Is this a good price and will I be happy with it?

[creativeamanda]

Long story short. . .I have 2 lenses for my Nikon D60: the 18-55mm Nikkor VR lens that came with it and a 55-200mm Nikkor lens.

The biggest problem I face is constantly changing the lens. I was looking at the Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens at amazon.com. The price: around $250. I was also looking at the Quantaray at Ritz camera for around $360. Then, wdwfigment had me looking at the Tamron 18-270mm AF lens. Price tag at Ritz: $560 after rebate (certainly I would not expect a Christmas present after that) I'm thinking the price on the Tamron is amazing--it's not much more than what I paid for my 55-200mm Nikkor, yet at the same time, it is not a Nikkor.

My question is, which one will I be happier with? Would I be happier sticking with what I have, and trading lenses, buying one of the two Tamrons or the Quantaray, or saving money for a different Nikkor? I'm sort of torn right now as to what I should do.

 

[WDWFigment]

Long story short. . .I have 2 lenses for my Nikon D60: the 18-55mm Nikkor VR lens that came with it and a 55-200mm Nikkor lens.

The biggest problem I face is constantly changing the lens. I was looking at the Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens at amazon.com. The price: around $250. I was also looking at the Quantaray at Ritz camera for around $360. Then, wdwfigment had me looking at the Tamron 18-270mm AF lens. Price tag at Ritz: $560 after rebate (certainly I would not expect a Christmas present after that) I'm thinking the price on the Tamron is amazing--it's not much more than what I paid for my 55-200mm Nikkor, yet at the same time, it is not a Nikkor.

My question is, which one will I be happier with? Would I be happier sticking with what I have, and trading lenses, buying one of the two Tamrons or the Quantaray, or saving money for a different Nikkor? I'm sort of torn right now as to what I should do.

1) You sure that was me? Unless it was a "deal" thread and I copied and pasted a deal into it, I don't think I would've recommended it. Given #2, I really don't think I would've recommended it.

2) I would never buy anything from Ritz Camera. Barring a price mistake or some "YMMV" clearance deal, you will not find a deal at Ritz (just a cursory review of Slick Deals indicates you can get the 18-270 cheaper.

3) Although I haven't used the Quantaray or the Tamron 18-200, I would be skeptical of them at those prices. Super-zooms already have compromised IQ due to their focal range, I wouldn't 'push it' any further by getting a poor one.

Something else to complicate your decision: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=344348&t=1501951

I would also consider waiting until the new Nikkor 18-200 comes out, as prices may fall on the old one (or you just may want the new one).

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

^^^OMG, they're coming out with a new one? Dang! I think I just got mine last year.
OP, for the price, you should seriously consider getting the Nikon. It has VR. Do the other lenses have any sort of stabilization? (Sorry I didn't bother to look.) I'm guessing for the $200 lens it probably doesn't. Zoomed out, you will probably miss not having it.

 

[Icemann]

You will find some good information here,but just what do you plan on doing with your camera.What kind of photography are you into,stills,portrait,wildlife,night,you know the drill.Most of what you shoot will it be indoors or out.I'm still trying to figure out that myself.I have bought the Nikkor 35/1.8 and the Tamron 18-270 VC both are good len's and serve my purpose.As for the Tamron verse the Nikkor Tamron is fast focus and quiet and is my new walk around len's,I can't tell the picture difference between the two,and it was alot less then Nikon.Tamron has a 70$ rebate on that len's now.

 

[creativeamanda]

1) You sure that was me? Unless it was a "deal" thread and I copied and pasted a deal into it, I don't think I would've recommended it. Given #2, I really don't think I would've recommended it.

2) I would never buy anything from Ritz Camera. Barring a price mistake or some "YMMV" clearance deal, you will not find a deal at Ritz (just a cursory review of Slick Deals indicates you can get the 18-270 cheaper.

3) Although I haven't used the Quantaray or the Tamron 18-200, I would be skeptical of them at those prices. Super-zooms already have compromised IQ due to their focal range, I wouldn't 'push it' any further by getting a poor one.

Something else to complicate your decision: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=344348&t=1501951



I would also consider waiting until the new Nikkor 18-200 comes out, as prices may fall on the old one (or you just may want the new one).

Maybe it was not you. I don't know. I have thought of buying the old Nikkor when the new one comes out.

I was looking at Ritz to determine the high end of costs, but I have not bought anything from Ritz since my friend stopped working for them and I couldn't get his employee's discount anymore. (The markup on camera equipment is crazy)

I bought my D60 and lenses from Best Buy. Where would you recommend me getting the lens from? I would obviously prefer to buy a Nikkor lens because I find them superior, IMO to compatible ones. I never got the same results with the Sigma lens we got for our N50 as the Nikkor we bought for that camera. I guess I get a little sticker shock at lenses that cost more than the body of my camera, though (knowing the lens is so very important)

 

[creativeamanda]

I am a scrapbooker by trade mostly. I mostly do portraits, some sports shots (all three of my kids play baseball/softball), some night shots and landscapes. I think I need a good all-around lens, which is why I was looking at an 18-200mm lens. The only Nikkor in the range Ritz had on the site was the new one for preorder. Price tag? $850.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

OP, check out Amazon.com Beach Camera, B&H, Adorama, J&R. There are a lot of reliable places online to buy from. Also Cameta Camera has some good deals. They tend to sell a lot of refurbished stuff, but they also sell lenses. They are on Ebay and Amazon. Their Ebay packages are way too expenses, but I've bought small items from them and they were fast/reliable. Where I live we don't have any pro camera stores anymore that sell Nikon so I have toorder online. Not sure if that's the situation you're in, but all of the places above have good reputations.

 

[WDWFigment]

I bought my D60 and lenses from Best Buy. Where would you recommend me getting the lens from? I would obviously prefer to buy a Nikkor lens because I find them superior, IMO to compatible ones. I never got the same results with the Sigma lens we got for our N50 as the Nikkor we bought for that camera. I guess I get a little sticker shock at lenses that cost more than the body of my camera, though (knowing the lens is so very important)

Well, Best Buy ranks #3 on my list of places not to buy things, right above NYC street corner shops. Best Buy should only be used as an internet show room to test out products. Their service stinks, their prices are inflated, and their employees are generally ignorant and try to sell you things you don't need. Want to test this? Go in to buy a TV; $10 says they try to push Monster Cables on you as "necessary to maximize the quality of the TV." Monster Cables are the biggest rip-off ever.

But I digress. Amazon is the only retailer I can consistently recommend. As for the others, I buy where Slick Deals indicates a good price on something. That could mean any of a large number of online retailers.

 

[saturndb]

I bought my D60 and lenses from Best Buy. Where would you recommend me getting the lens from?

Do not forget to check bing.com to see if you can save some money from Amazon, Adorama, etc.


Dave

 

[Zoesmama03]

I'd probably save for the Nikkor glass. Though recall seeing some people on another forum that have the Tamron for Canon and it works out good for them.

I went to Ritz when I got my camera but mostly out of impatience I didn't want to wait for it to come in mail. The body(D80) wasn't any more money than online from what i saw and the 50mm f/1.8 was about $10-20 more but oh well. They do try to sell you stuff. Darn guy talked me into the kit when I had only intended on getting the 50mm. He didn't even have the 1.8 so I only got the kit and went to another store to get the 1.8. I wish I had taken the kit in with me and returned it and gotten the 1.4 and only that because I have used the kit maybe 5 times since I got the camera.