The DSLR Information Thread

[vaibhav]

I plan to buy a camera for my honeymoon trip to mauritius

I have a budget of 13k. I have shortlisted this camera- Nikon Coolpix L830 Point & Shoot Camera Rs.13133 Price in India - Buy Nikon Coolpix L830 Point & Shoot Camera Red Online - Nikon : Flipkart.com

is it good?

 

[Highway Ranger]

May I know from where do I get one at these prices? OMG!
I called a distributor at around 5 PM today and he told me 49,000 is the new MRP (changed today) of D7000.

Videolinks @ your place. (this list price is for the camera only unless the lens is mentioned)

 

[edios]

Videolinks @ your place. (this list price is for the camera only unless the lens is mentioned)

I have to buy from another shop because of some reason. I can't opt for any other dealers. Is the price same for all dealers?

 

[Prakritij]

Finally took the plunge and got myself a Nikon D7000

I was posted in the God's own Country for about 5 years. As an avid automotive fan, I was reading automotive magazines since my college days. When the Yamaha R15 was launched in 2008, I made up my mind to purchase one but I didn't had much savings at that point of time. So started saving and when saved enough after 2 years in June 2010 brought Home a Yellow R15. Started exploring the beautiful state of Kerala on my Bike and also group rides with fellow members of a motorcycling forum.
Visiting beautiful places calls for a camera to capture the moments and the landscapes.
So, after searching the internet for a bit and with a limited budget of Rs.10k, got a Fujifilm S2950 from ebay.
Pros of the S2950: can be operated in full manual mode with user defined ISO, shutter speed and aperture along with 18x optical zoom. It is light weight and did its job pretty well.
Cons: small sensor, less than average low light snaps, plasticy feel.
The S2950 served me well but at a point of time the DSLR bug bit me in pursuit of better pictures and low light performance.
Decided to get a Nikon D5100 as its online price was in my budget and positive reviews. Local dealers were quoting much more.
I then went to a friend who is a professional photographer for advice regarding the D5100. I also asked him which DSLR would be best for the lowest budget for a beginner. To my surprise he didn't advice me to get the D5100/5200 but asked me to get the D90. The reasons he stated was that the D90 has an auto focus motor built in the body and most of the people with DSLRs he knew out grew their D3xxx or D5xxx after a few years of use and wanted to upgrade to minimum D90 or D7000. Not that the D3xxx or D5xxx were bad but as per my friend once people get over their beginner stage, they wanted more from their cameras. I didn't had any past experience with a DSLR and no idea regarding usage of the same so had to take his word.
Both the D90 and D7000 were out of my budget.
Again after a lot of research online I found the D7000 to be a better deal with a few thousand rupees price difference.
Still as the price was high I was not able to make up my mind and all my research kept going towards the D5xxx.
Added advantages of the D5xxx were the flip out screen, built in HRD functionality and selective colour photography which I like a lot. All these are absent in D90 and D7000.
With a inner battle with my mind vs heart, I decided to wait and save for the Nikon D7000. It has a magnesium alloy chassis for ruggedness, it is weather sealed for use in dusty/drizzly/moisturey conditions and has an autofocus motor. Also has an additional LCD displayon top and most controls were button driven unlike the D3xxx or D5xxx which are menu driven. The EN-EL15 Li-ion battery can take more than 1000 snaps at single charge. And the buttons are customizable.
I asked another friend to let me borrow his Nikon D3100 for learning purpose and getting familiarized with a DSLR. Thanks to him I learned a thing or two.
In the meantime, I kept an eye on the ever fluctuating prices of amazon.in. The price would vary from 52k to 68k randomly, a different price every day. I felt waiting till the Festive season will be fruitful as I may get some additional discounts.
However one fine day when the price was about 51k, I knew I could not get it any more less than this and bought it.
Amazon ships through Fedex and the package arrived in just 3 days.

I am still learning about photography from the internet and still learning the Camera.
It came with a Class 10 8GB card and a bag. The bag was not to my liking so I bought a sling bag from amazon. Also bought low cost filters from ebay. One UV filter, one CPL filter and one ND 8 filter. A shoulder strap from ebay.com is yet to arrive.
I shelled out almost 55k in total including the accessories. As of Today, amazon has priced the D90 at around 50k and the D7000 at 58k.

Happy with my purchase and a lot yet to learn.

 

[manojodungat]

Finally took the plunge and got myself a Nikon D7000
It came with a Class 10 8GB card and a bag. The bag was not to my liking so I bought a sling bag from amazon. Also bought low cost filters from ebay. One UV filter, one CPL filter and one ND 8 filter. A shoulder strap from ebay.com is yet to arrive.

Congrats on getting your D7000. It is a fantastic piece of Camera. Happy shooting with it !
Which lens you got at present ?

I am sure you will eventually get rid of those cheap filters while shooting.

 

[manojodungat]

BTW can you please share your experience with third party lenses? That should be more helpful for fellow members who is looking to buy a similar one.

My experience with Sigma 150-500 so far :

I bought this monster a few months back, from then it was put in to some serious tasks. A budget zoom lens for the 500mm reach. The other being Tamron 150-600mm which I was seriously contemplating sometime back. If I had to get one from Nikon, there were a couple of options, again at the expense of double the cost [above 1 lakh].

• Nikkor 80-400mm
• Nikon 300mm f4 D + TC-14E II

I knew I was taking my chance with the Sigma 150-500 as there were loads of online reports on the“quality control” issue. The issue that I face with this Sigma is that it focuses a bit behind where I intend it to do so in AF mode. It is not evident when shooting larger subjects though. I realized it only when I was shooting a dragon fly where I was not able to get its face on focus and sharp. I thought it had to do with my skill [ or lack of it].

​

The back-focus test

Performed a “back focus” test. Tested with three lenses + D7000. Aperture priority + Single central AF point focused on the 3 rd cell. First two lenses were tested handheld and used a ball-headed sturdy tripod for the Sigma 150-500.

Test with my 50mm f1.8


Test with Sigma 10-20mm


Test with the Sigma 150-500mm


An “AF Fine –tune” did help a bit, but even at a maximum -20, the correction is only minimal.


The focus issue was found worst at 500mm f 6.3. The lens is at its best at f8 but you need very good light for it to auto-focus for you with the desired ISO+ shutter speed combo. I am fine with the speed [sluggish] but will definitely need to get the focus issue corrected. I will be sending it to Sigma @ Shanghai sometime next week. Estimated time of one month for the repair.

 

[vaibhav]

please suggest best camera within 15k

 

[manojodungat]

please suggest best camera within 15k

Did you mean a “used” ? If yes, here you go JJMPF
If not, you are in a wrong thread.

 

[Prakritij]

Congrats on getting your D7000. It is a fantastic piece of Camera. Happy shooting with it !
Which lens you got at present ?

I am sure you will eventually get rid of those cheap filters while shooting.

I have got the Kit lens of 18-105mm
Hoever I am planning to get a 35mm Nikkor in the near Future

 

[manojodungat]

I have got the Kit lens of 18-105mm
Hoever I am planning to get a 35mm Nikkor in the near Future

Excellent choice there.
BTW, there are offers for 35 nikkor as low as 7.5k [at less than half the price] these days.
Check it out here on flipkart

 

[Prakritij]

Excellent choice there.
BTW, there are offers for 35 nikkor as low as 7.5k [at less than half the price] these days.
Check it out here on flipkart

Thanks bro...will check it out

 

[DZIRE VXI]

I have Canon 7D, 300mm f4, 24-105mm f4, 18-55mm f3.5, 1.4X TC.
Personally I prefer Canon, as because in the same focal length lens category Canon has more option to choose. But Nikon itself a very good brand. If possible then I want to add Canon body with Nikon lens.
Happy clicking

 

[dhoom9]

Sorry, not to hijack the thread. But I had very basic query to all experts or dslr users.
I am in process to buy DSLR (till now using Sony Cybershot, Samsung galaxy & Sony videocam CX160).

1) what is difference between Sony SLT-58Y or 58M or 58K (all 3 available on snapdeal.com)

2) Interested in Nikon 5300, but can I use the lcd screen to compose still picture? will that liveview show me the preview of how photo is going to look like (like processed view of Sony SLT camera in electronic viewfinder)? if I change settings like aperture / iso / shutter speed & resultant change will be reflected live in lcd screen?. I really like Nikon / canon, but compose photo in optical viewfinder & apply settings & have processing in brain to assume resultant picture appear too much CPU work to me. I want like Sony SLT camera - WYSIWYG effect from electronic viewfinder is really breakthrough for dslr beginner like me.

 

[manojodungat]

I will be sending it to Sigma @ Shanghai sometime next week. Estimated time of one month for the repair.

Had sent my Siggie 150-500 for a lens calibration about 10 days back. On receiving, Sigma@Shanghai promptly called me for the difficulties I faced in detail. They actually wanted me send my camera body as well, which I would have done had it been in my city. Instead I sent various pictures showing the “back-focus” even at various fine-tune values on my camera body.

Got another e-mail yesterday from Sigma saying that they have done the lens adjustments based on the information I sent. I know sending the camera body would have yielded more accurate calibration but I will be happy if it is within +12 to -12 tolerance range of my camera body. Will update here once I get it in a day or two.

 

[edios]

Had sent my Siggie 150-500 for a lens calibration about 10 days back. On receiving, Sigma@Shanghai promptly called me for the difficulties I faced in detail. They actually wanted me send my camera body as well, which I would have done had it been in my city. Instead I sent various pictures showing the “back-focus” even at various fine-tune values on my camera body.

Got another e-mail yesterday from Sigma saying that they have done the lens adjustments based on the information I sent. I know sending the camera body would have yielded more accurate calibration but I will be happy if it is within +12 to -12 tolerance range of my camera body. Will update here once I get it in a day or two.

Did you have to pay the shipping charge? Or you had to just post it at the Sigma center in your city?