Suprise! I have a question!

primus diddy

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Okay, here's the deal. I'm saving up for a Nikon D50 kit. I'll be getting the kit with the 13-55mm zoom (I think) and a memory card (512MB). All together it comes to a little more than $700...I need $200 more pending a new job interview...and here I digress. Back on topic. I have some experience with 35mm SLR from a class at school I took, and the kit lens coming with the Nikon isn't very fast (can't remember the aperture range off the top of my head). I already know I'll want another lens soon after I buy the camera. Here's where I have a question. What should I get? I'm not very into wide angle at the moment. I only have experience with a 50mm lens from the cameras at school. I'm thinking about getting that ~$200 Nikon 50mm which is apparently their fastest lens right now.

Anywho, I like close-up/macro (a little macro experience with my Coolpix 5000) to "normal" photography. My budget is below $400. I can't think of much else I can say that'd help you....I really like the Lens Babies.

Oh yeah...I never asked a question :lmao: What lens do you recommend beyond the kit?
 
I know Canon makes a cheap 50mm f/1.8 lens that costs around $70. I think Nikon makes something very similar. Both also make a f/1.4 version that's quite a bit more expensive, and personally I don't think is really worth the extra money.
 
I would also suggest a cheap 50mm F1.8, it will give you a nice fast lens for very little money.

Keep in mind that a 50mm will feel like a 75mm on a D50 because of the crop factor.
 
primus diddy said:
Thanks guys! What's the "crop factor" though?

First thing you need to know is that the sensor on a D50, while much larger than the sensor on any* point & shoot digital camera...is smaller than 35mm film.

So when you have a lens that was made for a 35mm film camera (like the 50mm or most other lenes)...the sensor only sees the middle portion of the image. Imagine you are in a dark room with a flash light. If you hold the flash light so that the circle of light just covers you hand...now move your hand farther away from the light...only the middle of the circle of light will be on your hand...and the outside bit of the light goes somewhere else.This is similar to what happens in the camera....only the middle part of the image is recorded by the sensor.

The result for you is that you only see the middle so your field of view is less than it would be on a film camera. So a 50mm lens on a D50 will have the same field of view as a 75mm lens on a 35mm film camera.

That 50mm lens you remember on that old film camera...will feel different on the D50. It's won't be as wide.

This is why the camera/lens makers have made special ultra-wide lenses for digital cameras with sensors smaller than 35mm film. The kit lens is one of these lenses. I don't know what Nikon calls theirs but Canon calls them EF-S lenses...rather than EF lenses that work on all their EOS cameras.

Did I ramble on long enough? :chatty:
 
the d 50 is a great camera if u can aford it get a d70
u can find a d 70 wiht lense lightly used fr like $800 on ebay
also the kit lens with the d 50 is awfull if you want to do anything outher than close up, i have some magnifying filters for my camera and they wrok well but you have to focus it your self. by the way i cand the same thing that a lense baby can and save the $100 thats by advice
 

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