I just got the new lens!

[natgaines]

Ten minutes before I had to leave for work! :cryin: :mad2: Don't you just hate that? I had enough time to rip the box open, throw it onto the camera and be completely confused! I have the Nikon D60 and was very excited to purchase a new AF Nikkor 50mm F1.8D. I see that for my camera it is in fact NOT auto focus, which will be a real challenge for me! I'm still very excited to try it out this weekend. I don't know how I'm going to make it through this 12 hour shift! I wish I could at least go online and do some reading about my combo, but of course, with the many government filters I won't be doing that either! *Sigh* I have such little patience. Anyway, can't wait to go shooting with it and just wanted to share with all of you!

Nat

[Frog]

Hope you can do the manual focus thing...my eyes aren't good enough.
Nikon does have a 50mm afs lens now, I hear.

[natgaines]

Hope you can do the manual focus thing...my eyes aren't good enough.
Nikon does have a 50mm afs lens now, I hear.

From what I interpretted, this is an AF lens, it just doesn't AF with the D60? Which seems a little weird to me since this is one of their newest cameras on the market? I'm trying to do some research on it now. I'm just glad this was a 100 dollar purchase instead of a thousand, otherwise I might be a little upset! Hopefully the manual focus is good practice for me. I've heard the DOF on this particular len is pretty gnarly, so I'll have to be super careful!

[Frog]

It would be auto-focus if the D60 had an internal focus motor but since it doesn't the lens has to have its own motor which is what afs lenses have.
The camera is new but the lens isn't......been around quite some time.
See the 50mm lens war thread.

[Old Timer]

Congratulations on the new purchase. It is the greatest lens for the money you can buy. It is a wonderful portrait lens especially in low light. Take a look at some of Alison's work and you will see what I mean. I don't think manual focus will give you a bit of trouble with your young eyes. If anything it will slow you down a bit and make you think a bit more which in the long run will make you a better photographer.

[natgaines]

Yeah the internal focus motor threw me for a loop. I didn't have much time today, but I can tell even with young eyes, It's gonna take me a lot of practice. Since I'm really starting to learn the basics of controlling your shots (not having it on auto) this is going to be a challenge. The few shots I took today I've already noticed that if I control the aperature, I have to make sure my shutter speed isn't too fast, or my pictures will be dark. I need time to practice and read up I'm sure. Hope you're right OT, hope this does make me a better photographer in the long one and not a frustrated one!

[natgaines]

Frog, in my boredom this evening (apparently no one out there but a few of us have to work on Thanksgiving) I found this on a Nikkionian discussion board:

"Pro-level zooms usually open up to 2.8 which is 2 steps further from 5.6, ie takes in 4 times as much light, ie allows shutter speeds 1/4 of those at 5.6. So for example if your iso setting and the amount of available light allows you to shoot 1/150 at f/5.6, you could shoot 1/600 at f/2.8."

So all this makes perfect sense (good thing). My question is how do you get the shots you are looking for with lower light? When looking at the stats of many portraits you can see they're shooting with the shutter at 1/200 and with their F-stop at the 2.8. Some of the other stuff I've read says you can change your ISO, but I don't want too much noise? Do you add more lighting? Without the auto focus I’m afraid it’s going to prove very challenging for me, will I always have to rely on a tripod with this lens? I’m going to go out tomorrow, weather permitting and attempt to try this lens out. I’m just a little worried because I have to actually program my shutter/aperture (which I still haven’t mastered). So many manual settings, I’m just glad its digital!

Also, I was reading somewhere about a "screen." This site was recommended: http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/item--N...-prod_D40.html. This is the first time I've read about any screens, what do these do? Are they helpful, necessary? As always, you guys rock!

[jetrim]

Nat,
It isn't really so bad shooting in manual. Look through your viewfinder and you'll see a bunch of info at the bottom that you probably never payed any attention to when shooting in program mode. It tells you almost everything you need to know (like a HUD on a jet fighter )
You can make adjustments to aperture, and shutter speed by rolling the thumb wheels with your right forefinger and thumb without taking the camera away from your eye. Just learn to watch the exposure meter and adjust your shutter speed according to the meter.

The focus dot on the left will stop blinking and turn solid when you're "locked on" even if AF isn't doing the locking for you. I understand this gets very touchy, but it will let you know when you're really close and you can tweek it from there.

[Frog]

Jetrim got it.
When you change aperture you need to change shutter speed, most of the time anyway and the green dot tells you about focus. I've heard of the KatzEye but haven't used it though I did consider it because I really miss the split prism focus aid that was on older lenses.
Lower light = larger aperture or longer shutter or higher iso or any combination thereof.
A tripod isn't usually necessary at 1/60th and above but below that you better start considering it unless you have a vr lens.

[natgaines]

You guys rock! That picture is very helpful! Thanks!

[PRB]

And, I am looking forward to seeing your pictures taken with this new lens. Please post something soon!

[natgaines]

What a busy couple of weeks! Sorry I haven't been on here in a while, visiting the folks in Kentucky. I've take a few pictures with the new 50mm but it's been quite challenging. Since I'm using the D60 I've been manual focusing, and learning that in itself is a task! I've also been digging into Photoshop trying out some new techniques. Some have turned out great, others not so great. A big thanks to everyone on here with your advice, you guys are awesome ;)

[Old Timer]

Looks to me like your lens knowledge and your PS techniques are really progressing. All three look great, but since I'm a sucker for the little ones I'm going to pick number two as my favorite even though I really like you PS on the first one.

[Frog]

From these photos, it looks like you have it figured out.
I like the first one best.
The gal's hand is leading off frame in the third.

[natgaines]

thanks guys! yeah i hated that i cropped off my friend's hand in the last one. moving backwards, trying to manual focus and keeping her in the frame before she lost her balance! it was fun anyway. and my police officer boyfriend later informed me it's a felony to play on the railroad tracks so these are my shots! :| haha! the baby is a dream, i'll be taking more pictures of her for sure! and the first one was simply my cabin fever here in Kentucky, I hope the rain lightens up!

[Speed]

Hey Nat,

I read your post yesterday, and I knew I was missing something obvious. Today it hit me.
The D60 (and D40) do NOT have a focusing motor, which is part of why they are so small and light. That means you HAVE to use AF-S lenses for autofocusing. Other lenses will not autofocus. They should meter OK (I would think) and will give great results, but you will have to manually focus them.

I have a 50mm f1.4 and I love it. The 50mm is a great lens - fast, sharp, and the shallow DOF will give you some great portraits and great bokeh. Enjoy your new lens buddy.

[Franglais]

How did you do the third image (girl on the railroad tracks). It looks like 1950's Agfachrome.

How are you getting on with manual focussing? There are some low-light events where I really need to use my non-AFS prime lenses and the D60 would be the best body (example: live performances). The focus ring is really light and I'm afraid of jarring it off focus in the crowd.

[chrismatthews]

oh man, the baby is adorable! I'd say that's my favorite =). How'd you do the background with the railroad shot? Julia looks to be perfectly focused and clear, but the background has an aged look to it! How'd you do that?

[Ron Kruger]

Hey Nat,
Here's a tip on manual focusing that I've used for years:
Always go past what looks like it is in focus, then past the other side, then back again. Finding both sides of the edge of focus will help you to hone in on perfect focus.

[natgaines]

Hey guys! thanks so much for the contributions.

Speed-that is absolutely my problem. I might have actually bought the wrong lens, but every time I get frustrated with the focus I think of Frog My eyes are young so I should use them while I got them. The review and zoom feature on my camera has been a blessing. I was finding I would use Ron's trick of zooming past, then adjusting some to find the middle ground. Once I'd get them on the computer though, they wouldn't be perfectly crisp. So, it's been a love/hate relationship! I've been trying to use Jetriem's trick with checking the viewfinder as I'm looking through it to see if my green light is on. I'm just glad I found out which eye was my dominant eye or this could be very exhausting! (This is the one I ended up buying btw: http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-50mm-Nik.../dp/B00005LEN4)

I was pretty pleased with the picture on the tracks. I've been spending a lot of time in Photoshop, even if I don't do much editing. The track picture came out pretty clear. I added a Sepia filter slightly over the original, but there was so much empty background. The sky was blue and clear, so I through in this beautiful texture I found in Flickr. It took me literally 5 minutes. It was like they were made for each other. I'm at work but I'll post the original if I still have it on my computer. That entire day was actually a really great learning expierence. Thank goodness for friends who love me taking pictures of them, eh Chris?? ;)

[chrismatthews]

Most definitely! You get good pictures of me, so I can't complain when you need a subject for a photo =). I'm still learning flickr and photoshop, so i'm sure I'm going to be asking you lots of questions!

[Old Timer]

I didn't realize you two were photo pals. One of the great things I loved about learning photography in college was that I had a couple of guys that were learning with me and we were always pushing and challenging each other. It made all of us better. PR is very much that way for me now. I love some of the challenge threads they force you to get out of the comfort zone and grow as a photographer.

[natgaines]

Well I think Chris is a little bias cause she loves me (and visa versa of course), but it is nice to have someone to help critique and let me practice on!! I love PR because I actually get feedback. Most of the pictures I post on Flickr are the comments about stuff they like, and less about how I can improve. I like compliments but it's nice to make sure I'm improving

I attached the picture of Julia, unedited. As I'm looking at the original, I'm seeing the same problem in a lot of my pictures. It was a tad out of focus; I used the unsharpen mask which made it more clear (not sure if there's a better way in PS to do this, but that's what I've been doing). I used the Sepia layer, texture and that's it. Seeing my edited version in comparison I can still see the lack of sharpness and it drives me crazy, but the picture did still turn out well with this particular editing.

[Frog]

I don't know but somebody here does, I'm sure, but can you use your spot focus feature with a non-afs lens on the D-60? If you haven't tried that, it might help.
Someone also makes a split-prism thing you can use for manual focusing. I was very disappointed when I learned that digital cameras didn't have that feature as my old 35 did.
I actually enjoyed doing manual focus in those days.
Oh, yeah and Nikon does make an afs 50mm now. f/1.4 but its 440 bucks and takes 58mm filters. I'm actually considering it.

[freygr]

Before you purchase another lens check out this site: http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/slr-lens.html

Some of the older Nikon lenses can damage some of the newer cameras.