Getting a second Nikon Camera and Lens

davidfromoz · Apr 27, 2008

Thanks everybody. I think we are going to get a D300. Though Mav's idea of getting a lower tier camera and going to town on lenses is very attractive too. And I did find the lens discussion fascinating. Thats going to be the next big question for us. What is our target range of lenses and which one do we buy first.

Nikon 18-55 kit lens
Nikon 12-24 (Tokina 11-16?)
Nikon 60 micro
Nikon 70-300vr
Canon 500D close up filter.

I do worry that the 70-300VR lens won't be versatile enough and we'll very quickly have to get another wider lens. But the only downside there is we have to go shopping again. Somebody did warn us about this as we were getting into photography. Maybe we could just not get a car?

cheers,
david

JimmyO · Apr 27, 2008

Another good UWA lens is the sigma 10-20mm

JIP · Apr 27, 2008

WOW!!!!! slapped down on the D300 pop-up flash. I am sorry for the mistaken assumption about the flash it has always been my experience that the upper end Nikon bodies did not have pop-ups. I guess with the commandermode they incorporated a pop up into the D300. If I remember correctly the D200 did not have a pop-up right. Honestly it seems like with a body like this you would think Nikon would come up with a better system for a wireless flash. sorry for the big post on the D300 bu whatever I do think you are making the right decsion though to buy it as long as you can afford some decent glass to put on it.

Mav · Apr 27, 2008

davidfromoz said:
What is our target range of lenses and which one do we buy first.

Nikon 18-55 kit lens
Nikon 12-24 (Tokina 11-16?)
Nikon 60 micro
Nikon 70-300vr
Canon 500D close up filter.

I do worry that the 70-300VR lens won't be versatile enough and we'll very quickly have to get another wider lens.

Get the 12-24. You already have the 18-200VR to cover telephoto stuff. Or do what a lot of people do and use a wide angle like the 12-24 and then a tele like the 70-300VR (or the 18-200) and skip the midrange altogether. If you're partial to needing f/2.8 for low light work, get the Tokina 11-16mm, but otherwise the 12-24 (Tokina or Nikon) gives you a more useful range for daylight and other shooting.

What range to you both find yourself at on the 18-200 most frequently? When I had my 18-55 I was almost always at the 18mm stop and wanting to go wider, so I knew I'd like a wide lens.

Mav · Apr 27, 2008

JIP, the D200 has a pop-up too, LOL. The D2x and D2h didn't have them though, nor (I believe) did the D1-series. The D100, D200, D300 have all had them.

DSLR noob · Apr 27, 2008

Get the Olympus, if you guys fight over the camera, you'd fight over dual compatible accessories too haha.

davidfromoz · Apr 27, 2008

What range to you both find yourself at on the 18-200 most frequently? When I had my 18-55 I was almost always at the 18mm stop and wanting to go wider, so I knew I'd like a wide lens.

Wow! You'd think I'd know the answer to that. I'm a bit of a newb and am only just starting to appreciate the difference in perspective of stepping in to zooming in so my behaviour might change down the line.

I think exif data contains focal length. So tonight I'll try to generate some numbers for what we have been using. That ought to be very handy. Can hardly wait to find out.

Does anybody have a good tool for trawling though a bunch of photos can generating stats on them?

cheers,
david

JIP · Apr 27, 2008

Mav said:
JIP, the D200 has a pop-up too, LOL. The D2x and D2h didn't have them though, nor (I believe) did the D1-series. The D100, D200, D300 have all had them.

Wow I guess I have been out of it for too long.

Mav · Apr 27, 2008

davidfromoz said:
Wow! You'd think I'd know the answer to that. I'm a bit of a newb and am only just starting to appreciate the difference in perspective of stepping in to zooming in so my behaviour might change down the line.

I think exif data contains focal length. So tonight I'll try to generate some numbers for what we have been using. That ought to be very handy. Can hardly wait to find out.

Does anybody have a good tool for trawling though a bunch of photos can generating stats on them?

cheers,
david

Give this a try: http://www.cpr.demon.nl/prog_plotf.html

davidfromoz · Apr 28, 2008

You were right. Although the shots are spread across the Focal length range, by far the most were taken at the smallest focal length. The maximum focal length was only the 4th most frequently used setting.

So clearly, we'd get the most utility out of a wide lens. Its possible that with thought we'll end up with two more lenses. There is a pheasant in the field across the road that I'd really like to capture with a greater zoom. But its hard to deny the wide lens makes sense.

Thanks for the link. They have some neat software that is worth a closer look.

Thank you everybody. The responses here have been very helpful to us.

cheers,
david

davidfromoz · May 4, 2008

Just to close the loop. Today I went into Tokyo and got a D300 and a 16-85VR lens. In the end I decided that its the lens I would get the most use out of. I thought about Tamron 17-50 too. Certainly the 16-85 is almost completely overlapped by the 18-200 but since my wife will always be using one of them I think its an OK choice. The 12-24 was a real contender, but I couldn't bring myself to spend the money. Perhaps next I'll get a wide lens or some kind of telephoto (coming around to the idea of a 2nd hand prime when one comes around).

Thank you everybody for your help.

cheers,
david