I'd say the camera is fine for this at least during the outside portions of the wedding. It's just going to the tough on the lens with what is likely a 3.5-5.6+ aperture range. Any chance you can nab a 35 1.4 (rent maybe) It would be about a 50 on that crop sensor and would vastly change your day. Other than that I'd keep it simple, shoot in auto large JPEG and try and capture moments.
Per WonkoThesSane's photograph check that the autofocus and VR is set on. Also, release the lens from the body and then reseat it. A poor connection is possible. Do you hear the camera trying to focus? Holding the shutter button halfway down will engage the focus system. It should change focus as you point it at something close and then far away. If it's not doing that then reset the camera to it's original settings and try again. If it's not focusing then you need a camera shop or service center.
Check that the image quality is set to fine.
Only use JPG, not RAW. JPG has a color palate built into it and the photos look pleasing to most people. RAW does not and the photos will look dull and flat without post-processing.
Plus, the RAW file is 20MB but JPG is 7 to 12MB, so you are getting twice as many photos on a card. If you shoot RAW + JPG it's going to be 32MB, so don't do that.
Just for reference, Nikon has two DLSR systems. Full frame (FX) and crop sensor (DX.) The full frame "sees" what is equivalent to 35mm. DX sees a smaller area of that. If you put a 50mm DX lens on FX, nothing happens. (technically, yes, but I'm simplifying) A FX lens on a DX body is when 50mm becomes equivalent to a 70mm lens because of the smaller area it's seeing. It's the same principle as cropping a photo. It's smaller, but you're "closer" to the subject. 50mm DX and 50mm FX are both 50mm, it's just FX sees all of that and DX sees less.
In short, using DX on a FX is fine, but you are not using the full capability of the body. A FX on an DX can come in handy, because a 600mm then becomes 840mm. The trade off is less quality.
I'm also in favor of you using your phone, unless you would really like to learn the camera. I used a D3100 for several years. Very capable camera.
Edit: added a few words after coffee.
Thanks for more input!
I did remove, clean both sides of, and reseat the lens.
In manual modes, with various auto focus modes, I can get it to focus reasonably well.
I will try the JPG, because indeed I have been using RAW as earlier suggestions said, but the pictures look universally bad, with the lizard one being the best.
I recently upgraded from a Nikon DLSR (D60) to a Sony A6500. I'm not entirely sure it was an upgrade, but the low light performance is much better. A few notes:
I almost always shot in Shutter Priority with my Nikon. It was just the easiest. Auto is good, but not good enough to understand what is going on around me.
I always shoot raw + jpg. JPGs (vivid) are there if you need them quickly, if you want to fine tune anything, the raw is there. Raw will look extremely bland until you edit it.
Make sure you have the focus target settings right. Its easy to bump the d-pad on a nikon and make it focus off the to the left or the right. I always use center focus.
Related to above, the A6500 in auto only shoots in 'auto' focus target mode, so it decides what should be focused on. I wasted a lot of good photos by using that mode and realizing afterward that it didn't want to focus on me or my son, only the weird tree off to the left or something. I now use shutter priority with this camera also.
IMO in good light and close distance cell phones do just fine. Its when the action starts that the SLR really shows its power.
Semi related, if anyone is interested in a D40, a 55-200 VR, 70-300, and an 18-55 (not VR), let me know. I've been trying to unload them on CL, but its such a pain.
I think I adjust where it likes to focus by moving the red dot around on the screen, which I have done. I have also played with the focus types. I'll keep trying there.
Another issue I see is that the camera loves light. I am in my kitchen, with lights everywhere, admittedly it is dark outside, and the picture looks like it's under my bed. I have tried to adjust aperture and shutter speed to compensate, but it seems that I need way more of both than I would expect to need to make it bright enough. I'll try again tonight if I have time, but also a friend's camera on Wednesday.
Oh, and I tried playing with the diopter thing. It's also fine. My glasses don't have any correction anyway.
In reply to tuna55 :
If the dial is set to Auto then it should handle all that. What is your ISO?
Shadeux said:In reply to tuna55 :
If the dial is set to Auto then it should handle all that. What is your ISO?
I've tried basically everything. I do not know what it used in auto. There was a setting which allowed the ISO to be bounded in auto, which I tried to use. Someone here suggested 800 as a max, so I played around with that setting. I think it was 800 for the lizard pic.
The camera should be set to Auto-ISO.
Try setting up your camera like this:
https://photographylife.com/recommended-nikon-d3500-settings
Shadeux said:The camera should be set to Auto-ISO.
Try setting up your camera like this:
https://photographylife.com/recommended-nikon-d3500-settings
I'll try that tonight, a good number of things are different. Thanks!!
Let's start by resetting everything to defaults (nikon defaults are pretty decent):
Restoring Default Settings to Your Nikon D3200 - dummies
Your focus - This one is really hard to fix after the fact, so let's make sure that you start to get it right for now. Set your top mode dial (the one with P, S, A, M, auto, etc) to auto for now, and let's practice just getting things in focus. Get the camera up to your face, place the middle focus point (the little dot in the very middle of the viewfinder) on someone's face, press the shutter button halfway, and see if that middle dot goes from red to green. You can change which dot (or dots) are going to be used to focus, but remember that halfway pressing the shutter button and getting a green dot tells you where the camera is focusing. Half-pressing the shutter button, waiting for the camera to focus, and then fully pressing the shutter button to take a test shot should help confirm first that your camera and lens are capable of getting in focus. See here: The Viewfinder Display - Nikon D3200 Digital Field Guide [Book] (oreilly.com) If you can't get really sharp looking shots by practicing for a half hour, then it's best to either use another camera, or your phone. Remember that taking photos you want to keep your body and the camera as steady as possible while it's shooting. Keep it still longer than you think you need to. You can configure the camera to choose which point (or points) are used for getting focus once you get more comfortable with handling the camera in general: Nikon | Imaging Products | DSLR Camera Basics | AF-Area Mode (Viewfinder Photography)
Next, time to get set up for portraits. Set the mode dial on top (the one with P, S, A, M) to the icon of the lady in a hat for portrait mode. Go take a couple dozen shots of tunawife or tunakid (half-pressing the shutter button to focus, adjusting the framing of the picture as needed, then fully pressing to capture) from different distances, different angles. Are you happy with how these turn out? If so, GOOD! You've got a reliable fallback option for the wedding.
If you want to get fancier, then this article is pretty great: Moose's Low Light Portrait Settings & Tips for the Nikon D3200 (cameratips.com)
Either way, post up examples showing your focus test, and some test portraits from the portrait scene mode.
One last thing- auto white balance
All that to say- I'd honestly suggest the camera phone. Shoot slightly above eye line and pay attention to light. Open shadow is your friend with ideally darker background.
I think that Nikon is not focusing correctly. Looks like front-focusing. AF needs adjustment. But really, yeah, shoot with what you know. Use the Pixel.
I reset and followed the link about for a basic auto setup and... Now it takes decent pictures!
I had a super late night last night, so I took some but I didn't do the dance to get them into the computer. I brought the camera to work and will try to get some on here today.
Why does aperture priority make everything so very dark? I figured "priority" meant "reduce the aperture until it gets too dim".
Priority means "will make the user-configured aperture (usually adjusted via thumb wheel) set in stone, and adjust shutter to compensate." If you're shooting at night with a cheap lens, it's possible you need it wide open to have a chance at decent exposure, especially without cranking the ISO to 3200 or higher.
BTW, modern cameras don't follow the old ISO rules. Crank it to 3200 or higher and see what happens. Slightly grainy photos are better than blurry photos.
Tom Suddard said:Priority means "will make the user-configured aperture (usually adjusted via thumb wheel) set in stone, and adjust shutter to compensate." If you're shooting at night with a cheap lens, it's possible you need it wide open to have a chance at decent exposure, especially without cranking the ISO to 3200 or higher.
BTW, modern cameras don't follow the old ISO rules. Crank it to 3200 or higher and see what happens. Slightly grainy photos are better than blurry photos.
Thanks! That's helpful
Also thanks to everyone suggesting I just use the trusty Pixel. I'll consider it but only as a fallback. It may sound arrogant, but I think I can get to the point where it's better than phone quality by Saturday based on this already.
Camera-lender's Dad is a photographer, and he chatted with me on the phone for about an hour yesterday. He also suggested since Camera-lender's phone can, to shoot in RAW+JPG and he would do the post processing for me on the best RAW images.
It's all an opinion, and ability to deal with noise in post-processing, but I don't think I'd want the ISO any higher than 3200 in-camera with a D3200.
I think I'd set an ISO max at 1600 and let the camera adjust ISO if the scene allows for less, shoot RAW, and push in post as needed. If things start coming out really grainy in post there's always black & white conversion so the noise is a bit less noticeable.
Shooting a wedding with an 18-55 kit lens is a way to add interesting challenges... I understand the tools available are the tools available.
Tom Suddard said:BTW, modern cameras don't follow the old ISO rules. Crank it to 3200 or higher and see what happens. Slightly grainy photos are better than blurry photos.
Agreed, but what's modern?
My D60 (2008) would be pretty grainy at 800+ ISO. My A6500 (announced, 2016, unsure when released) can shoot at IS0 16 gazillion and still seems decent. D3200 falls right between those two (age I mean). All have the same sensor size
tuna55 said:I reset and followed the link about for a basic auto setup and... Now it takes decent pictures!
I had a super late night last night, so I took some but I didn't do the dance to get them into the computer. I brought the camera to work and will try to get some on here today.
Why does aperture priority make everything so very dark? I figured "priority" meant "reduce the aperture until it gets too dim".
Time for a touch of photo theory:
To take a picture, how bright it turns out depends on three things:
You can choose, or have the camera choose each of those values in order to produce a properly exposed photo. When you have it in Auto, or in Portrait Scene, the camera will choose all three of those - the ISO, the Aperture and the Shutter speed - to produce a photo that is acceptable.
If you're setting it yourself, you would (for wedding photography) generally choose:
If you put the camera on A (of P, S, A, M) you're going to pick the F-stop that you want for creative purposes, and let the camera work out the other two settings. However, it's possible that the "automatic" ranges that it can pick from wouldn't let you get a properly exposed image. Think of it as trying to do a drag launch in 4th. Sometimes it just won't work.
For this weekend, I'd recommend getting comfortable first with getting things focused and framing your pic, and using the Portrait Scene mode. That's like going for HPDE in an automatic car. Let the auto pick the gears for you and just worry about point and shoot. If you get really comfortable between now and the wedding and want to try using the other creative modes (P, S, A, M) to take more control over the process, you can, but that's probably a bridge too far.
I took some from my similarly lit (good windows plus overhead lights) office and got these good ones on full auto.
I have to take snippets of these, not sure why it won't save them, as-is, or allow me to attach them directly. Maybe they are just too large?
I desire critique on all of these, as I am sitting here with the camera at the ready to learn more.
Here is the same stuff in portrait mode
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