The Photography Thread

[SlimKlim]

Since we have threads about meat, beer, video games, electronics, pc building, watches, etc. I figure we might as well have a dumping ground to discuss photography and gear.

I used to be kind of a huge photography nerd in high school, my first camera was a some form of Canon Rebel 35mm (that's film, kids), maybe a K2. Circa 2004-2005 I picked up a Rebel XTi which was pretty much the cutting edge of DSLR technology for the time and my budget. I sort of forgot about the hobby during college and since then have had a desire to pick it back up, but wasn't super motivated to do it with outdated gear. Then Nikon went and offered 50% off on a couple models this month. So, I guess I'm back.

My gear:

-Nikon D5500
- 18-55mm kit lens
- 70-300 telephoto
- 0.43x screw-on macro/fisheye adapter for 18-55
- Standard UV + Polarizer filters for both lenses
-Cheapo camera backpack from Amazon with partitions for lenses 'n' whatnot

I'm also planning to grab a pair of lens hoods, a couple spare batteries and a nicer strap, but I'm stuck trying to decide between the regular Peak strap and the wrist strap. I've always wrapped the standard straps around my wrist, but largely because the OEM straps are too small to put over your shoulder. I'd be interested to hear people's preferences.

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I've been having a lot of fun jumping back in but there are some settings that go completely over my head. Auto-bracketing? Active-D lighting? Metering? (The last one might having something to do with how it does the auto white balancing?)

I'm curious to hear what setups you guys have and how you shoot. I've been using the "programmed auto" mode or "aperture priority auto" and then manually adjusting iso and exposure compensation as needed. I've been shooting directly in JPG and leaving the color mode in "standard" for the most part.