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AmberKim In reply to AlexandraSophie [2010-03-23 20:57:02 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much
I know, the quality is pretty terrible in my photos
I've decided now that I'm definitely buying a new camera, and it's so great to have something to save up for and work towards :]

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AmberKim In reply to THLight [2010-03-23 20:55:31 +0000 UTC]

haha thank you! :]

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AmberKim In reply to xAgNO3x [2010-03-19 12:55:39 +0000 UTC]

I would love a Nikon D700 but there's no way I would ever be able to afford that right now! I was thinking more along the lines of a D80 or a Canon EOS Rebel or something? I need to look into it more and you're right, I really don't want to lose any creativity :/

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xAgNO3x In reply to AmberKim [2010-03-20 16:50:09 +0000 UTC]

I have had several types of cameras, and did lot of technical research about how they work, very deep research. Not to mention I retouch pictures from different photographers with different cameras every day, so I think my opinion is true. Go for a Nikon D90, you can also record movies with that one and it's much better than the D80 because the dynamic range and the signal to noise ratio: appareil1 /201|0/(appareil2)/294|0/(onglet)/0/(brand)/Nikon/(brand2)/Nikon

There you will find lot of info about cameras and a way to compare.

Dynamic range and S/N (Signal to Noise Ratio) is what you must keep in mind before buying. The wider the dynamic range, the more details you will get in contrasty situations. For example, shoting inside your room against a window which lets the sun getting into your room will result on: white window, well expossed room; or: well expossed window, but a dark room. When the dynamic range is wider, you will get both locations with the same exposure, as use to do the eye. The eye has a very wide dynamic range, much more than any camera out there.

Now, S/N is measured in db's and it's the resultant of how the photons impact over the pixels of the camera sensor. The more static, the more noise. D90 has much less static than the D80, which means less noise. Less noise means smoother tonal transitions and smoother tonal transitions means, better film-like photographs, specially when shooting in black and white or processing the pic to that. For example, the bokeh: [link] which is the blurred area, will look smoother when the noise is low. Lot of tonal transitions are involved in the bokeh.

These are the reasons to always buy the best camera you can afford. Forget Canon, they do shitty cameras. They're now most interested in the megapixels market (forget also old models of Canon). What people doesn't know is that the more pixels (and its consequence of smaller pixels), the more noise, the less color fidelity, the less transitions, the less dynamic range, in that order.

If you need to know more, just let me know.

Mart

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AmberKim In reply to xAgNO3x [2010-03-23 20:55:21 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! That actually really helped a lot, I'd been looking into quite a few cameras, and the Nikon d90 is now definitely one of them. You don't seem to be much of a fan of Canon? Many of the photos I enjoy from other photographers seem to have been taken with a Canon EOS Rebel or something similar so I'm on the fence about them.
That being said, the Nikon d90 is what I'll aim to save up for, but then there's always the problem of lenses, they're pretty pricey but I know they're important.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to help me! :]

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xAgNO3x In reply to AmberKim [2010-03-26 08:10:30 +0000 UTC]

You don't need to buy Nikon Lenses, you can go for something cheaper such as Tamron or Sigma. They do good stuff, not so good as Nikon, but good enough. As for the lenses, you have 2 types: fast lenses and slow lenses. Faster lenses have a very wide diaphragm aperture, such as the Nikon prime lens 50mm f/1.4 (I have that one) and these kind of lenses usually have one only zoom level, that's why these are called "prime". You cannot zoom with these. The bokeh is very, very nice and soft. Very good for photographing small things or general shots in very low light conditions. The zoom lenses (not prime) are able to allow you to use the zoom, but usually, their diaphragm number doesn't goes under f/2.8, which is really good. Now these lenses are very expensive and just Nikon make them, as far as I know (and they are made only for 35mm format sensor cameras, such as the D700/D3, but they work also in small sensor cameras such as the D80/D90). Then, you have the zoom lenses with variable f number (diaphragm). The lenses mentioned before have a constant f number while in these kind, the f number will vary depending on the zoom level. For example, a tele zoom of 80-400mm works at minimum aperture of f/4.0 at 80mm, but, as far as you zoom in, the f number is getting closed, resulting in f/5.6 at 400mm. This usually happens with tele zooms and cheap zoom lenses. Also, cheap zoom lenses usually never go so low as f/2.8. They usually starts at f/5.6, which is not good (not at least when you have tried wider apertures, you cannot enjoy 5.6 anymore, specially in smaller than 35mm sensors, such as the D80/90).

What about the sensor size, you may ask.

Well... Cameras as the D80/90 have an smaller sensor than D700/D3. The sensor of these two latest are 35mm film like. There are lenses for 35mm and there are lenses for smaller sensors. You can plug 35mm lenses into smaller sensors cameras, but not the other way around.

If you engage a 35mm sensor size lens based into or onto, don't know the word, a smaller sensor size camera, such as the D90, the lens will suffer a magnification, meaning that it will magnify the image more than for what the lens was built. For example, a 50mm 35mm sensor size based lens will work as 50mm in a 35mm camera, but it will look like 75mm in a smaller sensor camera such as the D80/90 and it will look like 80mm in a Canon Camera, such as the 400D or the like. This happens because each manufacturer builds the sensor in a different way. The sensor from Canon has a crop factor of 1,6 while Nikon is 1,5.

The second difference you will have is that the bokeh is much more pronounced when the 35mm sensor size based lens is plugged onto a 35mm camera, and much less pronounced when plugged onto an smaller senor camera. You will have more bokeh in a 35mm camera.

If you buy a D90, the best lens for that camera, the most useful is the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 (the f number in this lens is constant, so you can use f/2.8 all along the zoom without having to close it as far as you zoom in), but's quite expensive. However, you will not need nothing more after you buy that lens. 24mm is considered wide angle, and 70mm is considered zoom but when plugged into a 35mm camera. When plugged onto a D90 (or similar) it turns into a 36-105mm, but that's super cool. You have an almost wide angle and a very cool zoom to play with.

I personally own a Nikon D700 with a wide angle of 14-24mm f/2.8, a 50mm f/1.4 and a 80-400mm f/4.0-5.6. I bought all these lenses because the imported stuff in my country tend to be expensive in just a couple of months as long as the dollar is getting more and more expensive. I bought these lenses, for example, the 14-24mm price about a year ago was of $7480, now it costs $8492. $1012 more expensive... And may be more... I don't know, but the price in usd is still the same (which is the double in my country, so I'm pissed off anyway).

You also have a very good nice picture at high ISO's with Nikon, something that Canon still cannot fix with their new cameras. For example, you can shot at very closed diaphragms (f number) and/or fast shutter speeds in the middle of the night, by using a high ISO of 3200 and your pic will look really nice.

About what you see, about Canon, don't let the picture fools your eyes and brain. What you see here is all post processed and also, at very low resolution, so all looks much better than what it really is. You have to look for RAW Files, which are crude, non processed files in order to compare cameras. A RAW File is a file that also uses all the capabilities of a camera, JPEG, instead, just a little part of it.

Here you have several RAWs to download and compare. You will need Camera RAW to open/edit these. Here is a link with tons of RAW Files from different cameras: [link]

1) As for the test, keep in mind the S/N and the dynamic range so look for pictures with a very pronounced bokeh or, pictures that shows many tonal transitions, such a gradient of the same color, going from black to white, for example.

2) For dynamic range, look for pictures taken in very contrasty situations.

For point 1, you need to raise the exposure values of the RAW File to the top and see how the noise begins appearing in the dark areas (which are the most affected).

For point 2, you need to lower the exposure to the negative top and see how much detail was recovered from the burnt areas (the whites, such a blown sky).

The deal is doing it with the same picture taken with different cameras, but once you do the test between similar pictures, you will figure out what's the criteria of all this in order to draw a valid conclusion.

All the tests must be done by using a RAW Editor, such as Camera RAW. Forget doing it in Photoshop if you want to achieve clear results. Once the RAW is opened, it gets rasterized, which means that all the RAW Data is converted to bit maps and all the edits will affect the Pixel Data instead the Mathematical Data. This is another topic: why shooting in RAW? that I can explain you if you like, but always shoot in RAW. As soon as you get your D90, set it to RAW. Just do it, even if you don't get the point at first sight, do it anyway. You're pretty smart and you will understand why doing it in just seconds.

Don't get fooled by the eyes, nor by salesmen or opinions based on non technical experienced subjective users.

Any help you may need, I'm ready.

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AmberKim In reply to MathieuHotte [2010-03-19 12:54:15 +0000 UTC]

thank you

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MathieuHotte In reply to AmberKim [2010-03-20 15:54:07 +0000 UTC]

My pleasure.

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