Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera gaertneri) on my window-ledge - and yes I DO now realise I am going to have to use aperture-priority auto to give greater depth of field...
Nikon D5000 digital SLR camera with basic 18-55mm lens
Last month I finally bought myself a digital SLR camera – a Nikon D5000 – from Cameraland in Cardiff’s Royal Arcade. It’s a great little shop. They know their stuff, their prices even compete with Amazon – but sadly they have no website, which is a little bizarre…
The Nikon D5000 feels good in the hand, I like the clear display and it has a useful swiveling monitor for taking pictures from unusual angles.
The camera came with a standard 18-55mm lens, OK for general views, but the results were not even as satisfying as my old Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom for close-ups of birds in the bush and basic macro photography of flowers and insects.
I knew this before I bought it and my plan had always been to buy a macro/micro lens and a good zoom lens before long.
Nikkor micro/macro lens...
One of the reason I chose Nikon was that they give you all sorts of vouchers to spend on other lenses etc as long as you do it within six months.
It was also a double-discount week, so one voucher gave me £200 off a micro lens. I was back there to buy one within a fortnight.
With a slight sale on as well, that meant I was able to buy the Nikkor 85mm micro lens for less than half price – under £200.
I admit I still have some work to do on getting depth of field, so it’s back to the manual to work out how to use aperture-priority auto. But here are some of my early attempts using the straight auto setting.
Spider on Fuchsia...
Cotoneaster berries...
Winter heather (Erica) ...
Stinking gladwyn (Iris foetidissima) pod...
Lily pod...
Flowers of Mahonia media Charity are a bit like miniature daffodils...
Another garden sheet-web spider...
Common wasp on Mahonia - I'm going to have to show more patience to get the front end of insects!
Rain on Nasturtium leaf...
I think I'm going to enjoy photographing shiny beads...
My Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom...
I need to get to grips with this macro, but I’m also hoping for a zoom lens for Christmas! That’ll be £80 off the new, lightweight 55-300mm one, I think…
For the record, I STILL love my Olympus compact for everyday use – and here are some of the bird, flower and insect pictures I have taken with it!
The Squirrelbasket 
Just get out and start shooting, you will soon figure it out.
Raven
Thanks so much for the encouragement! I’m particularly looking forward to getting some decent shots of mosses, a favourite subject of mine this year.
Love your blog, too – hope you keep on posting now…
🙂
I think you’ve got some neat shots there ^^ Macro is so much fun!
Thanks for the kind words!
I will watch your wildlfie blog with interest, too…
Best wishes
🙂
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Pat English, wendyhm. wendyhm said: “@Squirrelbasket: First attempts with my new macro lens (blog post) http://bit.ly/9zKN0T #plants #flowers #photography” >very nice:-)) […]
Hi Pat,
Nice pics, as usual.
A 55-300mm zoom is an excellent idea – I have the Olympus Zuiko version. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that you need to stop down to around f11 – f16 at the extremes of the range to retain image quality, which may well result in long exposure times, depending on light levels. Not a fault, zooms have always been like that.
Shutter lag, by the way (no idea how Nikons are affected by this when using the LCD screen as a viewfinder), will be pretty much eliminated by using the viewfinder.
The other thing is, if Nikon are like most others, and supply a manual on CD, you can get a paper version – much more convenient – here http://www.oldtimercameras.com/stock/Model.asp?Model=24826&ModelPage=true
No problem with the manual – I have a little booklet, on paper! Actually I read it through in the hairdresser’s chair a while back, but not sure how much detail sank in – it’s a weighty tome.
Mmm, I’ll absorb all the other stuff you say. I don’t tend to use the normal viewfinder as I have a big nose and my make-up rubs off! Like copper-nosed Harry. So the monitor is a godsend.
Long ago I used to have an ordinary SLR, so I understand some of the technicalities, although digital is amazing. I also had a fixed 200mm lens, which was of limited use. Prefer a zoom. The great thing about the NEW Nikon 55-300mm is that it is very light (as well as having VR).
Speak again soon…
The D5000 has been the subject of a couple of recalls. You can check your serial number to see if yours is affected here
http://advisory.nikonrepair.eu/language_select.aspx
Thanks for that. Just checked. Not affected. Phew!
🙂
[…] The garden spiders are less in evidence but at least now I have bought myself a macro/micro lens for my new DSLR camera. See my first experiments with it here. […]