Jumping into photography with a DSLR camera with minimal to no knowledge about photography in general can be very daunting. There are lots of buttons and settings on these camera’s and although they do take very nice pictures in Auto mode its a shame to not use the camera to its full potential. All the buttons and nobs along with setting values like Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO can be hard to wrap your head around and frustrate you to no end without a clear explanation.

Nikon D3100 for Dummies explains all this in easy to understand layman’s terms that doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography. The book starts off very basic explaining how to attach a lens to the camera body and going through what each button is called and its basic function. Then it moves to the menus and options that you can access with the camera through its screen. It continues like this with the more basic settings until you are shooting pictures and feeling comfortable with the automatic settings.

With a lot of details and examples the book gradually explains to you semi automatic and then manual shooting. Since everything is given to you in bite sized pieces a little at a time building on top of the core knowledge you have already gained, learning feels very natural and is easy to understand. In the case of aperture, shutter speed and ISO all three of these options control the way light hits the sensor of the DSLR camera. These three values need to be balanced correctly to achieve great results. The author explains this and how each one should be used in a very easy to grasp way that I had not been able to find anywhere else. This can be one of the hardest things to grasp when moving away from taking snapshots to actual pictures.

The book then continues with all the photo editing you can do within the camera itself. This I was less interested in as I will be doing most of my photo editing on the computer, not the camera. But I was astounded at how much editing the camera is capable of doing on its own.

Conclusion:
Nikon D3100 for Dummies flows very well and is clearly designed for someone who is new to photography and DSLR cameras. If you just got your D3100 and dont know too much about photography this should be your first step to getting started.

Lenses can be confusing due to all the number values tied to them. For example here is the lens information for the one that came with my D3100

18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor

This can be pretty daunting for a newcomer to camera lenses.  Lets break each part down and explain it piece by piece.

18-55mm This is the focal length of the lens. We can see it has a telephoto range of 18mm to 55mm so it has some “zoom”. If it was just 35mm listed it would not have any adjustment on how close or far you could see the object through the view finder. The higher the number the closer you can see the object through the view finder.

f/3.5-5.6 This refers to the aperture of the lens. This relates to how much light gets let into the sensor when taking a picture. The smaller the first number set the more light gets through, the larger the later set the less light  gets through. This lens has a range also of 3.5 to 5.6. You can adjust the speed of the shutter between these values to adjust the amount of light coming through. If it was just a single value like f/5.6 then you can not adjust it on the lens and you only get the option of 5.6. This is also refereed to as f-stop. Going from 4.5 to 5 is one f-stop.

AF-S This is the lens type. We can tell that it is a Auto Focus lens. See your manual for which types of lens your camera supports. Some require motors in the camera body while others such as this one have it built into the lens itself.

DX These are lenses which only cover the smaller sensor of DX digital cameras. DX lenses have reduced capacity compared to regular lenses or “full frame” lenses. Typically only very high end cameras are full frame.

VR This means Vibration Reduction. This helps reduce the vibrations to get you a clearer picture.

Nikkor This is the manufacture of the lens.

I have recently entered the world of DSLR cameras with only rudimentary knowledge of point an shoot models. Needless to say there will be a very sharp learning curve in this foray into DSLR camera’s. The purpose of this site is to show my experiences and progress as I venture into the world of amateur photography.

This all started off with some inheritance money from my grandmother, my girlfriend Alisa’s idea and my mothers inspiration. Thanks to all of you for everything.

As many of my friends will attest to, I research everything I purchase to death. This camera purchase was no exception as I read countless reviews, feature reports, manuals, and recommendations.  This research took a little longer than normal because I needed to learn so much first to make an educated decision. Its not just about megapixels or lenses available. Its user experience, consistent results, ease of use, features to assist the newcomer into DSLR cameras as well as grow with them as they become more accustomed to manual use. I started out by researching higher end Point and Shoot camera’s but found them to be very expensive for what you got in quality. I then turned to the entry level DSLR market which had much more of what I was looking for. After some research I narrowed it down to four camera’s the Canon T3, Pentax K-r, Nikon D3100 and the Sony SLT-A33. All of them fared well in the entry level DSLR category with great  features and price. Due to product availability, resource information, and image quality I removed the K-r and SLT-A33 camera’s from my list.

It was then down to the Canon T3 and Nikon D3100. Both of them had huge followings with loads of available information and examples of their handiwork. People really loved these cameras you could easily tell by the sheer amount of information available on them. Here is a feature comparison of the two cameras in question. http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-T3-vs-Nikon_D3100

As you can see they are pretty evenly matched each having great features unique to them. The video features although nice and fun to play around with are not a selling point for me. If I wanted video camera I would get a video camera. It basically came down to two single features that I was having trouble deciding between. The built-in focus motor of the T3 and the  Lower noise at higher ISO of the D3100. I did a little more research mostly on the focus motor to find out it is really only useful for very high end or old lenses. Since I don’t have any old lenses to begin with and would not be purchasing $1000+ lenses for an entry level camera this made my decision, I would go with the Nikon. Sorry mom I know your a Canon girl, I hope you still love me =p.

Much like Apple products DSLR camera prices seem to be very well controlled by the manufacture. You will see the same price advertised just about everywhere. Due to this price fixing bundles and shipping will all play big roles in where you purchase it from. Also note if the price seems to good to be true it probably is. There are a lot of bait and switch, hidden charges, camera body only, refurbished advertised as new deals out there. Make sure the site is reputable, has lots of positive reviews and their return policy is decent. For me Amazon.com hit every single one of these. I ended up purchasing the following:

1. Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens

2. Nikon DSLR Starter Kit with Nikon School DVD Fast, Fun & Easy III / IV and D-SLR System Case

3. Transcend 16 GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card

Camera Package

The camera packages contains the camera body, and a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens. I will go into lenses in another post as a lot of explanation will be needed. In short this is a standard general use lens perfect for beginners. Jack of all trades master of nothing kinda lens.

Nikon Starter Kit

This bag is specified to fit the D3100 and is made by Nikon. With a purchase this expensive I didnt want to risk not protecting my purchase correctly. This also comes with an instructional DVD for Nikon DSLR cameras.

SDHC Class 10 16GB memory card

Not all SD cards will work or should be used with DSLR a camera. Most older cards are not fast enough for all functions of today’s DSLR cameras. Nikon has information on card compatibility specifically for the D3100 listed here I went for a Class 10 card that was known to work with the D3100, I found this out through user feedback.

Now its time to research more on the basics of DSLR photography and wait for my camera to arrive.