Welcome to the Nikon D5300 Forum for Beginners

Moose

Howdy dudes and dudettes! Well, it's pretty simple. If you've got questions about your Nikon D5300, you can start a new discussion and get tons of helpful replies from other D5300 owners all across the world, including yours truly. :)

Ravi2912

How do I take a picture with the object blurred and the subject in focus? I am using a Nikon D5300 camera.

MsApple

Good morning. After decades of owning Canons Rebel, I have switched to a Nikon D5300. I already purchased your cheat sheets, and they are fab by the way, so thank you for that. I am wondering why it took me so long to embrace this fine piece of equipment. My question is what back up battery is a good choice and where can I locate one? Grateful for this forum.

Ms. Appleheart!

bruto

Your best bet for batteries is probably the Nikon original, preferably the EN-EL 14 A, which has a bit more zip than the plain EL 14, though either will work. I've also had good luck with the Watson brand sold by B&H. I have read that some Nikon cameras reject some third party batteries, and also that there are counterfeit Nikon batteries around, so you're best off getting something from a reputable dealer with a good return policy, like B&H or Adorama, or perhaps a local store. A number of brick and mortar stores sell Promaster or other third party brands, which seem OK. Their price on Nikon originals is likely to be a bit more, but you never know. I've gotten Promaster for another pocket camera, and it seemed to be good quality. It's possible that Best Buy stores will have something reasonable too, as they do sell Nikon cameras.

Both those on line dealers mentioned have decent prices, and good warranties, and will ship even small orders free and fast. B&H is famous for quick shipping, and their batteries have done well for me. I have a couple of Watson EN-EL14A backups for mine, and they seem to work well. The original Nikon EN-EL 14 that came with my camera three and a half years ago still does well too.

The thing that failed on mine was the charger. It packed up on a trip to Costa Rica, when I had only two batteries, and it was touch and go. By the end of the trip the last of the two was failing to auto focus. I got a Watson charger from B&H to replace that, along with a third battery, so now I'm pretty well covered. If you are not traveling far from home, two batteries should be plenty, as you can always have one in while the other charges, and have both fully charged in the morning.

bruto

Ravi, I forgot to address your question above. The basic thing you need to do for a blurred background is to minimize depth of field. Three things contribute to this, and how much you can get will depend on circumstances. The first is to open the lens aperture as wide as it will go (lowest F number the lens allows). The second is to minimize distance, as depth of field increases with distance. Scenic shots can be made with lots of DOF, macros cannot. The third thing is focal length. The longer the lens's focal length, the better. If you have the kit 18-55mm, put it at 55mm. If you have a longer zoom, try it at 80mm or more. Although you'll have to stand back and increase distance, the longer focal length will outweigh the distance factor.

For the best relatively inexpensive portraits, consider the 50mm. f/1.8 AFS lens.