Help with D200

[bindiblue]

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if there was anyone in my area, north of brisbane or sunshine coast, that has a D200 and can help me with mine, its really stressing me out, being a beginner doesnt help either, think I jumped in the deep end with this camera,

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Suzanne

[Glen]

Suzanne, the D200 is in short supply and not many have them, maybe you could go along to the next get together and meet with a few like minded souls, I am sure some would steer you in the right direction between them even though they dont have the exact same camera (though that would be perfect).

[Greg B]

Suzanne, what sort of problems are you having?

[birddog114]

Suzanne, check with Michael, he just got one or order Thom Hogan eBook.

[radar]

Hi Suzanne,

highly recommend a mini-meet and the ebook. In case you are not familiar with it, have a look at:
http://www.bythom.com/

Cheers,

André

[Michael]

If I was in brisbane Id help out, but im about an hour and a bits drive away just outside of toowoomba, feel free to direct any questions my way.

I must admit though even coming from the D70 first using this camera to say the least was a little daunting, so I can understand why It might be giving you a bit of greif if this is your first DSLR.

[shutterbug]

What are you having problems with I am currently using twin D200's

[bindiblue]

Thanks guys for showing some interest, my #1 prob this week, is my photos turning out dark,, even shot in sunlight, I see in exif, exposure bias -0.33 , then the day after i still have dark photos and no exposure bias,

Is there anyway of buying the Ebook by Tom Hogan in australia, I dont use credit cards, and its almost impossible to buy overseas without one,


Another day I will battle on with this much wanted camera,

Wish I had bought a D70s,,

Suzanne

[johnd]

Suzanne, you'll get the hang of it. I'm sure some of our Qld members will be able to help out.

But if you really want a D70 that bad, I would be willing to swap my D70 for your D200. And I'd chuck in a kit lens as a sweetener.

Cheers
John

[birddog114]

Suzane,
Thom Hogan eBook is only distributed and sold direct from him and CC is required.

Hope you will overcome and found the way to fix the problems and it's just user's errors.

Don't panic and I'm not scaring you, I had 2 returned to Maxwell with similar issues due white balance, exposure control and AF problems.

Whatever I did with the adjustment in the camera (D200), reset, hard reset, the photos were lacking of light, darker and other camera was OOF most of the time on any lens.

Hope and wish you're not with the above scenarios.

Perhaps I used the B&W instead of the colour CF card

[BBJ]

It takes time to work out how things work as i too had a bit shock going from D70 to D2x, all my shots were crap for least near 2 months so took some time to get to know it and so on and i find i have to over expose when i shoot jpg by .03 otherwise my pics look dark. Lcd can look good but get them home and dark so i always shoot +.03 and raw it doesn't matter.

[birddog114]

But if you really want a D70 that bad, I would be willing to swap my D70 for your D200. And I'd chuck in a kit lens as a sweetener.

Cheers
John

John,
Good Negotiator!

[bindiblue]

 LOL John,, I broke my bank account with all this new camera gear, so not quite ready to swop,, sorry ,, will keep battling on with help ,,


Thanks again

Suzanne, PS, hopeing for a mini meet in my area,, maybe the kite fest will be of some help to me,

[big pix]

if you get down to the Gold Coast I could give you some help.........

[birddog114]

if you get down to the Gold Coast I could give you some help.........

After Johnd now it's your turn

[radar]

Is there anyway of buying the Ebook by Tom Hogan in australia, I dont use credit cards, and its almost impossible to buy overseas without one,

I'm happy to order it for you if you want. You could just mail me a cheque or money order and I'll forward the CD up to you.

Wish I had bought a D70s,,

You don't really mean that! The D70s is a nice camera, but in the end once you get the hang of your D200, you'll make all of us D70 owners jealous

Cheers,

André

[Glen]

Suzanne, you will get there, dont be afraid to use the P mode (programmed auto) for a week or two just to get some results you are happy with, then look at the exif data to see what choices the camera made in different situations. After you are comfortable with that experiment with other things.

[huynhie]

Thanks guys for showing some interest, my #1 prob this week, is my photos turning out dark,, even shot in sunlight, I see in exif, exposure bias -0.33 , then the day after i still have dark photos and no exposure bias,

Is there anyway of buying the Ebook by Tom Hogan in australia, I dont use credit cards, and its almost impossible to buy overseas without one,


Another day I will battle on with this much wanted camera,

Wish I had bought a D70s,,

Suzanne

Hi

1. Are you shooting JPG or Raw?

2. What mode are you shooting with? Is it Aperature priority, Shutter Priority, Program or Manual. Try setting the camera to "Program mode" for the time being.

3. If your exposure bias is -0.33 than your photos will be abit dark but should not be by much.

4. What type of monitor are you using CRT or LCD.

5. Can you post an image for us to look at.

6. Do you know how to read a histogram. This may help you with your exposure.

[losfp]

Wish I had bought a D70s,,

Suzanne, don't take this the wrong way.. but if you can't get good results with a D200, you probably can't get good results with a D70s either. It is simply a matter of starting small, getting comfortable, and then using more and more of the camera's features. Start on auto or P mode, and go from there. Post images on this forum and ask for opinions, there are tons of members here who will only be too happy to give you a hand. A word of advice though, be as specific as possible. "my image is too dark", or "why is it blurry?" is better than "how can I make this image better?"

Good luck, and I hope to see those posted photos soon Photography is one of those hobbies that very very very few people ever master, we are all at different stages of learning.

[NikonUser]

Bindi,

I don't own a D200 but have read that there is a custom setting that will enable you to semi-permanantly adjust the exposure. On the D2X it is under 'custom setting B7' and is called "Fine Tune Exposure"

If you have this feature set to a negative value there would be no indication anywhere on the camera but it would make you underexpose your shots.

Maybe worth a look?

Good luck.

Paul

[CraigVTR]

Suzanne
I bought my D70s nearly 12 months ago and am still trying to get my shots exposed correctly. The most I have learned about the camera and technique has been from this forum, either through direct advice or links provided to other resources. I have found that Iam improving and when I get comfortable with exposure I will start to concentrate on other areas, such as decent composition.

When I first bought the camera I used Auto mode and then moved to manual mode later. A new level of frustration came in when I started on manual mode as I could not get anything like the shots I used to get with my fslr 20 years ago. But I now feel Iam making progress and are happier with the camera. However, like in life in general I don't think I will ever stop learning. In fact I hope I never stop learning.

Stick with it, you will get more comfortable with your choice of camera. Come to kitefest if you can, meet all the local forum members and pick their brains, up close.
Craig

[bindiblue]

1. Are you shooting JPG or Raw?

2. What mode are you shooting with? Is it Aperature priority, Shutter Priority, Program or Manual. Try setting the camera to "Program mode" for the time being.

3. If your exposure bias is -0.33 than your photos will be abit dark but should not be by much.

4. What type of monitor are you using CRT or LCD.

5. Can you post an image for us to look at.

6. Do you know how to read a histogram. This may help you with your exposure.





Hi Huynhie

Thanks for the reply,

#1. I shoot both sometimes, raw n jpeg, other times if just playing around I just shoot jpeg.

#2. I have been shooting in A Priority, going out tomorrow, will use P, and see if i have more success.

#4 I have a LCD monitor


Not really sure on reading a histogram,, something else I have yet to learn,

[huynhie]

Suzanne,

if you can post an image that you think is not right, I'm sure we can help you sort out the issues over the net.

Try to start shooting Raw in program mode. BTW what program are you using to view/edit your image.

[bindiblue]

Huynhie,

I use ps cs2, and bridge, which seems to change all my pics before i open them,,



this was taken down the lakes on A P ,, still very dark,

From now on, its Program and raw,, thanks for that advice,

Suzanne

[NikonUser]

The only dark bit is the bottom right hand side... is that what you're seeing? If not then maybe you need to adjust your monitor?

It's dark on the RHS because the camera has metered the scene on the majority of the image (water, grass in the distance, sky etc) and the RHS is in shadow.You could probably bring out the dark a little with shadow highlights in PSCS2

From what I can see you don't have a problem at all... this is just a part of photography.

Paul

[big pix]

Bridge and Photoshop cs2 are a good combination, but like every new thing it is a learning curve, shoot auto and raw as you are, and learn how to control bridge to get the best from your images........ have a look here for some tips on bridge and cs2........

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.htm

[NikonUser]

After a quick and dirty Shadow/Highlight in PSCS2 it comes ok up. Would be better an original 16 bit file (if you have one)



Paul

[shutterbug]

The image look fine to me.

What does the histogram look like in the above image?

[huynhie]

The only dark bit is the bottom right hand side... is that what you're seeing? If not then maybe you need to adjust your monitor?

It's dark on the RHS because the camera has metered the scene on the majority of the image (water, grass in the distance, sky etc) and the RHS is in shadow.You could probably bring out the dark a little with shadow highlights in PSCS2

From what I can see you don't have a problem at all... this is just a part of photography.

Paul

I agree here, from what I can see you have taken a photo in the shade looking out into the direct sunlight. Your camera has metered correctly and a majority of your image is properly exposed except for the grassy area in the shade (which can be easily fixed in photoshop).