Beginner’s Basics – Gear Recommendations and Reviews

[mondocheesemonster]

Hi guys! Something interesting today – I’ve decided to start a new (!) series aimed at beginners. It seems that my Everything Events series is my most popular (amongst my other articles). But what would you like to see? Drop a reply on my Facebook page or post a suggestion in this thread and let me know.

Also, if you enjoy reading my articles and you’ve learned something useful from them, do “like” my Facebook page. It lets me know that you guys enjoy my content! Your support means a lot to me!

The first part of the article will cover the camera model and speedlight I recommend (for the Nikon system, of course. I have no experience with Canon/Pentax/Sony, sorry! Just take the equivalent model.)

Check it out here.

Once again, hope you guys get something useful out of it (might also want to check out the Basic Tutorials I put up). Also, mods, please feel free to move it if it is in the wrong location. Thanks a lot.

Chris

 

[Rashkae]

Until you can make your tutorials generic and not a walking advertisement for Nikon, best to just post this in the Nikon section instead of a general category.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

A pretty good effort and you do deserve a big pat on the back! :thumbsup:
Looking at it on the whole, I'd be hard-pressed to call it a 'walking advertisement for Nikon', though admittedly you do refer to the Nikon manual for explanation of some concepts. Hard to fault you there, since you have ready access to the Nikon material and assuming you're most familiar with it.

The explanation of stops of light and EV was a bit technical and abrupt too. I can imagine a newbie would struggle to grasp this part. Maybe some animated gifs to emphasize the point?

ISO speed doesn't affect the amount of light falling on the medium (from "3 main factors that contribute to the amount of light that falls on your photographic medium"), but it's affecting the sensitivity of the medium to the light information, as you described further.

Using 'Aperture x shutter speed x iso speed = Exposure'
may lead someone into doing some actual multiplication

 

[mondocheesemonster]

@Rashkae: Hi! It's not meant to be an advertisement for Nikon. It's just that I only have experience with the Nikon line-up. I do know the alternatives, but I won't be so ready to recommend them as I have no experience with the handling of the product. Moderators, please feel free to move it to the Nikon side if you feel it is more pertinent there.

@ZerocoolAstra: Ah, very good points. That was for the metering system, yes. It had the most easily available pictures, so I picked that one. Hm, I am in the midst of polishing up the tutorials series actually, so I will definitely take into account your suggestions. Perhaps some wording changes are in place And lol, I hope no one actually does multiplication :O Again, thanks for your comments.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

@Rashkae: Hi! It's not meant to be an advertisement for Nikon. It's just that I only have experience with the Nikon line-up. I do know the alternatives, but I won't be so ready to recommend them as I have no experience with the handling of the product. Moderators, please feel free to move it to the Nikon side if you feel it is more pertinent there.

@ZerocoolAstra: Ah, very good points. That was for the metering system, yes. It had the most easily available pictures, so I picked that one. Hm, I am in the midst of polishing up the tutorials series actually, so I will definitely take into account your suggestions. Perhaps some wording changes are in place And lol, I hope no one actually does multiplication :O Again, thanks for your comments.

You're welcome.
I did try to do up some powerpoint slides to see if I could explain it to some of my friends who are keen on basic photography. But try as I might, it was a bit difficult to convey the point across in just those few words. I did do up some animated gifs to explain the point about aperture size correlating to f-number and I think that helped a bit.
On the whole though my effort pales in comparison to what you've done