Cameras

If you’ve always hungered for a DSLR and more importantly, a Nikon DSLR, but never had ‘the ready’ to fill your ambition The could be your opportunity.

It’s hard to quantify the allure of the breed but undeniable is the bloodline, the technical excellence and innovative achievements of Nikon cameras and lenses. Priced just above point-and-shoot fixed lens digicams and well beneath the semi pro and full pro model DSLRs, the D3000 is an excellent pathway to the higher quality such a camera can deliver.

Nikon D3000 DSLR Features

In the hand, the camera is delightfully compact, light and to the novice’s eye ‘unsplattered’ by intimidating external controls. You view via an optical turret viewfinder or the rear 7.6cm LCD screen.

The review camera was supplied with the f3.5/18-55mm VR lens that handles hand-induced vibration. With this lens attached the gear weighs just under a kilo no penalty in my book.

Of course, there are a few issues when you deal with a Nikon DSLR: image stability is provided by the lens’ internal optics, and some of the attractively-priced kit lenses usually offered with the D3000 do not provide this.

With 10.2 million pixels on its CCD the camera can shoot a maximum 3872 2592 pixel image; when printed this accounts for a 33 22cm output at 300 dpi.

The mode dial has settings for auto, Program AE, aperture and shutter priority as well as manual exposure plus a number of scene modes (landscape, sports, portraits etc).

The built in flash can be useful especially as a ‘fill’ for portraits; the more adventurous can also experiment with light trails thanks to the flash’s ability to sync with the rear shutter curtain.

And note: DSLRs at this level have a macro mode, not available on the upper level reflex cameras. So, if you’re into ECUs (extra close-ups) of bugs and beetles, a camera like the D3000 is ideal.

Fire up the camera and the first thing you see is the LCD display confirming that the CCD is being cleaned pre-shoot; post-shoot, cut the power and the camera cleans the sensor again. With an interchangeable lens camera, this function is important, eradicating dust that may enter when you switch lenses.

Right from the start the beginner can feel at home, thanks to the Guide, selectable from the mode dial and shown on the LCD display. This will hold your hand through the various shooting modes and even help you move through some of the more advanced techniques. As well as this, settings made with Guide mode can even be tweaked before making the shot.

There is a Scene Recognition System that optimises exposure, white balance and autofocus; continuous shooting can be made at up to 3 fps and an 11-point selectable autofocus scheme tracks focus in any of four modes (static or moving subjects, auto area and 3D tracking).

The D3000’s photo editing functions give you in-camera retouching, and here again is a Tilt-Shift mode that I first encountered in the Ricoh CX2 it creates a miniature mode effect from normal shots. Cute.

The ISO range runs from 100 to 3200.

Optimum ISO at 100.

Still very clean at ISO 400.

Minimal noise at ISO 800.

Noise becoming evident at ISO 1600 but still useable.

Hitting its straps at ISO 3200 this is only when you really have to!

A movie house foyer, shot at ISO 3200 with the right subject, quite a useable setting. Detail in the picture covers the noise.

Photography at this level lets you into the exalted arena of RAW capture, where you can manipulate your shots to a degree not achievable with JPEG shooting. However, the D3000 will still shoot JPEGs, if you sometimes need only snapshot quality.

Digging around the manual I found a terrific mode that can shoot stop motion clips from a series of stills. You can make short video sequences from puppets or even hand-drawn animation that will run successfully on an SD TV set at 640 480 pixel res or you can even smaller create clips for use on the Web. Magic!

Comment

A great piece of kit. Beginners star here!

Why you would buy the D3000: attractive price for a DSLR; entree to Nikon system and lenses; RAW capture.

Why you wouldn’t: no Live View; no video capture (but you can make a stop motion movie from still shots!); low resolution LCD.

I figure the D3000 is a perfect entry-level camera, with some modes (like stop motion movies) that will give you a lot of fun, without the need for a lot of techy knowledge. Good one Nikon!

Nikon D3000 Specifications

Image Sensor: 10.2 million effective pixels.
Metering: Matrix and centre-weighted metering, spot.
Effective Sensor Size: 23.6 15.8mm CCD.
35 SLR Lens Factor: 1:5x.
Compatible lenses: Nikkor AF-S and AF-I.
Exposure Modes: Auto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Shutter Speed: 30 to 1/4000 second, Bulb. Flash sync: 1/200.
Memory: SD/SDHC cards.
Image Sizes (pixels): 3872 2592, 2896 1944, 1936 1296.
Viewfinders: Optical pentamirror, 7.6cm LCD (230,000 pixels).
File Formats: RAW, RAW+JPEG.
Colour Space: Adobe RGB, sRGB.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 3200.
Interface: USB 2.0, AV, DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, AC adaptor.
Dimensions: 126 97×64 WHDmm.
Weight: Approx. 485 g (body only).
Price: At Amazon the Nikon D3000 is or .

Body only: $799. With Nikkor f3.5/18-55mm VR lens: $949.

digital-photography-school.com

For photographers looking to show their work to photo editors, life should now be easier than ever. If once they had to stuff a pile of prints into a envelope or make an appointment to show off their portfolio, today they can wow editors with the images on their website even while they?re out completing another job. But that easy option throws up a bunch of new difficulties. With websites so effortless to build ? and with so many to choose from ? how does a photo editor decide which photographer?s online portfolio to examine in detail, which photographers to hire and which to ignore? And what can a photographer do to make sure that his or her work receives the attention it deserves and wins a commission?

The first requirement is perhaps the most surprising. Despite the whiz-bang features and slick animation offered on so many sites, simple is usually best. Editors are short of time, and faced with a large number of images they want to gain an understanding quickly of what the photographer can do. They?re less interested in what the photographer?s Web developer can do.

?There is no secret that photo editors like clean, clear, unfussy websites,? says Whitney Lawson, photo editor at Travel + Leisure, a travel magazine. ?I personally won?t last long if the photos are going by in Flash animations.?

Images should be grouped into themes, she recommends, with an ideal website showing between five and ten different series, followed by a selection of tearsheets. These don?t have to be from a national publication but they do help photo editors to understand how the images look in an editorial context.

The Image with no Sky?s the Limit

Obviously, the images have to be technically correct too, and digital problems can be one reason that photo editors click away. ?Acidy? reds and greens or a magenta cast are the worst giveaways, says Whitney, and the sky should be detailed rather than left to disappear into the background.

?If the sky is blown out, with no information, it?s not for me,? she says. ?I am not talking about a white sky, I?m talking about a no-information sky? It is not just negative space to me.?

It?s not just the tearsheets and the stories told in the professional series that can help win a photographer a job though. Personal projects are also important and reveal a great deal about the person behind the camera, what they like to photograph, and perhaps most importantly, how they?re likely to act on a shoot.

That?s a feeling common to all photo editors. Ryan Gamma, photo editor at Eastern Surf Magazine, tends to look particularly closely at personal projects when assessing a photographer for the first time.

?It shows me their range and helps me to judge how effective a photographer could be in an assignment situation,? he says. ?Especially when it comes to a new photographer who I?m still trying to figure out.?

Creating a simple website is reasonably straightforward, especially if you?re willing to hire a designer to do it for you. Whitney pointed to Anna Wolf, Amanda Marsalis and Joao Canziani as three examples of young photographers with particularly strong sites. All of those photographers have multiple series, and Joao?s website even suggests that he has multiple portfolios. Putting that website in front of the editor though requires a different set of skills.

Whitney says that she looks at around 25 photographers? websites every week. Some of them she finds by searching for photographers in locations where she will be holding shoots but others she discovers as a result of promos and emails sent to her by the photographers themselves.

Good Subjects Attract Photo Editors

What the photographer puts in those emails then is always crucial and especially what they put in the subject line. Messages with titles like ?New work? and ?New website? arrive in Whitney?s inbox every day ? and are usually ignored. More interesting, she says, are emails with subject lines that reveal a specific detail, especially the sort of location detail that would interest a photo editor at a travel publication. Emails with subject lines like ?Photographer based in Vancouver? or ?New series from my recent trip to Argentina? are more likely  to be opened.

With a little consideration then, attracting the attention of a photo editor shouldn?t be too difficult. Ryan says that surf photographers find him and that he looks at everyone?s portfolio, new photographers and old. Persuading him to hire them though is a little  harder. Ryan wants to see that the photographer has a firm grasp of the medium but more importantly, he wants to see that the photographer has something fresh and new to offer to his publication.

That?s perhaps the easiest mistake for a photographer to make. When catching a photo editor?s demands little more than a well-worded email, it can be tempting to shoot out messages to every photo editor you can find. That might bring in views but to win the commissions, the images the email points to also have to match the needs of the editor ? and the publication ? they?re being sent to. Whitney Lawson mentioned one photographer who sent her an email with a link to his website that included a series about bullfighting. That was an instant rejection.

?I remember seeing a dead animal on one of the first photos on the site,? she recalled. ?No thanks. I am not in the dead animal business.?

One of the biggest advantages of showing your images on a website though is that a rejection doesn?t have to be the final word. Asked what advice she would offer a photographer building a professional website, Whitney suggested befriending a Web designer.

?Treat them really well, buy them dinner, because the best website is the one that you can update all the time with all of your beautiful new work!?