Newbie

[chester8686]

hi all Shifu and Shijie,

totally new to photography which i picked up only in Dec'10 by accident as it was my wife that had the interest and bugged me to get a camera initially. but now, seems like i'm the 1 holding onto the camera more.

currently using Nikon D3100 on std lens and after shooting for less than 1 month, realised that 55mm is really insufficient; my subject is always too small. Now looking at Nikkor 55-300mm VR lens retailing ard 500+, the sales guy mentioned that it's quite a new model, just wondering if there's any postive review of this lens?

currently just playing around with the shutter speed, iso and shooting in P mode before i venture into Aperture and other more skillful setting.

i have a dry box but understand that the silica needs to be microwaved to "dry" it before I can start using. Best part, i only have oven and no microwave at home, can i use oven or other way to "dry" the silica?

should be moving into dry cabinet at a later stage but still reading more abt it as i understand that digital display does not equate to digital setting.

 

[spree86]

Welcome to CS and you don't have to microwave the silica gels to start using them, if they are fresh then all you need is to put them in the dry box.

 

[Treetrunk]

Welcome

Might want to check out Price Guide for the prices of the 55-300.

 

[SHoo8]

Welcome to CS
It is a wise choice to invest a Dry Cabinet.

 

[xhui]

Welcome, my advice would be, to just get a dry cabinet and don't need to worry for a long while about moisture, etc. A friend of mine uses a box + silica, end up having fungus (and some other) growing in those lenses without him knowing..

keep shooting!

 

[chester8686]

thanks for all the input from the masters

yap, checking ard now for the dry cabinet digital type, cam to me is heavy investment so wanna protect it well as i think buying fugus to eat is cheaper than to grow them. ;p

as for the nikon 55-300mm lens, cheapest i was quoted with UV filter $494/-

 

[chillicutter]

You can sun the "wet" silica gels dry

 

[An drew]

Hi and Welcome!

Do you need a 55-300mm lens? You can also consider the 55-200, which will be much cheaper. If you really need a 300mm then you should also consider the 70-300, which seems to AF better.

The DX 35 f1.8 is also a good choice.

Get a dry cabinet if you can.

 

[chester8686]

juz went down to red dot and wanted to C&C but they said stock not there and self-collect or delivery same price, so paid and ordered a 60l dry cabinet, should be arriving these few days.

as for the len 55-200, not too sure if the range is sufficient as seems like i'm always shooting something that is far. tried shooting the swan at botanic garden but they always like to linger at the center of the pond, so when I shoot, they oni appear like a tiny dot on my lcd...haha. hence thought of getting the 55-300mm. safer bet bah in case i shoot far.

but still looking ard at the lens, maybe borrow from my friend his 200mm to get a feel 1st.

thanks for all the advices

 

[ant0800]

Welcome to CS... looking forward to your sharing...

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

juz went down to red dot and wanted to C&C but they said stock not there and self-collect or delivery same price, so paid and ordered a 60l dry cabinet, should be arriving these few days.

as for the len 55-200, not too sure if the range is sufficient as seems like i'm always shooting something that is far. tried shooting the swan at botanic garden but they always like to linger at the center of the pond, so when I shoot, they oni appear like a tiny dot on my lcd...haha. hence thought of getting the 55-300mm. safer bet bah in case i shoot far.

but still looking ard at the lens, maybe borrow from my friend his 200mm to get a feel 1st.

thanks for all the advices

don't forget that with long focal lengths, any slight movement of the camera (eg. hand-shake) results in amplified movement of the image.
So... 300mm may or may not be a good thing. You will likely need additional support (eg. tripod or monopod at the very least)

since your kind friend is willing to loan you a 55-200mm (I assume), try that out first.

 

[cleonbus]

Welcome to CS

 

[framemylife]

Welcome to CS!

 

[FADZZ]

Welcome to CS

 

[pinholecam]

Welcome to CS.

Don't put the silica gel near anything you will likely consume (ie. oven). The blue ones are carcinogenic (ie. can cause cancer in large and prolonged exposure)
Get a dry cabinet.

Can you move nearer with the lens you have to make the subject "bigger"?

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Welcome to CS.

Don't put the silica gel near anything you will likely consume (ie. oven). The blue ones are carcinogenic (ie. can cause cancer in large and prolonged exposure)
Get a dry cabinet.

Can you move nearer with the lens you have to make the subject "bigger"?

something about the swan at Botanic Gardens being too far away to capture... unless TS swim out to the swan

 

[Hollander]

Hi welcome to CS!!
Happy shooting!!

 

[Diluted]

Welcome to CS

 

[chester8686]

don't forget that with long focal lengths, any slight movement of the camera (eg. hand-shake) results in amplified movement of the image.
So... 300mm may or may not be a good thing. You will likely need additional support (eg. tripod or monopod at the very least)

since your kind friend is willing to loan you a 55-200mm (I assume), try that out first.

thanks for your valuable input, i have the nikon sl168 tripod. but was wondering if i'm like moving too fast up than what i can or have learnt; haven't start to crawl wanna run already. :embrass: but i do understand the hand-shake affecting the image, i'm still new and trying around with the basic setting.

 

[chester8686]

Welcome to CS.

Don't put the silica gel near anything you will likely consume (ie. oven). The blue ones are carcinogenic (ie. can cause cancer in large and prolonged exposure)
Get a dry cabinet.

Can you move nearer with the lens you have to make the subject "bigger"?

i was also thinking if they are cancerous, went for the 68l digi cab delivery to me on this thur. think my parents will scream.

i tried to move nearer to my subject but most of the time, limited by my kids in the middle of the pool, the swan at the middle of the pond. unless i'm in the water myself.