I picked up a new Nikon D5100 camera on the weekend. Its my first move into the world of Nikon but I have read a lot of good things about the image performance of the sensor in the D5100 which is the same sensor as in the more expensive and recently named Japan camera of the year D7000. I’ll probably do a quick review on the camera later on so I won’t go into detail on the body. Today a new Tamron 60mm Macro lens arrived which I will be using primarily for golf club pictures. Its the same lens Tourspecgolfer uses which he suggested to me. I took one snap and that’s all I needed to realize what a great combo this will be.
The below picture was taken with the D5100 in aperture priority with all default settings on the camera (have not figured out the menus yet), and the Tamron in close at f2.4 with light coming in through my windows from the right of and behind Ayanami Rei (yes that is her name – she is a character form the famous Japanese anime Evangelion). The image is unprocessed and unedited. Simply converted from raw to jpeg for the blog. Very impressed with not only the creamy bokeh and sharpness but colors as well considering the uncontrolled lighting. Look forward to more snaps!
Also shot a quick video with the combo. Nice to be able to manually control the aperture though it must be done before entering live view on the D5100. Shot in full HD though Vimeo doesn’t always start the video with HD off… just click HD to turn HD on or off (depends on your cookies and if you have used Vimeo before).
welcome nikonian! this used to be my hobby before golf. it nearly bancrupted me.
had the optimus primes 85 1.4, 28 1.4, infamous noct 58 1.2 etc etc not to mention the 17-55, 70-200 vr etc etc.
it is more maddening than golf and a lot more expensive.
but if you are passionate about it by all means enjoy it! nikon makes one of the best glass and love the steady direction of their RD. thats why with a fixed lens like the x100 there is no temptation to get more glass LOL
Thanks C, whether it be Nikon or any other brands… hording lenses like hording golf clubs can certainly be a problem!
I’m a Canon man and lens horder! This D5100 is awesome! Makes me wanna be a Nikonian but too late I’ve got an arsenal of EF lenses already.
Once you invest its hard to switch however, I regretted selling off all my Sony gear, I had amassed 7 lenses within weeks when I had the SLT. I am already scouring all the used lenses here in Japan… there are so many!
Needs sharpening. Nikon pix always look a little soft to me. Especially since I switched to Panny! I love the Panny look. May be it’s the Leica glass? I don’t mean to knock Nikon, I’d been Nikon for at least 20 years, and I’ve so I have lenses too, but Nikon digital has always looked a little soft from the cameras.
I think the D5100 COULD have been a hit, if it had ONE extra feature that the 7000 has, that I wanted in the 5100 = intervalometer. It sucks that you can’t do in-camera with the 5100. Of course you can hook it up to your laptop, but you don’t exactly want to leave it hooked up together overnight someplace in the wild, do ya?
BTW,
HOARDING is spelled with an A in it. LOL
Haha looks like it is you Geet. Same old attitude. Picking out little spelling errors and picky as always. Appreciate it though and your comments are always welcome. (^_^) Certainly that picture above is soft… it was taken at f2.4 in case you did not notice. That’s almost wide open. (f2.0 lens, and its a Tamron not a Nikon lens)
D5100 DOES have an intervalometer.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond5100/page7.asp last menu on the bottom
@gocchin:
That’s odd…… I was told it didn’t! Cool. Now I’ll have to sell my old clubs so I can buy this camera. May be. :-p
@gocchin:
Nikon digital has always been soft on the focus. It’s OK though, doing it in PS later isn’t much work with the workflow set for it.
Yea doing time lapse is in the plans for me especially with the buzz and action here in Tokyo it will be very cool. I’ve seen some real nice videos done. Sharpening is also easily changed in camera now. The default is sharpness setting probably softer but I think that’s usually the case. And yes sharpening after wards is every easy! I actually loved the GH2, its focus speed was amazing, and videos are superb.
@gocchin:
I’m looking forward to your time-lapse of the busier bits of Tokyo, be it Shibuya, the Bay with the boats, the trains criss-crossing, day-to-night, etc. Perhaps you can do some with the miniature effect too, I’ve seen some, they look cute.
What attitude? LOL
The attitude I so love you for and makes you so identifiable. LOL
But yeah the miniature effect is nice but in live mode the camera becomes so slow with a lot of drag…. that is one negative of the d5100, so I’ve only tried a few effects so far…
Shibuya is a definite must for a time lapse. Especially the crossing!