I bought it for RM 820 at Mee Too Plaza Angsana, the shop where I previously bought the Nikon D60 camera. Let’s see how it compares to the original D60 kit lens.

Here are some advantages of this new lens compared to the kit lens.

• better picture sharpness and contrast
• more backgroud blur effect at larger aperture
• faster shutter speed at larger aperture
• more compact in size

Overall, this 35mm lens is great for shooting photo in low light condition and also shooting moving object like baby. We can set the aperture to maximum f/1.8 to get faster shutter speed. The overall picture also looks better. The only drawback is the inablity to zoom.

Here are 2 different photos taken at the same aperture f/5.6 with shutter speed 0.77s for comparison.

Kit lens 18-55 mm

Single-focal-length 35 mm lens

We can see the 35 mm lens produces sharper image. Compare the bear’s mouth and hand. The fur is more detailed with the 35 mm lens.

Notice also the kit lens produces more background blur (depth of field) although both photos were taken at the same aperture. Of course, the 35 mm lens will give more background blur at bigger aperture opening such as f/1.8.

After several shots using this new lens, I am very satisfied with the improved clarity and speed. In the future, I would definitely use it more instead of the kit lens. This AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1.8G lens is highly recommended for taking picture in dimly lit environment or moving object without using flash.

7 years ago, she used her Olympus C-50 point and shoot digital camera for all her flower shooting. 1 year ago, she used her Panasonic FX36 camera. And now, she used my Nikon D60 SLR camera. How does this 3 different cameras compare? Let’s check out.

Olympus C-50: ISO160 F/2.8 1/4s

Panasonic FX36: ISO100 F/2.8 1/2s

Nikon D60: ISO100 F/5 1/1.6s

The lightning was quite poor. I have resized and adjusted the brightness level of these photos using Photoshop for easy comparison. As you can see from this photo comparison, the image quality difference is very significant. Nikon D60 SLR camera produces sharper image with more details and more accurate color.

To capture the better quality image, investing in digital SLR camera is well worth it. Here are the cropped images showing the actual size.

Olympus C-50

Panasonic FX36

Nikon D60

In photography, ISO stands for light sensitivity for the camera sensor. Lower ISO means lower light sensitivity. For low ISO, the camera sensor needs more time to receive enough light to frame a picture. At high ISO, the sensor needs a much shorter time. Therefore, lower ISO needs longer exposure time (slower shutter speed). And higher ISO needs shorter exposure time (faster shutter speed).

But if the subject is moving or your hand is not steady, low ISO (longer exposure time) tends to produce blurry photo. So you need to use higher ISO with shorter exposure time. But if higher ISO has the advantage of producing blur free photo, why don’t you just use high ISO all the time? Why bother with lower ISO?

Well, here’s the catch.

High ISO produces noisy image. That means the image details are not complete. Instead, some details are replaced with other scattered dots, or noise. On the other hand, lower ISO produces clearer image. For a simple analogy, a 20 minute car wash is much cleaner than a 2 minute car wash.

Here are some photos taken with my Nikon D60 at different ISO setting for comparison. All photos are taken at 2.5 Megapixel. Noise Reduction (NR) is turned on. Active D-Lightning is turned off.

The following bear photos are taken in a bright room and cropped at actual size. This is our baby’s first toy.

ISO100 F5.3 1/3s - the best image

ISO200 F5.3 1/6s - still looks good

ISO400 F5.3 1/13s - still acceptable with slight noise

ISO 800 F5.3 1/25s - some details are washed out due to Noise Reduction processing

ISO 1600 F5.3 1/50s - washed out details and apparent noise

ISO HI1 F5.3 1/100s - lesser detail and very noisy

The following photos are taken in my toilet which is not very bright. It is also cropped at actual size.

ISO 100 F5 1/2s - best image quality

ISO 200 F5 1/5s - still looks good but slight noise starts to surface

ISO 400 F5 1/10s - noise is apparent at darker area

ISO 800 - NR controls the noise with some detail lost and color change

ISO 1600 - unacceptable noise level

ISO HI1 - this is too much

As you can see, the Nikon D60 produces satisfactory image up to ISO 400. However, photo taken at low light condition has more noise. At ISO 800, the noise reduction (NR) function helps to control noise at the cost of some detail lost. You can turn off the NR function to preserve the details but you will have higher noise level.

I always switch on the NR since I prefer having less noisy image. Some minor detail lost is acceptable. Usually we don’t bother much whether a fur or two is lost. But we will notice high picture noise quickly.

All above photos are cropped at its actual size. So you can notice the picture noise easily. However, we don’t usually need a big image. For my notebook, a wallpaper is 1280 x 800 pixels, which is only 1 Megapixel. Photo for this blog is 600 x 400 pixels, which is only 0.2 Megapixel. That’s why I always use the minimum image size for my Nikon D60, which is 2.5 Megapixel, although it’s capable of 10 Megapixel.

So what if we resize the image to a smaller size? Can we still notice the noise level? Here are the same toilet pictures resized from 1936 x 1296 (2.5MP) to 600 x 400 (0.2MP).

ISO 100 - looks good

ISO 200 - looks good too

ISO400 - still okay

ISO800 - still looks okay but the color becomes lighter

ISO1600 - some noise and color fade

ISO HI1 - too noisy with more faded color

Here you can see the Nikon D60 produces virtually noise free image up to ISO800, if you resize the image. However, the color begins to fade at ISO 800 (compare the blue toothbrush container).

Therefore, I will set the ISO to 400 if I shoot photo in my dimly lit room. If necessary, I’ll set it to ISO 800.

In my living room, I’ll turn on all light bulbs for shooting. For static object, I’ll use a tripod and use ISO100. For moving object like baby, I’ll still use ISO 400 without flash. Since I mostly shoot baby photo, I haven’t started to use flash.

For clear and crisp image, you should always use lower ISO if possible. Only change to higher ISO if you have no other choice. To use low ISO, you need to:

• have adequate lightning
• have still object
• have steady hand or use Vibration Reduction (VR) lens to reduce camera shake
• use tripod if possible

So if you want to make a person looks thinner, zoom out using wide angle to shoot it. If you want to make a person looks fatter, zoom in using telephoto to shoot it. For baby photo, I always use 35 mm focal length.

18mm focal length (27mm wide angle)

35mm focal length

55mm focal length (83mm telephoto)

35mm focal length is more natural. Which one do you like?

Nikon D60 unbox - photo taken by FX36

That’s it! I’ve bought the Nikon D60 dSLR yesterday. Thanks to my sister for helping me to get a good price on this. The package includes:

• Nikon D60 body
• AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens
• Quick start guide
• User’s manual
• Yellow warranty card (very important)
• Installation CD
• USB cable
• Camera strap
• EN-EL9 Lithium Ion 7.4V 1000mAh battery
• Battery charger and cable
• Viewfinder cover
• 4G Nikon SD card (free)

Here is a test shot I took at Mee Too photography shop where I bought this camera.

Test shot at the shop

For your photography need, you can visit Mee Too. They have a broad range of photography product available at good price. The person in charge is also very helpful and knowledgeable in photography. It is located at Level 2, Plaza Angsana, Johor Bahru. Phone number is 07-2353319

So what’s next?

I read the Quck start guide and certain part of User’s manual. Then, I’ll compare this D60 with my FX36 to see how much difference it makes.

FX36 - Compact and easy to use

A year ago, I bought a Panasonic FX36 point and shoot digital camera for my wife’s birthday present. This replaced her old and sluggish Olympus digital camera.

At first, I was thinking of buying an entry level digital SLR for her. But the operation complexity and bulkiness of dSLR didn’t suit her. So I opted for point and shoot digital camera instead for operation simplicity and compact size.

She could put the FX36 in her handbag and carry it everywhere she goes. Whenever seeing something she likes, she just takes out the camera, point and shoot. She often takes photo of flower design and indoor decoration for her design reference. Therefore, my choice for P&S digital camera proved useful for my wife.

I myself is not an artistic type of person. I have not much interest in photography either. On the other hand, my sister loves photography. She invested a lot of time and money in her digital SLR and lenses. Currently she uses Nikon D80 with a collection of 5 lenses.

Click here to visit her photography blog

Seeing her photo makes mine look inferior, especially during these few days when we took many baby photos. How I wish to take great photo for my baby. Therefore, I decide to invest in my own digital SLR camera. My first choice would be the entry level dSLR Nikon D60. I should be buying it these few days.

Look out D60! Here I come!

Nikon D60 - On my radar screen