Hi Im a newbie

[shb-jcb]

Hi Guys,

Im new here.Could someone tell me a good place/site in Sydney to buy reasonably priced used lenses.I have a D5000 and got the twin vr lenses with it; when I buy do I look for AF ones? How do I use it for manual then,when I need manual? Also Im comfortable using picasa as a post production tool but its not very versatile for making pics look professional..like changing background etc. I have gimp but its too complicated for me,any other suggestions? Also is anything under 35mm considered wide angle? Thanks for your help. Cheers

[Woody]

Originally Posted by shb-jcb

Hi Guys,

Im new here.Could someone tell me a good place/site in Sydney to buy reasonably priced used lenses.I have a D5000 and got the twin vr lenses with it; when I buy do I look for AF ones? How do I use it for manual then,when I need manual? Also Im comfortable using picasa as a post production tool but its not very versatile for making pics look professional..like changing background etc. I have gimp but its too complicated for me,any other suggestions? Also is anything under 35mm considered wide angle? Thanks for your help. Cheers

Hello shb-jcb and welcome to DPS.

For used lenses, you probably need to look at Gumtree or Ebay, they pop up fairly often, however you realy need to be careful before you part with your money and make sure you are getting what you want.
With most auto focus lens, there is a manual switch on the side which allows you to focus manually.

Picasa will provide some basic PP changes and Gimp is also a reasonable but poor substiture for Photoshop. I use Lighroon and I have just bought the new Lightroon 3 and I find it excellent for managing my photography workflow and tweaking my RAW files. I also have CS3 for other more elaborate PP stuff.

Read the forums here and as the name says, Digital Photography SCHOOL. You wil never stop learning something new here every day.

Good Luck

Cheers,
John W

[shb-jcb]

Ta Woody. Will do so. Now the lightroom, how expensive are these as I do see a lot of these free ones floating around on the net as well. The 18-55 lens I have,can that also act like a wide angle? Yes I do agree that one does get to learn a lot from DPS.I do wish that it would sell hard cover or paper back photo-books instead of ebooks.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by Woody

Hello shb-jcb and welcome to DPS.

Gimp is also a reasonable but poor substiture for Photoshop.

Why? Because it's open source, and doesn't cost $500.00?
There is a bit of a learning curve to it, but just start out duplicating layers, and using the levels and curves. It will fall in to place if you play with it long enough. It really is not a poor tool at all. It's actually quite powerful, even with the stupid name.

As far as lenses, look for lenses that have the built in focus motor as well. Nikon's designation are the af-s, third party lenses like Sigma will have the HSM designation, and Tamron will be a BIM designation. All standard Nikon F mount lenses will work, but you will lose the ability to auto focus, and in some instances, lose metering ability. For a more comprehensive list of what lenses are compatible, here is a link to Nikon's chart.
Lens Compatiblity - Nikon D5000 | Nikon
Welcome to DPS, and enjoy your stay!

[shb-jcb]

Thanks Woody and Luke for the valuable info! WIll try it out.Ta