The Nikon D90 body
I recently bought myself a Nikon D90, though I’ve not had much chance to use it yet. Work, darker evenings and Rocky Horror have meant I’ve not really had the time to get out and about with my new toy. Hopefully I can change that this weekend, though with the weather as it is, I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
Anyway, whilst I’ve not been able to get out with it just yet, I have been messing around with it in the house. And I must say it’s very impressive. Not having a more expensive camera to compare it to means it’s difficult to tell you what’s missing. However, that’s not stopping me from telling you what it has got and how it compares to my old Sony A200. The A200 is truly a budget machine. Whilst it does fit rather snuggly in the hand; has a myriad of options to choose from; and still remains easy to use, its plastic feel, complicated menu system and poor quality kit lenses do leave something to be desired. The lack of LCD screen is also an issue and it’s rather time consuming to find the options you really need.
Not that I wish to knock the A200 too much. As a true beginner’s camera it works rather well and is a good cross-over from the world of compact point-and-shoot cameras. If you’re looking to enter the world of D-SLR cameras and you’re on a budget, the A200 and kit lens is a good starting point. However, I felt that it was time to move on. I wanted to get a new camera before I go away in the new year and needed to get some practice in with it beforehand. So I left Sony behind and got myself a Nikon. Reasons for a Nikon? I felt there was a wider-range of lenses available – both Nikor and third-party – and that they were an established camera manufacturer, rather than a company with its fingers in every pie. Plus, @jeruss has a Nikon and I liked the look of it.
The top of the Nikon D90 with LCD display
So here I am with my new D90. First impressions? Well-built, sturdy and with lots of buttons. And dials. And switches. You’ve got to love buttons on a camera. The more buttons you get, the less complicated the thing is. The less you have to faff around in the menu system looking for options. The touch of a button, the twist of a dial and you’re there; ready to shoot. It’s also very customisable, with a whole host of options allowing you to set up the camera for how you want to use it. For example, if you don’t want the annoying light to come on at the front of the camera when it’s trying to autofocus in low-light conditions, you can turn this off, as well as a whole host of stuff that I’m not going to go into here. The presence of the LCD screen is also extremely useful.
There’s also a little party-piece of the D90 which I’m not sure I’m ever really going to use. Whilst in LiveView mode, the camera allows you to record video with sound. The benefits of using this above your standard camcorder become obvious when you start to zoom and change focus with the myriad of lenses available. You’re stuck with the one you get on your camcorder; with the D90 you’re able to chop and change whenever you like. There is a length limit on videos though, so it’s not going to entirely replace your other equipment, but for short clips and for those moments when you’re out with just your D-SLR, it could come in handy. But as I said, I’m not sure I’ll get much use out of this feature.
The Nikon 18-200mm zoom lens
I coupled the camera with a Nikon 18-200mm zoom lens, which is such an improvement on my old lenses it’s hard to compare the two. The zoom range is pretty much perfect for any situation and with a maximum aperture size of 3.5f at 18mm (dropping to 5.6f by 135mm), it’s great whatever type of photography you’re doing. It’s obviously never going to be as good as a bunch of prime lenses (and I’m still contemplating a macro lens for getting in closer to the action), but you could do much worse than this.
So that’s my new camera. Now I just have to figure out when I can actually go and use it!
My new toy arrived yesterday. It’s a Nikon D90 with an 18-200mm zoom. I’ll post my thoughts once I’ve had chance to play with it.
A couple of new additions have arrived today for use on holiday. The first of these is a spare battery for the camera. I don’t expect it to run out at any point between me leaving the hotel in the morning and returning in the evening, but you never know. Best to err on the side of caution. Be a wasted trip if it died before lunch each day.
Secondly I got my first filter for the camera. It’s a Hama polorising filter for reducing reflections and cranking up the colour intensity of my shots. I’ll give that one a test before I head north. I’ve read that the camera will require more light when using it, so I’ll need to remember to pack my tripod and Gorillapod just in case.
Finally I got a penknife, because you just never know. And within a few seconds of taking it out of the box I managed to cut my thumb. Perhaps I shouldn’t have bothered. The risk of personal injury seems to be far too great!
I planned on taking the camera out on a little trip on Monday, but looking at the weather forecast on the BBC this doesn’t seem like the best of days to be heading out. Perhaps Tuesday might be a better option.
What an extremely exciting post this was. I’m glad I wrote it!
I have made it back to Derby for the week, which is a most pleasant feeling. Now I must shower to get Bedford off me!
I’ve not got many plans for the week, other than getting out at some point with the camera and taking a few photos of Derbyshire. So I’m hoping the weather can stay rain-free for at least some of it. Preferably those days I’m planning on going out, though chances are it won’t!
Obviously being back does have one major drawback. At some point I’m going to have to suffer my mother’s cooking. A prospect I think I’m only going to get through by sneaking to the shop for bags of Space Raiders and Transform-A-Snacks, whilst serupticiously scooping what’s on my plate under the table for the cats to nibble!
Seriously though, I do hope to take a good number of pictures and if some of them are pleasing to the eye you’ll eventually find them on Flickr.
