How to Take Great Pictures with the Nikon D3300

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Valeron

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Feb 8, 2015
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the information really nice and useful. But if you want to make cool pictures you should teach how to do it.
 

NewsView

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Apr 6, 2015
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I bought the Nikon D3300 camera almost a year ago. I wish I would have found this guide. It cuts out the 100s of pages typical of user manuals and dedicated photography books, and gets straight to the point.

One thing I would like to better understand about the D3300 is why under extremely bright light it will use a higher-than-expected ISOs (~320)? In similar conditions I would see 100 ISO or even 80 ISO on a P&S — and even shooting into shadow ISO 200. In an auto mode on the D3300 I'm seeing ISO values that don't add up for the lighting.

In one review for this model I note a comment that the camera in AUTO mode is set to assume the flash is ON regardless of whether it actually fires, and that zooming in when this is the case can result in blurry photos. It is true to my experience that with the kit zoom lens, even in very bright light (not backlit), I'm having a horrible time getting the camera to focus short of leaving it in sports mode or mounting it on a tripod. It is with this particular lens that I observe unexpected AUTO ISO values. Does this suggest a faulty lens, faulty metering or both?

One type of shooting scenario that seems particularly difficult with this camera pertains to shooting birds. When shooting into a tree with foliage or branches, no matter what the focus method (3D tracking, center weight) I will see focus/defocus (shallow depth of field) even at 200mm zoom. This makes it nearly impossible to capture a bird in a tree in focus short of a completely unobstructed view. If I use the sports mode to photograph a hummingbird buzzing around flowers, every other branch/flower is out of focus (including the bird). I've tried various focus methods and the results are identical. Unless the bird is sitting perfectly still and I use the center-point method, I don't get good focus shooting into a tree even when the subject is brightly lit.

Does the aforementioned difficulty have to do with the fact that the D3300 apparently has only ONE cross-lined AF sensor (at the center)?

Generally I find that with any subject using any other AF method other than center point is lacking. Taking a bird in a tree off the center AF where the cross-link is located generally results in loss of focus quality! At any zoom, I'm finding this camera inadequate for birdwatching (quick but clear snaps of small subjects among many possible focus targets — e.g. branches/leaves). I've had better luck with P&S cameras in this regard.

Any suggestions?
 

bertogator

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Apr 7, 2015
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Good Grief.....I think this is great....I just purchased a 3300 and the little manual is really hard to work with..They need a real manual full size that is in color with highlights...All of these sub menus are very tough to understand without alot of frustration!!!!
 

Marie_22

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Dec 2, 2016
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Thanks! This is perfect. I am very new to taking pics with a good camera. I bought it so I could take pics of the kids but everything was looking orangy. This was very helpful!
 

jack357

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Jan 10, 2017
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Thanks, I just purchased the Nikon d3300 and admit I'm confused. I'm "old school" , used cameras with film, developed them myself and had a great time. Now being semi retired I want to free lance again. It's a lot of fun and rewarding as well. I've taken a photo of my grandson with this camera and it is sensational. Everyone loves it. Had it reproduced on t shirts, coffee mugs, blankets, even a 48" x48" wall hanging. Thanks once more for your time and advice. Jack, Ottumwa, IA
 

Sharon_85

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Apr 22, 2017
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thank you for the information. I really needed it. Any advice on how I can get my pictures to stop looking so blurry. I even have it on auto.
Thanks.
 
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