 Jake Stanton |
Making the big jump from film to digital I have had my Nikon Fm3a for 8 years and love it to death. But lately i'm having trouble finding places that even develop film anymore and finding the cost to buy and develop film have gone up. I cant afford this anymore and am finally making the jump to a digital SLR (although begrudgingly) Does anybody have any recommendations for a nice DSLR? What should I look for when shopping for one? Any help would be appreciated! Oh, and I prefer Nikon! Thanks!!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
From first looking at the Fm3a, I would've said that it would be a big jump, but I see that it has the same things as other cameras like aperture priority, TTL metering with the flash. Price is always a factor, but because of the type of camera that you're coming from, I think you'll always be annoyed with any camera that isn't the same field of view as a 35mm film camera. And film speed is now dependent on the camera itself instead of what you put in the camera. And having a full frame sensor and having a higher maximum iso both mean a higher price. The picture quality is good for lots of cameras, so you don't have to get the top of the line or the one with the most pixel count. That's why I think you should use as a starting point whether or not you would want a digital camera that's not full frame, and then go from there.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hi Jake, I shot with a Nikon F2 for years but sold it all to buy musical gear when I played professionally and just used a 35mm point & shoot. When I decided to get back into photography I thought I would go Nikon again but to my own surprise, I was more comfortable with a Canon as it fit me better ergonomically and the control layout worked better for my brain :) If I still had all of my Nikkor lenses, I dont know that I would have made the switch so check to make sure if your current lenses are compatible. I definitely recommend full frame and if you can afford it, the Nikon D3 is a fantastic camera. Its a bit of a transition but it is fun to learn to use Photoshop or other software and to develop/process images the way you want them. A basis of software is still formed on the fundamental editing techniques used in film and the technology has now far surpassed what we could do with film. Its also a luxury to be able to re-use the CF cards over & over and never have to carry rolls of film. Greg has a point and I did the same by buying a less expensive DSLR to see how I liked digital photography but soon afterward I was saving to upgrade. my .02, Carlton
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Bob Cammarata |
I'm assuming that you have amassed a collection of manual-focus lenses for your FM3a system and would prefer to keep them. Check out this Lens Compatibility Chart and compare features of the camera models upon which your lenses will work. You can also choose to add a few new lenses later on to take advantage of the more advanced auto-focus features available. When I "made the jump" around 3 years ago from an FM2/FE system, I chose the D300 because of the lens issues I mentioned earlier. All of my AI-S prime Nikkor lenses, teleconverters and accessories are still functional with the new digital body.
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Kay Beausoleil |
Jake, my experience is almost the same as Bob's. I'd add, however, that if you buy new lenses at all, make sure they're NOT of the DX variety even if you start with a small captor body. If and when you change to a full captor in the future, DX lenses will cause vignetting problems at least. The advantage to sticking with Nikon is being familiar with their system and being familiar with dreadful user manuals ;-) As for full v. smaller captor size, I have a D300 and print mostly 11x17, some severely cropped, and I don't see a quality difference with what I did with the FM2 and the F4 and a wet darkroom. But when time comes to change the D300, I'll probably go full captor, even though the bodies are beastly heavy. And no, I don't know why ...
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Jon Close |
"... if you buy new lenses at all, make sure they're NOT of the DX variety even if you start with a small captor body. If and when you change to a full captor in the future, DX lenses will cause vignetting problems at least." That's not so. Nikon's 'full frame' bodies (D700, D3-series) are fully compatible with DX lenses, cropping the sensor to give the same non-vignetted image that these lenses give on the DX bodies.
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Jake Stanton |
Carlton, Yes its convenient to have a digital. Thats what everyone says anyway. But like I said in my post, im begrudgingly making the big switch. I actually like carrying rolls of film, loading my camera, rolling it up and labeling the canister. Its satisfying in a way. I can understand the appeal of being able to see your pictures right away, and editing the mistakes away. But im only thinking of going digital because Photography is a huge part of my life and its becoming hard to do it with film. Im HOPING HOPING HOPING that digital photography is as satisfying, for me, as film. So that being said, im not ready to go out and spend a ton of money on a camera if im not even sure Ill enjoy it. But im sure Ill be like you and start saving for an upgrade as soon as I hold a digital :) Thanks for the info!!
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Jake Stanton |
Bob, Thanks for the lens compatibility chart! Very useful!
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Jake Stanton |
I went with the Nikon D5000. Thanks for the info guys!!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Hope you'll be happy with it. Now once you start using it, you can get used to using photoshop, or similar programs. When you first start using your camera, you may be a little disappointed with the pictures you first get printed. If you've never printed your own black and white photos, digital can be very similar to that, in the way that you couldn't just print straight from the negative and get the good contrast. You're going to have to be involved in some way. Instead of Sensia, Velvia, Reala, all having different characteristics made into the film that people thought they were responsible for, you can use photoshop.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
I have heard positive things about the D5000. I do recommend taking a Photoshop class and shooting in RAW format. I have taken Photoshop courses from Jim Zuckerman & Lewis Kemper's Toolbox classes and these will get you up to speed quickly. I learned many ways to edit my images but these days I have found that the 1st page of ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) will do most of my editing. ACR comes with Photoshop & also Elements which is a less expensive version of Photoshop but will most anything you will need to edit your pics. I haven't used Elements since 4.0 version but I hear the new 9.0 version is amazing and may be all you need. Its also about $100 compared to the $500+ for Photoshop CS5. Nikon also has its own editing software but I have not used it so I cant speak for its ease of use or abilities. Have fun with a new learning curve of editing digital images. Its different but I think you will come to love it once you start learning its abilities because we can now edit images the way we want them to look and even do several different edits of the same image. Getting good exposure and setting up for the shot w/tripod is still the same and most of my favorite images are the ones that required little to no editing at all because I got it right when I pressed the shutter :) Cheers, Carlton
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Jake Stanton |
Carlton, What is RAW format??
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doug Nelson |
You might like my article on my webite, "Dragged Kicking and Screaming into Digital". My preference in the APS-C sensor category is the Pentax DSLR's. I carry one hiking with a 21mm Pentax DA lens that crops to about a 32mm because of the crop sensor. Both of them (K-r and K-5) shoot beautiful clean RAW images, easily processed in Lightroom or an older Photoshop (I use CS2). Most people use and love APS-C sensor SLR's. I recently acquired a Canon 5DMkII with a windfall, which I love However, it's a huge financial commitment, because you must use decent lenses, Canon "L's" or selected primes from other makers using adapters. Go the full-frame sensor route only if you can part with about 5 grand.
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