Confused Newbie Needs Lense advice (Tamron wide range zooms, LD, Di, DiII)

[fis]

I am a complete amateur who just bought a D50 -- Body Only. I only want to carry one lense and am looking at wide range zooms. I know wide range zooms aren't the pinnacle of sharpness but I will only be using the camera for handheld family and vacation shots. I'm sure I would appreciate a pro lense but I love the zoom range and am not willing to carry multiple lenses.

The last lense I bought (12 years ago!) was a Tamron AF28-200 F/3.8-5.6 LD for my Nikon 4004S. I now have this lense attached to the D50 and while I love the camera the lense it's definitely soft. I've been told that a newer model will be sharper, faster-focusing, and better in low light when used with the D50.

With all that in mind, I can't tell which one to buy. Just within the Tamron universe there are the following models ranging in price from under $200 to nearly $400:

AF28-300 F/3.5-6.3 XR LD
AF28-300 F/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD
AF18-200 F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II

I'm happy to spend the money for the right lense. Was the info I got correct? Will the Di II deliver better sharpness or faster focusing than the others? Are there other brands I should consider?

Tks in advance.

[ktixx]

I have no experiance with the Tamron lenses, however I have the sigma 18-125 (for my canon) and I think for the money it is a great lens, also the newer sigma 18-200 is getting pretty good reviews, and offers more range. Obvoiusly these lenses aren't going to be the sharpest, but if you are willing to compensate for the convenience of an ultra zoom, then go for it. whatever you choose, I would recomend against a 28mm wide end. This is not very wide on the 1.5x conversion and I am sure you will be much happier with 18mm on the wide.

As a final note - you may want to consider the new Nikkor 18-200 VR lens, This is a little more expensive (~$350 more than the sigma), however I think it is worth it because of the faster focus speed and the Vibration Reduction.
Good Luck
Ken

[fis]

OK I guess you called me on my "willing to pay for the right lense" comment.

The truth is, I'd never considered a Nikkor lense.
Will I get noticably faster focusing and sharper photos?

What is Vibration reduction? Is this like an image stabilizer for hand-held telephoto shots?

[erichlund]

OK I guess you called me on my "willing to pay for the right lense" comment.

The truth is, I'd never considered a Nikkor lense.
Will I get noticably faster focusing and sharper photos?

What is Vibration reduction? Is this like an image stabilizer for hand-held telephoto shots?
I have the Nikkor 18-200VR. If you are only ever going to get one lens (like we believe that ;) ) this may be one of the best choices for an all around lens. Stopped down to f8, it's darn sharp pretty much throughout its range. On the very wide end, it has some barrel distortion and vignettes a little bit. It also softens just a little bit wide open. The VR works and well. Here's a link to a gallery of shots taken at the San Diego Zoo. (http://eric-lund.smugmug.com/gallery/1109468/1/51652676) I used this lens exclusively, the entire day. This is a sample of the first half of the days shots. I haven't even gotten around to processing the 2nd half yet (just lazy, I guess). You can probably find this lens for $650, though your local store will probably ask for $750.

VR = Vibration Reduction. This is something built into the lens. One of the lens elements is attached to a motor and a computer chip. It attempts to predict how your body motion is affecting the stability of the lens, and compensate for any instability by moving that particular element in response. With VRII, included on this lens, you can gain up to 4 stops of hand holding stability over a lens without VR.

Here's a for instance: Figure the zoom is set on 200mm. On an APS camera like your D50, that's equal to a 300mm angle of view, so normally you would want a 1/300 shutter speed to ensure a sharp image. But, it's near evening, and the best you can get at ISO 400 (nearly no noise) is 1/30. Well divide 1/300 by 16 (2 ^4: 4 stops) and you get 1/18.75. 1/30 is faster than this, so you should be able to hand hold the camera for the image. The weakness of VR is that this is no good if you're trying to capture the last lap of a NASCAR race. VR doesn't help with action shots, only static shots. So you get a shot at an ISO that is very clean, rather than having to go to a higher ISO, where you risk getting more noise in the photo than you would like.

Of course, I realize that one of the nice things about the D50 is good high ISO performance, but simply extend the example up to ISO 800 or 1600 if that makes you feel more comfortable. The bottom line is that VR allows you to get a shot by hand that you would need a tripod for without VR.

BTW: This lens is an AF-S lens, so it will focus very fast. I don't know how fast the Tamron and Sigma variants of the lens focus. It is also faster than those lenses at the telephoto end, buy about 1/2 or 1 stop (I don't recall). They are the same speed at the wide end.

There was another thread on this forum that showed some more zoo photos, which are better than mine. He had already figured out that stopping down to f8 gives improved sharpness. I'm just learning that.

Good luck with your decision... :)

[George Riehm]

Like ktixx I have been using the Sigma 18-125 as my utility lens. For $270 it's a great little lens, but, like most, long, high ratio, zooms it does vignette at the extremes of focal length and aperture. Closing down a stop generally takes care of it. As I said the same holds true for all high ratio zooms.

The majority of images (some with vignetting/dark corners), here are using the 18-125.

http://d70fan.smugmug.com/

[fis]

Thank you so much for the explanation and for the examples of shots from the nikkor and the sigma. Erich your zoo shots are awfully sharp, and i've got a shaky hand and rarely use a tripod. I think I know what the correct answer is but what a price difference! :eek:

[Bullitt]

I have to vouch for the VR system having once owned a Nikon CP8800 before moving to a dSLR. It had two VR settings as I recall, one for static and the other for possibly shooting from a moving vehicle. I remember getting some pretty cool shots while on the Interstate and yes I know that was a bad idea but I couldn't resist seeing if it worked with a one-handed shot. I will tell you I didnt take a lot of time in the viewfinder... I will also vouch for Sigma after being told once that they were the lowest form of third party lenses. I now use a Sigma 18-50mm 1:2.8 EX D and it's the sweetest lens I have used other than wishing it had more range. I visualize a Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 in my bag sometime in the future, saw a used one today for 700.00 but couldn't quite pull the trigger... Good luck with your new D50 and whatever lens you choose...