What Nikon Lens for Outdoors Maine?

redleash · August 4, 2008

I'm going to visit my brother in Maine next week and again in Oct. I shoot a lot of landscapes, flowers, fences, and birds/wildlife that get close enough. I currently use the 55-200 and 18-55 lenses that came with my D80. Someday, I'd love to have a 400 or something super like that for birds but that's much later. I tried out the 105 micro at the camera shop and really liked it, but I don't do many people shots. Would that still be a good one for my needs, or can somebody suggest something better? I think the 105 was about $900 and that's as high as I could go--less would be better.

Suggestions appreciated. I apologize if this has been asked and answered. Feel free to give me a link if so.

Thanks,

Lauren

ziggy53 · August 4, 2008

Hi Lauren,

Let's start with macro lenses. I would recommend the Tamron SP AF90mm, F/2.8 Di or the Sigma 105mm, F2.8 EX DG just because they are great lenses and a very good value. I don't see a lot of difference in quality between the major manufacturers.

I once thought that the VR of the Nikon lens might be a help in macro situations, but owners of the lens say that is not true. The manual and Thom Hogan say to just turn off the VR for tight macros.

http://www.bythom.com/105AFSlens.htm

I think the Tamron and the Sigma represent true values in the macro world.

Do you have an idea what you will be doing in Maine? Where you might go? What you might see?

Are you happy with the quality of images and performance from and of your current lenses?

redleash · August 4, 2008

Hi Ziggy-

Thanks for the info. I used to use a Sigma zoom on my oldddd 35mm and liked it a lot. Here are the answers to your Qs:

1. Overall, I am happy with my current lenses, although my shots never come out as crisp as they should--I don't know if that's a function of the glass or the operator. It happens sometimes even with a tripod. These are basic lenses, so I'm sure my work would improve with better glass.

2. As for the trip to Maine, I will be shooting various flowers and animals around my brother's 150-year old farm house. (His rooster is just sooooo photogenic

.) We will also make at least one trip to the coast, so I expect to shoot some ocean landscapes and some boats. Probably a few street scenes. And Post Offices......I always shoot post offices!

PLMK if you have more tips based on my subject matter. If you visit my site, you can see some of my typical work.

Thanks again,
Lauren

ziggy53 · August 4, 2008

redleash wrote:

Hi Ziggy-

Thanks for the info. I used to use a Sigma zoom on my oldddd 35mm and liked it a lot. Here are the answers to your Qs:

1. Overall, I am happy with my current lenses, although my shots never come out as crisp as they should--I don't know if that's a function of the glass or the operator. It happens sometimes even with a tripod. These are basic lenses, so I'm sure my work would improve with better glass.

...

Yes, I believe that you would do nicely with some lenses with both faster aperture and higher overall quality.

I am a firm believer that wide angle
lenses especially require very high resolution in order to be useful for landscapes. The reason has to do with the nature of what we are trying to capture at wide angle, often scenes with lots of detail.

My first recommendation would be for a standard zoom, probably the Tamron 17-50mm, f/2.8 XR Di II. Most folks have a very good experience with this lens and it should be much better than your "kit" lens that is a similar range. I regard this lens as a very good value.

You might also consider a super-wide zoom, something in the 12-24-ish range. For vista landscapes these lenses are very popular. I have the Sigma 10-20mm, f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM and I am very pleased with its performance and value.

I have lately started using multiple stitched exposures to produce panoramics that I like. The process works well with static landscapes and scenics. While it's not the same as a super-wide zoom lens, the effect can be similar and the cost can be reasonable.

redleash wrote:

...

2. As for the trip to Maine, I will be shooting various flowers and animals around my brother's 150-year old farm house. (His rooster is just sooooo photogenic .) We will also make at least one trip to the coast, so I expect to shoot some ocean landscapes and some boats. Probably a few street scenes. And Post Offices......I always shoot post offices!

PLMK if you have more tips based on my subject matter. If you visit my site, you can see some of my typical work.

Thanks again,
Lauren

It does sound like a macro lens might be a benefit (flowers and little stuff), although my travel kit only has a close focus diopter to use on my 50mm, f1.4 to yield around 1/2 lifesize images. I rather like the arrangement as this gives me a very fast lens of mild telephoto (on a crop 1.6x camera) and pretty good close-ups with the addition of the diopter.

Almost all dSLRs can benefit from post-processing the images. If you are not shooting RAW images I would recommend it for this trip because the dynamic range, especially the seashore, will probably be more than in-camera processing can accomodate. You may even want to experiment with a tripod and multiple bracketed exposures, combined in post.

redleash · August 4, 2008

Thanks, Ziggy--all great info! I will check my camera store this week and let you know what I decide. FYI, I do shoot RAW, almost always. I just did my first pano a couple weeks ago and was very pleased. I've been trying to do more bracketed exposures recently, but I haven't gotten any shots good enough to try combining them into something--guess I need to try them just to learn the technique.

I appreciate your advice-
Lauren

dangin · August 5, 2008

it's not perfect by any means, but my favorite travel (cropped) lens for Nikon is the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR. like i said, it's not a perfect lens:
- on the long end it can be slow
- with the huge zoom range you're going to get some barrel distortion
- 2 words: zoom creep
- not a macro

however:
- it's lightweight
- shorter than the 100mm f/2.8 macro
- available used for a decent price
- has VR
- not a bad min focusing distance for the range

if you're shooting natural landscapes, the barrel distortion is not much of an issue. it'll be more noticeable shooting hard geometric lines. you said you're shooting fences and birds not jewelry and bugs; do you *REALLY* need a macro lens?

on the slightly longer end for about the same price if you can find it, is the new Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 VC lens. i was really excited about this lens as my main travel lens on my full frame D3. you'd get the 35mm equivalent of 450mm on your APS-C sensored-body. it isn't a true macro lens as it doesn't do 1:1, however it is pretty damned close focusing so you could potentially use it for bugs if you tried. i will caveat this with the fact that i had my 28-300 for about 2 months before i had to send it in for repairs. the AF had a problem with locking on consistantly. it's been gone for about 2 weeks and i still haven't heard boo from Tamron. i've got about 4 other tamron lenses and never had these issues. maybe i just got a bad one?

What Nikon Lens for Outdoors Maine?

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