From my experience of shooting with the D7000 and now the D800 is be patient and be prepared to burn a lot of frames. When I shoot with the D7000 I shoot with a 15mm fisheye since it grabs the most sky out of the front door of the house. I usually stop the lens down around F8 to F11 with an ISO speed of 200 and a shutter speed of 3 seconds or so. On the D800 it is the same but with a 20mm focal range everything else the same. On the D800 I have noticed that it takes pictures fast enough after the shutter trigger is pressed that you can catch lightning even after it has started happening vs with the D7000 hope that you catch the event after the shutter trigger has been pressed.

I am still working on getting my Camera Axe a faster photo transistor to capture the lighting with. Once I either track one down locally or get it online I'll end up mounting that behind the viewfinder so it will only be triggered when an increase in brightness occurs.

Here is a link to some of my images. http://www.flickr.com/photos/macsavageg4/sets/72157629961919653/

Zoran asks.....

"How can i shoot lightnings? I mean what is the best procedure to do so for the D7000?"

There are a whole bunch of things to consider when you want to photograph lightning..........

The first is......where to put the camera, (and yourself), to minimize the possibility of being struck by lightning. I have given quite a bit of thought to that subject, as I too am interested in taking lightning pictures. One pretty good place, (and pretty safe, ordinarily)......is to have your tripod with camera, set up near a window (that can be opened), in a large downtown building, (such as a hotel, possibly); the problems here being........the ambient light created by the rest of the city, etc, plus, you are only going to be able to photograph the sky in one direction. ( It's usually pretty tricky trying to anticipate where the lightning is going to occur )

Another even better place to photograph from, and usually pretty safe, is to shoot from a car window; surprisingly enough, cars don't seem to get struck by lightning very often, and even when they are struck by a lightning bolt, the occupants are usually not harmed; ( it's a very good idea NOT to be in direct contact with any of the car's metal parts during a storm !)

The problem with cars though, you obviously can't use a conventional tripod. There are any number of of products made to facilitate attaching a camera to an open car window, and they "vary" widely in price, usefulness, and "practibility". Kirk Enterprises makes one of the very best window mounts, (but like all of Kirk's products, it isn't "cheap"); ( useful & practical, very much so, but NOT cheap) Another VERY GOOD window mount has the very strange name, "Grufwin" (or something close to that) It's made by a professional photographer named "Leonard Rue"; (unfortunately, when I attempted tho contact Mr. Rue, I was informed that the website was "down" for "overhaul", (or some such), while Mr. Rue is "on safari".........(presumably in darkest Africa) Had I been able, I thought of leaving Mr. Rue a message, mentioning that I certainly hoped his photographs from his "safari" would turn out to be MUCH better than than his photographs of his "gadget" that a very nice fellow had up for auction on Ebay; (otherwise, I feared that his :"safari" might become a huge "boondoggle", as regards the demand for his pictures.) Not withstanding the terrible photo on eBay, I ended up "winning" the auction, and when I received my "grufwin", I can now attest that it is a "superlative" piece of equipment, It "works" even better than I had hoped, and I would highly recommend it to anyone needing a very stable window mount for a heavy D SLR with a heavy lens mounted. ( Even though it does look suspiciously like Kirk's great window mount ) ( But who knows.......maybe Kirk's mount was "inspired" by Mr. Rue's ! )

Probably the very BEST venue (from a safety standpoint at least) for observing and photographing lightning, is from a large, "open" cave. ( the main problem here being "accessibility".............)

But hey..........you see a LOT of fantastic shots of lightning here and there, mostly on the internet; they all have one thing in common...........they were ALL taken by sharp, "innovative" people, who are able to overcome the "obstacles";

Having just mentioned all of that.........when you are REALLY ready to commit to making great lightning shots.........there is one more VERY key piece of equipment you will need to make very many (or any) great shots, very often..........it's a small electronic "gadget" that attaches to your D-SLR and operates the shutter release when it"detects" a lightning bolt; there are a bunch of makes available; I personally have a "favorite", but I don't like to mention brand names, particularly on a forum dedicated to one "brand" of camera.

Correlli gave some good advice. Some people also turn Active D-Lighting OFF so it doesn't affect the image you're trying to get.

Just be wise. Lightning can strike you from up to 20+ miles away. People die that way all the time here in Florida. The saddest cases are the kids out playing soccer, baseball, etc. and never thought they were in danger.

I usually use S mode and just keep taking pics at like 5 second exposures or whatever it is letting me do. Bulb is probably a better one, but I can imagine some overexposure using that...would depend on your setting like said above.

Just FYI at Nikon one can download the product manuals for quick reference...

http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13948

And an App can be had to load the manual to your

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/manual-viewer/id468999172?mt=8

Thanks Correlli, I could have looked it up whenever I wanted to shoot lightning however you saved me (and the OP) time. He and I are too lazy to use Google. ;- )

All Nikon DSLR's with M (manual) or S (shutter priority) have Bulb. Just keep turning your shutter speed down until you see it.

Page 71 & 73 in the D7000 manual. You must be in M or manual mode. It is after the 30sec shutter speed.

Thanx a lot, im not in front of the camera right now (D7000) but i don't think it has a B (bulb) option!

First of all: make sure your position is safe, so you don't get struck by lightning.

Get a good tripod.

Use some low ISO (e.g. 100 or 200). Put the camera in manual mode, so you can control both aperture and exposure time. Make sure the camera is not set on Auto-ISO. For the aperture I would start with 5.6 or 8. The exposure time depends on the ambient light. It does make a huge difference if you take lightnings in a city or out in the wild.

Do some test shots until you find a good balance between exposure of the foreground and getting enough time to increase the chances to actually get some lighning in the image. I usually try to get to 10 - 30 seconds exposure. But make sure that during one exposure you don't get too many lightnings (they might over-expose the image). If you really want an image with many lighning bolts in it you might still stack images during post processing (gives you more control).

There is one setting that you can use to keep the shutter open as long as you like: B (stands for bulb) in manual mode. But it only keeps the shutter open as long as you press the shutter button. If you want to use this I would really recommend to get a remote control, so you don't need to touch the camera.

It is some try and error but this is the nice thing about digital: you can see the result right away and correct if required.

Hope this helps.

How can i shoot lightnings? I mean what is the best procedure to do so for the D7000?
Is there some setting so that i can leave the shutter open as long as i like and close it on a click?

@ Gitzo Grat story... getting the last bid in on eBay and such is always a game...

Interestingly enough I am in the process of thinking about changing from Manfrotto quick release to Arca-Swiss....but the cost for four tripod heads is a bit high at present so I might have to look at eBay...

Inasmuch as I shoot from a tripod much of the time, (and I never could stand "screwing" the camera to the tripod, then "unscrewing" it when I finished, I have become a firm believer in quick release plates; as I usually use my tripod with an Arca-Swiss ball head, I have Arca style QR plates on everything; the one plate I have always wanted, but never have been able to find a bargain on, is an "L" plate designed to fit my D-300s; I've had a regular "bottom" plate on the 300s ever since I've had it, (which is just great when you're shooting in landscape format, but when you need to shoot in portrait format, you have to rotate the ball head all the way over to the side, putting the camera body off to the side of the tripod, and it's a "pain in the butt"; the best way to solve this problem, is by having an "L" plate on the camera, rather than a "bottom plate"; the only problem with "L" plates is.........they cost like $150 ! So......I have been trying for months now to buy a "like new" "L" plate on eBay.

I had the perfect opportunity about 10 days ago, as there was a "Really Right Stuff" L plate up for auction, (made to custom fit a 300 body), and it had no bids on it up to the day before the ending; the next day, I had to go to Terre Haute, didn't get home in time, the auction ended, and some lucky bidder snagged my L plate for $43 ! ( I had very seldom seen them fetch less than around a hundred bucks before) As they always say, "when you snooze you lose"! Damn! Now I had to start all over again; fortunately, there was another RRS plate up for auction, that ended in 3 days; some schmuck bid it up to $30, with 4 days to go; (which is clearly ignorant;) this time, I was ready ! as the auction was within a few hours of ending, the thing was already up to $55; (which made last week's winner look very lucky) this time I was DETERMINED........with 20m seconds to go, I confirmed my "max" bid......$ 101.59; when the clock ended, there was a few seconds of furious "back and forth" bidding, but I ended up winning, getting my plate for $81, + $10 shipping; not nearly as good as the previous auction, but still not bad.

What made it a little better, I had messaged the seller, asking him if he would "combine" shipping if I won two items, and he agreed to do so; (he was also selling a EN-EL3e Li-on battery for a D-300 ), ( $35 to $40 on Amazon) The battery had NO bids, right up to the last minute, and only a $1 opening bid; it looked like I was gonna score it for a buck, but not wishing to "lose a golden opportunity, I entered a "max bid" of $10.25 (just in case !) It was a good thing I did..........again.....last second, there must have been 2 or 3 bidders, but they set their "max" too low, and I got my battery for the very decent price of $6.26 (and no shipping ), thanks to my message to the seller. Nothing like winning an auction, after you have employed a bit of "strategy" !

Gitzo, Thanks very much. Make sense to me and I fully understand. Wow so much knowledge here. I will make some small (maybe bigger ones) sacrifices and save for a good longer lens. Thanks again.

Parke1953.........

The "reflex" lens you refer to is a "completely different animal" than a "regular" telephoto camera lens; here's what I mean by that.......

in 99.99% of camera lenses, the light from the "subject" enters the front end of the lens through a bunch of individual pieces of optical glass, known as "elements"; each individual "element", (or "group" of "elements") has a specific purpose........such as to make the "subject" look bigger than it would to the un-aided eye; ( just like binoculars and small telescopes do); such a lens is said to be "refractive"........in other words, each element "refracts" ( or bends ) the light rays, as they "pass through" the lens elements, on their way to the film. (or sensor)

In other optical systems, ( such as astronomical telescopes ), a much different "method" is used, ( mainly because telescopes that are designed to look at extremely distant, extremely "faint" sources of light, (such as stars and other astronomical objects), the "refractive" method of dealing with light becomes "not such a good idea" very quickly, as the telescope gets bigger. That's why almost all modern telescopes use mirrors, rather than "lenses" to collect the light. ( It would be completely impossible to build a 200 inch diameter glass lens ) (for a lot of reasons)

I'm sure you have noticed that great big telephoto camera lenses are VERY expensive; there are many reasons for this.......the main one being........they are very expensive to design and build; a good example, the last time I looked, Nikon's fine, 600mm, f4 tele goes for about $10K; (which is much more than almost all of the cameras that it's designed to work with)

Somewhere along the line, almost everyone gets the "urge" to "do something" a "different way", to "save money"..........or to "sell more" "units" ( of whatever ) That's why we have so-called "reflex" camera lenses; it sounds great to the "beginner" to be able to buy a 500mm "super-telephoto" camera lens, for a mere few hundred $$$$$; but as the old saying goes, you almost always "get what you pay for". A reflex camera lens is an extremely poor attempt to "get a lot" for very little $$; here's why..........

First.......telephoto lenses, (just like "normal" lenses and "wide angle" lenses), have to do a LOT more than just make things look bigger or smaller, or closer or farther away. They also must be capable of producing a "sharp", well defined image of "something" on the film, (or on the sensor in a digital camera) To do this, you need to be able to control "exposure".....(the correct amount of light for a given "subject" under a given amount of ambient light ); ( a bright, sunny day at noontime requires a very different "exposure" than, say, an airplane landing at 10 pm on an un-lighted runway.)

Reflex lenses use a mirror to ":collect the light", which is "reflected" FORWARD, where it then is "reflected" BACKWARDS, ( by a small "secondary" mirror, and is brought to focus on either the film plane, (or a sensor). To accomplish this, if you take a close look at a mirror lens, you'll see that there is a large "opening" (or "hole") in the main mirror.......that's so the light can pass through the "main" mirror, on it's way to the film. What you WON'T see, (which is very necessary to control exposure), is an iris diaphragm, ( which ALL "regular" camera lens have ), together with a means of changing the shutter speed, in order to control exposure. So the only way the mirror lens has to control exposure, is to increase (or decrease) the shutter speed. Without going into a "long discussion", this just isn't a very good way to control exposure. ( which is probably the "under-statement" of the year ! )

Look through about 10 years worth of National Geographis magazines, ( or back issues of "Outdoor Photographer" ), and you'll see thousands of bright, very "colorful", very sharp images of wildlife (and other things)...........and not ONE of those photographs was taken, using a mirror lens ! Yes, you can take a picture of a car six blocks away, and have it look like it's one block away.........but it will be a VERY POOR picture ! (which is the only kind of picture you can take with a mirror (or "reflex") lens !

Please note........while I AM a very "opinionated" person, I'm NOT just discussing MY opinions here; I'm discussing the laws of physics, (as they pertain to optics and camera lenses); (and unlike "speed laws", you just can't break them !)

If you really have the need for a 500mm telephoto lens, and you lack the necessary "big" $$$$ to buy one, there are STILL about a dozen ways to "do it on the cheap"; ( but this post is already way too long ! )

Can anyone tell me about this lens. Nikon Nikkor-C Reflex 500mm Super Telephoto f/8. says the glass is flawless $245.

Niclovin1..........

Any time you find an older Nikkor lens that you're not sure about, get on Nikon's website, go to their "tech help", and send them an email, describing the lens with all numbers, and especially the serial number; they will email you back and tell you if it is compatible for use on a particular camera body.

There are any number of lenses that WILL mount to the body of most newer cameras, but very often, just as others have mentioned here, there are lots of older lenses that "have things" (or sometimes LACK things ), which can damage cameras newer than the ones they were designed to work with.

That's the one area that all of the "Canon Lovers" seem to be totally oblivious about; the compatibility of today's digital camera bodies to actually WORK with lenses made "way back when" for old film cameras. If you "shoot Canon", there is NO compatibility.

At the time Canon started "switching" from making film bodies, to digital bodies, they introduced the new "EOS" digital cameras,(with a totally different mount, and just like that, all of the marvelous Canon "FD" lenses became completely obsolete, overnight ! ( I know, I had a whole bunch of them ! ( And Canon's fine FD lenses hadn't "been around" all that long.

Canon had what they called, "the breach-lock mount", (which was arguably the best mounting mechanism ever), but they made absolutely NO attempt to carry it over to the digital camera line; it seriously "pissed" a lot of people off, and many of them went to Nikon, and never looked back ! ( And I'm one of them ) Their whole "strategy" being, "screw 'em all" ! This way, they'll all have to buy NEW LENSES too ! (Yeah, we DID have to buy all new lenses, but NONE of them came from Canon !) It amazes me how quickly people forget all about things like this ! Yeah, Canon sure does make some great lenses; but I'll never need one of them, because there are some things about Nikon's bodies that I like better than Canon's, (and I also just have this LONG memory ), ( of getting screwed ! )
And I can't think of a single thing that I'll ever need that Nikon doesn't make that Canon does.

Is this thread just for bodies and lenses, or can we "brag" about accessories too ? I just found something on eBay last week that "sounded" EXACTLY like something I have been wanting for a very long time........a rock solid camera window mount; I remembered seeing one that Kirk makes, 3 or 4 years ago, but the thing sells for like $ 275- $300; ( I didn't want one quite that bad ) anyway, last week, while I was looking through "window mounts", I saw this "thing".......the fellow had one photo of it taken by the company that makes it, (which made most cell phone photos look good by comparison) then he had taken 3 photos himself, and they were all TERRIBLE !

You couldn't even tell what the "thing" looked like, or how it worked; his "description" wasn't much better; anyway, he had listed it as "Buy Now", $80, +$12 shipping; so I send him a message......"will you take $75 NOW, and pay the shipping?" his reply....NO! It's well worth what I'm asking! It's hard to explain this, but somehow, I thought it was too, so I sent him his $92, via paypal; a week goes by, (while I was out of town mostly), then it's at my post office when I get back;

I should mention, in his "description", he referred to it as a "Groofwin" ! (his only decent photo was of the riveted on metal name tag, "Made by: L.L. Rue Enterprises" I had actually emailed L.L. Rue Enterprises, and the reply was......"Sorry, the website is down for revision while we're on safari in Kenya" ! (I'm thinking, "I hope your photos from safari in Kenya are better than your advertisement shot of your hi-tech window mount"! )

Anyway, I ran to the post office, get this BIG, very "rumpled" looking box (completely filled with foam "peanuts")........and right there, among all of the peanuts, is my new "Groofwin"! Damn ! I think they must have copied Kirk's window mount in detail !
But the thing is AWESOME ! it essentially consists of two 3/16 th in. thick X 3 in. wide anodized aluminum plates, with a VERY clever "hinge" fastening them together; the uppermost "plate" ( the one that sits level and holds the camera / lens via a 3/16 X 16 captive threaded stud, with a 10 in long, 1"X1" aluminum angle to "hook" over a partially opened window, and the longer plate, (about 12" long), rests solidly via two BIG rubber "feet", (also 6 to 8 inches apart, against the inside, lower part of the car door. The two plates are held rock solidly in position by a VERY sturdy aluminum rod, which has a marvelous "pivot" on both ends, and is tightened by a HUGE big hard rubber knob. This thing looks like it was designed to be sold to NASA !

I immediately ran home, got my Arca-Swiss B-1 ball head, screwed it on the stud, stuck my D-300s / with my old Nikkor 300 mm f4 with great big ":collar" mount on the lens barrel, attached it to the B-1 head with it's arca style QR plate, and it was like screwing the whole thing to a 600 lb block of granite ! I mean, with a gimbal mount, you could operate my Nikon F-5 with a 600mm Nikkor F-4.....(which lens, unfortunately, I still don't have just yet.)

Why am I so "ecstatic" with this "thing" ? I happen to live in a very rural area of western Indiana; almost every day of my life, on my 24 mile ride to Terre Haute, I see a dozen or more deer, wild turkeys all the time, turkey vultures too numerous to count, an occasional bobcat, (even an "escaped" elk once........and between "sometimes" and "now-and-then", my most favorite of all native birds,bird, a pileated woodpecker ! You can frequently stop the car and have time to get a "shot" (with a camera) (I don't kill wildlife), BUT if you try to open the door to get out..........off they go, into the woods ! I have been needing this marvelous "gadget" for 20 years now; (and the thing is in such "pristine" condition that I will probably need to buy me a new D-4 body to look "equal" to it in "design excellence" !

I hear people all the time asking, "how are you so "lucky" finding things that are "such a great deal", etc; here's the whole "secret" folks; you do like I do, you check out ebay at least 3 or 4 times a week, plus Amazon, Craig's List, you go to a lot of yard sales, garage sales, auction sales, etc, etc. etc. and over about 20 to 50 years, (if you are blessed with a fantastic memory like I am), you have a very good idea what "things" should sell for, to be considered a "bargain". I have bought a TON of camera equipment on eBay; I can only remember ONE big "gippo deal" that I bought; and old manual focus, f 4, 105mm Micro Nikkor, that I paid about $100 or maybe $120 for, supposedly in "like new" condition; (the front end of the thing was so dented up, it looked like it had been mounted to a "dodgem-car" at an amusement park ! The front objective element even has a slight "nick" in it ! I raised so much hell that eBay finally made the seller refund my money, threw to guy off of eBay, and I ended up keeping the dented up old lens; (I was shooting Fuji velvia back then in my Nikon F5; never even mounted the thing to a camera !...........until "a while back" when I bought my D 300s; it occurred to me one day........hey, it's digital ! maybe I should "try" the damned thing out ? Gess what....superficial dents and all, the thing works like a new one ! when I'm doing Macro, I always use manual focus, manual "everything".......let's face it.........I take pictures because I LIKE TO!

I enjoy making great prints......and when I exhibit prints that "look great" in a gallery, or a contest, no one gives a rat's "behind" if the lens used cost $10,000, or if I bought the thing at a flea market for $10 ! It's the PRINT that they "care about" ! Hell, anyone ever notice what kind of "gear" Ansel Adams used to make his "reputation" ? (He sure didn't have a new D 800, of a Hassleblad with a Phase One "back"..........he used mainly his brains and his unbelievable talent ! (Got pretty "well known" along the way, too !)

The first thing I did when I bought my new D 300s was to take the shoulder strap off, (with NIKON in big yellow letters every 3 inches), threw it away, and put a nice little "wrist collar/ strap" from "Clik Elite" on it; plus, I lug my BEAUTIFUL, powder coated Gitzo 340 around in a VERY nice bag (made in China by, I presume, an industrious little old Chinese lady), and all the "thugs and muggers" on Lake Shore Drive just "assume" it's a raggedy old el-cheapo tripod from Goodwill, so not even worth stealing.........you may be "impressed" by high dollar photography equipment; ( I enjoy using it, but I go to great lengths to "cover up" anything that says "Nikon".........I'm just "impressed" by great photography. (I couldn't care less where the equipment came from.)

Great thread, BTW !

niclovin1 said:
How does it damage the AI metering?

If the Non-AI lens pushes the small metering prong that goes around the F-mount it can potentially push it to far and break it internally or externally either way making it broken. I have a Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 shift lens that does this that I need to get AId as much as it can be so this very thing does not happen.

Oh yeah to add to this thread. Picked up a Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 AIS DX fisheye (a little over a year old) for $144 after taxes at a local pawn shop on Fri. It is nice to finally have a fisheye for the D7000 with similar coverage (slightly wider) than my 15mm f/2.8 Sigma that I use on the D800.

PB PM said:
Nice lenses, but keep in mind that they wont all mount on a D7000 (and it's replacement most likely). Any Pre-AI lense like the Nikkor-H would damage the AI metering tab, unless it has been converted to AI. Do a google search and you'll quickly find images showing the difference between AI and non AI lenses.

How does it damage the AI metering?

Nice lenses, but keep in mind that they wont all mount on a D7000 (and it's replacement most likely). Any Pre-AI lense like the Nikkor-H would damage the AI metering tab, unless it has been converted to AI. Do a google search and you'll quickly find images showing the difference between AI and non AI lenses.

Hey, I'm a bit of an amateur.. got into it with a d5100 last year.. had it stolen in europe though :/ (waiting for a d7000 update <3)
Anywho, I picked up some neat glass (always free) from some family that just had this stuff lying around.. seems like this is the place to have some input on the quality on any of the stuff I've got.
Micro-Nikkor 55 2.8
Nikkor-H 50 3.5
Tamron adaptall-2 60-300 3.8-5.4
Nikkor 28-70 3.5 AF
They're all from the the 70's- 90's but pretty damn mint (best of all, free). Are any of them decent?
Much appreciated :)

Snagged a used D300 today for $300. It is well used, a lot of shutter actions, but it is in great shape and still runs like new (I had one a few years ago, but foolishly let it go). Good enough to be used as a backup.

rensuchan said:
I read it.

Next time I find a "broken" lens deal, I'm PMing you :)

Feel free too. I have my eyes on a Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 for lightning shots that has some problems to sort. A lot of the stuff that I am able to sort out has been by extensive Google searching and the collective knowledge of repairing many random lenses. Being in the repair industry has helped quite a bit as well since i take stuff apart all day. Thinking in layers is helpful as well.

Anyway wanted to add the set of Nikkor PB-2s that I got from the local camera shop for $50. Fits easy on the D7000 but the D800 the PB-5s I got from Adorama are better suited for that camera. I should probably stop posting in this thread.

Was this 10-24mm lens a Nokin. Kind of like a co-worker of mine who bought a Rorex watch in the parking lot from a "jeweler" who needed money. I don't think he ever lived that down, even if it was only $ 25 in 1972 money.