which lens

nrois02 · Apr 7, 2009

so im having a tough time deciding on which lens to purchase. although i dont know much about each one i would like to broaden my horizon. I am shooting with a nikon d80. so first

telephoto lens 70-300mm F4-5.6 D ED Auto Focus Zoom Lens

second
SIGMA 70-300 MM F4-5.6 DG MACRO

third
Sigma 8mm f/4 Fisheye

also if anyone could tell me if these are good lenses to buy that would be great! thanks

JerryPH · Apr 8, 2009

nrois02 said:
...although i dont know much about each one i would like to broaden my horizon.

That is the main issue. One cannot make a proper decision if one has no understanding of the specs of each lens.

Start by doing a google of both and research reviews other people have done.

Cameras come and go, but lenses should be bought once and buy the best you can afford. A crappy lens today will always be a crappy lens. A quality lens today will be a quality lens 25 years from now too.

nrois02 · Apr 8, 2009

ok thanks. i appreciate it

Katier · Apr 8, 2009

The other point is knowing what you shoot.

Say your using your kit lens and doing a lot of architecture, you find yourself at 18mm all the time and sometimes that's now wide enough. Then you'd be perhaps wanting a 10-24mm or similar.

New lens purchases are done to fill a need in a photographers reportoire.

Overread · Apr 8, 2009

whilst I do agree with Jerry with regard that one should really aim for the best that they can - I do think however that when one starts out a cheap 70-300mm range lens can actually be a very good learning tool.
Its very hard to make informed choices when your very new to DSLRs and lenses since so many of the choices require you to understand things that have no real world meaning to you until you are out in the field and using the gear for a good bit of time first.

I would say that if you have an interest in telephoto photography - such as birds, wildlife, sports etc then the 70-300mm might be a good option early on (though if you go for the sigma do get the APO edition of the lens as it is considerably sharper than its older version).
The 8mm fisheye lens is very specialist in that it gives you very different shots to a normal lens and whilst the effect can be really interesting for a short amount of time its not something that many people use on a regular basis and I would advise caution with regard to such a lens - especailly in the early days