Beginner New d5500 beginner questions

ANTH

ANTH

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Antony
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Hello I have a few questions for my new camera that i have hardly used if someone is kind enough to use.

I have two lenses

18-55 nikon lens vr II

Tamron SP 70-300 mm F/4 - 5.6 DDi VC USD

Kenko pro 1 Digital UV filter

Questions
Should I use the uv filter all the time or is it in certain situations?

Should I use the big hood that goes on the end of the Tamron lens or again is this situational?

Also should I shoot in full manual mode to get the best photos. I am learning slowly trying to let things sink in. Anything that can help me with my specific camera?

I am getting that low ISO is best but to low can darken images?
APERTURE of the camera is for bringing the whole image into focus or making the background blur if using it higher?
Shutter speed is kind of confusing I think the shorter for the quicker moving objects and slower for a softer look with water etc?

Last thing when I am looking the through the viewfinder I see this bar moving up and down which I can adjust with the command dial is this to help me with light at the settings I have to get it nearest the center of that bar as I can?

Sorry for all the questions might be a few to many here.

I have took a few photos but haven't really had hands on with it yet due to work. Its my first dslr and hopefully not my last! https://www.flickr.com/photos/132576486@N02/
 
Uv filter some do some dont tbh most are just protection for your lens unless it's one of the more expensive ones.

I would forget manual mode until you have more experience and even then you'll hardly need it, even pros spend more time in A or S, you need to use exposure compensation to darken or lighten which is the bar your asking about

Aperture priority depends.on your lens the lower ie 1.8 will let more light in than 3.5

You have a touch screen which should help you which is better than most so called entry level cameras which to be honest are a waste of time imo higher end cameras are easier to use as you have all controls on the outside, once you know what they all do

Go on YouTube there's probably tutorials on the d5500, once you get the hang of it you'll never look back, nothing handles.like a dslr, I have a d7100 and wouldn't swop it for anything
 
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Thanks for your reply, seen a few tutorials on settings of the camera on you tube still confused I think the best is hands on field testing.
 
Practice practice practice and keep shooting it's the quickest way to learn, you have a great lens in the tamron 70-300 superb lens, add the 35 1.8 which you can get for around £100 which will be great for low light and wont find yourself needing anything else for quite sometime if at all
 
And don't forget your white balance even now I still forget to change it, you can put in auto but I think it's better to change it yourself
 
White balance is the exposure or the lighting options like fluorescent and outside cloudy sunny options?

I do have bracketing on +1 0 -1
 
Don't get hung up on manual. This needs to be printed in bold, 40 point text on the first page of every beginners' photography book. The number of people who pop up here as beginners and assume they need to be shooting in manual (often offered naively to let others know they're serious about learning: "I'm trying to shoot in manual as much as I can...").
Manual will not help you get better photographs (except in extreme situations; such as night photography where the scene is way outside the ability of your camera meter to comprehend); it won't help anyone get better photographs. Forget manual, learn in A or S modes and learn metering and how exposure compensation can be used for producing exposures and moods which suit the scene or your intentions for the scene. For most scenes you can do everything you would want to do in manual much more quickly and conveniently by using A or S and exposure composition.
 
ANTH said:
Last thing when I am looking the through the viewfinder I see this bar moving up and down which I can adjust with the command dial is this to help me with light at the settings I have to get it nearest the center of that bar as I can?
Click to expand...

You (usually) only want this bar in the middle when shooting scenes that have a roughly equal mix of light and dark tones; or that have a large amount of medium tones. If the scene is generally bright (for example, a snowy landscape) and you want to capture it faithfully you generally need the bar lying to the right. If you want to shoot a darker subject (for example, someone with dark skin in a black suit) you'd want it to lie more to the left.

The reason for this is that the camera is programmed to assume that every scene is an average mix of tones, so left to its own devices (the middle of the "bar") it will underexpose brighter than average scenes and overexpose darker than average scenes. This is where your "exposure compensation" comes in. Exposure compensation is also a great creative tool - there may be creative reasons for you to choose to underexpose an average scene, for example.
 
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