Nikon 5100 - Enable Me

So I have always been a bit of an amateur photographer, nothing fancy, just high-end point-and-shoots for family stuff and autocross pictures.  My last camera was a Nikon J1 and I loved the ease of use and amazing picture quality.  Then I grabbed a Sony HX400V because I wanted one lens for portrait to telephoto. 1200 optical zoom, Ziess lens, 20 mp, specs were impressive...but the photos are not.  They are OK for sharing online, but they just dont have clarity when enlarged, very blurred and soft, and it can be difficult to get good shots under challenging lighting conditions.  I am finding the iPhone easier to use and taking better photos. Grrrr. 

At work, I usually have access to DSLRs and never complain about the photo quality.  So I decided to finally pick one up for myself, a used Nikon D5100 with an 18-55 primary and a 70-300 telephoto. I have two major questions. 

1. I am pretty good, but I don't always want to adjust 100 setting to be able to take a photo. When not being artistic, can I put the camera on "Auto" and take photos of my son's soccer game? 

2. The zoom will not be auto-focus.  (cheaper that way) I figure that I will be sitting in a fixed position taking photos of my son on stage, and not using the LCD screen, so how bad could it be?  Same at the autocross, I will pick a corner and be a set distance away, don't really need autofocus right?   

Any experience with manual zooms or the Nikon 5100? 

Auto should be fine for 90% of what you will shoot.  The main reason you would go with some thing else if for some effect.  Some sort of “sport” setting might be good for AutoX.  If you are looking for blurred spinning wheels (an effect) you will want a lower shutter speed (e.g.portrait mode).  

Be aware that iPhone pics may still “look” better because phones do a good amount of adjustment (e.g. bump saturation).  If you want that look, there is likely a setting for that on the camera.

The camera should have some sort of easy (probably a dial) adjust exposure adjustment so you can make quick compensation for unusual lighting, which might be useful  occasionally (e.g. light subject on dark stage).

One thing to look at is saving photos in raw format.  Raw format allows for a lot of post adjustments (like in a film dark room) if you are up for that.  The camera maker might have some software that allows you to process/adjust raw files.  Not a requirement, just a nice perk.

Nikons do a pretty good job with the presets.  I don't use them, I'm more of a manual adjustment guy, but the little running man icon is designed for action photos and it automatically skews things to a larger aperture/quicker shutter.

I love my D3200.  It is ridiculously versatile.  1080p video, monster photos, and all the things I need.  The D5100 does make me drool a bit.  Do it.  You'll love it.

Manual Focus will be fine... that's how all the shots we have of racing were done until the '80's?  do some reading up on "zone focus"... one draw back to this is you'll want your aperture up a bit so you've got a larger range in-focus.

I don't know if I'd go "Auto" mode, I'd stick to "P" at a minimum, and consider some of the scene modes.  But, if you leave WB and ISO in "Auto", and switch to "shutter speed priority" mode "S".  Dunno if your lens will provide focal length data to the camera, and if so you'll want to keep in mind the 35mm-Focal.Length rule of thumb of 1/FocalLength for shutter speed.  So ~ 1/400sec when out at 300mm.

Definitely, no question, shoot RAW or at a minimum RAW+JPG.  Eventually you'll get good enough that there will be data in the RAW that you can take advantage of... and/or, there are people around here that can show you.  And, frequently at autocross, you'll probably be restricted in where you can shoot, and there's a good chance you'll be somewhere where the side of the car is in shadow while the top is in bright light.  With RAW, you can claw it back, JPG you're stuck with however it came out. 

I have exactly that setup. When I first got it, I fooled around with the myriad settings a lot, but discovered that Nikon’s auto setting are very good 90+% of the time. When shooting autocross or BMX racing, it’s nice to be able to focus my attention on composition, rather than settings, and the sport setting is good for rapid-fire multiples. Occasionally, especially in low light, the autofocus can be slow, but normally it’s very good. When the situation demands it, you can still fiddle with the manual settings. 

I just realized I have a Nikon D7000 at work.  Lots of cool features (dual memory cards, hdmi output for a monitor etc).  The batteries seem to be pretty long lasting.  The only downside I would call out is no 4K video.  Having those extra pixels would be nice for editing.

Make sure to adjust the eyepiece to your eye.  Focus camera to item (using in lens guide), then twist that little dial by the eyepiece until it's clear.

In reply to aircooled :

one of the really big benefits of the D7000 and similar 700x models, is the focus motor in the body, which opens up a bunch of cheaper Nikon "D" and/or "AF-D" glass.  So $300 for a D7000 body, then you can pick up the Nikkor 70-300mm D ED for $80 and have autofocus.

OK, interesting.  I was just messing with it was wondering why it has an AF selector on the lens AND the body.

.... so many buttons...

The thing about modern DSLR's is, unless they've been modified with different focusing screens with focusing aids like a split-prism ala decent film cameras, their ground glass focusing screen doesn't really help much with focusing.  They're not as bad as no screen at all but they're not great.  Maybe the Nikon you have will utilize the autofocusing system to try and indicate to you when things are in focus (my Pentax K-5II does this) but even then...

You can do it, it's not fun, and not comparable to shooting with a good SLR from the 80's and a manual focus lens.   The LCD on the back may provide a focus peaking function; again, I don't know the 5100, could go either way.  Manual focusing with a mirrorless system that has a good electronic view finder a focus peaking can be as good or better than a good SLR.   A good 3rd-party 70-200 f2.8 zoom with AF would be great for photographing a soccer game if you enjoy this and want to spend some money down the road without the higher cost of such a lens from Nikon themselves.

Thanks for the advice, I went with a low-cost AF 70-300 lens from Sigma that should help me be lazy and not focus myself.  I will practice settings and such and save some settings for different conditions.  If I like everything but want to improve speed/quality, I will sell a kid and invest in an actual Nikon lens.  

I have a D3300 and my only complaint is lens selection between the in lens AF and it I’ve read it doesn’t play nice with legacy glass for exposure. 

I'm not a big fan of all of this guy's opinions, but this chart might come in handy when looking at Nikon glass.

Although I've heard good things about Tamron (zoom direction matches Nikon) and Sigma (zoom direction matches Canon) 100-400mm lenses... which might be a good upgrade if you find your subject not "filling the frame" even at 300mm.  Both Tamron and Sigma have stepped up their game of late, so don't discount them.

Shooting in P will get you 90% of your needs, Aperture Priority is good for changing depth of field (how much is in focus in front of and behind your subject).

I'm in the general vicinity of mediocre, and haven't shot autocrosses, but I use Shutter Priority at the track to show motion.  I then play around with between 1/60 and 1/250 shutter depending on lighting, how smooth I am panning, etc.

pinchvalve said:

I will sell a kid and invest in an actual Nikon lens.  

You should be able to keep the kids: places like bhphotovideo.com and adorama.com sell refurbished and used gear; refurbished is like new and warranted and often much less expensive, and the used stuff is graded, so you stay away from the scratch/dent items. keh.com also sells used gear. All of these sources are reputable. B&H was recommended to me by a pro photographer friend years ago - great customer service.

We just bought a D3500 starter kit for Christmas; adorama.com had the lowest price by far.  My wife is more of a photographer than I am, but the camera is awesome and adorama was great.  

I bought the Body and Nikon 18-55 used from Adorama.  Both are in as-new condition with low shutter count.  I have a good deal of experience with Nikons so the menus and such are pretty straightforward for me.  I bought a Tamron 70-300 new from Amazon and its amazing that you can get such a decent lens new for $100.  The pros will tell you its not as good as a $1000 Nikon lens, but DUH.  For the shooting I do, it is a HUGE upgrade for $350, that's less than I paid for the Sony.  I am giving up the 1200mm lens, but at that distance you needed a tripod and that doesn't work for action shooting.   Plus, the quality just wasnt there.  Hopefully I can sell it on used.