RE: Series "Practical advice" #2 - Camera selection
Greetings @bambuka. I bought my first camera (nikon d3400) 4 years ago. I think it is one of the best choices to start.
When I bought it I was astonished by the quality of the pictures it was capturing and I hadn't use my mobile phone for photography more than 2 years. I was very happy with my photos, but not anymore.
The last two years I am thinking of upgrading my photographic equipment and go from DSLR to mirrorless because they are smaller in size and I think easier to use. I also will stay with same company, I think nikon is the best brand.
Unfortunately, usually I am capturing pictures on the auto mode. I have no idea how to adjust the camera so either I take pictures automatically or I use some ready-made settings depending on what I want to photograph.
I have tried to read how to adjust the camera and I have seen a lot of videos but when I go out for photos I do not succeed and return to the auto function.
By the way I love these practical advice series, can you please make a post in the future, explaining how to adjust the camera settings? I would be much obliged. 🙏
I haven't used Nikon, so I can't say anything specific about it. But I think he's good enough. This camera has everything you need for creative shooting in manual mode.
A mirrorless camera is more convenient and smaller in size. If possible, I recommend buying a full-matrix (FF) camera. Your camera now has a matrix with a 1.5 crop factor.
By shooting modes. It is necessary to master the manual mode. It's actually not difficult at all. It is important to understand which setting is responsible for what and what it gives for photography. I was just about to make a post or several (as it goes in size) on the topic of manual settings. This is what separates the camera from the phone.
In the settings, it is important to understand the physics of the process.
Also, if you buy a new camera, pay attention to the presence of the Live View mode. This greatly simplifies manual adjustments - you can immediately see the result on the display.
@skywaystelios I shoot a Nikon D750, love it! I bought it because I had been shooting on a Nikon film camera. I can interchange lens between both digital and film, that is nice. With Nikons amazing technology, it is hard not to shoot in auto mode.
Learning which shutter speed, ISO and f/stop to choose to get a good images is the never ending learning experience of the photographer. That is why camera companies came out with automatic settings, manual settings is a hard concept to get. How you determine the settings are situational to the outcome you want.
I have am about to start two presentations for my photo club on short and long exposure time. I will do a posts in this community with the same information.