Nikon D100 SLR, Mine Now!!!
After that New York trip, I was duly impressed with the power of an SLR, but still was not convinced enough to ever want to spend that much money. Later my mom bought a Sony DSC-T1, the small portable point-and-shoot camera that could literally go in your back pocket and people would think it was a wallet. I very much liked the portability, the 5 mega pixels, the nice big LCD, etc. I had my sights set on it as I continued using my pitifully outdated DSC-P71.
Many months later (actually maybe even a year later) my dad decided to reopen his portrait studio. He had stopped taking portraits awhile back and was using the Nikon D100 to make picture duplications. Now that he wanted to seriously get back in, he purchased himself a Canon EOS 5D and gave me his Nikon D100 as a present! I was quite ecstatic and began all sorts of experimentation. I took daytime shots, I took nighttime shots, I tried taking action shots, and so on.
So then the next step was getting familiar with using the camera. I must have read the user manual a dozen times and every time it didn’t make that much sense to me. I found out now that after you start doing, rereading the manual actually makes more sense.
I begin learning about f-stop, aperture, shutter speeds, a bit about lenses and so on. Fortunately at where I work, our University Photographer has a D1X and a multitude of expensive f/2.8 lens that I am able to experiment with. Before that, I didn’t know what the difference between a f/3.5-5.6 versus a f/2.8 lens would be other than one cost a fortune! Once I started using better equipment, I’ve learned that the extra money you spend on these lenses is in-fact worth it.
Nikkor Lenses
When I first got the Nikon D100, I thought that the lens that my dad on it was really good: a Nikkor 28-200mm ED f/3.5-5.6G. It wasn’t until our University Photographer gave me a bit of education on lenses and allowed me opportunities to try out his lens did I really start understanding that how clear and nice a picture taken isn’t entirely dependent on one’s camera, but rather one’s lens. The whole time I kept attributing my lack of sharpness and quality to how outdated my camera was, turns out I just want’s using the correct lens. Fortunately our Journalism & Mass Communication department has a supply of donated lens that I am able to use and try. It is worth noting that many of their donated lenses may not be in the best of shape. Here is a list of the lenses that I’ve had an opportunity to try:
- Nikkor AF 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye
- Nikkor AF-S 12-24mm f/4G IF DX
- Nikkor AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IF-ED DX
- Nikkor AF-S 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 IF-ED DX
- Nikkor AF 20mm f/2.8D
- Nikkor AF 24mm f/2.8
- Nikkor AF-S 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VR
- Nikkor AF 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6D
- Nikkor AF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED
- Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D
- Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8 ED (Push)
- Nikkor AF 80-400mm f/4-5.6D ED-IF VR
- Nikkor AF 180mm f/2.8D ED
- Nikkor AF 300mm f/4 ED
- Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4 IF-ED