Cheat Cards D3200

bruto

As a mere guest of the site I leave that to Moose. He seems to do a lot of business, and the ordering site is an "https" secure site that I think is a third party site whose business is processing orders and thus likely to be OK, but I'm only guessing here. If he doesn't get back here, perhaps you can contact him directly.

Moose

Hey @Trina - With regards to security, you have two options, Paypal and Credit Card. If you go with Paypal, no credit card data is being transferred. You're simply using money from your Paypal account. With regards to the credit card option, that is handled through a secure server operated by Stripe. We never have access to any of your credit card data. You can read about their security methods here. Hope that helps. All the best!

gulyanakhan

Hi Moose,
I bought the cheat sheets for my Nikon D3200 and 18-55mm lens few weeks ago and it really works well. Thanks for introducing cheat sheets and making our life easier.
I believe you are trying your best to introduce version 2 of the cheat sheets. I wonder when are we actually going to be able to have those (can't wait!)?

Cheers

Moose

Hey @gulyanakhan - If you purchased the cheat cards a couple weeks ago, then you already have version 2.0. I did a major update in December 2014 and sent a free update to those who had purchased 1.0. If I come across any new tips or tricks that should be added to the cheat cards, I'll be sure to do so and will release a 3.0 if necessary. All the best!

gulyanakhan

Ok, this means I am fully equipped with up to date cheat sheets. Thanks for confirmation. I wonder what would be the best settings for concerts with the 18-55mm, as concert cheat sheet is not in the bundle.

shakespeare

Moose,
I would like to buy cheat cards. I have a Nikon D3200 with a Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 lens, and need to know which cards will serve me best.

Moose

Hey @gulyanakhan - The reason I didn't include settings for shooting concerts with the 18-55mm lens is because the results would be blurry, noisy and overly dark. Think of your 18-55mm like a pair of dark sunglasses. The D3200 has no problem "seeing" in bright light, but the moment you step indoors or the light drops it becomes much harder for the D3200 to see things with the 18-55mm lens. For concerts, you need a much brighter, faster lens. Something like the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G. This would be equivalent to wearing crystal clear glasses, which makes it easier for the D3200 to gather light and produce much better results.

Moose

Hi @shakespeare - I'm actually finishing up a set for the Tamron 18-270mm and hope to have it available this Summer. All the best!

olgabt

Hi Moose, I'm new to this forum. I have a Nikon D3200 with an 18-105mm lens. I noticed there are not cheat cards for this particular lens. Do you think the cards for the 18-55mm would be helpful for me?

Moose

Hey @olgabt - Unfortunately there aren't any compatible sets for the 18-105mm, but I do have it on my list of to do's. If you'd like I can put you on a waiting list and let you know when it becomes available. If I had to guess, I would estimate this Fall. All the best!

olgabt

Thank you, @moose . That would be great. Let me know when the set of cheat cards compatible with my 18-105mm lens becomes available. From what I saw, I think the cheat cards will help me a lot.

jemorris36

Hi Moose, I have a AF-S Nikon 18-300mm on my D3200 and wanted to know if your cheat card for the 55-300mm would work for this lens. Thanks.

Moose

Hey @jemorris36 - Unfortunately the 55-300mm set isn't compatible with the 18-300mm lens, however, I am working on a set for it and will have a bunch of new announcements in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

bruto

It may vary some with samples and who is doing the reviewing. What I have seen suggests that the 18-300mm, though obviously a grand do-everything focal range, is not as sharp at the long end as the 55-300mm, as well as being a stop slower. For that reason I would expect the optimal settings might vary even in areas where the two lenses cover the same territory. However the 18-300mm focuses much closer than the 55-300mm making for interesting possibilities with long focal length macro, and the front element does not rotate, making it a better candidate for polarizing filter use.

COsunshine

I just bought the cheat cards and I'm looking forward to using them. However, I just noticed that for the sports cheat card, it is for daytime/outdoor. I'm wanting to use it for indoor. What would I need to change (trying to be a good hockey mom and take pictures of my son's games)?

bruto

The slower zoom lenses are not very well suited to indoor sports, because there is not sufficient light to autofocus quickly and to follow action well. I would suggest, though, that you can try it. Don't zoom the lens in too tight. It will focus better when it's wider. Make sure you have auto ISO on, or choose a high ISO, so the shutter speed can go high enough to stop motion. If you manage to get your subject in focus and get the shot, cropping later may get you a sharper picture than zooming.

If you have to keep your view a bit wider than you'd like, I'd switch out of auto area focus to Dynamic or 3D mode, so as not to focus on the parts you intend to crop out.

For metering, stick to matrix if it works, but if your view includes stadium or overhead lights that you expect to crop out, you may want to switch to center weighted. If you are good at tracking a subject in motion, spot mode can work well, but it takes practice. When it works right, it's best, but when wrong, it's worse.

Make sure your focus point is centered. The [OK] button re-centers it.

If you want to really work at it, you might also try back button focusing. This setting decouples the AF from the shutter button, and operates AF only by pushing the [AE/AF] button on the back. It's a hard habit to get into, but can work well eventually. As long as you hold the back button down, AF is working as always. When you let go of the button, AF ceases, and the camera will fire regardless of focus.

So you would track your moving subject with the AF on, and then at the moment of the shot, let go of the AF button and shoot. The camera will fire even if it has lost focus lock. That works very well where there is a little depth of field available, and the subject is moving mostly sideways, or where you can predicatively focus on an area and fire when the subject enters it.

It takes practice and is not everyone's cup of tea.

Unfortunately, the chances are that the only way to get reliably good indoor sports shots is going to involve digging into your wallet for a faster lens.

Seba_Kirkpatrick

Just got a D3200 with Tamron 16-300mm and I wonder which set of cheat cards would be best for me?

Suggestion: Please date your responses. In reading through all this information, I usually have no idea whether your comments were from last week or two years ago.

Moose

@COsunshine - Yep, only certain lenses are capable of capturing fast action in low light and the 18-55mm, 55-200mm and 55-300mm lenses aren't one of them.

Think of your lens like a pair of dark sunglasses. All is well when you're walking around outdoors during the day, but ever try wearing dark shades at night? As you might imagine, it becomes really hard to see, so your movements slow down dramatically.

The same principle applies to your camera. When you attach a lens that is relatively dark, it slows down quite a bit in low light resulting in blurry images.

What you need is a lens that can achieve an aperture of f/2.8 or lower. Lower apertures allow more light into the camera, which makes them better performers in low light. The 18-55mm lens for instance can only get down to f/3.5 at 18mm and f/5.6 at 55mm.

Now unfortunately, when you combine the requirement for an f/2.8 aperture and a lens that has some zoom power to focus on subjects in the distance, the price and weight of the lens skyrockets.

The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 is what I recommend to most people who are looking to photograph sports in low light, however, it's very pricey.

One option is to rent. You can rent this lens from an online vendor for around $40-50 for a few days. This will give you the opportunity to capture some great shots in an otherwise impossible scenario with your current setup.

If you're dead set on buying a lens, Sigma and Tamron both offer 70-200mm f/2.8 alternatives. If you get one used off eBay, you can save loads compared to the Nikon.

I wish I had better news for you. Feel free to reply back with any questions. All the best!

P.S. Thanks @bruto for your very insightful and helpful response

Moose

Hi @Seba_Kirkpatrick - I'm actually working on a set for the Tamron 16-300mm and will have it available shortly. Thanks for your feedback on the forum, I have a number of things I'd like to add and will put it on the list. All the best!

Seba_Kirkpatrick

Wonderful! I will order as soon as available.