TPF consumer reports

AMOMENT · Nov 23, 2011

A friend of mine is an extremely talented and successful photographer in Texas. Her work is so crisp, pure, and beautiful! I know I still need to master the equipment I have but I am slowly looking into new glass. My 50mm f/1.8 is great but I feel like I need to be too up close and personal to fill my frame with my subject. I would love to try and stand back a little and shoot. She loves and recommends a Nikkor af-s 55-300mm. I trust her because her work is incredible but just wanted some other feedback as to what the pros and cons are of it are. She is very busy so it is hard to get all the needed info from her.

Would anyone ever buy used? I priced them on Amazon and it showed that the range was from 250$-399$? Does that sound right?

Also, any suggestions on speciific speedlights/diffusers? Again, I know I have so much to learn and need to master but right now, a new lens is in my future.

For now, I am just having fun and this new lens might be fun to play around with while I learn if it enables me to step back a bit and or give me a different perspective.

MTVision · Nov 23, 2011

AMOMENT said:
A friend of mine is an extremely talented and successful photographer in Texas. Her work is so crisp, pure, and beautiful! I know I still need to master the equipment I have but I am slowly looking into new glass. My 50mm f/1.8 is great but I feel like I need to be too up close and personal to fill my frame with my subject. I would love to try and stand back a little and shoot. She loves and recommends a Nikkor af-s 55-300mm. I trust her because her work is incredible but just wanted some other feedback as to what the pros and cons are of it are. She is very busy so it is hard to get all the needed info from her.

Would anyone ever buy used? I priced them on Amazon and it showed that the range was from 250$-399$? Does that sound right?

Also, any suggestions on speciific speedlights/diffusers? Again, I know I have so much to learn and need to master but right now, a new lens is in my future. For now, I am just having fun and this new lens might be fun to play around with while I learn if it enables me to step back a bit and or give me a different perspective.

That zoom lens is a decent lens for the price - I have it because it came with my camera. Where are you thinking of buying it used? The pros: it's a zoom the cons: it sucks in low light

The sb700 is probably the best one for your camera. It comes with a diffuser and if you eventually buy more flashes the sb700 can control the other flashes. You can also take the sb700 off camera and use your pop-up flash to trigger it.

AMOMENT · Nov 23, 2011

Awesome, thanks!!! Meg, you are always full of help!!!! xoxo. Wait, it came with your camera? Wow! If I purchase the sb700 in addition, will it help with the low light insufficieny of the 85-300 mm lens?

MTVision · Nov 23, 2011

AMOMENT said:
Awesome, thanks!!! Meg, you are always full of help!!!! xoxo. Wait, it came with your camera? Wow! If I purchase the sb700 in addition, will it help with the low light insufficieny of the 85-300 mm lens?

Yeah the zoom and the 18-55mm lens came as a kit with my camera. Of course it will help with low light. The zoom has a variable aperture. it opens up to f/4.5 at 55mm and f/5.6 at 300mm.

You can get it brand new from amazon for 249.00 and the sb700 is around 350.00.

MLeeK · Nov 23, 2011

It's a decent lens. Not one I'd want to work with professionally, personally. However for a zoom on a budget? you won't regret it.

AMOMENT · Nov 23, 2011

Mleek...any other recommendations? I would love to try and back up a bit for portraiture. I know fixed lenses can be very sharp but I sometimes like to have the option to adjust my lens rather than myself constantly. I'm looking to spend less than 1,000 and ideally less than 600$ if possible. However, I do want a quality and versatile lens.

Wait, MTV...my nikon d3100 came with an 18-55 mm and has the same variability with the aperture. Does that mean it obviousely has the zoom and is the same thing as the lens I am looking at; 85-300mm? It can't be! That would make no sense. An 18-55mm pans from 18-55 and an 85-300 mm does between that. right? Did yours come with an 18-55mm or an 85-300mm?

MTVision · Nov 23, 2011

AMOMENT said:
Mleek...any other recommendations? I would love to try and back up a bit for portraiture. I know fixed lenses can be very sharp but I sometimes like to have the option to adjust my lens rather than myself constantly. I'm looking to spend less than 1,000 and ideally less than 600$ if possible. However, I do want a quality and versatile lens.

Wait, MTV...my nikon d3100 came with an 18-55 mm and has the same variability with the aperture. Does that mean it obviousely has the zoom and is the same thing as the lens I am looking at; 85-300mm? It can't be! That would make no sense. An 18-55mm pans from 18-55 and an 85-300 mm does between that. right? Did yours come with an 18-55mm or an 85-300mm?

I don't think there is an 85-30mm. You wrote 55-300 in your first post. I have an 18-55mm lens that came with the camera but the zoom 55-300 also came with the camera. I got 2 lenses with my camera kit.

There is also a 70-300mm lens that is a little bit more. It might be slightly better than the 55-300 but probably jot by much. The 55-300 or 70-300 is probably the best zooms in your price range. Anything else will start getting pretty pricey. There is an 80-200 af-s zoom that's around 1200.00. The 70-200 af-s zoom is around 2,000

tirediron · Nov 24, 2011

The 55-200, and 55-300 are decent consumer-grade lenses, but they're NOT good portraiture lenses because even wide open it has a maximum aperture of f4.5 which doesn't let in a lot of light, and gives a lot more DoF than is usually desirable for portrait work. Understanding you indicated you would prefer a zoom vice a prime, I would recommend the 85mm f1.8 anyway. It's an excellent lens, very sharp, will let in LOTS of light, and opened up, allows for very shallow DoF and very attractive bokeh.

AMOMENT · Nov 24, 2011

Thanks guys! Tirediron, will it allow me to step back a bit? I'm guessing yes

AMOMENT · Nov 24, 2011

Also, if I purchased the 55-300 mm (sorry Meg, that's what I meant) with the varable aperture 4.5-5.6 and used the speedlight in low light situations, would that be just as "good" as the 85 mm? Essentially I am just looking to step back a bit so that I can take candid shots.

MissCream · Nov 24, 2011

If your looking to get close up candids at a distance like 300 mm the flash isn't going to help much because your going to be too far away.

MTVision · Nov 24, 2011

AMOMENT said:
Also, if I purchased the 55-300 mm (sorry Meg, that's what I meant) with the varable aperture 4.5-5.6 and used the speedlight in low light situations, would that be just as "good" as the 85 mm? Essentially I am just looking to step back a bit so that I can take candid shots.

The 85 is nice but it's only manual focus on your camera. It will still meter but you will have to actually lock focus yourself. Inside/low light you aren't really going to be using 300mm. Do you want to see a picture with the zoom lens and one with the 85?

tirediron · Nov 24, 2011

MissCream said:
If your looking to get close up candids at a distance like 300 mm the flash isn't going to help much because your going to be too far away.

That ^^!! And even if you're not too far away, a flash tends to spoil the "candid" aspect of the shot.

The 85mm will allow you to step back, yes, but if your main interest is in candids, then perhaps a zoom would be more suitable.

MLeeK · Nov 24, 2011

AMOMENT said:
Mleek...any other recommendations? I would love to try and back up a bit for portraiture. I know fixed lenses can be very sharp but I sometimes like to have the option to adjust my lens rather than myself constantly. I'm looking to spend less than 1,000 and ideally less than 600$ if possible. However, I do want a quality and versatile lens.

Wait, MTV...my nikon d3100 came with an 18-55 mm and has the same variability with the aperture. Does that mean it obviousely has the zoom and is the same thing as the lens I am looking at; 85-300mm? It can't be! That would make no sense. An 18-55mm pans from 18-55 and an 85-300 mm does between that. right? Did yours come with an 18-55mm or an 85-300mm?

For portraits I LOVE my Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 lens. That fixed f/2.8 and sharp lens will give you so much more than using a consumer grade lens. I believe it's running $699, but I haven't looked in quite a while. It's a "macro" lens so the focus is a bit "slower" and for high speed sports it's not the greatest, however "slow" is also relative... I have shot sports with it and done so successfully. The ability to shoot at f/2.8 is great and the ability to zoom and not have the aperture change on you is divine. AF001N700 Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 DI LD (IF) Macro, Fast AF Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon AF Mount - USA Warranty

MTVision · Nov 24, 2011

AMOMENT said:
Also, if I purchased the 55-300 mm (sorry Meg, that's what I meant) with the varable aperture 4.5-5.6 and used the speedlight in low light situations, would that be just as "good" as the 85 mm? Essentially I am just looking to step back a bit so that I can take candid shots.

This is with the 55-300mm lens at 72

I don't have any portraits shots with the 85 f/1.8 because I only had it a few days before I returned it. It's an amazing lens but I figured it wouldn't work that great with my daughter because it is only manual focus