Anyone have a Nikon D90?

[mmmears]

I'm thinking of getting a Nikon D90 and using my older Tamron 28-200mm lens with it (tried it out today and they work well together).

After our last trip to WDW, we were really disappointed with our photos from AKL and the Sunrise Safari.

Anyone know if this combination would work well? It's been a long time since I bought an SLR -- my current one is a 35mm , so I just use a little Canon Powershot for most of our photos.

Any advice/info would really be appreciated!

 

[YesDear]

There are a number of people around here that have the D90. It is a great camera. If you are coming from a film background, you will love digital. Same process as film with only a few wrinkles.

I am not familiar with the lens, my only comment would be you did not say how fast the lens was. I am also assuming it is probably a bigger abd slower lens. So my question would be what lens are you going to get with the camera? I would suggest a faster prime lens or faster midrange zoom rather than a kit lens only because of the speed.

 

[kaffinito]

I agree with YesDear, getting a faster lens might be a good idea for those shots you need to get quickly at WDW.

I have a D90, and have found that the two lenses that are working best for me are the 18-200 and the 28mm. Others on here have the Tokina 11-? (I can't think of the number right now) And the shots from that lens look very very good.

However if the lens you have works well with the D90 and you think it's fast enough, then you can try out that combo and then get a faster wide angle for another trip.

(Hi by the way! )

 

[mmmears]

Hi and thanks for the info!

I want to use my older lens for 2 reasons:

1) the 28-200 was great for the shots I needed before

2) money -- it always comes down to that, I guess.

So, I can purchase a D90, body only and use my lens, or get a lower-end camera that comes with a lens (that I probably won't like as much anyway).

At the camera shop, I was told that Nikon is coming out with a faster 18-200, but I dont think I want to spend around $800 just for it to be a bit faster (now the image stabilization sounds great, too). I was hoping to make the "change" without spending too much money on it...

 

[VVFF]

Hi and thanks for the info!

I want to use my older lens for 2 reasons:

1) the 28-200 was great for the shots I needed before

2) money -- it always comes down to that, I guess.

So, I can purchase a D90, body only and use my lens, or get a lower-end camera that comes with a lens (that I probably won't like as much anyway).

At the camera shop, I was told that Nikon is coming out with a faster 18-200, but I dont think I want to spend around $800 just for it to be a bit faster (now the image stabilization sounds great, too). I was hoping to make the "change" without spending too much money on it...

Don't be so quick to ride off the kit lenses. Many, definitely the canon 18-55 IS, are well respected for their sharpness. Sure, their build quality isn't up to a $1000 lens but its good enough. I think you would find that you would appreciate some more extension on the wide angle side of things. After all 28x1.5 = 47mm which isn't wide angle at all. A kit lens starting at 18 would be great. The D90 I believe comes with a 18-105mm lens which I would take anyday over a 28-200mm(on crop).

The new 18-200mm is going to have the zoom creep issue solved I believe, maybe some new coatings but I don't think its any faster(focusing or aperture), so I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[mmmears]

Thanks for the advice. I haven't missed the wide-angle side of things, actually. I really wanted more close-up photos, and to only have one lens to lug around instead of 2 or more. It's bad enough having to carry such a heavy camera around in the first place.

Not having used a DSLR yet, I am trying to choose one that is really nice, but not too high end and expensive. I figured I could get a better camera if I didn't have to pay for a lens, too.

I've only had Nikons in the past, an F3 and an N80 that was auto-focus. I tend to not buy SLRs very often, so I don't want to make the wrong choice and regret it. I did check out a Canon while at the store. It was much lighter than the D90!

 

[WDWFigment]

I have the D90, but I would start out going with a lower model, say D5000 and getting another lens. Lenses make more of a difference than camera body, in my opinion.

 

[handicap18]

The biggest thing you have to know about going from film to digital in the SLR world is the difference in size between a frame of film and the sensor (on the lower end dSLR's at least).

The D90 uses a crop sensor. Basically what this means is that the sensor on the D90 is smaller than a frame of film. For the most part this means nothing, but coming from film you will see a difference in the field of view you will get from your lenses on the dSLR. Because the sensor is smaller (1.5x smaller) it automatically crops the image. So if you were used to using the 28-200mm lens on your N80 and F3, the field of view you will get with the D90 will now be equivlient to 42-300mm. It doesn't magnify it, it crops it. Its a nice thing with the long end of the lenses, but on the wide side it can be frustrating.

The D90 is a GREAT camera. No doubt. But I would still consider at least the kit lens. 28mm isn't very wide on a digital crop sensor.

I used a 28-90mm lens with my film N70 for years. When I first went to digital I went with the Nikon D50, body only. Within a few weeks I bought the 18-70mm lens because I found the 28-90mm to not be wide enough for me.

Just something to consider.

 

[mmmears]

The biggest thing you have to know about going from film to digital in the SLR world is the difference in size between a frame of film and the sensor (on the lower end dSLR's at least).

The D90 uses a crop sensor. Basically what this means is that the sensor on the D90 is smaller than a frame of film. For the most part this means nothing, but coming from film you will see a difference in the field of view you will get from your lenses on the dSLR. Because the sensor is smaller (1.5x smaller) it automatically crops the image. So if you were used to using the 28-200mm lens on your N80 and F3, the field of view you will get with the D90 will now be equivlient to 42-300mm. It doesn't magnify it, it crops it. Its a nice thing with the long end of the lenses, but on the wide side it can be frustrating.

The D90 is a GREAT camera. No doubt. But I would still consider at least the kit lens. 28mm isn't very wide on a digital crop sensor.

I used a 28-90mm lens with my film N70 for years. When I first went to digital I went with the Nikon D50, body only. Within a few weeks I bought the 18-70mm lens because I found the 28-90mm to not be wide enough for me.

Just something to consider.

Thank you so much for the explanation -- now I understand why people are saying that the 28 isn't wide enough. I'll have to mull this one over and try it out again. I was playing with the D90 in the shop with my older lens, but of course I didn't realize it wasn't giving me the wider-angle part of the view.

The next camera up from the D90 is way too pricey for me, considering I really want to take family and vacation photos but I don't have the time to "work" on my photography skills now. I've waited this long because of pricing vs. quality, hoping they'd come out with something good that I could afford.