Also, the Lightroom beta will read the RAW files from the D80. I have tested both.

You will like the D80, but i wouldnt fly with that lens....you will never need that much zoom, and thats an expensive lens to put at risk. I would use the cheapy 18-55 kit lens and a Tokina 12-24 Wide angle. I have mine with the 18-135 kit and that lens is heavy!

The Tokina 12-24 got rave reviews from everyone and its $450

You will need a Wide Angle lens...