Photography Decisions - Help!!!

[sportscarhiatus]

As most of you know, I am an avid photographer... am still learning a lot, but I love the challenge.

I currently shoot with a Nikon D60, and my trusty 18-55VR lens, and my CPF. I have had it for over 3 years... but the reason for this thread, for xmas, I am debating over what new "toy" to get. Wife said there is a certain threshold for pricing, but she hasn't set on it yet...

So, I think I have decided on 2 things.

50mm 1.4 AF-S Nikkor lens.

Adobe Lightroom 4/4.1

I was debating between other options like a new D5100 or a 18-200VR lens, but I think with the photos I take and the editing I do, I will have more use with the 50mm and Adobe than the other previously mentioned items.

My only concern with Lightroom is that I may not be able to do true HDR photos with it... you guys know how much I love HDR at times, lol. But I heard there are plug-ins for it? Not quite familiar with that yet... but maybe it's not bad. Also, they said I can do a pseudo HDR with just one image via Lightroom? hmmm I wanted Photoshop, but aside from it being $699, it is also clunkier to use that Lightroom.

So, you avid photographers out there, What say you to my propositions above? Good choices for gifts? how about lightroom vs photoshop?

thanks guys.

[rmagnus]

Lightroom 4.1 is pretty awesome and inexpensive. I see too many get carried away with digital editing and photographs look fake. As for lenses you can never have too many. As for what to get that depends on it's intended purpose.

My daughter uses Lightrooom 4.1, Photoshop Elements (she wants Photoshop) and Sony Movie Studio. Obviously this is a passion of hers.

My vote would be 50mm f1.4 (sweet lens) and Lightroom. That should keep you busy.

[kemefk]

Thats a tough one. The nifty 50 is tack sharp but just remember that if you do buy that lens, for your D60 it will effectively become approximately a 75mm lens due to your sensor's crop factor. If you want really great HDR software, try Nik Software HDR EFEX PRO. Its really good plug-in for Lightroom for about 100 bucks. Lightroom is a good choice if you simply just do post-processing and not too much editing while Photoshop is really good if you are making modifications to your images. Regardless, the lens and Lightroom is really good choices.

[flyinion]

Unless there's some new features in the D5100 body that you just have to have, go for lense(s) and software instead. I really like lightroom, I mean pro-level software for $150 (it used to be 300) how can you turn that down :). I can use it for probably 95% of the photos I do.

I used to use Adobe camera raw & photoshop CS3 since that was what I had. I hardly ever do any of the kind of editing that PS can do though, but if I ever do I can still send files over to it from lightroom. I could probably actually get away with a new version of PS Elements if I really needed a new version of PS.

[kemefk]

If you are interested in the D5100, Nikon just released the D5200 just today which will be available this December. Definitely some nice upgrades in the new D5200.

[andrew b]

Glass. Especially fast glass. Then Lightroom.

There was a good point on the 50 being a little long for a crop walk-around lens, though. I shoot Canon so am not familiar with the Nikon lens lineup, but I know on my crop sensor I loved the 28/1.8. Is there a similar Nikon offering in the same price range? That said, the 50 on a crop sensor is a fun portrait lens, especially one as fast as /1.4.

Another reason to go with glass over software - if you decide you don't like it, you can sell it and get much of your money back. In my experience, it's much harder to sell software.

[y8s]

Personally I can't stand HDR and I cringe every time I see HDR photos posted.

HDR or not, I would do this:

Keep the D60 and get a 50 f/1.8 (not 1.4) and spend your money on photography classes. If you want to spend the money on lenses, consider a superwide angle lens for really awesome car shots (The Nikon 10-24 comes to mind).

The point is: If you can't make good photos with a D60, a D5X00 will not improve your skills any more than a D7000 or a D3S or any other expensive camera. The D5100 is a tiny incremental step up from the D60 in terms of functionality anyway.

First, figure out what your REALISTIC goals are. If you can list all of the shortcomings your current D60 has that are holding you back from whatever you are actually doing, that will help get you some input.

Good photography is not about expensive electronics, it's about light and color and composition and being in the right place at the right time with your camera.

cell phone shots:
Great Falls, VA
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZuwXdEDR3_c/UIRb3stoRgI/AAAAAAAAPak/FxOVmXO0Onk/s500/IMAG1706.jpg

Honeymoon in Nice, France
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nJq6oDYOUaE/TdFWkBy3zsI/AAAAAAAABfc/IeYHYbhpjds/s500/IMAG0306.jpg

[NewNickel]

Lightroom. Chances are that if you don't already have it, your hard drive may look like something from Hoarders. The advantage of it is its ability to catalog, keyword, name files (YYYYMMDD_filename) and organize what you already have.

[07gtcs]

I've been told that Glass is where you need to invest if you want good pictures. Personally I don't like the 50mm lens for everyday use. I prefer a zoom myself, but my 50mm 2.8 does take good photo's.

[sportscarhiatus]

Thanks for all the responses folks. It sounds like my idea to get "glass", in this case, a 50mm 1.4, is the right way to go. With a good lens, you can always reuse it on the next body. My D60 has all the features I could want... I mean the newer bodies will probably have better light sensitivity, better ISO (higher without being grainy,etc)... but I think I can live without it for now. The 50mm is really what I need since I take a lot of indoor photos of family, other art, etc. And I am just DROOLING over how it will handle my automotive pics...

As for lightroom, I think that is also the way I will go. They offer free (donation) plugins like Enfuse, etc... that should help me do HDR, should I need to. The cataloging feature on Lightroom I heard is immensely helpful.

So ok... it looks like my pricepoint is

50mm 1.4 = ~400 - 450 bucks?

Lightroom = full version (wish I was a student) ~ 125 bucks?

[flyinion]

Full version of LR is 150 unless you find it on sale somewhere. Still, that's only $50 more than a consumer product like Elements for a pro level software that used to be $300.

[NewNickel]

Lightroom was a good buy at $200+. You'll enjoy it.
I run around 14,000 keepers/year (http://yellowwood.smugmug.com/) and couldn't manage them otherwise.

[Chris's FX4]

Full version of LR is 150 unless you find it on sale somewhere. Still, that's only $50 more than a consumer product like Elements for a pro level software that used to be $300.

So I assume the extra $50 for LR over Elements is worth it then?

Any reason why one would chose Elements over LR? Besides being cheaper?

[BlueZero]

I am going to be picking up Lightroom soon also. Just an FYI but it is $124.50 at Amazon and you get a free $30 gift card. BH Photo has it for $129.95 plus you get a $25 gift card and a training DVD.

[flyinion]

So I assume the extra $50 for LR over Elements is worth it then?

Any reason why one would chose Elements over LR? Besides being cheaper?

If you want to do "pixel level" editing like replace one sky with another. If you need to do stuff that requires lots of layers to pull off. Lightroom doesn't do that kind of stuff. You can make various adjustments to specific areas of a photo in LR 4.x like adjusting the color balance on just part of a photo for example, but any heavy duty editing still requires photoshop or something similar.

Lightroom is more general and does catalog/organizing, picture "development"/processing that doesn't require heavy duty features like layers, printing, and some other stuff I've forgotten about. You can always go to Adobe's website and you can get a fully functional 30 day trial to check out. If you want to continue using it then you just acquire a key (either online purchase or a physical box package) and enter it into the trial install and you instantly have full access again.