Need Help!

ThePhotographer

Hi all... was looking for some advice and suggestions from my fellow photographers. I'm just starting out and own a Nikon d40 with the 18/55mm. All basic pkg stuff. I'm wanting to add an external flash, Gary Fong diffuser and check into new lenses (wanna avoid the 55/200mm because i'd rather just save up for the 18/200mm so I dont have to change out lenses constantly). Any advice on flashes? And advice on lenses? Email mjphotographs@aol.com with any help and thanks SOOOOOOO much!

Art Scott

ThePhotographer wrote:

Hi all... was looking for some advice and suggestions from my fellow photographers. I'm just starting out and own a Nikon d40 with the 18/55mm. All basic pkg stuff. I'm wanting to add an external flash, Gary Fong diffuser and check into new lenses (wanna avoid the 55/200mm because i'd rather just save up for the 18/200mm so I dont have to change out lenses constantly). Any advice on flashes? And advice on lenses? Email mjphotographs@aol.com with any help and thanks SOOOOOOO much!

What do you want to do with your lenses?? Are you going into this as a business??

As this will have alot to do with what is suggested to you.

Personally I want to suggest you read the Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally and the Strobist.com blogs and maybe even get the Nikon Disk set on the Creative Lighting
System (CLS) before you start purchasing flashes and modifiers.......again personally I would not own any of the GF stuff but then again I have been using LumiQuest products for many years and they all fold up extremely small to be carried even in my small camera bags.......as for flash that is a hard call again due to not knowing what you want to do........I have used and returned a lightsphere so I do not come into this totally blind to what the GF stuff is or just from looking at it as a photo on the web.....................
.......let me reiterate this is just my OPINON ..........................

ThePhotographer

Art Scott wrote:

What do you want to do with your lenses?? Are you going into this as a business??

As this will have alot to do with what is suggested to you.

Personally I want to suggest you read the Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally and the Strobist.com blogs and maybe even get the Nikon Disk set on the Creative Lighting
System (CLS) before you start purchasing flashes and modifiers.......again personally I would not own any of the GF stuff but then again I have been using LumiQuest products for many years and they all fold up extremely small to be carried even in my small camera bags.......as for flash that is a hard call again due to not knowing what you want to do........I have used and returned a lightsphere so I do not come into this totally blind to what the GF stuff is or just from looking at it as a photo on the web.....................
.......let me reiterate this is just my OPINON ..........................

Thanks for your opinion, it matters! I started a business last summer and am just getting going. I don't know much about equipment and feel a little blind going into this, I just know I love taking pictures. You can view my site and see my work at http://mjphotographyonline.smugmug.com

I will look into the book and blog you gave me as well LumiQuest. THANKS AGAIN!

cab.in.boston

You want the Nikon SB-900. However, that's quite expensive, so you can start with a SB-600. Your D40 cannot control an off-camera flash, so you will either need an SB-800, SB-900, or SU-800 on the camera as master in order to use any wireless flashes. The SB-600 can be an off-camera slave, but cannot be a master. So, since you will need to purchase at least two flashes (or an SU-800 and a flash, or some RF transmitters) to do any wireless lighting, I say go ahead and start off with the SB-600. That way you can learn to use bounce flash and get a lot better looking flash pictures than with the pop-up, and when you someday get either a flash or a different body that can be a master, you already have one slave flash.

As for lenses, don't be scared of the 55-200 VR. Yes, you will have to change lenses, which you wouldn't if you used an 18-200 superzoom, but the image quality of the 55-200 is quite good, in fact some prefer it to the 18-200 in that overlapping range. Because both are variable aperture lenses, by the time the 18-200 gets to 55, it's already at about f/4.8. Both lenses are f/5.6 at 200, but the break points on the 55-200 mean that it's sometimes faster than the 18-200, and certainly never slower.

There are a lot of compromises that must be made in order to have an 11x zoom range, which is why the pro-grade lenses only have about a 3x range. The 18-200 is a decent walk-around lens, but the IQ and speed is not what you might want it to be. What I did (I have a D90) is bought a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 (non-VC version) and a Nikkor 55-200 VR, and am planning to add a 70-200 f/2.8 at some point, although with my budget, it will be a 3rd party lens as well. I just can't afford the high-end Nikkor glass. But until then I have a nice, sharp, fast normal zoom, and I at least have that 55-200 range covered.

ThePhotographer

cab.in.boston wrote:

You want the Nikon SB-900. However, that's quite expensive, so you can start with a SB-600. Your D40 cannot control an off-camera flash, so you will either need an SB-800, SB-900, or SU-800 on the camera as master in order to use any wireless flashes. The SB-600 can be an off-camera slave, but cannot be a master. So, since you will need to purchase at least two flashes (or an SU-800 and a flash, or some RF transmitters) to do any wireless lighting, I say go ahead and start off with the SB-600. That way you can learn to use bounce flash and get a lot better looking flash pictures than with the pop-up, and when you someday get either a flash or a different body that can be a master, you already have one slave flash.

As for lenses, don't be scared of the 55-200 VR. Yes, you will have to change lenses, which you wouldn't if you used an 18-200 superzoom, but the image quality of the 55-200 is quite good, in fact some prefer it to the 18-200 in that overlapping range. Because both are variable aperture lenses, by the time the 18-200 gets to 55, it's already at about f/4.8. Both lenses are f/5.6 at 200, but the break points on the 55-200 mean that it's sometimes faster than the 18-200, and certainly never slower.

There are a lot of compromises that must be made in order to have an 11x zoom range, which is why the pro-grade lenses only have about a 3x range. The 18-200 is a decent walk-around lens, but the IQ and speed is not what you might want it to be. What I did (I have a D90) is bought a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 (non-VC version) and a Nikkor 55-200 VR, and am planning to add a 70-200 f/2.8 at some point, although with my budget, it will be a 3rd party lens as well. I just can't afford the high-end Nikkor glass. But until then I have a nice, sharp, fast normal zoom, and I at least have that 55-200 range covered.

Wow thanks! That's a HUGE help! (and the plain english helped even more because I feel pretty dumb being a new comer to all this equipment mumbo jumbo). I will research those flashes and after hearing what you had to say, I'm leaning towards to the 55-200VR now. Are the Tamron 17-50's expensive?

Art Scott

Here would be my choice of lenses IF you camera will shoot them in AF and the Auto modes.........I very seldom shoot in AF or any Auto mode...I am a manual shooter because I want all the control I can get.....

so for lenses I would suggest SIGMA (because I have used Sigma lenses for over 25+ yrs and they are cheaper than Nikon lenses...but check compatibility of your camera).....Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 (or the 24-70 f2.8 macro) and the 70-200f2.8 HSM OS Macro .......with these two lenses you can cover anything from shooting weddings and portraits to wildlife close in.......the new 70-200 is also close up capable so for ring shots at wedding and such you can do it with this lense............also if in business you w3ill want to look into getting into a better camera in the very near future so that you can enjoy all of the things the prosumer to pro cams of Nikon has to offer.....do not think you have to have BRAND NEW.....good used D300 can be found at really good prices if one is patient.........mine were less than 1K each earlier last year......but one must be willing to work hard to find those bargins..................

AGAIN............JMHO..............

cab.in.boston

ThePhotographer wrote:

Wow thanks! That's a HUGE help! (and the plain english helped even more because I feel pretty dumb being a new comer to all this equipment mumbo jumbo). I will research those flashes and after hearing what you had to say, I'm leaning towards to the 55-200VR now. Are the Tamron 17-50's expensive?

It depends on your definition of "expensive." It's $460 from B&H, which is where I linked you to. To me, that's certainly not cheap, BUT it is less than 1/2 the cost of the "equivalent" Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 lens.

If you want that shallow depth of field to isolate subjects from backgrounds, you need a large aperture, and that also helps with shooting in low light, helps the autofocus, etc. If you're going to be doing photography as a serious business, you will at some point be spending large $$$ on equipment. Not because you can't get nice results from "entry level" gear, but because eventually you will outgrow its capabilities.

I don't want to suggest that the 18-200 is a bad lens (in fact I've never used one), I know many people are quite happy with it. You should just be aware that every lens design is a compromise, so for the benefit of having one lens that seldom requires changing, you will lose out in other areas.

The SB-900 flash is over $400, the SB-600 is a little over $200. As Art suggested, if you are a good eBay or Craigslist shopper, you can find used models for less, but there are obviously risks there as well. I prefer to buy new whenever I can. I would consider used lenses, but the more electronic-heavy pieces like bodies and flashes, I'd rather get new. That's just my opinion.