Aubrey

I know that feeling I need to learn how to use my new tamron 28 - 105 f2.8 before the wedding shoot I am doing next week!

Oh no, poor Chester.... so very Sad. He'll be missed, not only by Kellie and I, but by Aubrey too... Jo, I hope you are keeping well and we'll see you in the dog park soon.

Sorry, I meant the D80 over the D40/D60 for the AF lenses (As is what I own).

I'd go with the D60 over the D40 for a number of reasons - including the Nikon AF lens compatability. However, if you are only going to get one lens and have the dSLR, why are you getting the dSLR? The whole purpose is to get multiple lenses for different activities. Although, if it is your first dSLR and you are going to increase your lens count, then the D60 with this lens is the best way to go! BTW I have a D80 - which is another step up and quite reasonable - you can get it with the 18-200 for the same sort of price, and the improvements are well worth it. The D90 is another step up, but for the price different IMO isn't worth it! Cameras are often pretty much the same, the important thing you need to look at is if it has the functions you want and it feels the best in your hands. Different people prefer different feels of body. Good luck, and welcome to the confusing world of dSLR! Andrew

Vickie, I think you have summed it up well, and I agree with a lot of things that you have said. When I go out shooting with the dog, or at the meets and have lots of dogs, I can vary it between modes. If the shade, when there isn't enough light, I'll set the apeture I want for the DOF. I'll then get shots that are in focus, and at the right exposure. When in full sunlight, I know I can set the shutter speed higher, so I'll go for a crisper shot, and let the camera choose the DOF, unless I want specific shots where everything is in focus over a specific depth. Manual is great for scenery and still shots. You have time to set the camera up just as you want it! However, I feel all this has changed now I have my f2.8 lens, and I haven't taken it out to the dog park yet!

Yup.... B&W photo with the tomoto being the only colour. She loves them, throws them around the house running up and down the hallway with it, before it bursts in her mouth and she looks puzzled as the seeds explode in her mouth! Funniest thing ever!

My first Official Photo Challenge photo So here is - VEGETABLE

What is the easiest way to embed from Flickr? I've posted to the group - is that enough? Thanks Andrew

Definitely get the f2.8 lenses at either the lower focal (28-70) or higher (80-200) zoom ranges. The 28-70 tamron is a great lens and fantastic for portraits. I have just invested in a 2nd hand 28-105 f2.8 and can't wait for it to arrive! See the discussion on the 1.4 v 1.8 50mm lenses which are great for photos. If you are going to do scenery type stuff, you'll need something around the 17 or 18mm or lower to capture your view, or go even lower, but then it starts to cost Lenses really depend on what you want to shoot. I have the 18-55 and 55-200 kit lenses, but now that I have taking pictures for 6 months, I love doing the "portrait" type pictures over the scenery type ones, so went for the 28-105 f2.8.... so much sharper, brighter and closer without having to swap lenses.

I have a couple of photos blown to 8 x 10 and 10 x 12 on the walls around the house. Also have a few of Aubrey as well as DIY Aubrey Calendar that I did for OH for Xmas Present.

Exactly the same here... come 8pm.... it's action pup!

I have a Nikon (D80) which I love, but the 55-200mm lens is just about right when in good light conditions. However, I am saving up for the following Tamron 28-70 2.8 (which I am going to use for a wedding shortly) and Tamron 70-200 2.8 Both are great lenses and very sharp. The 2.8 will be great even if the lighting isn't the best. On top of this, I might get a 2x teleconverter to stick on the camera in front of the 70-200 2.8 so it will be 140-400 at f4... which will be great for those long distance shots! I'm going through 2nd hand shops at the moment testing out lenses, should be around $400 for the 28-70 and quite a bit more for the 70-200! Once I have these, I'll be selling off my 18-55 and 55-200 Nikon VR lenses, as they won't be needed anymore. If I shoot wider shots, I'll get a 18-34 lens!

Ahh fair enough.... thought you might have been in retail Well enjoy using them all and i'll keep trowling ebay

OK How much do you want for the 2.8 zoom lenses? Seriously, I am after the pair of them

If you use Photoshop or other imaging program, and want to be able to adjust your photos, then you have to shoot in RAW. When in RAW all the information is saved. When you shoot in JPEG, a lot of information is lost, and the rest is compressed. So RAW, as the previous post states, gives you more options with image manipulation (lighting, exposure, white balance etc.) which can be adjusted to a much better level than a JPEG file.

Having it on shutter priority is good as this means you can adjust the shutter speed for the crisp shots at high speeds. However, if you don't have enough light at the higher speed, it won't get to the sensor, so it will be a lighter shot. It depends on the camera, but most would say LO or LOW or something along those lines if it cannot adjust the apeture to meet the shutter speed. Also, when you are taking in shutter priority, if it has to go to 4.5 or 5.3 to let the most light in, depending on your distance, the Depth Of Field (how much is in focus) isn't going to be enough. I would go with a shutter priority when shooting birds, and see how sharp images are as the birds are in flight, and lower the shutter speed. The more time on the sensor, the more chance it will adjust the apeture to get the right meter reading. If it is just slower moving stuff, then you can drop the shutter speed right down, or go to apeture priority and set a higher F11 to F16 to get good depth of field, and with good light, you'll get a good shutter speed and a bright, sharp picture. Hope this helps Andrew

Following on from the others a decent ($80+) UV filter will protect your lens. Skylight are good for raw sunlight Polarizing are good for land / sky / water shots.

Spot on. It was the second time I've visited Seal Bay, it is all rather commercial though for a wildlife park!

We've been giving them to Aubrey since she was about 5 months old and she loves them. She is good with them though, bites them and crunches them up before swallowing them. We do watch her though, at a distance, just to make sure there aren't any issues. In fact, we watch her when she has anything that could cause issues and don't leave her alone with anything that could. She does love the bones and the chicken frames too!

Good, enjoy that course and say Hi to Tim from me!

Here are 2 of the many photos I took on Kangaroo Island over the New Year break.

I would say a big NO Cooked bones have a tendancy to splinter and shatter.

I don't have the 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 ATM I am saving up for one or the other, but still torn between the 2. Most of my shots will be at F5 or higher for greater depth of field, but the odd few will be at the better f/stop, so do I go for more and get the 1.4? If I see a 2nd hand one I think I'll go for it, but until then, standard lens all the way! Great shots though, some real art from DOLers!

Aubrey has been spayed today so we're picking her up from the Vet in about 2 hours. She turns 9 months on Monday. She had her first season just under 3 months ago, as I was of the belief that doing it between the 1st and 2nd season was the best time. It was a bit hard managing her and the blood for the 2 weeks, then managing her around dogs for a few weeks after that, but we got through it, and now we have a mature bitch who will hopefully not have all the randy dogs chasing her around the dog parks! Andrew

We have left the Norwood vet and are now using Colonel Light Gardens vet... in fact Aubrey is going there on Thursday for her desexing. I've also heard great things about Dr Cole there.