OT Question about a Nikon D40

[islander84]

Is a Nikon D40 a good camera for taking macros? What is a used camera 2yrs old worth? i think it has a 18-55mm lens.....

 

[pickupman66]

Gary,

that is a standard kit lens. it will do OK, but you wont get up close. it can take a very nice photo when paired with a true Macro lens. be prepared to add several Hundos for the cost of a macro lens. Add in that it is a 6 megapixel camera, with that kit lens they wont be as crisp as you would want.

Nikon D Series D40 6.1 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ 18-55mm Lens) on eBay!

based on this, your camera is worth about $250-$350

I shoot with a very similar camera. the D3000. I also shoot with the 18-55 lens. if you have time, browse my photobucket or my build thread (link in my siggy) and you can see how mine come out.

shot at 28MM - look at peach acro

shot at 48 MM

Lastly at 200MM focal length with my 70-300 lens on Macro setting.

 

[islander84]

Thanks Lindsey! What would be an ideal Nikon model for nice crisp macros?

 

[pickupman66]

To add, the biggest issue I face is light. while my tank is bright, the camera does not sensor it well. I ahve to take these photos at a wide open aperture to get them crisp but then there is no depth.

 

[pickupman66]

Gary. need to get something that is over 10MP. add to that a true MACRO lens and you can take some awesome photos. I HOPE to get a macro for christmas.

lastly, you need good cleanup software. I run every single one of my photos thru Adobe Photoshop to compensate for white balance, color mix and sharpening. the last photo above came out VERY good.

 

[islander84]

Im a virgin in the camera world! LOL

 

[islander84]

Thanks for the pointers! I will keep searching and come to you for any questions if thats ok.

 

[Dowtish]

I think even an amateur like me just borrowing someone's camera (Jay's) can take decent pics with a stock lens, you just have to take the photo in RAW mode and have the correct ISO and adjust it in photoshop or something similar. All you have to do is adjust the temperature and clarity most of the time. Here are a few good ones I took. Now keep in mind, for every 5 good pics there 25 bad.

 

[Raymondzmarshall]

+1 on 5 pics to 25

 

[pickupman66]

I always shoot tank photos in raw son you can get the color correct. And yes there are more bad pics than good ones.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

 

[pickupman66]

Hey, I took some photos last night and wanted to show you what camera processed files vs raw files will do.

this image is straight jpg out of the camera. the camera did the processing on this one. I may have had a custom white balance set but you can see, it is still very blue.

This image is from teh RAW file where i was able to manually correct the white balance to my lights (14,000K), in photoshop, and then also sharpened, and slightly enhanced the colors. this is pretty darn close to how my eye sees the corals.

 

[goodtimes]

Unless your printing large pics the megapixels of the D40 is fine. I would see no reason to upgrade cameras. A good macro lens will definitely help though. Be sure to use a tripod and even a timer if possible. Also shut down your return and power heads.