Wannabe Photographer

[sporadic]

That is a fantastic deal!! If I hadn't bought my camera a few hours before that I definitely would have bought that!

I purchased the Sony A6000 it comes with the 16-50, and a 55-210 I did buy used, so fingers crossed. I also bought an extra lens, 50mm f/1.8! I bought it new through best buy, they had an open box price, plus lens's were on sale so double bonus for me. I also have the book Understanding Exposure coming which I hope arrives today. I'm very anxious to get everything and start practicing. Plus I'm very excited for the photography class at the library to start but that is a few months away now.

In the mean time please keep posting your own pictures. I love looking at everyone photo's and the different shots that you all do.

I'm sure I'll have many questions along the way. The first being is canned air ok to use when cleaning a camera? I want my used camera to be all shiny and new.

Congrats! Do a search for "rocket blower". I keep a smaller generic one in my bag to blow dust off the lenses and sensor as needed.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Another question..... How important is the shutter count? I didn't even think to find out until right now.

 

[fractal]

That is a fantastic deal!! If I hadn't bought my camera a few hours before that I definitely would have bought that!

I purchased the Sony A6000 it comes with the 16-50, and a 55-210 I did buy used, so fingers crossed. I also bought an extra lens, 50mm f/1.8! I bought it new through best buy, they had an open box price, plus lens's were on sale so double bonus for me. I also have the book Understanding Exposure coming which I hope arrives today. I'm very anxious to get everything and start practicing. Plus I'm very excited for the photography class at the library to start but that is a few months away now.

In the mean time please keep posting your own pictures. I love looking at everyone photo's and the different shots that you all do.

I'm sure I'll have many questions along the way. The first being is canned air ok to use when cleaning a camera? I want my used camera to be all shiny and new.

Congrats! My best advise is to take lots of shots with the camera out of the AUTO settings (once you figure out how). When I got my NEX-3 back in 2011 I put it in manual and took an enormous amount of terrible photos, but I slowly learned how to use each variable.

Do not used canned air on the sensor (inside) of the camera. It could do major damage. Take @sporadic advise and get a rocket blower.

As far as shutter count - it's like the mileage reading on a car. I wouldn't worry too much unless the shutter count is over 50,000 or so.

My NEX-7 has over 200,000 and is still running fine.

 

[Jahona]

I'm sure I'll have many questions along the way. The first being is canned air ok to use when cleaning a camera? I want my used camera to be all shiny and new.

Another thing if you're not comfortable cleaning the sensor on your camera yourself you can see if any of the local camera stores in your area offer cleaning services. Although this can cost you anywhere around $100 for full cleaning services.

And yeah as fractal said shutter count is the shutters odometer. Most shutters are designed to last for 100,000 cycles.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Congrats! My best advise is to take lots of shots with the camera out of the AUTO settings (once you figure out how). When I got my NEX-3 back in 2011 I put it in manual and took an enormous amount of terrible photos, but I slowly learned how to use each variable.

Do not used canned air on the sensor (inside) of the camera. It could do major damage. Take @sporadic advise and get a rocket blower.

As far as shutter count - it's like the mileage reading on a car. I wouldn't worry too much unless the shutter count is over 50,000 or so.

My NEX-7 has over 200,000 and is still running fine.

Another thing if you're not comfortable cleaning the sensor on your camera yourself you can see if any of the local camera stores in your area offer cleaning services. Although this can cost you anywhere around $100 for full cleaning services.

And yeah as fractal said shutter count is the shutters odometer. Most shutters are designed to last for 100,000 cycles.

Thank you both. The person I purchased from didn't mention shutter count and I realize some others that I saw for sale did so hopefully everything is ok.

One thing I found that I like recently is a picture with a blurry back ground. I'm sure there is a name for that style of shot but I don't know it yet. Like Fractal said I'm sure I'll have a lot of bad shots but I can't wait to start!!

 

[sporadic]

One thing I found that I like recently is a picture with a blurry back ground. I'm sure there is a name for that style of shot but I don't know it yet. Like Fractal said I'm sure I'll have a lot of bad shots but I can't wait to start!!

That's depth of field and is determined by your aperture setting. You'll also hear the style / shape of the blurriness referred to as "bokeh". Go hear and play with the aperture control to get a feeling of how depth of field works - http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play

 

[thomas998]

Thank you both. The person I purchased from didn't mention shutter count and I realize some others that I saw for sale did so hopefully everything is ok.

One thing I found that I like recently is a picture with a blurry back ground. I'm sure there is a name for that style of shot but I don't know it yet. Like Fractal said I'm sure I'll have a lot of bad shots but I can't wait to start!!

As you got the 50mm 1.8 that lens will be your best friend for the blurry backgrounds. The previous poster gave you a link to a canon site that will let you play around with the aperture... but that site doesn't explain a little trick to the blurry images that isn't always obvious. The depth of field (is a fancy way of saying the area where things are in focus) will become larger as you focus on subject further away from you and shallower when you focus on a subject closer to you. For example you set the aperture to 1.8 and take a picture of a person 2 feet from your camera, the depth of field at that distance will be about 1/2 inch so if you focus perfectly on the tip of the person's nose the ears will be out of focus and the background several feet behind the subject will be very blurry... while if you focus on the same person 20 feet away the depth of field will be 3 feet 6 inches so again if you are focused on the nose of the subject the whole person will be in focus and along with anything about 2 fee behind and 2 feet in front of the person's nose. The background will be less blurry.... So bear that in mind as you try to get blury backgrounds the closer you are to the thing you want in focus the more blurry your background will be.

To start with when you use this lens and try for the blurry background set the camera to "A" (aperture mode) and then select f1.8... pay attention to the shutter speed and ISO of the shots you take and it will giver you a good idea of what you need to set things at when you shoot in manual mode.

 

[Jahona]

I posted this site earlier but it does a decent representation of depth of field simulation. It works best on a computer.
http://dofsimulator.net/en/?x=EH0AkQGMQAAIJEwiM3WDory

I've set the link up to model the Sony a6000 with a 50mm f/1.8. You can change the lens to one of the others you purchased as well.

You can start messing with the sliders to see how f-stop and distance work together. At the bottom there is a depth of field to distance graphic. As you move the model farther away the width of what is in focus increases.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Thank you @sporadic @Jahona @thomas998 @fractal for all the advise and tips.
Sporadic I appreciate the link I will definitely need it!

Thomas thanks for explaining the depth of field so that I can understand and Jahona that link is great!!!

And fractal you took so much time explaining everything and helping me choose a camera I feel like we should be taking you to dinner.

 

[wdwmagic]

That is a fantastic deal!! If I hadn't bought my camera a few hours before that I definitely would have bought that!

I purchased the Sony A6000 it comes with the 16-50, and a 55-210 I did buy used, so fingers crossed. I also bought an extra lens, 50mm f/1.8! I bought it new through best buy, they had an open box price, plus lens's were on sale so double bonus for me. I also have the book Understanding Exposure coming which I hope arrives today. I'm very anxious to get everything and start practicing. Plus I'm very excited for the photography class at the library to start but that is a few months away now.

In the mean time please keep posting your own pictures. I love looking at everyone photo's and the different shots that you all do.

I'm sure I'll have many questions along the way. The first being is canned air ok to use when cleaning a camera? I want my used camera to be all shiny and new.

Congrats on your new camera! Have fun!

 

[fractal]

Since you asked...

some shots I took in 2013 with the Sony nex-7 + SEL 50mm 1.8.

 

[Zipadeelady]

@fractal Love the picture of the safari trucks!! And your Midway Mania picture is so clear. Great pics, please feel free to post as many as you want!

 

[Rider]

Check this book out as a beginners guide: https://www.amazon.com/Understandin...768536&sr=8-1&keywords=understanding+exposure

 

[Zipadeelady]

Check this book out as a beginners guide: https://www.amazon.com/Understandin...768536&sr=8-1&keywords=understanding+exposure

I ordered it from Amazon already and waiting for it to arrive!!

 

[Rider]

Cool... I've also gotten some value out of the video tutorials here: https://kelbyone.com/

You can sign up for a free trial to see if you like them. At the very least they will get you a discount on Lightroom CC.

 

[Zipadeelady]

I got my camera yesterday!! If I thought choosing a camera was scary, you should have have seen my face when I turned that baby on and switched it to Manual. All those abbreviations and codes that came up on the screen kind of freaked me out.

I looked over the manuals and fiddled around for a bit. I took about 20 horrible, unrecognizable pictures then like magic I get my first picture that made me so happy with my purchase.

I know I have a lot to learn but my point and shoot in auto mode was never this clear!!

Whoo Hoo!! So excited.

 

[fractal]

I got my camera yesterday!! If I thought choosing a camera was scary, you should have have seen my face when I turned that baby on and switched it to Manual. All those abbreviations and codes that came up on the screen kind of freaked me out.

I looked over the manuals and fiddled around for a bit. I took about 20 horrible, unrecognizable pictures then like magic I get my first picture that made me so happy with my purchase.

View attachment 203061

I know I have a lot to learn but my point and shoot in auto mode was never this clear!!

Whoo Hoo!! So excited.

Congrats!

You have entered a strange new world.

the a6000 has eye auto focus.

Here's how you can set it up as a custom button.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Congrats!

You have entered a strange new world.

the a6000 has eye auto focus.

Here's how you can set it up as a custom button.

Thank you. I got it customized. So many things to learn. I'll be searching youtube for more video's

 

[fractal]

Thank you. I got it customized. So many things to learn. I'll be searching youtube for more video's

it's a great tool for portraits. How's the shooting going? Any new shots to share?

 

[Zipadeelady]

it's a great tool for portraits. How's the shooting going? Any new shots to share?

Not yet. This has been a crazy week. I've had some extra work and my Daughter needed to move out of her college dorm this past weekend. I've hadn't had time to watch too many video's yet and my book still hasn't come in yet!! By the end of the week I should have quite a bit of free time to really play around and I'll post some pictures when I get some!!