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Nikon lens questions - take pity on me
Hey, new at this...please don't point and laugh.
Ziggy offered some great advice and suggested I post to get others' input. So here I am. He kindly did not call me a moron, and I hope you won't either.
I recently bought a D80, so the N60 I have will be getting passed along to my mom. I have a 28-80 and a 70-300 that I used with my N60 and that I now use with my D80. There's no sense in giving my mom a camera body with no lens, so I'd like to give her the 28-80. Question is, with what do I replace it? And, if you would, please kindly tell me why you are making a particular recommendation.
Your help is much appreciated!
Ziggy offered some great advice and suggested I post to get others' input. So here I am. He kindly did not call me a moron, and I hope you won't either.
I recently bought a D80, so the N60 I have will be getting passed along to my mom. I have a 28-80 and a 70-300 that I used with my N60 and that I now use with my D80. There's no sense in giving my mom a camera body with no lens, so I'd like to give her the 28-80. Question is, with what do I replace it? And, if you would, please kindly tell me why you are making a particular recommendation.
Your help is much appreciated!
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Welcome to dgrin
How much do you want to or are willing to spend? THere's allot of great glass out there. But no use suggesting one if you can't afford it
Nikon Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX $329.95
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/324190-USA/Nikon_2149_18_70mm_f_3_5_4_5_G_AFS_ED_IF.html
D50, 18-70mm, cool crisp September morning by Lake Muskegon
Saturday Afternoon Shot Lake Muskegon weekend
Same location as sun started setting
The 16-85 VR would be a good choice as well, more expensive though, I don't have one, but I've seen great work from it. VR is Vibration Reduction, used when hand holding your camera instead of using a tripod
Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Lens $649.00
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/545654-USA/Nikon_2178_16_85mm_f_3_5_5_6G_ED_VR.html
Now for a couple of primes, you can't go wrong with the 50mm f1.8 or the 85mm f1.8 as well:
Nikon Normal AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D Autofocus Lens $109.95
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/247091-USA/Nikon_2137_Normal_AF_Nikkor_50mm.html
Nikon Telephoto AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D Autofocus Lens $399.95
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/84151-USA/Nikon_1931_Telephoto_AF_Nikkor_85mm.html
If you are looking to buy them used and you can't find them in the flea market, a good source for used would be keh.com
Definitely ask more questions if you need to
As far as what I can spend, I would say I'm comfortable parting with $200 - $300ish. If I found what I thought was something I could use very happily for a very long time, I'd probably be willing to spend just a bit more, but I think that's about as far as I can stretch the budget right now.
One of the things that is both intriguing and frustrating for me about photography is that there are SO MANY VARIABLES. The same is obviously true for lenses.
You could give that to her, I think it's a 28-70
Here is a good example, as a "for instance": Take a plate and put a 5X7 photo in it. That 5X7 would be like the image circle on a FX or 35mm designed lens. Enough to cover the image. Now, take the 5x7 off and put a 4X6 picture on there. Now you have the image circle of the FX/35mm but the actual image taking is now closer to the center. The sharpest part of a lens is in it's center of the image circle.
Now, if you replace those pictures (4x5 and 5x7) and put an 8 X 10 on that same plate you might have a bit of overlap (depending on the plate) This is what happens if you try to use an DX designed lens on a full frame 35mm/FX format camera. Now your edges will have shading and the lens will need stopped down just to get a respectable image. Corners are at maximum distance from center,so if the lens is any soft it will really show up there.
Point of all this, is that you might be able to find a used 28-200 or 28-300 zoom lens for a decent price. Tamron now makes a 28-300 VC (vibration compensation) model that you would find extremely sharp and useful. It, too, is in full frame design as well as digitally integrated.
Try going to a camera shop and take some pictures with some lenses that you think you might like. Go home and look at them in your computer after you have downloaded them from the camera. Personally, I use a simple USB stick that holds the SD card and transfers into the computer about 20X faster than the cable. Cost me all of $1.99 from newegg.com and I have 2. One for me and one for my daughter's Canon camera. Carry it along with me in the bag at all time.
I went to a camera store and tried out a couple of lenses I was interested in, and posted the informal result here in this forum: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=94071
Welcome!!
BTW, is that a cat on your neck?:D
Vern
Nikon D80 w/ Tamron 28-200 XR lens & Nikon 55-200VR, 4X5 Graphic View II, others
http://vernsdidj.com Didgeridoo site with links and pictures.
I started out in life with nothing, and I've managed to keep most of it.
Now there's a thought.
Yes, that's a cat...that was Luau. We had to put her down back in March, but we still have Sushi to keep us company. He's pretty naughty, but he'll do.
One of the most intersting features of these Tamron lenses I have mentioned is their ability to close focus and the Marcro is amazing. 19.3 inches through the entire zoom range. At PopPhotos website, they said this about the macro capability: "1:2.33 at 300mm -- significantly more power than Tamron's 1:3 published spec."
Quite a unique lens.
Vern
Nikon D80 w/ Tamron 28-200 XR lens & Nikon 55-200VR, 4X5 Graphic View II, others
http://vernsdidj.com Didgeridoo site with links and pictures.
I started out in life with nothing, and I've managed to keep most of it.
There are a few on eBay, with a pretty wide variance in prices. Imported vs. USA...does it matter?
Thank you again for the ongoing advice!
The Tamron 28-300mm, F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical [IF] MACRO does seem to be an interesting lens, but only the "VC" version of the lens. Previous versions I would not recommend.
It is still a rather slow lens with apertures that stop down considerably as you progress to the long end.
I, personally, would much rather have a lens like the Tamron 17-50mm, f/2.8 XR Di II with the constant aperture and much faster aperture throughout as well as having the very useful 17mm for indoor use as well as the usual landscape use.
The 17-50mm, coupled with your existing 70-300mm lens, gives you an aweful lot of quality until around 200mm. After that, things do get a bit soft.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
I was just visiting Muskegon that weekend for the Irish Music Festival and snapped those, the band is from KCMO.
The difference between imported and USA is in the warranties for Nikon lenses, imported lenses don't get the 5 year warranty new like the USA do, and for warranty service you would send it back to the store you purchased it from in order to get warranty service if it needed it.
For best bang for the buck, either the 18-70 or tamron 17-50 would be my choice, heck, I may add the 17-50 to my bag by fall myself, I've got enough cameras to tack it on
If so, you can't do much better than the Nikkor 18-70mm zoom. You should be able to find a nice, used copy for $225. Hard to beat this one for the money.
http://clearwaterphotography.smugmug.com/
Oh, heck no.
Ok, so I have one vote for the 28-300, two votes for the 17-50 (which I am reeeally leaning toward), one offer for a kit lens from a film camera (thank you! I'm still thinking!). Geez, confuse a girl, why dontcha!