advice etc for camera upgrade please

[billy bones]

Hi

I’m quite new to digital photography though I did, back in the day, do a lot of photography with film.

I have recently bought myself a Nikon D5100 and though I do like the camera I am feeling I should maybe take it back (while I can) and exchange it for a better model. I have a few queries and am hoping people on here might be able to help me out.

• There is no “B” setting. I like to take shots in minimal lighting and I like to experiment. I would like to be able to take exposures of a few seconds or even, in some cases, a few minutes. So I would like something with a “B” setting.

• Looking on various sites at lenses to buy I discovered I have to buy a lens compatible for “DX,” while some other Nikon cameras had a different type of lens requirement. Does this signify a step in quality? Would I be better getting a different camera with a better lens selection is what I am really asking. (bearing in mind I do intend to kit myself out with a full range of lenses eventually)

• After quite a bit of researching I have discovered the meaning of “bpp” and that my D5100 is 14 bpp while the optimum to go for it would seem is 24 bpp. Is this a bit over the top? Is the quality between the two significantly different? I have spent a fare bit of cash on photography equipment over the years but never had top grade stuff, always middle of the range. I have a little put by at the moment and have decided I should go for something top of the range while I can.

I do like Nikon but don’t feel I have to stick in the Nikon range.
Any advice, suggestions or links to good comparison sites will be very welcome.

Thanx for taking the time to read all this,
B.B.

[Jediboy]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Dont quote me on this, but I thought the D5100 did have bulb mode??

However,if you are looking at a top end Nikon DSLR then you will be looking at something like the D4, but at £4k is seriously expensive.
More sensible is the D600 or D800. Full frame cameras used with FX lenses (lenses for full frame cameras) should give you higher resolution because of the larger sensor and more megapixels. (If I had the money this is where I would go).

I'm sure that the D5100 will produce perfectly decent results, but if you are considering an upgrade now, then do it. You will probably regret it if you don't. If you have the funds, i would go for a good spec DSLR and some good glass.
I'm a Nikon user, so I'd say stay with Nikon, although plenty of others will advise Canon, or maybe even something else.

These are just my thoughts, but I hope this is of some help.

Chris

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by billy bones

Hi

I’m quite new to digital photography though I did, back in the day, do a lot of photography with film.

I have recently bought myself a Nikon D5100 and though I do like the camera I am feeling I should maybe take it back (while I can) and exchange it for a better model. I have a few queries and am hoping people on here might be able to help me out.

• There is no “B” setting. I like to take shots in minimal lighting and I like to experiment. I would like to be able to take exposures of a few seconds or even, in some cases, a few minutes. So I would like something with a “B” setting.

• Looking on various sites at lenses to buy I discovered I have to buy a lens compatible for “DX,” while some other Nikon cameras had a different type of lens requirement. Does this signify a step in quality? Would I be better getting a different camera with a better lens selection is what I am really asking. (bearing in mind I do intend to kit myself out with a full range of lenses eventually)

• After quite a bit of researching I have discovered the meaning of “bpp” and that my D5100 is 14 bpp while the optimum to go for it would seem is 24 bpp. Is this a bit over the top? Is the quality between the two significantly different? I have spent a fare bit of cash on photography equipment over the years but never had top grade stuff, always middle of the range. I have a little put by at the moment and have decided I should go for something top of the range while I can.

I do like Nikon but don’t feel I have to stick in the Nikon range.
Any advice, suggestions or links to good comparison sites will be very welcome.

Thanx for taking the time to read all this,
B.B.

Hi & welcome Billy.

The D5100 has a 'Bulb' setting. It also has the 'Time' setting for use with the ML-L3 (or equivalent) infra-red remote. You only get to access these in Manual mode - the camera can't calculate an exposure when it doesn't know how long you will have the shutter open, so it needs to be in M. See pages 65-67 of your manual.

DX lenses are not a requirement for the D5100 or any other Nikon camera. Pretty much any Nikon lens that you're likely to come across will fit & work on your camera; there's a list of features available with pretty much all lenses and the exceptions on page 197 onward. DX lenses will fit & work on full-frame (FX) bodies, too, but with some cropping required as they don't usually cover the larger FX frame.

As for bpp, I think you're getting confused somewhere. 24bpp is what JPEG images use. It's 8 bits for each of the 3 colours red, green & blue. That's what your D5100 (and everything else) uses for JPG. For RAW images, your D5100 uses 14 bits per pixel, but each pixel has only one colour. I don't think any camera has 24-bit RAW (but somebody correct me). Even the high end Nikons have 14-bit RAW.

Hope this clears up some of your worries, and that you can get on & enjoy your camera now. I don't think it would be easy to find better for the price.

Chris

Edit: On the subject of buying further up the range. I think you're probably better served with a couple of good lenses and a flashgun. For the £1100 difference in body price between the D5100 and D600 at wex, I think that's doable. Depends what you shoot and how much you want to spend, really.

[ianpinion]

Hi Billy and welcome to the forum.

I think you've already had some great advice given by the previous posts that answer the points you raised that have caused you some confusion over your D5100. All I will add is that the D5100 is a good camera, but I'm wondering if you feel that it's aimed more at a beginner and not someone like yourself with a vast amount of experience with film cameras. To an extent you would be correct, the D5100 is a beginner's camera, but it's sort of a cross-over as it may appeal to the enthusiast too. However, the D7000 is the next rung up the ladder and is firmly aimed at the enthusiasts. It has more direct access for adjusting various settings via strategically placed buttons, wheels and dials, whereas the D5100 you will only find some of these deep inside the menu system. So it saves you time. The D600 is like a full-frame version of the D7000 and it appears to have been placed in the range to tempt users who have got a D7000 who want to make the step up to full-frame, but who have been put off in the past by the sheer cost involved of making that leap.

[greenwing]

I wonder if BillyBones will come back to us, or was he just another of those who pass through and try to make us think from time to time?

Chris

[billy bones]

that's great thanx for the advice everyone