I was about to get the Nikon 70-300 VR, but all the reviews stated the Tamron is sharper, has better VR, etc. Even the guy at the store told me to hold off on the Nikon to get the Tamron instead, though he mentioned the Nikon is good.

So I'm not sure.



Hahahaha. Yes. I do. I have A LOT to learn about

This post was edited by Canadian_Man on Jun 26 2013 12:56pm

just play with your camera before getting more lenses. i rarely even change out my lenses

I'm still a tad bit confused (posted pics on page 2). Still getting a lot of problems with getting sharp images. A lot of them turn out to look like crap. I have tried 9-point focus, 39-point focus, and 1-point focus... and a lot of the time images just don't turn out sharp and focused on the target (again, similar to what I posted on page #2).

Not sure what the problem is.

you should post the exif data or what settings you shot with, that would help a lot.

from abduct





this first image is "blurry" because of the framing and the set focus point. i cant exactly tell where the focus point is because it is to chaotic. as for the blurring because of the framing, you have to much chaotic mess up close which is out of focus, as well as a chaotic mess in the back which is semi in focus but because half the image is out of focus it seems the whole image is blurry.



this picture has bad framing but the burryness is caused from your aperture and your focus point. you can clearly see the focus is on the metal can causing the foreground and background to become blurred. one way to combat this is to close your aperture up a bit (higher aperture number) which will create less depth of field.

as for that 'my tutorial for beginning users.

general usage tutorial:

shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter opens and closes, based on lighting, and your aperture/iso this can be extremely fast or slow. you can use shutter speed for different effects, such as if a propeller is moving on a plane, if you set a high shutter speed, you can capture in stopped motion with no blur, or if you set it slower, you can capture it in complete blurred motion.

aperture is is how much the diaphragm (don't quote me on that word i forgot the actual part name as i was writing this up) is open allowing more or less light in to reach the sensor. the lower the number, at least for canon, the more open the diaphragm is allowing in more light. this causes greater depth of field and allows for faster shooting at night. the higher the number, the more closed it is and it creates less depth of field (everything is more in focus on the same plane)

iso is how much light the sensor will read. you always want to keep the iso as low as you possibly can and anything above 32000 normally results in really grainy pictures.

now i am not sure about nikon but on cannot there is a button that looks like a cross in a box which while pressed and rotating the clicky dial, you can set different auto focus points. it is generally a bad idea to have all the focus points selected as you never know where the camera will focus. rather select one that complements your framing and use that for the shot. alternatively it is better to use manual focusing.

there's an exposure readout somewhere on the camera with increments of 0.5 or 1 such as
[-3..-2..-1..0..1..2..3]

with a little arrow underneath showing what your current exposure is. you generally want to keep around 0-1 range but that's all dependent on the shot you are trying to achieve. this arrow moves with your shutter speed, iso, and aperture settings and is based on how much light is in the picture.

manual focus tutorial:

place three to four cups on a table or desk one behind each other in a diagonal line.


get close but not to close to the cups with a wide open aperture (lower number) and manually try to focus between the cups. this will not only learn your lens, but also train your eye to see what is actually in focus and what is not.

framing tutorial:

there are like 15-20 different kinds of framing techniques but i will just list the most used.

rule of thirds, envision a grid of thirds on your viewfinder and place your object on one of the cross points. this image show the rule of thirds (lines are a bit off but meh). the object was the mushroom and it was just off one of the intersect points. try not to place the object right on the intersect point but rather just off of it. the reason why you put your objects near the intersect points is because this is where our eyes naturally flow.



portrait chest up. self explanatory. some tips for a better portrait would be to keep the eyes in the upper third of the photo, limit the space above the head to the top of the frame to a minimum without cutting the head off, and fill the frame with the object and leave equal distance on left and right of the subject. (i left a bit to much space above his head, but he wouldn't stop moving :/)




head shot, (sorry no photos that i can scrounge up for this :<) basically the subjects face fills up the entire frame.

full body portrait, self explanatory, although do not cut any part of the subject off in the photo.

looking slightly up at the subject, (bad photo dont have many of these on hand)



looking slightly down at a subject (like you see in all those face book bathroom photos with girls with camera phones.)

looking completely 90 degrees up/down

these all have actual names for them but they all escape me at the moment. although don't be limited by these frames, sometimes just taking photos comes out with nice ones as well ( http://i.imgur.com/nxeCIrc.jpg ). just use these rules as guidelines. i also suggest googling for better framing tips as mine are a bit lacking in definitions.


hopefully once done reading this and trying out a few things you will be more familiar with your camera. what i would focus on once you got the hang of your exposure and manual settings, is to start to memorize simple framing. when your out and about it should be second nature to realize what kind of framing would suit a specific shot. at least i think so. if anyone has any corrections about what ive said feel free to make them.

Thanks for the in-depth info! Wow. Great. I'll look at all this after work and start studying.

One (paranoid) question: I've heard 16-85mm lenses can disappoint some people. How much variation can there be in build quality/QC?

Little update: I'm doing my research now a tad bit, and learning a little bit more with each step. Doing a lot of reading off of what was suggested to me in this thread, watching youtube videos, and I've got a free guide DVD from the store I bought the camera from which I might watch. Just learning step by step.

I have reserved a 35mm 1.8G so that I have a low-light shooting option for vacation. Decided most of the times when I want portrait it'll be on well-lit days so the 16-85 covers it, and as far as zoom goes the 70-300 still looks great but will be for later. The 35mm 1.8G (after shooting a bit) makes sense for vacation as a walk-around in lower light, beach shots of family, etc.

Im thinking about picking up a 35mm 1.8 too before the 4th for that weekend. In past years we have taken out boat out and road around watching fireworks and there is potential for some great shots. TONS of boats were on the lake one year, it was awesome. Like 5 boats ever ten feet just parked watching fireworks from all around the shoreline.

Where is it that you take your boat? Being on a boat = awesome for taking photos. (And even more reason to have longer telephoto lens... still can't justify that 70-300 that I want so badly even though it's on sale for $460, or $360 after the 100-rebate).

Just picked up the 35mm. PERFECT focal length. I think I could take just this on vacation and I'd be happy.

I think my next lens I'll look at is the 60mm macro (if it still does good non-macro shots comparable to the 50mm 1.8G), since the focal length is going to be a better distance from the 35mm.

I still want the 70-300mm but I'll wait until after my vacation to decide, depending on funds and whether or not I felt like I wanted it during the vacation.

Getting better with shots. Still using auto a lot to test things out since I'm learning about shutter speed, iso, etc... but I'm getting the hang of things.