Usually, rich is enough.
Handsome or not is not important, but "presentable" will be good.

Handsome is a BONUS.

Sure or not?

Usually, for them:
Shy = Action/Arrogant.

G has no aperture rings, while D have. Or you can read more about it.

Basically, from appearance, from what I can see, the G version is has GOLD all over, the rings, the wordings. It also looks nicer. It also comes with SWM (Silent Wave Motor) for Silent Focus (AF-S).
The D lens is older version, it doesn't have SWM (Silent Wave Motor) (AF-S); Not sure any D lens have this.

In terms of focusing, from my experience, the "D" focus much faster, but not sure about higher end/professional lens like 24-70mm, 70-200mm, etc. On primes like 35mm DX, 50mm, 85mm, definitely the "D" focus MUCH faster and "sleeker" despite noisier.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Jan 5 2011, 02:55 PM

When you're in manual, eveerything you need to set manually, thus you're adjusting your exposure.

When you change your exposure compensation, you exposure metering will change and you might not get the correct exposure reading when you try change the settings (e.g. shutter, aperture and iso).

When in other modes, you adjust the exposure compensation so that the camera will adjust the settings (shutter or aperture or iso) to get the correct exposure. So lets say you're in certain lighting, you took a shot, and you notice the exposure is not correct due to the area, you can change your metering modes, or you can adjust the exposure compensation depending on situation.
Lets say you're trying to take outdoor nightime, you want to capture those decoration spotlight, on default exposure, you most probably won't get the desired result, you will need to underexpose the picture so the background is dark, and the decoration spotlight lighted nicely as you wanted.

In manual mode, you simply adjust yourself all those settings (shutter, aperture, iso).

Nikon and Canon SLR VR/IS is on the lens, not body.
both type of VR have adv and disadv, on the lens, it benefits the viewfinder.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Jan 5 2011, 08:55 PM

As bro CY already mention, rule of thumb, focal length, e.g. 50mm = 1/50 sec or faster shutter, make sure you're holding the camera properly.
For some situation, if steady enough you might be able to compensate slightly slower, e.g. 1/40.

On DX camera, don't forget you need to X 1.5
So a 50mm will become 75mm, which mean your shutter speed need to be at 1/80 and above.

If you're using wide aperture like f/2 or wider, the focus depth or plane might be very small and slightly movement your focus may go out, if you're on AF-S, after you lock on, any slight movement might get out of focus or not sharp image where you focus as it shifted the depth, its very bvious on D7000, not sure because of the DOF or mp. You can try AF-C mode and you might notice the focus will re-focus occasionally after you lock on, (if there is any slight movement on wide aperture especially).


It affects your exposure meter reading, I've explained on the previous post.

Yes, the meter is your exposure meter, + is over, - is under.
Sure let you adjust even in manual, sometimes you want to alter the meter reading in different situationor condition.

My previous post have explained the usage, also mentioned on metering mode affectingthe exposure meter.

Don't worry, you will slowly familiarize when you play with the camera and the exposure meter; If you shoot in manual, some situation you may get under/over expose picture even when the meter shows correct, which depends on your metering mode (Matrix, Center, Spot). Or sometimes in certain situation, you want to under or over expose the picture, so you want to adjust the exposure meter reading (just remember to adjust it back later).
There is also Exposure Bracketing, which you can bracket the exposure (in situation where you have no time to find the correct exposure, you bracket it with 2 or more shot with different exposure); If you're interested, you can read up on this and try it out; It can also be use for HDR.

Yes, Flash Compensation is for Flash; you can try with your built-in Flash also. If you don't want the flash to be too powerful, you can lower the power (usually useful for Fill Flash situation so your subject won't have too much highlight).

35mm on DX, actual focal range will be 52.5mm

So, it's equivalent to 50mm on FF.

That's why.

For stationary/non-moving object, no problem to use tripod and slow shutter speed.

For moving object, tripod is not gonna help you.
For these kind of situation, fast lens is recommended, like your 35mm f/1.8G, you can use wider aperture to compensate for faster shutter and lower ISO. If you're using kit lens, say 18-55mm, at 18mm, your aperture is f/3.5 (when zoom worst), to maintain the shutter speed of say 1/50 you need to bump up a lot of ISO, you might also need slightly faster shutter speed to avoid blur on the subject that is moving.
So, advisable to use lens with wide aperture; For zoom, go for constant aperture f/2.8 so you can zoom and still the same aperture.

Also depends what you want to capture, your focus distance, which will affect your DOF especially on wide apertures like f2 or wider.

If you're using on-camera flash, you can try to lower the power so the flash is not so harsh and snap from a distance where the flash won't be so direct; with that, you can compensate with your ISO to get your desired result. You can also try on-camera flash diffuser, or DIY your own.

For Flash Gun, you have many choice, like diffuser, direct the light source (instead of direct), use reflector, and best of all, off-camera flash where you can control more on the lightings. If there is wall or ceiling, then you can bounce, but since it's outdoor, I think this is not applicable unless you bring your own large reflector to bounce and soften the light.

For people moving, expression, interacting with each other, you might need shutter speed of 1/80 or depending on their movement; You can try out taking few shots and determine the "SAFE" speed to freeze motion, you know sometimes when people burst of laugther, the moment you want to capture but if your shutter speed is not fast enough, you'll end up with blur shot and the moment has pass.

If you want to capture more background, you can bump up more ISO to get more slightly more light. If you're using flash, you can use slower shutter speed as the flash will freeze the motion, the slower shutter speed will allow you to capture more background into the picture rather than just the subject alone. You have to really try it out to experience the difference, you can bump some ISO to compensate the shutter speed, so you can maintain the shutter at certain speed.

If you're using wide aperture like f/2, taking motion, interaction, etc, you might want t consider using AF-C, because when you lock on focus and waiting for the "moment", you subject will move and you need to refocus (if you're on AF-S), on AF-C it can refocus for your automatically. Depend on your preference, with AF-S, when you half-press the shutter, the focus is LOCK on and the subject move, you focus indicator still shows in focus, that's why you get out of focus shot. At wide aperture, sligth movement of depth changes everything.
If you're using AF-S, make sure you hold the camera steady/properly, act fast, focus and snap; Waiting for the moment with wide aperture might get high chance of out of focus when lock on in AF-S.

For group photo, you might need to use smaller aperture depending on the group, how they sit/stand; In single row, sometimes they may not sit and stand in complete SAME depth, so at wide aperture, it's quite risky. You can try f/2.8 which works for usual group shot, but also depend on your distance. This you have to try out yourself and determine the best and safe aperture to use, while not compromising your ISO being set too high.
For this group photo, you can also use tripod and use slower shutter speed like 1/30 (example), since the subject won't really move while posing for the camera.

On Tripod, no worry about shake causing blur, but you need to worry on moving objects. If the subject is not moving (e.g. people posing for camera), you can slow down your shutter speed a little but not too much as even when posing you cannot expect the person not move at all.

When shooting stationary object, using tripod, you can slow down the shutter as much as you want, so you can even use ISO 100, small aperture and use very slow shutter.

Yes, you can use continuous shoot to capture the moment.
If you're on wide aperture like f2, some image you might get not sharp/not in focus if they happen to move out of the focus depth/plane. (example: when they burst of laughter, the head might move behind, thus if you're on wide aperture, the DOF is might not cover that depth).

You don't have to use f/8-f/11 unless you want many things in focus. Usually, for "general" group shot, f/2.8~f/3.5 is good enough, you may go higher like f/4~f/5.6 for more depth, but you will suffer in low light situation unless you have flash gun.
If you're outdoor in daylight, then you can use smaller aperture like f/8~f/11 or even smaller. Usually small aperture we use for taking scenery as we want to capture many things in focus. As for MACRO or CLOSE UP photography like flowers, since we're doing close up, the DOF will seem very shallow, so that's why you see mansurov's shot is using smaller aperture to capture more depth.

True, it really depends the definition of "general" group shot; For my definition, it could be a small group like 3~5 person standing or sitting on same "row"; No problem on f/2.8. Also depends on the distance.

My friend actually go to the extend of using f/2.5 during his friend's wedding dinner group shot, which have about 5~8 person, some shot almost everyone in focus, some shot, 1 or 2 person at have some soft focus.

Anyway, if there is enough lighting, no harm going for smaller aperture, group shot don't need bokeh

Haha, this call "Chiong Hei"

What's tl, dr so KISS?

LoL! That's a good one, on my "face".

assuming u want the slow shutter effect.

Use small aperture, and if you need wide aperture, then I think the only choice is to use nd filter?

In M mode, there is no Slow Sync mode, because what it does is simply slowing the shutter for you, nothing special.

The special one is Rear Sync mode, which the flash fires before the rear curtain closes. So, if your shutter speed is lets say 1 second, the flash will only fire at before the end of the exposure. With this you can achieve different effects. This one have to set to the Flash, unlike Slow; Slow is set to the Shutter Speed.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Jan 8 2011, 05:49 PM

Closing to Cat's Eye bokeh on the 2nd pic.

That's the pre-flash. I remember in the manual book it did say if the subject is too close, it will affect the final outcome.
The pre-flash is fired to calculate and determine the amount of flash needed for the actual flash to fire, or something like that.

WOW!! with OS?

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Added on January 19, 2011, 11:32 amFor the D3100, the recommended budget prime with auto-focus to get would be the 35mm f1.8G DX. It's really a bargain and you can get one for around RM750-RM780 NEW.
The cheaper alternative would be 50mm f/1.8 but it can't auto-focus on D3100, plus when put on crop sensor, 50mm becomes 75mm.


This post has been edited by Andy214: Jan 19 2011, 11:32 AM

Since you already have the 59mm f/1.8d, go for D90, plus it offers more controls.

If you prefer to get the D3100, get the 35mm f/1.8G DX instead of the 50mm f/1.4G; It's half the price of the 1.4G, and 35mm on DX = 52.5mm, it's more convenient for you to shoot (especially for baby). The 50mm, you will need to stand further slightly further distance, it's crucial if space if a concern.

If you can afford it, then go for Nikon one definitely.

For third party, it may not be as sharp and there might be other issues as well, but the price difference may be more than double or even triple. So, it depends on your budget.

For DX body, 24-70 might not be wide enough, you might want to consider 17-55; but then if you're planning to upgrade to FX body in near future, then 24-70 can be considered.

The 17-55 range, Tamron counterpart have pretty good sharpness, but have some of its own issues, but it's much more cheaper alternative, and for a little more, you can even get a VC (Vibration Compensation) version. With the cost save here, you can buy some primes or save for telephoto zooms.

All in all, it depends on your own decision, what you need, what you're looking for and your affordability/budget.