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I have a range of cameras, Sony, Fuji and now have my first DSLR a Nikon D40X which i find good but i am wondering what others think as i would like to move up to a better Lense.
Feel free to rip them apart all part of the learning.
Thank You

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The Canny Scot

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.. .. .. in not about how many cameras and lenses you have.

but rather learning how to MASTER the use of ONE.

This is the digital age, everything is different.. sorta and I don't like many of the differences.

but some techniques still apply..

stick with ONE ISO and learn how to master that ISO in any type of situation,

Old issues of National Georgaphic are priceless for a "learning" tool.

Here is the best way, in my opinionn to learn composition.
study.. study the images.

They were all taken by professional photographers...

who were using (in the old era) ISO 25

film @ ASA /ISO 25 now think about that when you view images..

CAMERAS?? lenses ?:? MASTER THE USE OF ONE AT A TIME.

that's the best advice I can give you, after over 40 years experience in this industry !

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Practice .. .. .. makes .. .. "better"!

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Thank you for your reply, i have been going over and over the settings on my Nikon d40x with 55-200mm and everything is working out great,
So thanks for the advice,
Ron

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The Canny Scot

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it would be nice to see some of your new images !

Enjoy your new camera !

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Practice .. .. .. makes .. .. "better"!

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I am sorry to tell you having camera is a small part of photography as a subject,
I believe the important one would be to have an eye for photography !
I know few people who are rich and bough so many photographical equipments but they can NOT produce a nice image .
Justing clicking is not the answer !

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I was born and brought up in Iran, a beautiful country full of history.

http://www.fotocommunity.com/pc/account/myprofile/842948

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yes ! yes ! yes.. clapping and cheering. You have said the RIGHT WORDS.. and I am glad to hear someone say those words..
because just because a person has a top of the line DSLR and has all the lenses.. that doesn't mean anything.

everyone THINKS they ARE a photographer of some sorts.. but some won't admit that they have no eye for photography or even the common sense that is involved with photography.

I am speaking of two particuar instances where I was banned from two photo forums, and in each case the individual that caused me the most problems.. were people that could not take a photograph in the artistic sense of the word if their life depended on it.. IMAGINE: placing a black dog in front of a blackbackground ?? two eyes and a tongue !

the other persons photos and web sight cound not rival a 12 year olds work !

Thanks for saying that, I can see now that some peoples sense of photography is just click click click and no matter what they produce.. no matter \how much it is lacking, they bash other peoples work and ignore the junk they produce.

I would love to see some photos of your country posted here please.. !!

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Majik Imaje and kombizz may relate to all you said or only some of what was said to both of you. (I mean no dissrespect)

If one were kicked off of other websites for stating an opinion then I would guess its because one forces there opinion and feels there opinion is the only thing that matters. I hope no one takes that the wrong way.

I feel you Majik kombizz and understand what your trying to say and I agree with most of the opinions about mastering one lens or one ISO but when a new comer comes on and asked for advice about a lens, and enstead of asking what type of photography he is shooting, or if its indoors, or outdoors, or even if its stationary subjects or fast moving subjects. You guys are already moving him passed his original request and telling hom to master his camera first. If they don't tell you what type of photograpy there shooting and asking for a lens then they probably wont understand what ISO and all the other photography slang meens. Explain to them they need a certain lens for certain types of photography. Help them don't just express your opinion and expect them to feel welcome to ask another question.

You say that a person that doesn't have the eye can't take an artistic photograph or even a good one. Well I will be the first to say I don't have the eye. Expecially the artistic eye. Some people have it right away and some can learn it. I am trying to learn to have the eye. I know I see things differently now that I have started photography. Thats why Critique is so important. I would take photos with telephone poles behind somone's head and all the basic mistakes but after many people had ciritiqed me I learned what to look for. I do understand your statement about the common sense of photography because if you don't have the logic to put, Light, shutterspeed and ISO together and make it make sense even after you study it, then yes it may be difficult to take a good photograph.

I think you are one of those people that have learned photogrpahy and have forgotten what its like to be new. Try to remember there are many techniques and some techniques work for some while they won't for others.

The original post asked for advice on choosing a lens you gave him advice on photography as a whole.

With all respect, I hope you don't get offended.

-Adam

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PS. to my above statements,

Some people just want to learn how to take pictures even if its a decen't snap shot. Not everyone is on this forum to be artistic or to have the eye. People want to know the basics. Some just want to shoot in auto modes. Thats all up to the individual photographer. With that said our opinions about photography and what it means to us do not realate to everyone.

-Adam

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AND NO OFFENSE was taken.. and no I did not forget what it is like to be new to photography. I easily get sidetracked on some of my posts about photography and tend to generalize.

Yes I agree with most of what you said. especially about learning how to see, how to look and most importantly composition, is a time learned process. No one just magically understands all the rules and such about composition. They have to be learned.. .. .. by making the mistakes.. .. recognizing those mistakes, and doing the best not to repeat them. That is how I learned photography. By making every mistake known, and then going on from there. Heck it took me over six months just to learn how to focus a camera in the begining. No matter how carefully I lined up that split image viewfinder thingy circle. I could not get my images crisp & sharp. It wasn't until I learned how to use the outer ring of that circle, to focus, that my images became crisp & sharp. (er)

NO I don't try and force my ways or methods on people. Only because I have never had any schooling at all on photography. NOt even one class ever. But I have taught for many years, and my teaching methods are obviously much different from people that have gone to college or other type classes.

Lenses and which lens to use for this and that, it beyond my comprehension. I dont use different types of lenses, 95% of all of my images are from using one lens, one type of film, one ISO. Some people feel the need to have every lens or combiniation of lenses.

I have leanred a lot about photography over the course of four decades, I still have that feeling, of inadequecy when I see images that make my eyes pop. That is hard to accomplish for every image you create. I still have much to learn and much to teach others based only on experience which is the best teacher. Until you experience it yourself then you can't understand fully. thanks again for your comments.

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Majik Imaje,

Great response and a good read. Much respect. Tanks for your thoughtfull response. I'm really liking the community here.

I to have never taken a class. I have googled and googled and asked I felt were silly questions on a local photography forum. I remember my very first question. LOL "how do I blur the background?". heehee. yeah so thats why I feel for the newbies and try to be as calm and not use so many of the photo lingo at first. I know I was so confused. Larger F stop that must mean a larger #, yes I was wrong, stop it down? whats that mean? LOL then after a while it all started to make sense but would have been much easyer if somone told me what all that meant before telling me all that jargin. I used wikipedia and google and figured it out. I realized that not everyone knows how to do a search on goodle to get the info even though is seems so simple. But asking questions and getting to know the members of a forum helps the camaraderie and the spirit of the message board.

Again thanks for your great response.

-Adam

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Ronnie, I took a look at your gallery and I definitely think you have potential. However, I do agree with Majik about mastering the camera you have. Nikon makes very good kit lenses (I have a D50 with the 18-55 kit). Sure, it has some limitations, but it also 'sings' nicely when asked. I noticed a lot of your images (particularly the floral ones) are slightly out of focus, or the depth of field is too small to do them justice. That will come with practice. I don't know if you changed cameras - or lenses - for your ballet images, but there is good sharpness and dof there.

I haven't upgraded my kit lens yet - might down the road if I do decide to go to people photography - a direction several people are attempting to tell me I should, but I did add a AF-S Nikkor 70-300 4.5-5.6 D ED Lens
and a
Tamron SP AF90mm F/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 to my collection over the past couple of years. They are definitely a higher quality lens than the kit one, but I added them for the different functionality - not just the sake of upgrading. Of course, if I win the lotto I'll be upgrading everything for upgrades sake. ;)

Hope that helps. Looking forward to more of your posts. Good luck with your decisions.

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Suzan...

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