Well I went ahead of myself and purchased to D80. Its my first SLR so I don't know how the step up from pocket camera to semi-pro camera will hit me.

However I would like some advice regarding obvious accessories for this camera? What else would I need that does'nt come as standard with this kit?

I will be taking general photography...nothing specific, just if I like it I'll snap it. Would like to get a teleporto lens down the line with VR as I hear that they are the way to go.

So any advice,tips and info will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Carlo

[grantsteve]

Welcome to the club!

Your 'kit' lens is very capable and should do you just fine for a while - until you know what you like to shoot most.

Other lenses to consider are the 70-300 VR if you want more length than the kit lens will offer you. The 'nifty fifty' 50mm is a great little bargain if fancy trying your hand at portraits.

An ultra wide angle lens (e.g. 10-20mm, 12-24mm) may be something you want to look at too.

Accessories wise, a rocket blower is a necessity when you start swapping lenses to get rid of the dust. The on-board flash isn't up to much and creates horrible shadows, so if you find you need flash a lot invest in a flash gun, SB-600 or 800 depending on how deep your pockets are.

You might want to try some filters on your lens too - a circular polariser will give you nice punchy colours (a quick search will turn up shots taken with one). You may also want to consider a ND (Neutral Density) filter to help create longer exposures in daylight - see Allymac's shots for some examples.

I've just invested in a battery grip (MB80) to give me more juice to shoot. Also makes the camera 'feel' a lot nicer in the hand and balances better. Works like a dream when you orientate the camera to portrait with the added controls.

That should help you spend a few more £'s!

EDIT: Don't forget a bag! Buy bigger than you think you need as you'll soon fill it. Look at Lowepro for outdoory camera baggy looking stuff or Crumpler for the opposite.

[vulkan75]

So Grantsteve has just helped you spend an extra grand or so.

I defo recommend the 50mm F1.8 though cheap but brilliant for portraits.

Your kit lens will do you fine for the time being as you get used to Fstops ,shutter speeds and exposure settings..maybe a nice bag like the lowepro slingshot series to help you on your travels and a circular polarizer for nice vivid sky scenes.

I have a D80 its a great litlle camera...welcome to the club..I look forward to seeing your shots with it

[garysherpa]

well done and welcome to the club carlo you will soon see what a great piece of kit it is,

nikon

[viffer]

Dont forget the SB600 as well.
Ended up buying both MB-D80 and SB600 tother weekend.
MB-D80 is brilliant though.
Makes camera feel so much better.

[johnaalex]

I have had my D80 for about 2 months. I also have a sigma 70-300 mm F/4-5.6 D telphoto/macro lens which I am happy with. I shoot in RAW, the quality and size of the pictures have highlighted to me the need for a tripod. I have had various cameras over the years, both film and digital and I now realise that my old "5x7 prints" hid a lot that I now see when looking at a 9 meg RAW file at 100%. I have the Velbon Ultra Luxi-F.

The other accessories I took some time over (and some good advice from this forum) was the software to edit the photos. I have opted for Nikon's Capture NX and Adobe Photshop Elements 5.

Oh yes, a spare battery and an extra 2gb SD card....

At this point I realise that the camera's price is by no means the end of the story

Regards

John

[Fozzybear]

Originally Posted by johnaalex

The other accessories I took some time over (and some good advice from this forum) was the software to edit the photos. I have opted for Nikon's Capture NX and Adobe Photshop Elements 5.

That's what I'm using - I bought Elements 5 last week to replace my freebie copy of Elements 3 (which I got with my Epson scanner).

chicoelnino: other than memory cards I don't think there's anything that is a must have to start with except a bag to put the camera in and a rocket blower to clean the sensor when needed. Too many trinkets when trying to get to grips with a new camera make for too much distraction from the essentials. Keep it simple and then when you gain confidence with the camera look at things like:

circular polariser filter
tripod
remote release
square graduated filters and holder (if you get into doing landscape stuff)

[Brammers]

I've been thinking about how to teach photography recently - I've got to teach my girlfriend soon.

I was wondering about teaching on film, teaching on digital, teaching in M/A/S/P, teaching in programme modes...

The first question to answer is what you should buy. The answer is pretty simple - if you've got lots of money, but whatever you want. If you don't, buy nothing until you figure out what you need. That'll become obvious by taking a picture, realising its rubbish, then asking on this forum why it's rubbish. Maybe you need a filter, a faster lens or a flash. Maybe you need a bit of inspiration, a quick study into technique, a book.

For the moment I'm going to advise that you begin by playing with the dial mode. That's this one:

http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/Ni...ftcontrols.jpg

Start with P. Go outside, take a few shots. Whack the dials around, take a few more shots. See what settings change, what effect that has.

Then move through the modes, S, A, M. In my opinion you want to get away from the picture modes asap - instead of relying on the camera to produce your picture, you should be using it.

I could tell you what each setting does, but it would be more beneficial for you to find out yourself by trial and error.

When you've tried all the exposure modes, try the sundries like the drive modes, the metering modes, the focus modes.

Finally, try your hand at flash.

If you ever need to get a good picture, just whack the camera in P and shoot away

And be sure to post your good & bad shots up here! Enjoy

[Yandros]

Before you start spending more money, start taking photos. For the most part it'll be obvious what extras you then need (or the experts here can advise you based on the problems you encounter.

If you find yourself running low on power on a full days shooting - get a spare battery
If you run out of memory - get another card
If you find yourself wanting to zoom a little bit more - get a Nikon 55-200VR
If you find yourself wanting to zoom a LOT more - get the Nikon 70-300VR
If you want to be able to focus a bit closer, consider a semi-macro lens (eg Sigma 70-300 APO DG macro
If you keep hitting the wide end of the kit lens and want to go wider - get a 10-20 or 12-24 ultrawide zoom
If you want to shoot portraits, or want to shoot in lower light, get a Nikon 50mm f1.8
If you want to be able to focus a LOT closer, get a dedicated macro lens
If you use flash a lot, consider an SB600 flashgun
If you use macro, long non-vr lenses, or work in low light (or just want critically sharp photos) - get a decent tripod

As stated earlier - if you have shed loads of cash - just run out and get all of the above, but otherwise wait until you find youself cursing something and the next wallet emptying object of desire will become obvious.

I'll second the recommendation for Nikon Capture NX and Photoshop Elements. You can rarely rescue a bad photo, but you can routinely turn an 'OK' one into something quite stunning with 5 minutes of post processing.

I'll also second Brammers' comments - go out and play. Take hundreds of photos. You'll learn that DSLRS have limitations:
how low the shutter speed can be before you get camera shake
how fast the shutter needs to be to camera fast moving objects
how high you can push the ISO setting before the photo becomes a fuzzy mess
how much of the scene do you need in focus
etc etc

It's trial and error (mostly error at first). If you have the time and patience, the best way is to pick a subject and then try lots of different settings, then look at the results on your PC, and figure out which one worked best, and why. Post 'em here and we'll be happy to scratch our heads and try to help

Great stuff guys. Good to know I'll have some expert advice on hand here when I get out and start using the camera. Yeah I'll just go and get a decent bag to hold the gear in and let time and experience direct me to my next step.

I'll post some pics as soon as I can and I look forward to hearing your comments in the future.


Regards.

[bibamus]

One important bit of kit is a specgrabber. Its like a paintbrush with a tacky end. You can pick off bits of dust etc from your lens, mirror and sensor. It leaves no residue.
A rocket blower is fine, as long as you know where the bits are being blown to! A specgrabber removes the bits so you know where they go.
I took a few pics a few days ago and saw a black mark on them. I checked the lens for dust, nothing, so locked the mirror up and sure enough, a tiny speck of dust on the sensor. Specgrabber out, dust gone forever.

Every time you change the lens, you risk getting dust somewhere in the camera, goodness knows how it gets behind the mirror so easily, but it does.

Good luck with the camera, now shoot shoot shoot!

Allan