Ametour to Pro lenses

wklphoto · Nov 28, 2011

Hey so I shoot with a d7000 which I recently got as an update to my d70s (very old). I primarily shoot with my 18-200 vr f/3.5-5.6 and my 80-400 vr f/4.5-5.6. I got those when I didn't really know/care about f stops and just wanted a wide variety of focal lengths. I am wanting to update my lens collection and get something with a 2.8 or even a wider aperture. Im 17, so I have a low budget (nothing over 1,000... hopefully something less) Anyone have good suggestions? I have the old 80-200mm f/2.8 but they discontinued.. after using it in the field i can tell why.
So does anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you!
*Cheers*

andrewleephoto · Nov 28, 2011

Unless you do nature photography, I don't think the 80-400 would be worth keeping, so try selling it so that's about $800-$1000 in ur pocket and sell your 18-200 which is another $400-$500. I would now go and buy a tokina 11-16 2.8 and tamron 17-50 2.8.

Happy shooting!

wklphoto · Nov 29, 2011

Well I do shoot nature a fair amount. I don't ever shoot portrait, mainly landscape and wild life, so should I think about getting a better 70-200 and maybe get a teleconverter?

chaosrealm93 · Nov 29, 2011

i would opt for a better 70-200 (personally) because you lose stops of light when you use a teleconverter.

Mach0 · Nov 29, 2011

andrewleephoto said:
Unless you do nature photography, I don't think the 80-400 would be worth keeping, so try selling it so that's about $800-$1000 in ur pocket and sell your 18-200 which is another $400-$500. I would now go and buy a tokina 11-16 2.8 and tamron 17-50 2.8. Happy shooting!

Not to thread jack but if you find a 18-200 for that price - please let me know lol! I would love one.

KmH · Nov 29, 2011

The 80-200mm f/2.8 was/is a great lens. They still make the 2-ring version, and you likely had one of the older push-pull zooms.

I agree about selling the 18-200. It has soft focus and a lot of barrel distortion at the short end, soft focus at the long end, and is slow. It has a convenient superzoom focal range, but to get that much focal range to many design compromises that hurt image quality had to be made.

Using a teleconverter (TC) reduces the effective maximum aperture. If you use a 2x TC with a 70-200 mm f/2.8, the effective max aperture becomes f/5.6.

Mach0 · Nov 29, 2011

KmH said:
The 80-200mm f/2.8 was/is a great lens. They still make the 2-ring version, and you likely had one of the older push-pull zooms.I agree about selling the 18-200. It has soft focus and a lot of barrel distortion at the short end, soft focus at the long end, and is slow. It has a convenient superzoom focal range, but to get that much focal range to many design compromises that hurt image quality had to be made.Using a teleconverter (TC) reduces the effective maximum aperture. If you use a 2x TC with a 70-200 mm f/2.8, the effective max aperture becomes f/5.6.

I know this isn't my thread but thanks for the heads up

wklphoto · Nov 29, 2011

KmH said:
The 80-200mm f/2.8 was/is a great lens. They still make the 2-ring version, and you likely had one of the older push-pull zooms.

I agree about selling the 18-200. It has soft focus and a lot of barrel distortion at the short end, soft focus at the long end, and is slow. It has a convenient superzoom focal range, but to get that much focal range to many design compromises that hurt image quality had to be made.

Using a teleconverter (TC) reduces the effective maximum aperture. If you use a 2x TC with a 70-200 mm f/2.8, the effective max aperture becomes f/5.6.

Yeah i have the push-pull. what about the sigma 70-200 f/2.8?

Nikon_Josh · Nov 29, 2011

I;m considering the Tamron 70-200 2.8, it has some amazing reviews. It might be a good fit for you aswell, check it out! You will also have money left over to invest in other lenses.