Nikon D90, Lenses & Accessories

[mattyn1]

Because of a wish to really learn photography, and post a lazy hijack of a thread regarding mirrorless cameras, decided to get my kit out of the cupboard today. Kit I have considered to be too cumbersome for quite some time.

I am looking at it, the body, the lenses, the flashgun etc, and I realise I really have no idea what to do. This has been used sporadically in the last eight years or so when I started to try to get into it all. Then came promotion at work, and with that, the longer hours gave an excuse not to do it anymore. Which was quite sad.

I am going to list the kit, and hopefully get some tips on how to start agin - consider me the absolute beginner.

For the record, I am most interested in architecture, landscapes, motor racing and some nature.

So this is what I have got. What would you experts suggest I do, maybe courses, sell and purchase something else, practise methods etc.

Nikon D90 Body
Nikon DX AF-S 18-105 1:3.5-5.6G ED Lens
Nikon AF-S 70-300 1:4.5-5.6G Lens
Hoya 67mm Skylight and PL CIR filters
Nikon AF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6G ED Lens from my old D50
SUNPAK PZ42X Flash Gun
Unbranded Ring Flash
2 Batteries with Double Battery Grip.
Something labelled "Digital HD 0.45X Super Wide Angle Lens with Macro" - this must connect to one of my lenses.
Jessops 52mm diam Skylight 1A, PL CIR and Macro filters.
4 piece Close Up kit (52mm) Close Up +1, +2, +4, +10
2 Black metal rings labelled 52mm and 67mm.
Tripod.

And I have a cleaning kit in the bag which I will have a dabble with later.

It is all quite heavy but I am loathe to replace unless this kit will do nothing for me - but I fully understand the camera will not make me take better pictures - hence thinking what I should do with this as a beginner. (it looks the part though!!).

Self learning websites etc would be very appreciated, lots to learn I know, but I am hoping I have decent kit to make a real go of a rekindled interest in this hobby.

Many thanks all

Matt

[DibblyDobbler]

Mirrorless kit is marginally more compact and lighter but not enough to make it a game changer IMHO. Your kit looks fine to me - I would just get out there and go for it - take picures, see what you like and what works (or doesn't!), post them up here and ask for feedback. It's always fun buying kit but what you have is not likely to hold you back until you get a lot further into it. Good luck

[Simpo Two]

Good post.

mattyn1 said:

Because of a wish to really learn photography... I am going to list the kit, and hopefully get some tips on how to start agin - consider me the absolute beginner.

For the record, I am most interested in architecture, landscapes, motor racing and some nature.

So this is what I have got. What would you experts suggest I do, maybe courses, sell and purchase something else, practise methods etc.

Nikon D90 Body
Nikon DX AF-S 18-105 1:3.5-5.6G ED Lens
Nikon AF-S 70-300 1:4.5-5.6G Lens
Hoya 67mm Skylight and PL CIR filters
Nikon AF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6G ED Lens from my old D50
SUNPAK PZ42X Flash Gun
Unbranded Ring Flash
2 Batteries with Double Battery Grip.
Something labelled "Digital HD 0.45X Super Wide Angle Lens with Macro" - this must connect to one of my lenses.
Jessops 52mm diam Skylight 1A, PL CIR and Macro filters.
4 piece Close Up kit (52mm) Close Up +1, +2, +4, +10
2 Black metal rings labelled 52mm and 67mm.
Tripod.

And I have a cleaning kit in the bag which I will have a dabble with later.

It is all quite heavy but I am loathe to replace unless this kit will do nothing for me - but I fully understand the camera will not make me take better pictures - hence thinking what I should do with this as a beginner. (it looks the part though!!).

OK let's sort through this...


Nikon D90 Body
Nikon DX AF-S 18-105 1:3.5-5.6G ED Lens
Nikon AF-S 70-300 1:4.5-5.6G Lens
That's the main stuff. The body has plenty of potential, the lenses will keep you going for long enough to learn what you need to learn.

Hoya 67mm Skylight and PL CIR filters
Skylight, don't need it. But polarising filters can be handy so keep those.

Nikon AF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6G ED Lens from my old D50
If you're happy with the 18-105, the 18-55 can go on eBay.

SUNPAK PZ42X Flash Gun
Unbranded Ring Flash
Put those to one side for the moment, you can play with flash later.

2 Batteries with Double Battery Grip.
Spare batteries, great, but I've never bothered with huge strap-on 'grips'.

Something labelled "Digital HD 0.45X Super Wide Angle Lens with Macro" - this must connect to one of my lenses.
Yes, it will screw onto the front thread and reduce the focal length by x0.45. In other words, it will give you a wider angle, or if you fit it to a wide angle, a fish-eye. 'Macro' - it might unscrew so you just put half of it on the front and then it's like a magnifying glass. The quality won't be great but it's amusing to experiment with, and if you like macro you can buy a proper macro lens later.

Jessops 52mm diam Skylight 1A, PL CIR and Macro filters.
Repeat of above.

4 piece Close Up kit (52mm) Close Up +1, +2, +4, +10
Repeat of above.

2 Black metal rings labelled 52mm and 67mm.
Probably step-up or step-down adapters, so you can fit attachments to the fronts of lenses of a size different to what they were designed for. You have too much strap-on clutter, feel free to thin out.

Tripod.
Can be useful.

So in summary, you have a perfectly decent DSLR kit there, which you can learn loads from. You also have lots of little junky bits you don't need.

It's been a while since I sent out any of my 'Idiot's Guides', but if you want to learn from the ground up, PM me.

[NewNameNeeded]

Once you've taken photos you then need to decide what you want to do with those shots. If you like the idea of tinkering with your photos, but not hours spent in front of a computer then today's smartphones are more than capable of simple editing.

I used Nikon Snapbridge to transfer to my phone, then Snapseed to tweak shots - sharpen them, adjust brightness, etc.

[mattyn1]

Many thanks to those who have replied. Really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

DibblyDobbler: Thanks and that's exactly what we (Mrs showing more interest than I thought she would) intend to do.

Simpo Two: Skylight filters - pretty sure some time ago in the days of my v old Nikon F50 and later D50, these were advised if nothing else to protect the lens. Is that not the case now?

The two black metal rings both screw onto the lens threaded part, and allow a bracket for the ring flash to slide onto. This and the flash gun are virtually unused to should be ideal to keep in the bag for now.

PM has been sent for the idiots guide - many thanks for this.

NewNameNeeded: This was going to be a Q for later - what software. I am obviously going to get loads of pictures - storing or should I say filing and editing is going to be very relevant. I see Photoshop and Lightroom are now - much like Office, payable on subscription, so unsure if I need both. PC is a Mac - we are apple through and through here.

Which brings me to another point re software - my daughter is doing Creative iMedia for GCSE (Y11 in Sept) so would like to give her some opportunity as she does the practical elements.

Last point for tonight - the camera had a quite old 32GB SD card in - still seems to be working fine but looking today, replacements are quite varied in price - apart from speed, is there any advantage to the more expensive, or am I ok with a MicroSD in a SD Adapter? Is there a limit on the D90 for card size?

Thanks again guys - much appreciated.

[Simpo Two]

mattyn1 said:

Simpo Two: Skylight filters - pretty sure some time ago in the days of my v old Nikon F50 and later D50, these were advised if nothing else to protect the lens. Is that not the case now?

Well, I've been taking photos for 40+ years, including 11 for my living, and not once have I smashed the lens into anything. Fit one if you like, but the downside is that the extra glass/air interfaces can only reduce image quality.

mattyn1 said:

The two black metal rings both screw onto the lens threaded part, and allow a bracket for the ring flash to slide onto.

Ah right, that makes sense.

mattyn1 said:

This was going to be a Q for later - what software. I am obviously going to get loads of pictures - storing or should I say filing and editing is going to be very relevant. I see Photoshop and Lightroom are now - much like Office, payable on subscription, so unsure if I need both. PC is a Mac - we are apple through and through here.

Which brings me to another point re software - my daughter is doing Creative iMedia for GCSE (Y11 in Sept) so would like to give her some opportunity as she does the practical elements.

There are discounts available for students so your daughter could perhaps get a discounted version and you could - ah - borrow it. Software is a personal thing; I use Photoshop but hate Lightroom. Don't worry about RAW yet, that can come later. As for siling and storing, I just make a folder for each year, subdivided into folders for various activities. I use a separate HDD for back-up. I don't like my editing software to try to organise things for me, nor do I use the cloud. But that's just me.

mattyn1 said:

Last point for tonight - the camera had a quite old 32GB SD card in - still seems to be working fine but looking today, replacements are quite varied in price - apart from speed, is there any advantage to the more expensive, or am I ok with a MicroSD in a SD Adapter? Is there a limit on the D90 for card size?

Check to see if it can handle SDXC cards (ie over 32Gb). Does the current card take a while to read and write data? I wouldn't choose the microSD + adapter route as there are more contacts to possibly fail. There's no advantage.

Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 31st July 10:12