One Grain Amongst the Storm
What is a blog amidst the sea of babble on the internet? One squeak of metal amidst a million clanging swords?
Reason: typo
Prateek, advice no. 1: Cut that crap about seniority and call me just umashankar (don't you start that uncle thing!).
Get a Nikon D90, available for approx 41,000/- in the gray market (approximately 30% cheaper than the official price). Nikon 85mm f/1.8 (gray market price approximately 25,000/-) is the king of portraits. O.K., the f/1.4 version is the Emperor but would knock you off by a cool 80,000/- and is only better by a whisker (or may be two)! Add to it the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 for a mere 6,000, the incredible Nikkor. The 50mm is suitable for full length shots.
Lets sum up then: Nikon D90 + Nikon 85mm f/1.8 + Nikon 50mm f/1.8 =41,000+25,000+6,000 = 72,000/- Your budget spills over by 20% but it will prove to be the killer combination.
The other option is to get a Nikon D90 + Nikon 18-105mm VR (41,000+14,000) but don't expect the results that the previous combination would yield.
You can save save around 11,000 if you buy the Nikon D5000 but the 50mm and 85mm primes will not autofocus on this body --not worth it.
When buying gray, be sure to pick it up from a helpful source who would swap the goods in case of trouble (which is rather rare). You can order by Net from smartshoppers.in. They are perfectly safe to trade with (I can tell this on account of personal experience) . These are high quality equipments and if they don't trouble you within the first few day they will almost certainly never even flinch. The smartshopper.in gray products have 6 month vendor warranty.
Hope this helps.
umashankar really sounds a tad disrespectful to me so i'll call you US
.
Man that is some info! Thanks a ton, I've printed it all out. i think i'll go for the killer combo.
but i cant use the primes for normal everyday shooting, will the 18-55 kit lens of my d40 work on the d90?
I am more of a eBay.in person but after comparing prices I guess I'll be buying more from smartshoppers.in now.
Hi,
Your posts deal with a lot of detailing. I was told by someone that the average 'page duration' for a person on the net is something like 5 seconds. Or some such equally ridiculous small number.
Are you willing to lose out on readership because of this? If yes, then no problem. If you are worried about attracting more readers and also retaining casual passers-by, then how about makign your posts a little more visually appealing? I am against having too many pictures and/or widgets on a blog as that actually distracts the reader from the actual content. But your blog represents the other extreme. There is content, content, yet more content, and lots of content!!
Don't get me wrong. I know that the content is valuable. Further, you (so far) write on a limited range of topics.
On the topic of DSLRs, I have a Nikon D70S. Am more than happy with it. Having read your blog now, I have decided to bother you now and then about my photography-related queries!
Regards,
Pushkaraj Apte
Dear Pushkaraj, I'm indebted for you thoughtful comments. I'll surely consider your valuable inputs. Nikon D70s is a capable DSLR (D70 was my first DSLR). You are more than welcome to bother me about your photography-related queries!
Dear Pratik, the 18-55 kit lens will happily mate with the D90 body and perform probably better than on the D40! In fact, the beauty of now legendary Nikon 'F' mount lies in the fact that you can mate most lenses with most bodies, barring a few exceptions. (I'm not taking into account the focusing and metering part of the older generation lenses, please.)
Umashankar, I am a dentist and would like to know ur views on type of camera best for taking pictures inside the mouth and close up head shots. I have absolutely zero idea abt camera and lens but like to take good pictures.
I hope am not asking too much of u
Soumya, I'll try to answer your query to the best of my knowledge, leaving alone the instruments that can be put straight into the mouth, flash and all. I also don't know how much you'd be willing to invest.
Head shots are fine but we are also discussing close up shots inside the mouth implying MACRO photograph in dark areas.
Case 1. We allocate Rs.13,000/- to 20,000/- :- Nikon 'Coolpix' compact cameras have excellent Macro capabilities. Most models have focus-assist-lamps, helpful in focusing in dark areas. Do pick up a model with VR (vibration reduction) capabilities, which will cut down the impact of your handshake. Suggested models: S640, S710, P90, P100, L110, S8000. Alternately, you can pick up Canon models (like A1200, SX10, SX120, G10 -expensive). In case of Canon, they must have the IS (Image Stabilisation). Do not forget to take repeated test shots with whatever you pick by setting them to Macro mode and trying to shoot, maybe a denture inside a purse! Remember, you don't have to necessarily buy anything you lay your hands on and don't break apart. While in the market, do try out the Panasonic FZ18/28/35 too. Yes, visits to camera dealerships are urgently needed.
Case 2. We allocate Rs. Rs.25,000/- to 40,000/- :- We take the DSLR route. A Nikon D3000 + Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens will deliver the goods.
Case 3. We allocate Rs. Rs.50,000/- to 1,00,000/- :- Nikon D5000, Nikon 105mm Micro f/2.8 VR lens with Nikon R1C1 close-up Ring flash. The killer combo. Selecting the Tamron lens will save you around 25,000/-. Metz Mecablitz 15 MS-1 is an alternative ringflash you can choose.
Hope this helps.
Soumya, I'll try to answer your query to the best of my knowledge, leaving alone the optical instruments that can be put straight into the mouth and of you should have better awareness. I also don't know how much you'd be willing to invest.
Head shots are fine but we are also discussing close up shots inside the mouth implying MACRO photograph in dark areas.
Case 1. We allocate Rs.13,000/- to 20,000/- :- Nikon 'Coolpix' compact cameras have excellent Macro capabilities. Most models have focus-assist-lamps, helpful in focusing in dark areas. Do pick up a model with VR (vibration reduction) capabilities, which will cut down the impact of your handshake. Suggested models: S640, S710, P90, P100, L110, S8000. Alternately, you can pick up Canon models (like A1200, SX10, SX120, G10 -expensive). In case of Canon, they must have the IS (Image Stabilisation). Do not forget to take repeated test shots with whatever you pick by setting them to Macro mode and trying to shoot, maybe a coin, a stamp or the wretched tooth you extracted the other night, hidden in a purse! Remember, you don't have to necessarily buy anything you lay your hands on and don't break apart. While in the market, do try out the Panasonic FZ18/28/35 too. Yes, visits to camera dealerships are urgently needed.
Case 2. We allocate Rs. Rs.25,000/- to 40,000/- :- We take the DSLR route. A Nikon D3000 + Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens will deliver the goods.
Case 3. We allocate Rs. Rs.50,000/- to 1,00,000/- :- Nikon D5000, Nikon 105mm Micro f/2.8 VR lens with Nikon R1C1 close-up Ring flash. The killer combo. Selecting the Tamron lens will save you around 25,000/-. Metz Mecablitz 15 MS-1 is an alternative ringflash you can choose.
Hope this helps.
Sorry about the typos above. Ideally, I should be allowed to edit it but you don't get everything everywhere.
totally brilliant!
