Nikon build in motor will only be triggered if there is an AF drive from lens. If the lens have build in AF motor, body AF will not be used at all since there is no screw head of the AF drive on the lens for the body's motor to drive on.

alpha_company, you clearly have to understand something on daylight fill flash and strobing.

1. The background and your lighting. The background you have were very cloudly and harsh green while your flash pushes the hero subjects and the background far to off.*

2. Composition and focal length. Obviously that is wide angle as it is really awkward to have your hero subjects to be standing in this manner. Simply said, the females are leaning back while the male is obviously too front out of the rest. If you are to pose them, make it visually comfortable and take not of the distortion or pincushions your lens is creating. If 17mm is the widest, shoot at 18mm or 19mm to avoid the distortion.

*Your flash power is too harsh for such background. A subtle amount of strobe is enough to fill the hero subject as well as soft highlights while making used of the sunlight.

Only time you use harsh lights is when the sunlight is an hour away from horizon or gloomy dark clouds as if its going to rain heavily. From the outcome of your shots does leads too many misleading techniques which they assume from your final shot.

You can learn from the pros and even with all the skills learned but applied on the wrong time of the day, it will still end up very wrong. Not the fault of the pros, not the fault of anything else but the fault of the photographer.

Forgive me if i sound harsh. My honest critic on your shot

This post has been edited by onscreen: Aug 16 2011, 05:47 PM

Hero subject standout. Try a simple fill flash in broad daylight and compare it with strobing technique in broad daylight will let you see the difference.

The techniques mentioned are used to render highlights, fill lights to the hero subject while having the background intact. These techniques were famous in skateboarding scenes as well as fashion shots and its expanding to many other subjects too.

If you want to know what mood of such shots delivers, its to create a dramatice feel, emphasizing just on the subject and his/her action or expression.

Kit lens have its goodness while pro zoom lenses have its goodness too. Still, not all pro grade lenses are as portable as kit lens though. I have seen people carrying a 14-24mm on tour ended up complaining sore on their neck.

If you are a casual shooter, kit lens or mid range zoom lens are good enough.

Try Enata Digital or YL Camera Service. I saw a D5100 + 18-105mm kit on sale in YL. You can give it a shot.

You have misunderstood the bold statement. 18-105mm is a good walk around lens and what the poster stated that he/she not wanting to bring many lens along but not about not wanting to bring any lens. In simple sentence, the poster is looking into an one lens solution for travelling purpose.

D5100 is a fitting size for travelling purpose and light enough to carry around.

Frankly, i am actually starting to be in love with D5100 now Though compacts have its winning size but I did trust a DSLR for RAW and high ISO. 35mm is good enough for your future participation of company trip friendly to the weight, size and fun to shoot candids too

@Agito666 stop poisoning I can see that i am scouting for a D5100 where my money should be on a Pelican case for my soon to come 300mm

80-200mm AF-S, the best piece of glass you can get for sub RM5k. Not easy to hunt for a good copy but worth the effort. Not as heavy as 70-200mm but just as fast as it when focusing. Shouldnt have sold my whole nikon gears years back

Oh? I didn't realized that but that were based on my hands-on handling. Tried the AFS 80-200mm and 70-200mm VRII side by side, the 80-200mm seems comfortably light for me while 70-200mm have a heavy middle. Mounted on D300 with battery grip as well as mounted on a D3.

14-24mm were made specially for fullframers only. Yes, not many people shoot at wide open as distortion are obvious to naked eye but with Photoshop, you can just correct the distortion. Tried this lens, heavy and need extra care on the front glass. Easy to have any finger poke into it

It can be used for landscape and best is to shoot at 15mm. Comfortable in view for me on the finishing shot.

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Added on September 5, 2011, 10:45 amShorter focal, lesser light loss that affect the color and contrast as well as sharpness. Take a look at 70-300mm. Image IQ goes yummy from 70-200mm and starts to degrade from 250mm onwards.

The 18-55mm is a standard zoom, it does have its IQ for its price but does come with a few flaws which will not affect much on actual shooting. 18-105mm on the other hand is a walk around lens. For its focal length, you wont suffer much of light loss compared to the 18-200mm.

Depends on the focal length you want to be on and the purpose of it, no matter 18-55mm, 18-105mm or 18-200mm and so on, each have its own cons and pros since they are used for different purpose. For start, 18-105mm and 18-200mm can be consider all in one lens purpose. 28-300mm is one of that as well. If you are a starter and want the extra length, 18-105 is a good start. If you are a street shooter, the 18-55mm is a nice sized lens which won't freak out strangers.

This post has been edited by onscreen: Sep 5 2011, 10:45 AM

KL or PJ branch?

This post has been edited by onscreen: Sep 5 2011, 12:10 PM

yeah, i know its used lens. Was assuming that you saw it in the shop. Rm3.8k ~ RM3.9k is the price i am hunting. Some went up as high as RM4.8k for the black one where i can pay the price for a white version.

60mm Macro is good for food. 40mm one is good for still macro shots for products.

The work space for the 40mm is too close so if any food that are involved in on-site cooking, its no fun to see your front glass goes blur

40mm DX to me is good for general macro. Good for abstract macro too.

D3x is the top of the line with high MP sensor. D3s is the speed demon of the D3 series.

Silence is Golden. I love the mood!