Just purchased my first DSLR

[Matt Tottle]

I use 16g and shoot raw ".cr2"... I get around 550 on mine. Is DNG a Nikon setting? I know canon uses their .cr2 file type

.DNG is the Adobe open "Digital Negative" format. My K-x gives the option of DNG or PEF (Pentax proprietary), so I use DNG - just because I don't like proprietary things.. When I was looking into which to use, I saw companies like Hasselblad and Leica used it, so I assumed (yeah I know) that other manufacturers did as well. Looks like Nikon uses .NEF for RAW. But for all intents and purposes RAW is RAW (most proprietary formats can be converted to DNG losslessly [is that a word? ]), I think differences occur in the formatting of the card and 'wasted space'.. Of course the actual file size has a lot of variables but you generally figure on the high end about 1.5MB per MP for RAW, and then if you shoot RAW+, add up to 750kB per MP (depending on set quality) for the actual JPG copy.

Edit: I just checked - on the RAW/DNG setting with a 32GB card in my K-x (12.4MP), I get 1603 shots on the counter from a fresh format. RAW+ (12MP *** JPG) gives me 1158 shots, and straight 12MP *** JPG (no RAW) is 4481. 6MP or lower just tilts the counter - it says 9999.

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

I just got my camera today! Its awesome looking LOL!!!

It came with 2 lens, the 55-200 zoom lens and the af-s dx nikkor 18-55mm lens

3 books you absolutely should have.

Digital Field Guide for Nikon D3100
Understanding Exposure
Understanding Shutter Speed.

all available on Amazon for $15 or less each. best 3 books you can have for learning how to use a DSLR camera.


those 2 lenses, they are cheap kit lenses. you can get decent pics with them, but save up your money and get some quality glass, the difference is amazing and noticeable. Sharper pictures, better color, better clarity. quality glass is expensive though, about $1000+ for each good lens, some run upwards of $2000.

since you're also a storm chaser, try to focus primarily on fast lenses (lower aperture #'s). f/2.8, f/1.8, f/1.4 and f/1.2 lenses. those will yield you the best results in low light situations.

I'd recommend these

14-24mm wide angle
http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/zoom/widezoom/af-s_zoom14-24mmf_28g/index.htm

24-70mm f/2.8 portrait
http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/zoom/normalzoom/af-s_zoom24-70mmf_28g/index.htm

70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto
http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/zoom/normalzoom/af-s_zoom24-70mmf_28g/index.htm

and a 1.4x extender. This magnifies each of your lenses by a factor 1.4x. Downside is you lose 1 full f/stop. so f/2.8 lenses become f/4 lenses.

the D3100 is a crop camera (not a full frame) so with it comes a crop factor of 1.5x, which means your

f/2.8 14-24mm = 21-33.6mm, add the 1.4x extender it becomes an f/4 29.4mm-47.04mm
f/2.8 24-70mm = 36mm-105mm, add the 1.4x extender it becomes an f/4 54mm-157.5mm
f/2.8 70-200mm = 105mm-300mm, add the the 1.4x extender it becomes an f/4 147mm-420mm

that will give you a nice long range for just about any shot you'll be taking. wide angle shots, portraits, and long distance shots. you can shop around at

http://www.b&hphotovideo.com
http://www.keh.com
and craigslist and ebay for used lenses that are cheaper than new but still quaility.

I'd avoid places like Wolf camera and best buy, you'll just get price jacked and overpay and I've not usually seen any really good lenses at Best Buy, mostly the 3.5-5.6 lenses which change aperture the farther you zoom in and you don't want those kind of lenses.

B&H is great to watch the few weeks before Thanksgiving, this year I saw the 70-200mm, go from $2499 to $1799 shipped on Black Friday.

 

[STexan]

I'll second what many others have added. I shop exclusively at BH Photo for any photo/video related hardware, no tax, same day shipping, absolute lowest price. I might add that you look at Adobe Lightroom. I know you have Photoshop, but for organization of hundreds, thousands of images, Lightroom is the only way to go and does 90% of the digital edits you'd do in Photoshop and easier, and also includes multi-level re-do/un-do. You can download a 30 day free (and full) trial version from Adobe.

I too am a Canon user so can't provide much advice but I assume your camera has an HD video mode? If so, learn how to access this feature quickly and how to use it and try and keep your memory cards with adequate free space for an short emergency video in case you find yourself photographing and a video opp quickly arises with little time to grab and ready your video cam.

Also, you can probably turn off the in-camera 'Auto High ISO noise correction" feature. This will free up your camera faster in low-light high-iso scenario and nighttime star trail shooting (if you're into that). The digital noise can be dealt with later in post-processing.