Please help?

lostpuppy · Aug 19, 2007

Hello everyone i was wondering if you could please help me with a quick question about cameras and photograhpy. I want to start photograhpy and I realized i have no clue where to start. I have my eyes set on the Nikon D40x or the Nikon D80
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Digital-Aspherical-Autofocus-70-300mm/dp/B000IF7HW6/ref=sr_1_22/102-4532077-5432110?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1187552058&sr=1-22"]Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera Body + Tamron 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical Autofocus Lens + Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro Autofocus Lens KIT[/ame] this is the set ill buy for the d80. Can someone please help me out and let me know if im buying the wrong camera? I want to take pictures of the city mainly, big urban fan and sky fan. Any help or advice would ROCK! Thank you so much in advanced.:hail:

Big Mike · Aug 19, 2007

Any DSLR will be a good camera. I'd suggest a lens with a larger maximum aperture though.

Dm3k1 · Aug 20, 2007

Me too. I'd also think twice about the 70-300 - not that it is a bad lens, but it does focus very slow and is very noisy when focusing (I sell this lens). I cannot say yay or nay on the 28-80

As far as cameras you are looking at the right ones. Depends on your budget which to go with that IS a great deal on the d80 however with the d40x still you could buy with a real nice lens and probably be happier for the same amount. OR get it with the 18-55 and the 55-200VR and come out even and you'll end up with two nice lenses.

Garbz · Aug 20, 2007

Yeah but with the D80 you could be a second hand lens and marvel at it's ability to actually focus!

I think your current choice is pretty much spot on. It may be a bit unrealistic to expect a larger maximum aperture on a budget. Zoom lenses which do f/2.8 are normally expensive, or have really poor build quality. Especially the telephoto zooms.

The only thing I wonder is about the wide angle zoom. 28 may sound wide for a film lens but it is not very wide at all on most digital SLRs and will be a big limiting factor for landscapes.