Newbie needing help

[fauxgirl]

Hello, I am investigating the Nikon DX80 and a wide angle lens. I am a faux finisher and in the past have not been able to get nice pictures for my website (fauxscapes.com). Some of the issues I'm trying to overcome are....getting full shots of rooms and commercial jobs..nice shots of ceiling work...too much reflection in finishes that have metallic in them....full pictures of room where the art is on a wall and the room is too small to back up enough, such as tanning booths and powder bathrooms...too much sunlight coming through windows...and getting the detail of the wall finishes to show in my pictures. I've been told that the Nikon DX80 is the best camera for what I need, but I'm not sure on which wide angle lens to purchase. And I'd also like to know if I should learn to use some sort of filters for pictures of my finishes.
Thanks to anyone who can guide me in the right direction! I'm soooooo lost....I'm a painter, not a photographer!!

Thanks,
Marti

P.S. I cannot afford a professional photographers services at this time!!!

[prinothcat]

Hello, I am investigating the Nikon DX80 and a wide angle lens. I am a faux finisher and in the past have not been able to get nice pictures for my website (fauxscapes.com). Some of the issues I'm trying to overcome are....getting full shots of rooms and commercial jobs..nice shots of ceiling work...too much reflection in finishes that have metallic in them....full pictures of room where the art is on a wall and the room is too small to back up enough, such as tanning booths and powder bathrooms...too much sunlight coming through windows...and getting the detail of the wall finishes to show in my pictures. I've been told that the Nikon DX80 is the best camera for what I need, but I'm not sure on which wide angle lens to purchase. And I'd also like to know if I should learn to use some sort of filters for pictures of my finishes.
Thanks to anyone who can guide me in the right direction! I'm soooooo lost....I'm a painter, not a photographer!!

Thanks,
Marti

P.S. I cannot afford a professional photographers services at this time!!!

My experience as a finish carpenter who also shoots photos of my work is that 18mm isn't quite wide enough (it's close though). You may be able to make the 18-70mm f3.5/5.6 work. You might also consider the 16-85mm f3.5/5.6 but it's kinda spendy. Look at which lenses you can afford with Vibration Reduction (VR), or plan on using a tripod to get the best results, cause f3.5-5.6 isn't very fast (f xxx being the measure of how much light the lens lets through to the sensor.) I'm leaning toward a 12-24mm f4, probably a Tokina cause the Nikon is too bloody expensive ($500 verses $1200). I will add the for what you want to do an SB-400 flash may work miracles in those odd ball light situations. Learn what you can about fill flash as it will make things a lot easier in the long term. An SB-600 might work better (it's what I use) but you are likely on a budget, right?.

Everything here was shot with a Nikon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 AF-S on a D-200. The ones which appear "grainy" were shot existing light at high ISO. Something to be aware of when a sales person tells you that you don't need a flash because the camera will shoot ISO xxxx and that's really fast. It's fast (sensitive to light) but has the drawback of creating a digitally noisy image. The better ones were shot with fill off an SB-600.

Everything here was shot with the same set up but using an SB-600 flash.

Hope this helps.
Chris

[fauxgirl]

So, if I'm understanding correctly...not familar with all of the lingo...lol...but if I purchased the Nikon DX80, along with a Tokina 12-24 wide angle lens and the SB600 flash??...then I should have a nice enough set up to get me started learning to take really nice pictures? Anything else I need to purchase or will this pretty much take care of it? And of course you are right...there is always a budget....I do not want to spend more than $2,000.00....less if I can!!

[fauxgirl]

How do I learn more about what you call "fill off"?? Also, I was looking online at the flashes...would I want the SB600 Speedflash or the SB600 Electronic Flash? I'll probably have more questions......thanks for your help!

[prinothcat]

How do I learn more about what you call "fill off"?? Also, I was looking online at the flashes...would I want the SB600 Speedflash or the SB600 Electronic Flash? I'll probably have more questions......thanks for your help!

Ok I probably fumbled my keyboard but you want to read up on Fill Flash. Basically using the flash to add to the existing light in the room as opposed to using the flash as the primary light source. Further, you can adjust when the flash fires in relation to the open and close of the shutter to get different lighting.
A D-80 will probably come with a Nikon kit lens something in an 18-xx mm zoom. If you can get just the body, then a d-80, a 12-24mm f4 and either the sb-600 or the sb-400 should do you well. You may want to solicit so additional opinions re the 12-24mm verses say an 18-70mm with VR. The 18mm zoom may be more versatile, but the 12-24mm may do more of what you want. That's a decision you'll have to make for yourself. Most of the time the 18mm zoom is good enough.
If you plan to buy online please read through the Best Place To Buy Online thread.. The bottom line is if the price is substantially less than the price listed by B&H Photo or Adorama out of NYC, then check out the vendor closely. Beware of vendors in Brooklyn.... I and many others here have had excellent results with B&H and Adorama. Depending on where in the world you are you may also benefit from a trip to the local brick and mortar guys just so you can pick things up and look through the eyepieces. It's hard to decide what a lens is going to do for you based on what you read online. That being said there are lens reviews on Pbase here. Another good resource is DPreviews out of Europe.
The two designations you list for the SB-600 are probably the same thing, just someones creative copy writing. Be aware that the D-80 is likely going out of production for an upgrade.

Feel free to ask all the questions you want. Too bad we can't do this over a beer.....

[fauxgirl]

Oh yea...a beer and crawfish!! I'm in south Louisiana!!
You have been such a great help...thank you! I'm going to check out Ritz Cameras in Baton Rouge this weekend....so I may have more questions after that visit! But at least I've got a place to start...thanks to you!

[prinothcat]

mm 'bugs and beers, with a southern gal no less... alas I'm in the wilderness of Utah so that's not likely to happen....

[toosnvetts]

Hi, fauxgirl! I live in Covington! Nice to meet you. I am a relative newby photographer so Chris is probably giving you excellent counsel. Good luck in your business!

[fauxgirl]

Hey toosnvets! I love Covington...did a big house at Three Rivers....huge! I'm in Baton Rouge! Well I got my camera in today....so I'm going to have tons of questions over the next few weeks....so I'll just go ahead and apologize now! lol Okay...I have a questions regarding printers....so guess I'll go post it in the right place. I'm so excited....Christmas in July!

[digital_dawg]

Hi faux girl, this is also a problem I've ran into in the past. Take a look at the Nikon and Sigma brand Fisheye lenses. They're super-wide angle lenses that gives the final image a bit of a panoramic look. They'll help you get the widest composition. I can't really recommend a particular model number, because I borrowed the fisheye lens I used for my particular project and that's been several years ago. Just ask around on the forums. http://www.fotozumi.com has a pretty knowledgeable lens guy there at their forums ... that might be a good place to start. And I'm sure there are many here at PBase who could point you to a particular model number.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[prinothcat]

Hi faux girl, this is also a problem I've ran into in the past. Take a look at the Nikon and Sigma brand Fisheye lenses.
Hope this helps! Good luck!

While a fisheye will give you an extra-wide field of view they also introduce some interesting (and perhaps undesired) distortions. This can be corrected with software post processing. Usually with a stand alone product that most day to day shooters may find to be not cost effective.