I mentioned not that long ago that I was in the market for a telephoto lens for my new Nikon D3100 digital SLR camera. Many excellent suggestions were made, and I wound up getting this lens:
It's a Nikkor 55-200mm zoom lens, and boy, does it make a difference. Here's a quick comparison I shot from my back deck using the kids' swingset as a reference point:
Old lens at full zoom:
Some distance off...
New lens at full zoom:
Much closer!
Little bit of a difference, eh? The swingset is about 75 yards away from the house, and the new lens brings things right up close at that distance. Here's the real reason I got this lens:
Eye on the ball!
That's TheBoy in yesterday's football game. With this lens, you're right in the middle of the action without having to make a nuisance of yourself on the sidelines. It's exactly what I was looking for in a telephoto lens, and I wanted to thank everyone for their input on this.
Now all I need is a good image manipulation program and I'm off to the races!
That is all.
6 comments:
Until you pick a program you want to spend money on, I recommend IrfanView. I use it for cropping, resizing, and some basic editing. It's not Photoshop, but it's free, loads quickly and is simple to learn and use.
Photoshop by Adobe is the best by far. It is also the most expensive. PS has enormous power and capability, far far beyond most photographers needs. The suggestion from ASM826 is probably the best and least expensive way to go.
What you want is either Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or Aperture. If you are PC you option is Lightroom. If you are mac you can choose.
Both these programs are database programs for keeping track of your pictures and they do 100% of the editing you want to do 90% of the time. The other 10% is what photoshop is for. I Use lightroom and love it. i have my photos automatically sorted by date and i have added key words to many so I can sort by keyword or date. Or any of the camera info that is imbedded automatically.
Jay,
I second the Lightroom recommendation as it is a great import/organizer and has a pretty comprehensive set of basic editing tools. Keep in mind that Adobe has a very generous academic discount that you (your son) is eligible for. The last time I bought Photoshop and Lightroom I paid less than $300 for the two combined.
Steve
If you can get Photoshop on an academic discount, and you think you might use it, go for it. Its the least expensive way to get what is otherwise a way overpriced, if usefull, software.
Otherwise there is a great selection of lower cost, including free, softwares out there that'll do much the same work.
Unless you want to shell out hundreds, I suggest getting GIMP. It's a free open-source image-editing program that I use. Works in both Linux and Windows.
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