Talk to me like I'm stupid.... No really.

melypr1985 · Jun 18, 2016

So I'm buying a new camera and I'm looking at the Nikon D3300. I'm not good with all the camera-speak when I'm reading all the details on these cameras so I had my dad do his "research thing" on them and he came up with this one. It has all the things I asked for and is in my price range - actually a little below leaving room for me to buy a macro lens and some filters for it. Woot! My problem? When I look at macro lenses online I see things like
52MM Vivitar 0.43X Wide Angle High Definition Lens with Macro for NIKON D5300 D5200 D5100 D5000 D3300 D3200 D3100...

Which means a little less than nothing to me. Which one is the best? Which one is just good? and which one is crap? Is the 52MM part important? Are they all "wide angle" lenses? What is the .43X part? Can anyone dumb this down for me and tell me what I need to look for in a macro lens specifically without making my eyes cross? I just want to take good pictures of my corals and I know this camera will take them alright, but I know I can do better with a decent lens made for the purpose. Even if you have to just link me to the perfect one (reasonably priced like around $100 or less) and just say "buy this one it's perfect!" with maybe a short reason why.

Man I really appreciate the help as always ladies and fellas.

Sabellafella · Jun 18, 2016

melypr1985 said:
So I'm buying a new camera and I'm looking at the Nikon D3300. I'm not good with all the camera-speak when I'm reading all the details on these cameras so I had my dad do his "research thing" on them and he came up with this one. It has all the things I asked for and is in my price range - actually a little below leaving room for me to buy a macro lens and some filters for it. Woot! My problem? When I look at macro lenses online I see things like
52MM Vivitar 0.43X Wide Angle High Definition Lens with Macro for NIKON D5300 D5200 D5100 D5000 D3300 D3200 D3100...

Which means a little less than nothing to me. Which one is the best? Which one is just good? and which one is crap? Is the 52MM part important? Are they all "wide angle" lenses? What is the .43X part? Can anyone dumb this down for me and tell me what I need to look for in a macro lens specifically without making my eyes cross? I just want to take good pictures of my corals and I know this camera wilIT. take them alright, but I know I can do better with a decent lens made for the purpose. Even if you have to just link me to the perfect one (reasonably priced like around $100 or less) and just say "buy this one it's perfect!" with maybe a short reason why.

Man I really appreciate the help as always ladies and fellas.

Well with the macro lens, im in the market myself lol. But i have the d3300 and you will LOVE IT. If you get the camera, give me a hoot ill be glad to help. The stock lens works great

melypr1985 · Jun 18, 2016

Sabellafella said:
Well with the macro lens, im in the market myself lol. But i have the d3300 and you will LOVE IT. If you get the camera, give me a hoot ill be glad to help. The stock lens works great

It's great to have a good review to work off of from a fellow hobbyist!

Anirban · Jun 18, 2016

Congrats first for thinking about getting a camera. Now D3300 is a DX camera and in camera terminology we say it has crop factor. Nikon makes a DX-format sensor and an FX-format sensor. The DX-format is the smaller sensor at 24x16mm; the larger FX-format sensor measures 36x24mm which is approximately the same size as 35mm film.So, if now if you take a picture it will not exactly take all the view of 35mm film area because of small sensor area. So, if you using a DX camera and put a full frame lense like 100mm Macro or 200 mm Macro (one of the best in the business) you will get a a image equivalent to 100/1.5=66.67mm. But FX camera will cost you a lot of fortune. Now as far lense concern never get a zoom lense with a range for macro because all are equally bad except maybe couple of them (read more than your camera cost). Go for a fixed Prime lense if you can afford like Nikon 105mm Micro or 200 mm Micro, but they originally will be costlier than your camera itself so look for used ones. Also Tamron make one which is good too. Nikon macro lenses are called Micro dont know why???? Always try to buy FX lense for your camera as you will be able to use it later if you upgrade to FX camera but a DX lense is not worth its value in long run. Hope this will be a good startup detail for you. I will try to add more detail again.

Anirban · Jun 18, 2016

Now coming to the lense you mentioned. I hope you understand that its not exactly a lense in true sense. Its a 2 in 1 adapter lense which sits over your original lense and help to make the original lense to take wide angle or macro lense. So it will not stand in front of any true macro lense. Also it will give your image distortion when you will try to take image at higher zoom value. These are converter lenses but not true lenses in that sense.

melypr1985 · Jun 18, 2016

Anirban said:
Congrats first for thinking about getting a camera. Now D3300 is a DX camera and in camera terminology we say it has crop factor. Nikon makes a DX-format sensor and an FX-format sensor. The DX-format is the smaller sensor at 24x16mm; the larger FX-format sensor measures 36x24mm which is approximately the same size as 35mm film.So, if now if you take a picture it will not exactly take all the view of 35mm film area because of small sensor area. So, if you using a DX camera and put a full frame lense like 100mm Macro or 200 mm Macro (one of the best in the business) you will get a a image equivalent to 100/1.5=66.67mm. But FX camera will cost you a lot of fortune. Now as far lense concern never get a zoom lense with a range for macro because all are equally bad except maybe couple of them (read more than your camera cost). Go for a fixed Prime lense if you can afford like Nikon 105mm Micro or 200 mm Micro, but they originally will be costlier than your camera itself so look for used ones. Also Tamron make one which is good too. Nikon macro lenses are called Micro dont know why???? Always try to buy FX lense for your camera as you will be able to use it later if you upgrade to FX camera but a DX lense is not worth its value in long run. Hope this will be a good startup detail for you. I will try to add more detail again.

I think I got most of that. Thanks for all the insight! I'm off to amazon to see if I can apply this to my searches..... I'll probably be back with more questions lol

Anirban · Jun 18, 2016

In case you really consider buying one of these diopter lense then pick one from this list ...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Close-Up-Lenses/ci/158/N/4026728331
Hoya and tiffen are dependable brands and their glas quality and coatings are better than other companies.

melypr1985 · Jun 18, 2016

Anirban said:
Now coming to the lense you mentioned. I hope you understand that its not exactly a lense in true sense. Its a 2 in 1 adapter lense which sits over your original lense and help to make the original lense to take wide angle or macro lense. So it will not stand in front of any true macro lense. Also it will give your image distortion when you will try to take image at higher zoom value. These are converter lenses but not true lenses in that sense.

I looks like when I use the parameters for a real lens that you mentioned, they start around $500 which is much more than I expected and certainly not in my price range after the camera. Hmm.. would something like this be totally useless? https://www.amazon.com/Sigma-50mm-M...nements=p_n_feature_six_browse-bin:6301416011

Anirban · Jun 19, 2016

No, it would not be worthless but as experts say in case of macro photography higher the range better it is and generally over 100 mm is preferred. Yes you are right new will be like in the range of over $500 but you can always get a used one like this one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-Nikko...798168?hash=item2ef09516d8:g:pAMAAOSwtJZXWF7G

jsker · Jun 19, 2016

We purchased our camera here http://www.costco.com/CatalogSearch?keyword=Digital+SLR+Cameras. We shop and this were we found our deal. Cameras are like some reef equipment, the pricing is locked in and sometimes, packages are the best way to go. We purchased two years ago and we are still figuring out what we can do. We are looking at a micro lines now.

melypr1985 · Jun 19, 2016

Anirban said:
No, it would not be worthless but as experts say in case of macro photography higher the range better it is and generally over 100 mm is preferred. Yes you are right new will be like in the range of over $500 but you can always get a used one like this one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-Nikko...798168?hash=item2ef09516d8:g:pAMAAOSwtJZXWF7G

Wow! That's more like it! I looked on Ebay but only found brand new ones. I probably would have gotten there eventually but thanks for the short cut!

Anirban · Jun 19, 2016

Remember one thing in field of camera and imaging if you can keep and maintain old lenses are gold mines. Their quality are exceptionally well and if you have a camera with motorized body then all these lense can autofocus too.

Also genrally we get what we look for

. I generally look for those so i exactly how many are up for sale there.

Bbaz123456 · Jul 5, 2016

Did you get a camera and lens yet? I have spent hundreds (at least it feels like that) of hours researching cameras, even though I feel like I have not learned anything, I made the impulse buy on a D5300. Now I am searching for a macro. I think I will steal Anirban's recommendation that he gave you to make my life easier, assuming that would also work on the 5300.
I did not even get the camera yet. Do you guys/girls think it would be best to play around with it and learn it some before getting the macro?

Anirban · Jul 5, 2016

@Bbaz123456 D5300 is a good actually a great camera to start with. But again its DX camera and if you buy a full frame lense like 105 macro then you will not be using it to its full potential.
Whatever you buy just play around in manual mode and try to understand the basic functionality of the camera. Play around with different lighting and exposure and the camera will teach you.

Bbaz123456 · Jul 5, 2016

Anirban said:
@Bbaz123456 D5300 is a good actually a great camera to start with. But again its DX camera and if you buy a full frame lense like 105 macro then you will not be using it to its full potential.
Whatever you buy just play around in manual mode and try to understand the basic functionality of the camera. Play around with different lighting and exposure and the camera will teach you.

Thanks!
I was wrong it's actually a D5200. ...too many models to remember what's what. But I think they're pretty similar. I will keep an eye out for a lense. I will likely start a thread when I get it, cause I'm sure I will have questions

Anirban · Jul 6, 2016

@Bbaz123456 yeah D5200 is good but if you didn't buy it yet then go for D5500 which is the latest model of the the same product line.

Pruett-nc · Jul 6, 2016

You can also try some pawn shops . You see lens in lot of them . Always a treasure to be found everywhere ya go .

melypr1985 · Jul 6, 2016

Bbaz123456 said:
Did you get a camera and lens yet?

Not yet! I ended up getting a new laptop when my old one went kaput on me. Sooo, the camera has to wait a bit longer but I've saved all the info on here to refer back to when I'm ready to shop again. Good luck with your camera purchase!