Lensbaby

i've been shooting with my d-80 and a 3g in a minimal way since 07 (a total of 4 outings). I am one of those blasphemous folks who primarily use their camera on the lovely green setting known as auto..(.to true photographers, this setting is referred to as LAZY!) Well, knowing that this just had to stop, i took a beginning class on actually using a dslr yesterday (.white balance? ISO??? what are they???) and learned more than just a few things about shooting, as well the following about my camera/lens combination:

1. the D80 doesn't offer a "manual lens" adaptation in the menus. the camera will not assist you in metering at all with a manual lens like some other cameras will.

2. there is no meter whatsoever available to me when i shoot. yeah, yeah, yeah.... i know i should have realized this before now, but now that a "professional" stated what i was struggling with was because there WASNT a meter ) I had been just looking at the lcd screen and guessing if my exposures were about right....and barring the histogram, it looks like that's what i have to continue doing.

I was wondering how other d80 users cope with this stuff....anyone know any helpful hints to help a beginner that is struggling with the basics and trying to do it with a composer and 3g?

"don't be an adolph quitler!!" ~ the tick

I shoot with a nikon d300, doesn't the d80 have a dial with an A, S, and M on it? On the left top.

yes, but the camera body doesn't recognize manual lenses..... so I can't use anything but M (at least that was what was explained to me in the photo class at Calumet Photo)....if i had a D90, it would be different, so perhaps the D300 is also different?

"don't be an adolph quitler!!" ~ the tick

Yes that is correct I too have the d80 and with the lensbaby the lightmeter is nonexistent. To be honest with you the way that I get around this usually is that I test the light with another lens that I have then attach my lensbaby composer and adjust from there as needed. I use the normal lens just to give me a general starting point becuase I haven't been doing photography long enough to be my own light meter. Although I am learning very slowly out of trial and error. But if I know that there are shots that I'm going to NOT want to miss I first attach the other lens get a starting point then attach the lensbaby.

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[www.dingoimages.com]

Learn to chimp.

I always set my d80 wheel on M. Estimate your shutter speed (guess) and take a shot. Look at the LCD and the histogram. See if the image is over or under exposed. Adjust the shutter speed accordingly. Almost all of my shots in my gallery here were made with the D80 and the original Lensbaby. Once you do this a while, you will get better at analyzing the light and what shutter speed (or at least range) you will need. It is really not as hard as it seems at first.

Ol' Don

Life is expensive, but includes a free trip
around the sun!