Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good all round Nikon... with 2 lens....

http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/nikon-d5200 ... pgodQFEAgw

http://www.eglobaldigitalcameras.com.au ... gdotcomegl

If you are going to a shop to look at a camera, you should buy it there. Yes eBay costs less, but if you have a problem itch the camera, your recourse is little to none. The shop costs more due to overhead, and the cost of hiring experienced salespeople, but they will be there when you need them. Unless if everyone goes to the shop to look and buys elsewhere, then they will probably go out of business. Then the nice Bruce or Sheila that helped you will be out of a job because you took advantage of their time, and they were unable to meet their sales goals.

Which is why everyone who uses this forum should at least buy a BYAP hat from the website to help support the business that makes this forum a possibility. I'm just kidding.

The kit lenses you get with a DSLR are good to get started but later you might want to invest in faster specialized lenses. Like Faye's macro lens for taking magnified shots

Here is a good site to browse Charlie:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm

You mentioned you are leaning towards Nikon and it seems most members responding also have Nikon.

I like Nikon personally, they generally are a little heavier which makes them a bit easier to hold steady.

Also remember that if you buy off Kogan/ebay etc, buying new gets you no warranty as Nikon only cover Australian sourced models.

If you buy the twin lens kit with 18-55mm and 55-200mm you will be covered for pretty much everything.
18-55 is good for portraits, weddings, parties etc.
55-200 good for zoom.
If you buy a good macro APO diopter (cost around $100 delivered from the US) you can turn the 200mm into a macro.
This was shot on the 55-200mm Nikon stock zoom lens with a Marumi +5 Achromatic Diopter macro filter attachment


What more can you ask for?

All good info guys, thankyou that helps a lot.

I will admit Im a bit of a ebay feind. Not one of my better traights but I think it is born from having little options in our 1 horse town. If I had the option to buy a camera from Bruce and Shelia (thats funny Ron) from the corner shop I would be happy to do so. Unfortunately, our only options (in this scenario) here are Harvey Norman and Retravision which are both crazy over priced.

A good example is the lounge suit we recently purchased, the one we chose from the local Harvey Norman was $2100 more than the same lounge at Harvey Norman in Perth. I realise there are frieght costs involved but Im mean come on, get real. They freight in bulk. It was cheaper for us to travel $700km to Perth, stay in a nice hotel for the weekend, spend a day at Adventure world and drive back with the new lounge.

Im all for supporting loacal buisnesses, and I do regularly but some of these franchises are out of control and I refuse to buy anything from them.

Here are some possibilities Charlie:

http://www.leedervillecameras.com.au/di ... ikon-dslrs

Since you are 700km from Perth it might be better to go with ebay. Buying from a Perth shop probably will not be of much benefit in this case but the above website will give you an indication of prices.

Seen as you are probably going to order online anyway...
I have ordered from d-d photographic before.
Might take a few weeks to arrive... And they are parallel imported, but really good prices.
http://www.d-d-photographics.com.au/pro ... -Lens.html

And Marumi lens for macro to suit the 300mm if you are interested, If you ask they might combine the +5 as well
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Marumi-58mm- ... 53f6c5ed98

whatever you buy stick with Canon or Nikon... they leapfrog each other in bodies but ultimately the lenses will decide who you stick with.

I find Nikon is the hipster brand at the moment. Kind of like the apple of the camera world. People blindly buy them because their friends have a Nikon. That's cool they're a good camera but it doesn't mean they're better than a Canon.

I'm a Canon owner to offer full disclosure

Purchased a Nikon this morning

What did you get?

Now for the exciting world of learning speed, iso, apertures, depth of field etc etc.

Ended up going with the D3200 Andrew. Have to say Im a bit excited, Ive never owned a decent camera and got no idea what all the jargon is yet. Been reading like mad lately and cant wait to take some cool pics.

What would you recommend for a memory disc? There are so many brands and types.

They cost $10, if it don't work, get another!
But get a camera one with higher speed.

I splurged on an ultra high speed one... and it makes my camera crash.
Its made for the d800 with 36mp sensor etc.

Don't leave it on auto, they all take average photos on auto, and you may as well have just bought a point & shoot...

That is funny. I sell binoculars. We won't touch cannon binos. We sell a lot of Nikon. Oddly, in the bino world Nikon is an inexpensive brand. Not that they are bad, they offer a great ammount of light transfer efficiency for the price. Fujinon, Steiner, and Ziess are the big daddies in the bino world.

I've got a pie in the sky, nooby lens question.

I don't know anything about optics. Is it possible some how to find a zoom lens and or bare lens that I can duck tape to a cheap usb camera? Maybe use a little hobby motor to zoom in at some different distances?

What kind and type of bare OEM glass to make a Rube Goldberg affair? Something McGyver would do in one of his episodes?

Perhaps take the innards out of the USB camera and throw them into an old 35 mm camera.