Upgrading to D300

Pure · Oct 22, 2008

So I've finally saved enough for a D300, 1 lens [unfortunately], and the usual goodies.

So, I do a lot of shooting for my school ranging from indoor candid photos to sporting events, and I'm upgrading to the D300.

So, I need some recommendations...

Obviously the D300.

I need a good mid-focal length lens, something like 18-105 or such. Also, I'm looking at the 70-200 for sporting events, and places where I need a bit more zoom since last time I went on the sideline to cover the game, the ref kicked me out, haha.

This to be exact:
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8D G-AFS ED-IF Autofocus VR Lens

I mean something that would go to 300mm would be awesome, but I can't afford that right now, and I'm more involved with indoor stuff than anything for school.

Like I stated before I take a lot of photos, and switching out batteries is a PAIN.

Does the MB-D10 support the EL4a battery? The 8fps would be really nice during games.

I'm a little confused about Nikon's battery grip, so the D300 supports 8fps with the extra battery grip, but it HAS to be a EL4 in the grip, and then the default EL3 in the actual camera?

Thanks for any help guys!

kundalini · Oct 22, 2008

Pure said:
I'm a little confused about Nikon's battery grip, so the D300 supports 8fps with the extra battery grip, but it HAS to be a EL4 in the grip, and then the default EL3 in the actual camera?

No, you do not need the EL4 battery to gain 8 fps. You can get the same with 8x AA's. That's one thing Nikon screwed the consumer on. Can't remember off the top of my head, but regardless, the cost of the battery, charger, some compartment plate, blah, blah, blah was ridiculous. Get yourself some Ni-MH rechargables, if you really need 8fps. (betcha don't, cause 6fps out of the box is pretty damn fast).

But before you get the grip, get yourself an extra EN-EL3e spare. Battery Life on the D300 is very good to begin with, but the extra is always a good choice. It fits in the grip if you decide to get that.

The 70-200mm is about $1630USD. Have you saved up for that? You could pair it up with a 1.4TC at $410 to give you an effective 280mm focal length. :meh: I got the 1.7 and it drops 1-2/3 stops.

You can get the 300mm f/4 for under a grand. It is a sweet lens. No VR though, use a tripod.

When you say indoor stuff, that can range from 35mm to 105mm. More info needed.

Pure · Oct 22, 2008

kundalini said:
No, you do not need the EL4 battery to gain 8 fps. You can get the same with 8x AA's. That's one thing Nikon screwed the consumer on. Can't remember off the top of my head, but regardless, the cost of the battery, charger, some compartment plate, blah, blah, blah was ridiculous. Get yourself some Ni-MH rechargables, if you really need 8fps. (betcha don't, cause 6fps out of the box is pretty damn fast).

But before you get the grip, get yourself an extra EN-EL3e spare. Battery Life on the D300 is very good to begin with, but the extra is always a good choice. It fits in the grip if you decide to get that.

The 70-200mm is about $1630USD. Have you saved up for that? You could pair it up with a 1.4TC at $410 to give you an effective 280mm focal length. :meh: I got the 1.7 and it drops 1-2/3 stops.

You can get the 300mm f/4 for under a grand. It is a sweet lens. No VR though, use a tripod.

When you say indoor stuff, that can range from 35mm to 105mm. More info needed.

First of all, thanks for the help.
I've been out of the loop of Nikon stuff :/

Actually, I forgot to mention I want to stay under $2200.

And yea, while 6fps is amazingly fast, I missed the game winning goal in a huge rivalry match, and I got scolded like a dog by my yearbook teacher...who said the shot wasn't good enough...but screw her, she can get her lazy butt outta bed and take the photos.

Since my budget is a bit tight, I was planning to buy a spare.

The problem is I need VR because 90% of my shots are candid shots, and it isn't possible. Unless I go to night games, then I usually need the 1 leg.

Could you point me in the direction of a good 300mm that has VR? Right now however I NEED a mid range lens for waking around.

kundalini · Oct 22, 2008

You have to define mid-range. However, the 24-70mm f/2.8 pretty much stays mounted on my D300 for the walk-about mode. But that is Gold Ring glass.

A lot of folks use the 18-200mm (I think) and it is a consumer lens and reasonably priced. Best I can remember, the IQ is quite good.

Lens Reviews
Photozone
Fred Miranda
Thom Hogan
and even Ken Rockwell

There are plenty more, but the top three I give credence to for lens reviews.

Actually, I forgot to mention I want to stay under $2200.

What does that include?

jlykins · Oct 23, 2008

I have the 18-200 on my D300 and I do quite a bit. Because of the higher (clean) iso ability I can get some good low light shots with it. If you want a "walk around" lens that you can do candids and still have some focal length, the 18-200 is for you. I hardly ever take it off of the camera. With my D70 I was using a 70-200vr because I had to stay around iso 400 or lower because of noise.

Pure · Oct 23, 2008

kundalini said:
You have to define mid-range. However, the 24-70mm f/2.8 pretty much stays mounted on my D300 for the walk-about mode. But that is Gold Ring glass.

A lot of folks use the 18-200mm (I think) and it is a consumer lens and reasonably priced. Best I can remember, the IQ is quite good.

Lens Reviews
Photozone
Fred Miranda
Thom Hogan
and even Ken Rockwell

There are plenty more, but the top three I give credence to for lens reviews.

What does that include?

$2200-$2300 for D300 body, 1 lens and mem card (will get this for cheap)

Do I need an Extreme IV 8GB? I can get it for around $40 brand new.

This is the 24-70mm?:
http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikk...kkor-af-s-24-70mm-f28g-ed-review--test-report

I really plan just to buy a mid range lens, like the 24-70, right now, but in a ffew months I'm going to buy a good tele lens.

Could you recommend me a good 18-200 or 70/80-200mm that has VR, and won't go above $1000

I heard this is a nice lens, but isn't it like $1700?
http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikk...s-70-200mm-f28-g-if-ed-vr-review--test-report

jlykins said:
I have the 18-200 on my D300 and I do quite a bit. Because of the higher (clean) iso ability I can get some good low light shots with it. If you want a "walk around" lens that you can do candids and still have some focal length, the 18-200 is for you. I hardly ever take it off of the camera. With my D70 I was using a 70-200vr because I had to stay around iso 400 or lower because of noise.

Thanks for the input dude.

shivaswrath · Oct 23, 2008

Pure said:
$2200-$2300 for D300 body, 1 lens and mem card (will get this for cheap)

Do I need an Extreme IV 8GB? I can get it for around $40 brand new.

This is the 24-70mm?:
http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikk...kkor-af-s-24-70mm-f28g-ed-review--test-report

I really plan just to buy a mid range lens, like the 24-70, right now, but in a ffew months I'm going to buy a good tele lens.

Could you recommend me a good 18-200 or 70/80-200mm that has VR, and won't go above $1000

I heard this is a nice lens, but isn't it like $1700?
http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikk...s-70-200mm-f28-g-if-ed-vr-review--test-report

Thanks for the input dude.

With the D300 body consuming about $1600 of your budget, you are really left with very few mid-range, fast lens options in the $700 range.

The 24-70 and 70-200 by Nikon are both f/2.8 and both average about $1700 EACH.

I would suggest trying out the Sigma 24-70 which is quick (f/2.8) and is only ~$400 from the link I provided. I haven't used it, I'm going off of what your budget could immediately handle. Here are some pics from flickr someone took with the Sigma 24-70.
Some more on PBase.

Remember, your 70-200 VR lens essentially is at about 300mm with the 1.6x crop factor, so you're there on the long end.

If you didn't have a need for speed, I would've suggested the Nikon 70-300 VRII (but it is significantly slower than the 70-200 VR, which is a pro lens). It is about $450 as well.

So if you stick with my budget, you could manage to get the D300 body, a fast mid zoom (Sigma 24-70 f/2.8) and a slower long tele (Nikon 70-300 VRII) for about $2300.

Hope this helps. . ..

(personally, I'd get a couple of primes and run around like a mother for those sport's events!!)

Ejazzle · Oct 23, 2008

Yes the MB-D10 suppurts the En-El4a battery, thats what i keep in it all the time. I take about 2000 pictures before i need to charge it again. Yes you keep the EN-El3 in the camera when you use the Battery grip. But you switch the camera over to the battery thats in the grip and once that runs out, it will automatically switch over to the in camera battery. You can also put the EL3 in the battery pack too.

the en-el4a is about 100 bucks and the charger is $120...

Pure · Oct 23, 2008

shivaswrath said:
With the D300 body consuming about $1600 of your budget, you are really left with very few mid-range, fast lens options in the $700 range.

The 24-70 and 70-200 by Nikon are both f/2.8 and both average about $1700 EACH.

I would suggest trying out the Sigma 24-70 which is quick (f/2.8) and is only ~$400 from the link I provided. I haven't used it, I'm going off of what your budget could immediately handle. Here are some pics from flickr someone took with the Sigma 24-70.
Some more on PBase.

Remember, your 70-200 VR lens essentially is at about 300mm with the 1.6x crop factor, so you're there on the long end.

If you didn't have a need for speed, I would've suggested the Nikon 70-300 VRII (but it is significantly slower than the 70-200 VR, which is a pro lens). It is about $450 as well.

So if you stick with my budget, you could manage to get the D300 body, a fast mid zoom (Sigma 24-70 f/2.8) and a slower long tele (Nikon 70-300 VRII) for about $2300.

Hope this helps. . ..

(personally, I'd get a couple of primes and run around like a mother for those sport's events!!)

Thanks for all of that, but a few things.

Of course you're going to get frame crop, but that doesn't matter too much since the D3 is like $5000 and I don't have that kind of $$.

By speed you mean max aperture? I mean how much slower is it?

I haven't been as active as I was in photo, and I keep forgetting everything.

Ejazzle said:
Yes the MB-D10 suppurts the En-El4a battery, thats what i keep in it all the time. I take about 2000 pictures before i need to charge it again. Yes you keep the EN-El3 in the camera when you use the Battery grip. But you switch the camera over to the battery thats in the grip and once that runs out, it will automatically switch over to the in camera battery. You can also put the EL3 in the battery pack too.

the en-el4a is about 100 bucks and the charger is $120...

The 8fps however REQUIRES the EL4 in the grip correct?

Either way, I'm just going to buy an EL3 to start and save for the D10 handle.

kundalini · Oct 23, 2008

Pure said:
The 8fps however REQUIRES the EL4 in the grip correct?

kundalini said:
No, you do not need the EL4 battery to gain 8 fps. You can get the same with 8x AA's.

The opening two sentences of my first post.

Pure · Oct 23, 2008

kundalini said:
The opening two sentences of my first post.

I saw.

But can you get it with 2 EL3's?

Instead of a EL3 and AA's?

Any comments on this lens?

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/nikon_18-200_3p5-5p6_vr_afs_n15/

kundalini · Oct 23, 2008

Text from B&H "Features" description

With the included MS-D10 AA battery holder, users can power the camera with 8 AA batteries. Or you can use the Nikon EN-EL4 or EN-EL4A battery (sold separately) combined with the optional BL-3 Battery Chamber Cover to obtain a higher frame advance rate (8 Frames per second in the D300) than the EN-EL3e battery can provide.

Pure · Oct 23, 2008

kundalini said:
Text from B&H "Features" description

Haha, thanks. Answer to any of my questions above?

Joves · Oct 23, 2008

Pure said:
I saw.

But can you get it with 2 EL3's?

Instead of a EL3 and AA's?

Any comments on this lens?

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/nikon_18-200_3p5-5p6_vr_afs_n15/

No you dont get the 8fps with two of the EN-EL3es. You do with 8 AAs though. If you are shooting night games then I would suggest a monopod atleast and for you to practice panning with it.
Alot of people like the 18-200 so it maybe a good value starter lens. You could use just that for a while to save for even better glass. That would be my suggestion.

Pure · Oct 23, 2008

Seriously the f/2.8 lenses cost an arm and leg for me. $1700 would put me way over budget. Very nice lenses, but I can wait awhile for a lens that fast.