Lens upgrade

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:12

Im looking at upgrading my lens already, i want a wide angle lens that has a decent zoom, i feel mine is limiting me.

I know soon enough im going to try star trails and im told me lens will limit me, also when the next meteor shower hits my lens wont be capable of catching this properly.

Also my zoom capability is pretty poor.

I have a Nikon D40x with an 18-55mm kit lens.

Thanks for the help.

Raymond Lin · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:29

You either want wider angle or more zoom, can't really do both, if it could, it would cost a fortune.

P.s. your kit lens won't limit you for star trails. It's just a bunch of photos taken at f/8 ish focused to infinity stacked together. Shoot at your kit lens's optimum sharpness aperture, tripod, cable release, job done.

I'd be worrying about things like composition, moon light, human light pollution, weather etc.

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:32

I dont have a cable release, i have a wireless trigger as my camera wont support a cable..

Can i shoot stacked images with that?

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:34

I think the zoom is more important than the wide angle, i think my lens will shoot wide enough

Nexus · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:39

James07 said:
I dont have a cable release, i have a wireless trigger as my camera wont support a cable..

Can i shoot stacked images with that?

If it works the same as Canon, when using the wireless trigger in bulb mode, you can do one click to start the capture and another to stop it.

Raymond Lin · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:41

Zoom at the sky? For trails you want something wide-ish, zooms for the moon.

Getting a photo of a black sky with lots of white light streak is not really a good star trail photo, it needs context, it needs a "floor", it needs a foreground.

Just the sky you end up not knowing what is up, down, left to right.

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:45

Nexus said:
If it works the same as Canon, when using the wireless trigger in bulb mode, you can do one click to start the capture and another to stop it.

Yeah but id have to stop and start it every 30 seconds, id rather have it shooting itself constantly for 200ish shots..

Raymond Lin said:
Zoom at the sky?

No, i think ive got things mixed up, i think my lens will be capable of shooting the sky after what youve said, but im wanting a zoom lens as my zoom isnt particularly deep

I have a good location for star trails with, just waiting for the right time to try it..

Raymond Lin · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:47

Zooms-

How big a zoom? (What are you shooting)
How big is your budget?

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:51

Raymond Lin said:
Zooms-

How big a zoom? (What are you shooting)
How big is your budget?

I want to try more water droplet photography but i cant get the location right, i had to handhold the camera the last time i did it.

Also im going to be going up to the local racetrack and taking images of the cars and bikes on different days, want to practice getting that right.

My budget would be £200

Raymond Lin · 31 Jul 2013 at 17:54

I'd invest in a tripod if you don't have one already.

P.s. off topic, when you look at photos, other people's photos, what interests you most?

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 18:04

I like the artistic take on buildings that some photographers manage to capture, i like reflective photography and light trail photography.

Id love to capture the evening sky at different locations and i wouldnt mind getting out on a misty day and catching some cloudy valleys.

Im wanting to get out and about in a few cities at night where the water will reflect the surroundings and light. Theres so many good pictures on here that look fantastic, i just want to be like them lol.

Raymond Lin · 31 Jul 2013 at 18:09

Then forget the zooms. Get a tripod, work on composition, perhaps some ND filters.

From what you've said, a new lens won't benefit you. A kit lens can do all that you said you want.

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 18:22

Okay thank you

Ive got some ND filters on order now as i want to try get a different effect with water.

I have a tripod, i prefer shooting from that whenever possible, even if i dont have to haha.

Nexus · 31 Jul 2013 at 18:42

James07 said:
Yeah but id have to stop and start it every 30 seconds, id rather have it shooting itself constantly for 200ish shots..

If you are looking to do time lapse, interval type shooting, probably best to hook up a laptop to it then. I know Canon actually comes with quite good bundled software to do this, don't know if Nikon has the same.

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 18:53

Why hook the laptop up?

D.P. · 31 Jul 2013 at 18:54

James07 said:
Okay thank you Ive got some ND filters on order now as i want to try get a different effect with water.

I have a tripod, i prefer shooting from that whenever possible, even if i dont have to haha.

It is a good habit to always shoot from a tripod whenever possible. You always get sharper photos. The D40x doesn't have a mirror lock up mode (except for cleaning) but you can set a time delay of 5 seconds or use the remote - that way you don't touch the camera on the tripod when ever you take a photo = less chance for vibrations from your hand.

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 19:01

I use a 2sec timer for every shot

Last thing i want it to get home and see movement in my images.

Nexus · 31 Jul 2013 at 19:02

James07 said:
Why hook the laptop up?

As its a good way of shooting intervals or time lapse. While some cameras do have settings to allow you to do just that, using a laptop has a couple of benefits:

- If you are shooting for a really long time, you may run out of card space, where as if you record to the laptop you get significantly more.

- You can monitor the settings, see how the images are coming out and check things like battery level without having to touch the camera, which might mean disturbing it and completely ruining what you are trying to achieve.

James07 · 31 Jul 2013 at 19:07

Nexus said:
As its a good way of shooting intervals or time lapse. While some cameras do have settings to allow you to do just that, using a laptop has a couple of benefits:

- If you are shooting for a really long time, you may run out of card space, where as if you record to the laptop you get significantly more.

- You can monitor the settings, see how the images are coming out and check things like battery level without having to touch the camera, which might mean disturbing it and completely ruining what you are trying to achieve.

Is their some specific software that will continuously take the pictures for you? Or will you still need a setting on the camera to do that?

Nexus · 31 Jul 2013 at 19:36

James07 said:
Is their some specific software that will continuously take the pictures for you? Or will you still need a setting on the camera to do that?

Like I said before, Canon cameras come with a suite that will allow remote control of the camera via USB cable that will do shooting like above.

There are also many apps available, such as on the Apple App store which allow you to do the same with control from an iPad... though you still need to connect a laptop to it to give it WiFi capability.