Nikon - SLR help..........

[fourtrack78]

well i bought a nikon D90 w 18-105 lens. I have no clue on how to use it correctly. I'm a man and I don't read the manual :). I bought it from henry's and they do have a class ($80) on how to use it, should i take it? Any help from here would be great.

I few thing i found while playing around with it:

some shot's are yellowish (i guess the lighting)
motion shots are blurry unless i use the flash
and some pics are grainy

Again any help would be great........

[MistaChin]

I have a Sony Alpha D-SLR and it was probably one of the only things i've read the manual for. Now i still dont know too much but some things i've picked up are:

for yellow pics, try adjusting the white balance
for motion shots, use a faster shutter speed and/or change the ISO settings
and i dunno for grainy pics...

Anyone care to confirm?

And after typing all this out I just realized you have an SLR and not a DSLR...my mind is playing tricks on me. Anyways i might as well post this...

Good luck fourtrack...worse case scenario take the class. Or do what many do and google online tutorials! Fastest and cheapest way IMO

[Gizzmo_jr]

Start reading
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d90.htm

And when it comes out, Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to Nikon D90 (book, can get it at Henry's). I have the one for mine, D70s.

[ZeroChalk]

well i bought a nikon D90 w 18-105 lens. I have no clue on how to use it correctly. I'm a man and I don't read the manual :). I bought it from henry's and they do have a class ($80) on how to use it, should i take it? Any help from here would be great.

I few thing i found while playing around with it:

some shot's are yellowish (i guess the lighting)
motion shots are blurry unless i use the flash
and some pics are grainy

Again any help would be great........

Shots are yellowish because the white balance is off. Shoot in raw and adjust or set the white balance using a gray card or white wall.

Motion shots are blurry because the shutter speed is not fast enough to freeze the object, given the amount of light. A faster glass (lower aperature) will allow you to shoot and freeze motion in low light or prevent camera shake. Alternatively, as your found out, a flash will allow you to bump up the shutter speed.

Pics are grainy because of the ISO setting. This compensates for low light, allowing you to shoot at a faster shutter speed. You can configure your camera to have a max ISO setting.

hth.

[N.S.F.W]

i hope you got a good deal from them

[KenYork]

Take the class, buy a book and read the manual... else you won't get the most of your purchase and it'll just be an overpriced prosumer camera.

[JMAK74]

Take the class, buy a book and read the manual... else you won't get the most of your purchase and it'll just be an overpriced prosumer camera.

I think it would be an overpriced P&S (point & shoot) camera if he doesn't :) (j/k)

Ken York's suggestion is very good, especially as it sounds you're completely new to the DSLR world. You want to get the most out of that camera - even reading just the manual should help - it would have given some tips on those situations you've described - well at least the Canon manual does :)

[KenYork]

I started by skimming through a book and some quick lessons from friends.

Though it's from a canon site it's a good starter (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=249006) for info.

[dsichewski]

I would also suggest the classes....they give you a run through of the camera, show you the functions talking about what stuff means and answer your questions....I bought my nikon d80 on boxing day last yr and i took both the d80 classes at henry's...if you can wait last yr henry's had 25% off there classes so they might do that again this yr...they will also give you a classroom code that you can enter on the internet and you can access the whole class slides for future use!

[rusty]

Hi all - new here -I'll say hello in the right section tonight but this thread caught my eye as a long time "nikonian". I shot outdoor adventure sports photography for a living for a long time (all using Nikon gear) and have to say that just going to Henrys and picking up a powerful tool like a D series DSLR with no clue how to use it correctly will lead to you just getting pizzed off because your new fancy camera takes lousy images!!! News flash - its not the camera - its you! Photography is something that takes a lifetime to understand relationships between f stops, shutter speeds, ISO, white balance (all a part of proper exposure). Not to mention light sources, flash skills, etc....its a process that requires time and patience to understand to get the images you want. 99% of people that want nice images of their cars, dogs, kids, are better off saving a few bucks and getting a great point and shoot (think Canaon G9) and setting it on green mode and firing away.
After shooting (ALOT) for over 15 years - I still learn new stuff about the art of image making all the time. Just getting a good cam is the least of your worries!

If you truly want to learn how an image is produced and how to understand exposure, then take a class. Not a digital class but an old school film SLR (remeber film?) class and use only an old school fully manual cam like a Nikon FM10 and 50mm 1.8 lens. Thats how you learn to capture an image.