# My first ever camera- Nikon's D5100



## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

Hi all
After a lot of time spent online and fretting about this purchase, I eventually plumped for the Nikon D5100 with the std 18-55 VR lens, which I got from Sundan for 5,400rmb, about 230GBP under the UK price. Included in the price were a half-way decent Nikon branded bag with lots of padding, a 4 Gb card, body and lens cover and a full-sized tripod with _it's_ own bag. With the Sony eqpt, you even have to buy your own memory card. I'm certain there is no better image quality to be had for under 7,500 yuan. The image style of the EOS range, while very impressive, seemed a tad harsh after the initial wow-factor had worn off, especially comared to the 90D shots, which only seemed to emphasise the 600D's "trying too hard". The A580/A55/A35 were also in contention, but the naturalness, rich detail and soft break-up under stress of the Nikon suited me best. The A580 imaging is too soft and the screen a joke. The A35 is compelling, but can't compete with the D5100 in noise-levels and seemed to have a very fussy focus. The D5100 has the sensor and processor of the considerably more expensive D7000. The only gripes the experienced reviewers seemed to have with it was a lack of a dedicated ISO button and remote flash connectivity. 
I'm waiting for the battery to fully charge, then thinking of some shots of my few, inexpensive watches, but one thing I have noticed is....my apartment looks terrible!
Thanks for all the advice from the members who contributed to my previous darkroom thread. I hope to post some shots soon and spend some very enjoyable hours out and about it Suzhou. Now. Lenses.........


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## moky (Jul 27, 2011)

congrats on the purchase! hope to see some photos of suzhou soon!
it's been more than 10 years since i was there so i bet plenty has changed!


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## Black Eye (Oct 23, 2011)

I starte with the 5000 then upgraded to the 5100. It is a great camera and has a lot of cool functions like in camera editing. Pics are great too. And you can use a remote flash with it. My only complaint is, and could be user error, mine constantly comes out of continuous shutter and goes to single snap shutter whenever I turn it off. Annoying. And the shutter cycle is a little slower than my 5000 was so I have to wait a little longer to take a second shot. Again could just be I don't know how to use it properly. Hahaha. Enjoy it, you'll love it. Get a macro lens too so you can take awesome watch pics. My lens was actually more expensive than the camera! Enjoy and look forward to the shots


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

I bet Suzhou has changed! SIP is now as big as Shanghai in area and the whole of Gan Jiang (dong) Lu is in uproar due to their installing the new subway system, which hasn't gone online yet. It'll run from the amusement park in SND to well beyond Jinji Lake. I just hope they've modelled it on Shanghai's system as that's pretty darn good. Today's overcast and drizzly, so I don't know how many keepers I'll get. I intend to be ruthless when it comes to kulling shots. I'm not going to have an SD card full of bad pictures.


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## DragonDan (Dec 22, 2009)

Good to hear you found a camera you like. It will take plenty of practice before you feel confident enough to start taking photos in the full manual mode. Once you get into shooting RAW, you will find you have far more control over the final image, instead of having the camera decide what parameters to use. 
There are lots of very good photographers on this forum, if you run into something odd, feel free to ask questions. We were all newbies at one time.

~D


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

shots coming. connection too slow at first attempt


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## yk1michael (Jul 21, 2010)

I've got the same kit and a few more lenses. If you want to spend an addtional couple of hundred bucks and like watch/close up photography, I recommend the new Nikon AFS-DX 40mm 2.8 lens. Great value for the money.


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

Ok here goes


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

i don't know what happened to the first two shots but they have been distorted by the compression process- they actually look crystal clear up to 50% crop on my monitor from my PC file, then there's a little noise at 100%- nothing like what's on this thread. Any advice on this?


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

I'll see if the originals work better. No Upload failed 5 times, but WUS will let me post a picture of a granny and baby!


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

....

..............

3 more times I've tried to upload a file and it's failed.

I've never had this problem on the other forum i spend a lot of time on.
What gives?


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## DragonDan (Dec 22, 2009)

First, very good first shots! You will do great with your new camera.
On posting photos, if you have an online account (photobucket/ fliker, etc.) you can just post the URL. Be sure to not check the "retrieve file and source locally" or something like that. I've not had any issues that way.


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

Both those sites are banned here I think. Thanks for the positive feedback!
Tried again and failed to upload the G pics. Mods, any ideas?


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

...


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## Scottish Steve (Sep 7, 2010)

ok, those pictures look about 10% of the quality that they actually are..and one of them failed to load. I'm gonna read the sticky on posting pics and try one more time in the coming days before giving up


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