Nikon D3000 digital camera

[grizzly1654]

Im thinking about buying my wife the D3000 for x-mas. She has a kodak easyshare now, i cant remember the model #. It does good for close pictures but you cant take any far away,and it has a 2 sec. shutter delay so its hard to get a good action picture. I was thinking of the nikon because its good reputation plus Ashton Kutcher uses one on tv so it has to be good right? ;D. So has anyone had any experience with this camera or maybe another camera of similar quality?

[Lund Explorer]

I've got the D40 and absolutely love it.  It came with a 18-55mm lens and I've already got the 55-200mm lens, plus a filter kit, and a few other accessories.  SLR is the only way to go in a camera anymore, it's almost as fast as a old fashion film style.  There was a slight learning curve for me on depressing the shutter release so that the auto focus could do it's thing, but it didn't take too long.

The D3000 is a 10.1 megapixel camera while mine only has 6.2 megapixels.  If mine takes highly detailed pictures, I can't imagine what you'll end up with.

If your wife let's you play with it, remember this link so you can re-size your pictures will fit on here.

http://www.resize2mail.com/

[1inStripes]

I havent got to play with the D3000 yet, but hope to very soon.  In general though I have always like Nikon products and they use some top notch glass on their lens.  It can take you a little adjustment if you have never used an SLR, but they are great once you get used to dialing a photo in.

[grizzly1654]

Thanks for the replys. What are the benefits of the optional lenses? Do the make the pictures more clear or allow you to take pictures farther away?

[Lund Explorer]

Thanks for the replys. What are the benefits of the optional lenses? Do the make the pictures more clear or allow you to take pictures farther away?

The bigger lens allows for zooming in to distant targets.  I believe they go up to 600mm for the D40.  Nikon also has an 85mm Micro for extreme closeup work.

[Koop]

I don't know much about camera's but got my wife a new one for her birthday. This is one of the cameras I looked at before ending up finding a "good" deal on a canon 20d that I got her. I couldn't tell a difference between the two ;D all I know is that the 20d is her birthday, christmas, valentine etc etc etc present for the next 50 years.

[D4u2s0t]

here's a few tips from a pro vidoegrapher that knows a few things about cameras (not as much as video cameras though lol)

don't get sucked into a megapixel war.  Most people think that more megapixels means a better picture... not true.  But, since most people think that way, companies are eager to have the highest out there.   I own a 5mp that will wipe the floor with some of the 10 and 11 mp cameras out there.  Keep in mind that all more megapixels will do is allow you to print bigger pictures... and let's be realistic...  are you planning on printing out 45 inch pictures?  More important is the quality of the lense, and the internal processors.

think about if she will actually like it.  If you're using the automatic settings on a camera like that, you're not getting anywhere near the quality of pictures you can get using the same camera with manual settings.  What does that mean?  Unless she is going to want to learn about photography, lighting, color scales, and how the camera actually works, it's way overkill.  It's like buying a racecar, and never going over 25mph.  lame.  

also, I bought my gf a nice camera a while back, and one of her big complaints is that it's big and doesn't fit in her pocket or her bag like a smaller digital camera would.  She ended up going on ebay and getting a tiny little camera for like 40 dollars, and that's what she uses.  Go figure.

[grizzly1654]

here's a few tips from a pro vidoegrapher that knows a few things about cameras (not as much as video cameras though lol)

don't get sucked into a megapixel war. Most people think that more megapixels means a better picture... not true. But, since most people think that way, companies are eager to have the highest out there. I own a 5mp that will wipe the floor with some of the 10 and 11 mp cameras out there. Keep in mind that all more megapixels will do is allow you to print bigger pictures... and let's be realistic... are you planning on printing out 45 inch pictures? More important is the quality of the lense, and the internal processors.

think about if she will actually like it. If you're using the automatic settings on a camera like that, you're not getting anywhere near the quality of pictures you can get using the same camera with manual settings. What does that mean? Unless she is going to want to learn about photography, lighting, color scales, and how the camera actually works, it's way overkill. It's like buying a racecar, and never going over 25mph. lame.

also, I bought my gf a nice camera a while back, and one of her big complaints is that it's big and doesn't fit in her pocket or her bag like a smaller digital camera would. She ended up going on ebay and getting a tiny little camera for like 40 dollars, and that's what she uses. Go figure.

You make a good piont those are a few thing i never thought about. I thought it was all about the megapixles, shows what i know.

[GLADES]

I bought a nikon D90 9 months ago. It has been great. My wife and I are taking it everywhere and photography has become a hobby now.

The difference is amazing. Before we could take a picture of the beach sand at the ocean with our Kodak easyshare, now we can look at the individual sand grains on the beach. The defination is night and day. It is a little bit heavy to lug around, but it is worth it to us.