So, getting a new camera...

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Medium story short, was broken into near the end of August (douche was caught, trial is in Jan. or so) and most everything I had was stolen. A goodly chunk was recovered, but my Nikon D200 and two lenses (and the other stuff that wasn't recovered) will probably never be seen again. Coin and currency collection was untouched. Can't really buy and trade for pills with those (LOTS of pill use in WV). My Ruger 10/22 and accessories (about $400 total) was sold for $40 worth of pills (it was recovered).

So. Upgrade time. Got a Nikon D7000 on the way, but just the body. Will probably end up with three lenses; the same micro lens I had with the D200 (because I liked it), a lower end telephoto zoom lens, and a mid range 50mm or so lens. A good tech spec site for it can be found here.

[Widdykats]

^ envy!

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Would rather have a D700, but the 7000 was a couple hundred cheaper. Was a tossup between the D7000 and D300s, and I preferred what I read about the D7000 over the D300s.

[rockouthippie]

I've been thinking about a new camera and sorta drooling. I don't think you could do any better for the money. Choice #2 would be the EOS Rebel, but it has drawbacks the D7000 doesn't have. It's also cheaper, but not enough cheaper.

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

I grabbed the D7000 body (with strap, battery, et cetera. just no lens) used on ebay for $950 (free s&h). Under 5,000 actuations, so that's not bad.

There's a D300s on there, used and for about $100 more, but it has about 15,000 actuations. I passed on that one.

[rockouthippie]

Originally Posted by SSJ4 Gogitta

$950

Hmm...

http://www.ajrichard.com/Nikon-D7000...9?refid=Ibcart

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Originally Posted by rockouthippie

Hmm...

http://www.ajrichard.com/Nikon-D7000...9?refid=Ibcart

Ten bucks less than mine, so go for it. I think I have the three lenses I want picked out, but not sure yet.

AF-S 50mm f/1.4G
AF-S Micro 60mm f/2.8G ED
AF VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED

[rockouthippie]

... and new....

You'll like that VR telephoto. The image stabilization is very cool.

What is the advantage of a 50mm and a 60mm lens? Seems redundant to me, but you might have a reason? f1.4... that's got a hunk of glass in it.

I'm saving my pennies. When I do this, I think I really want to piss away some money and get something with a full frame CCD.

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Originally Posted by rockouthippie

... and new....

You'll like that VR telephoto. The image stabilization is very cool.

What is the advantage of a 50mm and a 60mm lens? Seems redundant to me, but you might have a reason? f1.4... that's got a hunk of glass in it.

I'm saving my pennies. When I do this, I think I really want to piss away some money and get something with a full frame CCD.

No real advantage for the 50mm or 60mm. I chose the 50mm because of the f1.8 (yay astrophography). The 60mm is a macro lens, which lets me get nice and close to stuff (literally like 2 inches away from the lens and I can still focus on stuff), which I enjoy doing. I'll enjoy the telephoto for things in between. I hope to get some decent shots of the Moon, and maybe enough detail to make out Jupiter and Saturn.

[rockouthippie]

> I chose the 50mm because of the f1.8

Yeah, I could see that. It should grab good photos in the dimmest light. I'd probably just use a macro filter with that.... but then you might really like macro photography. You might be able to tell the difference. Barely.

[Warrior of the Light]

Great choice

[fwgx]

Originally Posted by SSJ4 Gogitta

Ten bucks less than mine, so go for it. I think I have the three lenses I want picked out, but not sure yet.

AF-S 50mm f/1.4G
AF-S Micro 60mm f/2.8G ED
AF VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED

I have the 50mm 1.4G, it's nice, but I wish I'd gone for the Sigma 50mm 1.4, by all accounts it's better. I find I end up using the Sigma 30mm 1.4 indoors and the Nikon 50mm 1.4 outdoors.

I have the Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro and I love this focal range for macros so I think the Nikon 60mm will be good.

As long as you're not shooting sports or things that require fast focus the 80-400 is a good lens, although long overdue an update. Add a 18-70 / 18-85 and you'll have a great kit.

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Decided to go with a slightly cheaper lens. Got these:

Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S


Polaroid Optics 58mm 3pc filter set (UV, CPL, FLD)


Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB SD card. Yay ad hoc wi-fi hotspots.

[rockouthippie]

That ought to be enough equipment to take 90% of the photos a guy would take. I always found I over used telephoto lenses. I found I got better pictures by using a 50mm and dealing with it. My thinking is that it's easier to compose pictures that you can see with your eyes and the camera. If you use a telephoto, you can't see what you are taking a picture of with the naked eye. That's a problem. The best viewfinder isn't as good as the naked eye. Compose with the naked eye and make the camera see it.

I never thought macrophotography or astrophotography was that interesting. I have played with both. Mostly in film days. ....but... for macrophotography, macro lighting is probably gonna be more help than a macro lens. Getting little stuff lit is a pain in the ass. Lights with a macro filter is gonna be better than no lights and a macro lens.

[Warrior of the Light]

It depends on what you're doing.. I like to shoot deer and wild pigs (with a camera of course). If you want a good shot, you'd need a 50MP sensor if you work with a 50mm lens.

But in most situations, 50 is good.

So how about some shots?

[swingdjted]

Wow. That's quite an impressive bag of goodies you have (and I'm hoping you have a bag of some sort in addition to the body and glass). I always seem to buy "very good stuff" but for some reason haven't bought a good SLR camera yet since the 35mm days. I still shoot with a Canon S5-IS, which is pretty much a fake SLR camera, or a point-and-shoot that looks a lot like one.

The biggest single reason I haven't bought a "real" camera yet isn't price though. My biggest problem is that no one that I'm with is patient enough to wait while I try and get a good shot. Family and friends give me bad vibes when I stop to attach a tripod or start setting manual controls while walking, on a hike, or stopped on a drive. It's like I have to be a dick just to capture a decent image. Because of this, I have a camera with everything possible in one piece and then try my hardest to make the best of it.

Hopefully some day I'll just say "fuck all of you" and get a real camera, and if they bitch and wine about having to take 4-10 full minutes to set up one shot, they can just wait or leave. Or I can just not bring them at all, which becomes increasingly difficult the older I get.

I'm glad you're recovering from the trouble you had. I understand the pill thing (as you know where I live) and what people will do for pill money. Seemingly countless parents of my students are incarcerated or dead because of it. I am relieved that your currency collection was untouched, as it is quite clear that it is very important to you. I hope that overall you turn out to be in a better position after than you were before, and I hope that this new kit produces spectacular images that you will post here. Since moving here to WV, I have learned that it is quite gorgeous and photogenic, especially now that the autumn leaves are at their perfect colors and still attached. Please post images!

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

I will indeed post images (and quite possibly videos, since the D7000 does up to 1080i). My lens (and stuff) shipped today, scheduled for delivery on Tuesday, though I probably wont be home when it gets delivered (15 hour shift. Gag).

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Got a second lens, a Nikon 70-300mm one with VR.

Nice picture of the moon:



Any why not Jupiter? And some of its moons?



All of those are at 300mm. RAW -> cropped -> 5x enlarge for Jupiter -> add text -> save as jpg

[swingdjted]

Originally Posted by SSJ4 Gogitta

Nice picture of the moon

Yes, quite nice. The other pictures are good too. Keep posting!

[Warrior of the Light]

I'd rotate that moon 90 degrees if I were you before you decide to publish it somewhere.

My attempt with a 75-200 lens on my Sony A350:


I guess the moon is the most photographed phenomenon ever.
I wouldn't have a clue where to look for planets though.

[rockouthippie]

I wouldn't have a clue where to look for planets though.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yoursky

If you didn't want a starmap, find any two planets and you'll find the rest of them in a more or less straight line.... the planetary plane.

Unless you are using a telescope and your camera, your neatest pictures are probably going to be time exposures of deep sky objects. Planets are still a dot at 200mm. To actually photograph a planet and have it not look like a dot, you'll need a 13" mirror at f/12. It would be best in a Schmidt Cassegrain camera. You might be able to get enough light to take stationary exposures, but a clock drive would be a plus.

I think I'll just look at Hubble pictures and save the coin.

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

For my laptop, I use Cartes du Ciel for my sky map. I use Pocket Universe HD on my iPad. $4 bucks, latest version requires iOS 5 (which I'm waiting for an untethered jailbreak before I get it).

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Figured I'd post these. They're shrunk to 40%.

From my 50mm lens: Andromeda galaxy (near bottom right, the diagonal smudge)

Part of Orion and Orion Nebula (purple blotchy thing near the center)

[rockouthippie]

Pictures of fuzzy blobs! yay!

[swingdjted]

Pretty impressive for a consumer camera though.

[rockouthippie]

Way cool cameras these days.



I do have a hard time getting excited about amateur astronomy. Hubble and computers kinda stole some steam from the hobby.