DSLR Camera

[Bert]

Sorry if people are sick of this thread, just following through. I didn't get many good shots tonight. It was getting dark (which I dont really know how to shoot), and the bikes were going FAST (which I dont really know how to shoot) so here are the only two respectable shots I got on the night. (Keep in mind these guys are going like 80mph before you tell me how much I suck!

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[az240zz]

I bought a nikon D-80 used 3 years a go. What a great camera and I mostly usae the automatic feature.

 

[Russ Smith]

My dad got the D3100Nikon with a 55-200 lens, a bag and a memory card for just under 800 bucks. We went fishing saturday so he let Lucy and I try it out. Will try to post pics tonight, we had lots of shots of bald eagles, Lucy got a great flying shot.

We have decided we like the camera enough we're buying one too, turns out another local shop has a good deal on the 55-300 lens so we're buying it there, my dad is buying that lens too. The 55-200 is fine but the 300 will extend your zoom and we discovered Saturday that even with the 200 we wanted more zoom.

It's going to be about 750-800 with that lens but I think it'll keep us happy and experimenting for awhile.

 

[Russ Smith]

Got the D3100 for Lucy last night, we wound up at Wolf Camera they had a great deal on a 55-300 lens $150 off from $400 to $250. I got about $80 off the camera by signing up for a rewards program that allows you to do things like print out photos and stuff.

We used my dad's D3100 last weekend with the 55-200 lens and he decided he wanted the 55-300 and then discovered the deal at Wolf so he bought that lens and I boughtg the camera and that lens, plus UV and polarizing filters, spare battery etc. Still gotta find the right bag to hold the camera and lenses but I think we're really going to like it.

Lucy is more into photography than I am and I think this camera will last us many years now. It's on the entry level side for DSLR but should be plenty of camera for her hell I thought the 55-200 lens was pretty impressive so the 300 will just be gravy.

I'm still figuring out how to resize the photos we took last weekend I tried posting one here but it's way too big(file size).

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Got the D3100 for Lucy last night, we wound up at Wolf Camera they had a great deal on a 55-300 lens $150 off from $400 to $250. I got about $80 off the camera by signing up for a rewards program that allows you to do things like print out photos and stuff.

We used my dad's D3100 last weekend with the 55-200 lens and he decided he wanted the 55-300 and then discovered the deal at Wolf so he bought that lens and I boughtg the camera and that lens, plus UV and polarizing filters, spare battery etc. Still gotta find the right bag to hold the camera and lenses but I think we're really going to like it.

Lucy is more into photography than I am and I think this camera will last us many years now. It's on the entry level side for DSLR but should be plenty of camera for her hell I thought the 55-200 lens was pretty impressive so the 300 will just be gravy.

I'm still figuring out how to resize the photos we took last weekend I tried posting one here but it's way too big(file size).

 

[Russ Smith]

Novice question, with the default settings and a 2GB card we're getting only 17 pics before it says card full.

Is this dictated by image size or image quality or both? I read somewhere using basic for image quality takes 1/2 to 1/4 the amount of space of normal or fine, the default was normal.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Novice question, with the default settings and a 2GB card we're getting only 17 pics before it says card full.

Is this dictated by image size or image quality or both? I read somewhere using basic for image quality takes 1/2 to 1/4 the amount of space of normal or fine, the default was normal.

Looks like the D3100 is a 14.2megapixel capture...so if you are only getting 17 images, you are probably shooting at least RAW and likely doing RAW+JPG?

RAW files on that size of a sensor I suspect would be around 17mb each. That's only 287mb. If you are also shooting JPGs, I don't think that adds a ton more to that...maybe 100 or so MB more.

So the fact you can only take 17 with the 2GB means either you have stuff on there you haven't erased yet or I have no idea.

I had a Rebel XSi at 12.2mp and an 8gb card and could shoot around 387 RAW images.

You should be shooting RAW, it's the best quality...unless you don't care about that as much and just want to shoot JPG.

Either way, I'd check to see if you still have old images on that card.

 

[Bert]

Novice question, with the default settings and a 2GB card we're getting only 17 pics before it says card full.

Is this dictated by image size or image quality or both? I read somewhere using basic for image quality takes 1/2 to 1/4 the amount of space of normal or fine, the default was normal.

What Mike said...

It's also a good idea to frequently format the card (in the camera) after you delete your current photos off of it. The camera rewrites the directory and it frees up some extra space and also protects against data corruption. Again formating the card deletes EVERYTHING and re writes the directory so dont do it until you are ready to start fresh.

 

[Russ Smith]

Looks like the D3100 is a 14.2megapixel capture...so if you are only getting 17 images, you are probably shooting at least RAW and likely doing RAW+JPG?

RAW files on that size of a sensor I suspect would be around 17mb each. That's only 287mb. If you are also shooting JPGs, I don't think that adds a ton more to that...maybe 100 or so MB more.

So the fact you can only take 17 with the 2GB means either you have stuff on there you haven't erased yet or I have no idea.

I had a Rebel XSi at 12.2mp and an 8gb card and could shoot around 387 RAW images.

You should be shooting RAW, it's the best quality...unless you don't care about that as much and just want to shoot JPG.

Either way, I'd check to see if you still have old images on that card.

Was a blank card when put in. I changed the file quality from normal to basic and that has in fact increased the amount we can take.

The default is .jpg so that's what we have it set at.

We didn't use the format card feature on the camera though all I did was put them in my point and shoot camera and verify there were no images on them. I did format 2 other blank ones with the camera after this started because I was curious if the formatting was part of the issue. It seems like we should be getting more lik3 100 pics. We can get like 1000 on the point and shoot with 2 GB but I expected that would decrease substantially.

Thanks for the feedback you and Bert, gives me a few more things to look at.

I was outside Sunday in Sacramento playing with the camera, at 17 pics it said card full. I went inside to get another card and of course when I came otu there was a hawk hovering 15 feet off the ground across the street hunting the field right there! By the time I got the new card in it had of course flown away.

 

[Bert]

Was a blank card when put in. I changed the file quality from normal to basic and that has in fact increased the amount we can take.

The default is .jpg so that's what we have it set at.

We didn't use the format card feature on the camera though all I did was put them in my point and shoot camera and verify there were no images on them. I did format 2 other blank ones with the camera after this started because I was curious if the formatting was part of the issue. It seems like we should be getting more lik3 100 pics. We can get like 1000 on the point and shoot with 2 GB but I expected that would decrease substantially.

Thanks for the feedback you and Bert, gives me a few more things to look at.

I was outside Sunday in Sacramento playing with the camera, at 17 pics it said card full. I went inside to get another card and of course when I came otu there was a hawk hovering 15 feet off the ground across the street hunting the field right there! By the time I got the new card in it had of course flown away.

Trust me Russ, there are an assortment of beautiful hummingbirds in my neighboorhood and they have Spiderman like sense for only being around when my camera is in the bag and by the time I get it they are long gone!

Stupid birds...

Thats really strange that your card is still doing that. With my 40D I can put it on RAW+jpg format and still get about 200 shots on a 4gb card. Youre megapixels are higher (10.1 to 14.2) but even if you were shooting RAW you're right you should still get about 100 shots on a 2gb card. You dont wanna shoot on basic jpg quality on a camera that nice, its going to decrease the quality significantly. I would definitely format that bad boy and see if it helps. Are you getting the same result on your 2 other cards?

If none of that works I would just pull out a hammer and show that card who is boss and go buy another one! lol

 

[Russ Smith]

Trust me Russ, there are an assortment of beautiful hummingbirds in my neighboorhood and they have Spiderman like sense for only being around when my camera is in the bag and by the time I get it they are long gone!

Stupid birds...

Thats really strange that your card is still doing that. With my 40D I can put it on RAW+jpg format and still get about 200 shots on a 4gb card. Youre megapixels are higher (10.1 to 14.2) but even if you were shooting RAW you're right you should still get about 100 shots on a 2gb card. You dont wanna shoot on basic jpg quality on a camera that nice, its going to decrease the quality significantly. I would definitely format that bad boy and see if it helps. Are you getting the same result on your 2 other cards?

If none of that works I would just pull out a hammer and show that card who is boss and go buy another one! lol

My dad seems to think he can get about 360 pics on a 2 gb card same camera so something is up. Guessing it's the formatting.

I did change the image quality setting and did a quick test and took 20 random shots without it saying card full on one of the other cards. I haven't figured out yet if there's a menu function that tells you how much space you have left on the card.

 

[Bert]

My dad seems to think he can get about 360 pics on a 2 gb card same camera so something is up. Guessing it's the formatting.

I did change the image quality setting and did a quick test and took 20 random shots without it saying card full on one of the other cards. I haven't figured out yet if there's a menu function that tells you how much space you have left on the card.

Here's how it looks on my Canon, I'm sure your Nikon has something similar.

The LCD on top of the camera tells me how many shots you have left. See the number in the top right corner? I have space left on that card for 218 more RAW pics. You will notice it counting down as you take more shots.

You must be registered for see images attach

Heres how it should look on your D3100.

You must be registered for see images attach

Hope that helps.

 

[Russ Smith]

Yeah thanks Bert it was in fact the format. I put the card back in and formatted it. At large picture(14.2 megapixels) and fine quality I think we get 247 pics. I can get that over 900 by reducing the number of pixels or picture quality but we've decided for now to shoot at the setting that gets us 247 pics.

We haven't played around with the raw setting yet.

So the 17 thing was because it was formatted from our Panasonic point and shoot. I'm actually surprised it worked at all it can't read pics from the Panasonic.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

I have a Nikon D300...12.2MP...With a 4GB CF Card I get around 200 shots...I shoot only in RAW format.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Yeah thanks Bert it was in fact the format. I put the card back in and formatted it. At large picture(14.2 megapixels) and fine quality I think we get 247 pics. I can get that over 900 by reducing the number of pixels or picture quality but we've decided for now to shoot at the setting that gets us 247 pics.

We haven't played around with the raw setting yet.

So the 17 thing was because it was formatted from our Panasonic point and shoot. I'm actually surprised it worked at all it can't read pics from the Panasonic.

Glad you figured it out!

Definitely shoot in RAW format or FINE if you can.