what would you do?

[TIGGER1981]

Ok so I’ve got another question…

I’m still not sure about which lens would suit my needs better…
I’m in between a Nikon D40 and D40x, but there are so many packages with different lenses, I’m more confused than ever.
I honestly don’t see myself lugging around multiple lenses, so I’d like to have that option to take really nice crisp/clear close ups and distance shots.

How close does 55-200mm get?
Or how far does the 18-135mm get?

Any suggestions?

There are:

18-55mm & 55-135mm
18-135mm
55-200mm

what would you do?????

thanks again for any input!

 

[YEKCIM]

Well, since you asked, "what would you do?", I'll respond by telling you what I *did*. In January 2007, I bought two D50 bodies and four lenses. Of that equipment, the only change made in the ensuing 14 months was to sell one of the D50's and buy a D80 (for features other than increased megapixels). I considered the 55-200 (the VR was not out at the time) but became convinced that 200mm was not enough longer than 135mm to justify it. Instead, I bought the 70-300vr, which gives me some overlap between 70mm and 135mm, but gives an overall range of 18mm - 300mm or, in 35mm film terms, 28mm - 450mm in two lenses. I like both lenses a lot, and the two different zoom ranges cover enough ground that I am not constantly changing lenses. If I had the 18-55 + 55-200 combo, and only one body, I could see spending a lot of time swapping lenses, which is something I personally would prefer to avoid.

Good luck with your decision.

~Ed

 

[mabas9395]

What would I do if I had a Nikon? I'd buy a Canon. But that's a topic for another thread. Just kidding. Just have to give you a hard time. Its like the ford/dodge thing with guys and their trucks.

Seriously, if you want to see how far a particluar focal length will reach compared to another, try this tool from Canon. http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/EFLenses101/focal_length.html

And to show I am not biased towards Canon, here is one from the Tamaron website (they make lenses too). http://www.tamron.com/lenses/learning_center/tools/focal-length-comparison.php

But don't be afraid to haul around multiple lenses. That's one of the reasons why dSLR cameras are so much better than a p&s. When you try to make one lens do everything (zoom in, zoom out, low light, etc), it either has to be very, very large and very, very expensive or you have to sacrifice image quality. The way around that is by getting two or three lenses that don't do everything, but do very well at what they are designed for.

You give up a little in the way of convenience, but depending on how picky you are about your pictures, you more than make up for it in quality.

 

[Master Mason]

if you really really don't want to change lenses doesn't nikon make an 18-200 lens?

 

[MICKEY88]

if not carrying multiple lenses is your key concern, and you don't mind the tradeoff in quality, you could buy the body, then pick up a sigma 28-300 as your walk around lens and get a 50mm 1.7 for low lite stuff...the quality at various ranges might not be quite as good as using multiple lenses, but also might be acceptable for many people..

I normally use a 28-75 2.8 and a 80-200 2.8

but I do keep a sigma 28-300 in my bag just in case I ever decide that I really don't want to deal with switching lenses,

although as soon a s sony releases their pro level dslr I hope to buy that, put the 28-75 on that body, the 80-200 on my current Minolta 7D and just carry 2 camera rather than switching lenses,
in my film days I carried 2 bodies one with a 35-105 the other with a 100-300

 

[DVCRon]

Actually changing the lenses once you get use to it isn't a very big deal.

The problem when a lens has a very big range of focal length is that you are making sacrifices at one end or the other or both. The usually have a smaller aperture (which gets smaller as you go towards the maximum focal length) rendering them pretty useless in low light or for any kind of action.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Ok so I’ve got another question…

I’m still not sure about which lens would suit my needs better…
I’m in between a Nikon D40 and D40x, but there are so many packages with different lenses, I’m more confused than ever.
I honestly don’t see myself lugging around multiple lenses, so I’d like to have that option to take really nice crisp/clear close ups and distance shots.

How close does 55-200mm get?
Or how far does the 18-135mm get?

Any suggestions?

There are:

18-55mm & 55-135mm
18-135mm
55-200mm

what would you do?????

thanks again for any input!

How close and how far...how would you like the info? Do have an existing camera you'd like to compare to? Do you want it in angle of view? Do you want it in width of what you'll see at a certain distance?

18-55 goes from pretty wide (but not extremely wide) to just a bit closer than things look in real life. 55-200 goes from a bit closer than things look in real life to pretty close (but not extremely close).

 

[TIGGER1981]

How close and how far...how would you like the info? Do have an existing camera you'd like to compare to? Do you want it in angle of view? Do you want it in width of what you'll see at a certain distance?

18-55 goes from pretty wide (but not extremely wide) to just a bit closer than things look in real life. 55-200 goes from a bit closer than things look in real life to pretty close (but not extremely close).

I don't have a camera to compare it to. I am so new to this, some of these questions I've been asking I feel like I'm making an idiot of myself...

Because Im just beginning, and after all the help on here, I'm pretty sure I'll just start off with:

Nikon D40, 6.1 Megapixel, SLR, Digital Camera w/ 18-55mm & 55-200mm f/4-5.6G AF-S DX Zoom Autofocus Lens Kit 2

I was thinking that having the two lenses would scare me...

I just need to learn the photo-lingo and actually how to use a camera before trying to find the right lens.

so the big question is...dare I hit the purchase button???

 

[handicap18]

When I got my D50 2+ years ago I originally went with the 18-70mm. It ended up not really being long enough for me. 13 months later I bought the 18-135mm. Much better IMO. If I had the money for the 18-200 that is even better, but for $400 less the 18-135 is great. I've found it to be very sharp and love the focal range.

I also have the 70-300mm VR and with just 2 lenses I get great focal length range from 18-300.

If you only want to go with 1 lens, then go with the 18-135. Then down the road you can get the 70-300 if you feel you need the extra reach.

 

[TinksDH]

When I got my D50 2 years ago, I also bought the 18-70 and a 75-300. I figured I had the range convered, but what I didn't anticipate was that I wound up shooting primarily in the 30-200 range and was constantly changing lenses. Soooooooooooo I got the Nikkor 24-120 AF-S VR, which fit my needs much better for walk-around shooting. I still used my 75-300 (now a Nikkor 70-300 VR) for long/isolation shots, and got a Sigma 10-20 for wide-angle shots. But the 24-120 fit most of my needs.

I recently upgraded to the Sigma 18-200 OS HSM ( I talked about this on another thread) to replace the 24-120. This is the perfect lens IMHO for vacation shots where you want to travel with only 1 lens. I still use my other lenses, as well as my 50/1.8 for specific shots, but the 18-200 is great for general purpose shooting.

The moral is - if you don't have much overlap, you my be swapping often!

 

[Master Mason]

I don't have a camera to compare it to. I am so new to this, some of these questions I've been asking I feel like I'm making an idiot of myself...

Because Im just beginning, and after all the help on here, I'm pretty sure I'll just start off with:

Nikon D40, 6.1 Megapixel, SLR, Digital Camera w/ 18-55mm & 55-200mm f/4-5.6G AF-S DX Zoom Autofocus Lens Kit 2

I was thinking that having the two lenses would scare me...

I just need to learn the photo-lingo and actually how to use a camera before trying to find the right lens.

so the big question is...dare I hit the purchase button???

My suggestion is to use the lenses you have for a while, figure out what your shooting ranges etc, what you can't get shots of, ie low light action shots or what ever, then decide what to buy. Otherwise you will end up with a bag full of lenses you don't use (voice of experience talking)