Nikon DX lens vs. VR lens

Hi everyone,
I have to buy a Nikon D60 and sell my Nikon 70s which is working with 18-55mm DX.
The question is, is there a big difference between DX and VR lens?
In this case its worth to sell the DX lens or is good to keep it for the new D60?
VR lens is coming regularly with D60.
I'm gonna use the new D60 in low light conditions and I need to know if VR lens is really helpful in this situation or I can use DX without no problems.
Anyway I have a steady hand.
Thanks

 

Well I think you might have your terminology a bit confused;
DX is a lens that is specifically designed for crop digital sensors
VR is Vibration Reduction

So you can get a DX lens with VR.

What you should be looking at is faster lenses if you would like to shoot in low light. VR helps, but if you have a lens with an aperture of F2.8 you will be able to shoot with faster shutter speeds and will not need VR.

The funny thing is, most of the new F2.8 Zoom Lenses come with VR as well.

 

I'm not sure you can actually claim that VR isn't needed if you have f/1.2 or something. It doesn't really work like that - even tho it is kind of related. What about when you want f/22 or f/32 or something? Also what about low light was the meter says f/1.2 is a shutter speed of 1/10 of a second? I see both situations popping up allot. With an f/1.2 or 1.4 lens you might need VR less (maybe) but having fast glass really doesn't eliminate the need for VR.

On the other hand VR does in more circumstances, eliminate the need for fast (expensive) glass. Especially if it's the Minolta (now Sony) in camera mechanism that's being compared.

 

The Minolta/Sony system also affects subject motion IF the subject in question is filling 90% or 100% of the frame and also when the motion is uniform. For example driving on the freeway it tries very hard to freeze the fences and trees that are whizzing by - it does a pretty good job at it too. Another example would be a flower macro where the flower it blowing around in the breeze. Here's an example of that: http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1335122&postcount=4 This flower was blowing in and out of the frame completely. It was on a long stem and rocking in the breeze about a foot or more back and forth.

Another example would be a close up of a nervous horse's or elephant's head.

So it does fight both camera shake and subject motion blur. It's won't fight the blur of a bouncing ball in a shorts shot or a fly flying around though (if it's only a small portion of the total frame).

 

I personally opt for VR if it's available in the lens that I want. But, I mostly only have fast lenses, so I don't necessarily need VR a lot; but I mean, why turn it down? The only reason to opt for a lens that doesn't have VR is when cost is an issue, and that's understandable. I'd say VR is more important in longer (physically) and heavier lenses. That's the big advantage of lens vibration reduction versus camera body reduction is that the camera is rarely what's shaking, it's more often than not the lens itself. So, to answer your question; VR is good, but not 100% necessary. And fast lenses are great, more important than VR, but also not 100% necessary. But, I mean, DOF is important for some types of shots; so keep that in mind when choosing a lens. I definitely rambled a lot here, my bad.

 

I think this is the best equalizer and applies across all situations. f/1.2 at ISO100 has the same DOF as f/1.2 at ISO 3200. :thumbup:

 

Ok, I need to explain exactly my situation...
A friend of mine has a Nikon D60 + 18-55mm VR. Was taken some picture in Las Vegas in the night time. Anyway there are a lot of lights... Was using higher ISO. So, I have to sell my camera and I want to know if I'll keep my lens 18-55mm DX I can take night pictures at the same quality or is really necessarily to have that lens from kit, 18-55mm VR, like I saw in an offer (Nikon D60 + 18-55mm VR = $620 on BH)...?
This 18-55 VR how good is in percent in reducing the shakes?
I don't have enough money now to buy 1.4 or 1.8 lens right now...
Thanks all!

 

Well you should know its 18-55 dx vr. Its for cropped sensors and has vr. But to the argument, It will probably give you 2, maybe 3 stops of handholdablity so normally if you can shoot at 1/30th of a second, you would probably be able to shoot at 1/8th of a second, maybe 1/4th. But like stated above, remember that if the subject is moving, your still going to have subject blur from motion.

 

Thanks! This is really help me to understand practically the difference between VR and a non-VR lens. Thanks a lot!

 

Glad to help .

 

You're getting rid of your D70 for a piddly D60? Are you serious?