Buying my First SLR(D70), need some help

[jmccalip]

I've been saving up my money, and I now have enough for a D70. I have no idea what lenes to buy though.

I want to take pictures of Landscapes, action shots, portraits, and maybe some macro. I would like I nice zoom lens so I wouldn't have to switch very often. Less risk of dust.

This might be asking too much, but being only 15, I would need these lenes to be on the budget. Less than $200/lens street price? I was thinking Sigma.

We are going on vacation to San Antonio in October, so I need everything ready by then. Thanks for your help.

[TNB]

When I first purchased my D50, I purchased a Sigma two lens kit. For the most part, they served their purposes well though I have pretty much already upgraded to higher quality lenses and still have my eye on one more particular lens. Information is in my signature and photos are on my website--the older photos were taken using the Sigma lenses.

[K1W1]

My vote is for a Nikon 50mm f1.8 at around US$100 brand new. This lens is about the bext photographic bargain you will ever get.
Spend the next month or so with this lens and decide what sort of photography you really do (wide angle, telephoto, macro, portrait, etc) then save for the correct lens for that use but in the mean time enjoy the 50mm.

[eduardofrances]

I've been saving up my money, and I now have enough for a D70. I have no idea what lenes to buy though.

I want to take pictures of Landscapes, action shots, portraits, and maybe some macro. I would like I nice zoom lens so I wouldn't have to switch very often. Less risk of dust.

This might be asking too much, but being only 15, I would need these lenes to be on the budget. Less than $200/lens street price? I was thinking Sigma.

We are going on vacation to San Antonio in October, so I need everything ready by then. Thanks for your help.

Sigma is known for not being able to have a solid standard of quality production, while one lens can be uber sharp, the next in the production line could be very badly coated or have poorly made optics. If you plan to invest in lenses Tamron and Nikkor are solid players.

The next thing, dont fall in the trap of all in wonder lenses (18-20mm lenses) 10x zooms have the problem that in order to reduce cost of the final product, they have to cut down the quality of the parts to make this lens (the nikkor 18-200 is no exception it may have better quality but it is not better than a 2 lens solution 18-50mm or 18-70mm and 70-300mm) this lenses are soft, suffer from vignetting, chromatic aberrations and image appear soft torward the end of the zoom range.

To buy a lens you have to be specific on what you want to do wich photos you may want to take, so you need to decide a lil bit here.


wide angle zoom lenses is good for archtectural and landscape, also for house interiors. not good for portraiture since they will show the face of the subject as bloated example:a zoom lens 10-20mm

Standard zoom this ones go from moderate wide to moderate telephoto, all around lenses, many camera comes with this lenses as "kit lenses" depending on the camera it can be different, in DSLRs this are the 18-55mm and 18-70mm as an example. the D70 (and D70s) since it is aimed to higher level photographer than entry level comes with the Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 G AF-S DX this lens is highly priced due to the quality it produces in photos vs the relatively low price. this lenses do a little bit of everything, portraiture, landscape,etc, etc

Telephoto those are long focal lenses that are great when the action is far like sports or action photos!, also, thanks to the compression of the depth of field they offer, are very flattering for portrait photography (your subject tack sharp and the background blurred) or for wild life nature (to catch animals that are very far so you dont get eaten by a lion or you dont disturb the pretty bird you want to take a photo).

there are prime lenses also, this kind of lenses are fixed focal lenses (the dont zoom) since the optical formula is less complicated than zoom lenses they will be sharper, and many will sport some nice big apertures.

Wide angle primes from 8mm to 40mm
Standard 50mm
Telephoto more than 50mm

Other than this there are Macro lenses (or like nikon calls it Micro) this lenses are to be able to do photos of little objects so they can be seen very big, be careful many companies say their lenses are macro and they arent, real macro lenses go up to 1:1 (real life size) other lenses are marked as macro are more like closeup lenses (1:2 or 1:3.9) useful? yeap, real macro? not if they arent 1:1



So your photos to be good need two things
1. you doing a good work controlling the camera.
2. Good glass to have phitis that go with the quality you want on your photo a soft lens wouldnt be very flattering to a cool portrait you do.

If you want a good lens that you wont find soft images (if you use the camera correctly) the Nikkor Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 G AF-S DX is a good option, tack sharp, with a nice zoom range (equiv in 35mm to 27-105mm) to travel it would be useful the lens is US$319.95 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=324190&is=USA
you could also buy your camera in a kit with this lens http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=381568&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

Hope this helps you out :D

[coldrain]

Disregard the above posted focal length rules, they are not only totally wrong for an APS-C size sensor DSLR, but also not totally correct for a 35mm SLR. Also disregard what is said about Sigma. While there can be sample variation, you also see that with Tamron and even Nikon.

You only have about 200$ to spend on lens? I guess you will only get the D70s Body? Then the only option you seem to have is the Sigma 18-125. It goes sort of wide, for land and city scapes, and it has a moderate tele reach too.
Its optical quality is surprising for the price, so I think that is your best start.
George Riehm, a regular poster here that also has a D70, is very impressed with this Sigma and recommends it.

[jeisner]

Disregard the above posted focal length rules, they are not only totally wrong for an APS-C size sensor DSLR, but also not totally correct for a 35mm SLR. Also disregard what is said about Sigma. While there can be sample variation, you also see that with Tamron and even Nikon.

In my experience Sigma has a higher return rate than Nikon, Canon, Pentax or Olympus (ie first party) lenses.. They also have rechipping issues with some brands.. As do their flashes... But when they work they are a bargain ;-)


You only have about 200$ to spend on lens? I guess you will only get the D70s Body? Then the only option you seem to have is the Sigma 18-125. It goes sort of wide, for land and city scapes, and it has a moderate tele reach too.
Its optical quality is surprising for the price, so I think that is your best start.

Agreed this was the lens that came with my DS, I have since sold it BUT it was not due to it being a bad lens.. For the money it is fantastic, and with a $200 (or there abouts) budget I would seriously consider it... Next up I would get a good fast 50mm as suggested by others above..

[eduardofrances]

Disregard the above posted focal length rules, they are not only totally wrong for an APS-C size sensor DSLR, but also not totally correct for a 35mm SLR. Also disregard what is said about Sigma. While there can be sample variation, you also see that with Tamron and even Nikon.

You only have about 200$ to spend on lens? I guess you will only get the D70s Body? Then the only option you seem to have is the Sigma 18-125. It goes sort of wide, for land and city scapes, and it has a moderate tele reach too.
Its optical quality is surprising for the price, so I think that is your best start.
George Riehm, a regular poster here that also has a D70, is very impressed with this Sigma and recommends it.


Even in APS-C sensor based cameras, the lenses categories doesnt change, the 1.5x field of view crop hasnt changed the standard on the classification on lenses yet you can search lens manufacturer sites if you want to check that. the field of view changes but not the lenses.

SIgma is hit or miss, sorry but they have the worst standard of quality i have seen many lenses that are badly made and some that are ok, try a lil search in google and you will see.

Disregard is kind of rude word, you may point that you have a different opinion than mine, or that you think I may be wrong, the statements above arent invented, you can check in the net, and you will see that I am not lying, I have 15 years of experience when it comes to lenses an optics, and sigma while not the worst, has some serious flaws in the production, the best bet to buy a sigma is to go to the store and try them in your camera, if the one they gave you is soft, ask for other lens.

I was looking for the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM to buy it for a magazine I worked, and I had to try 4 lenses to actually find one that wasn't bad, the same with the Sigma 70-300mm Apo super II, 6 lenses tried until I found one that wasnt bad. In other brands simply this doesnt happens, pop the lens of the box and it works like it should.

[eduardofrances]

Hey sorry to bother you, a friend of mine wants a K100D I watched your beautiful gallery in pbase great photos!,would you mind giving us a little feedback on how the k100d compares vs the IST DS :D in terms of image quality please ?? :) thanks a lot!!


p.d. by the way I love the photo _IGP0319.jpg!

[coldrain]

You are not totally right, eduardo. When you crop a picture a lot, in effect you get a tele photo, even though the focal length stays the same. Here a little demonstration:

This lovely crooked photo (I can make them crooked like no other :D) from Fira on Santorini, Greece, shows a scene made on a 1.6x crop camera with a focal length of 40mm.

Now lets crop the hell out of that photo. Resulting photo on the bottom. Not only is it now a tele photo because it brought something that was far away a lot closer, also you can see that the distance shortening you would expect from a tele lens is also visible. Look at the arches in front of that church. From front to back, they all seem the same height... while with a 40mm lens we would expect a slightly exaggerated perspective! Strange huh?

But the perceived perspective is not only a function of focal length, but also a function of how far a subject is from us.

Wide angle is just that... a wide angle. When you crop, the angle isn't that wide anymore!

So, while wide angle normally starts at about 35mm, on a 1.5x crop camera it starts at about 24mm (24mm and down, of course).

A normal lens (50mm for 35mm film) ona 1.5x crop camera would be about 33mm, so a 35mm prime seems perfect to take the job of a 50mm prime on full frame.

Slight telephoto portrait lenses on 35mm are between 80 and 135mm. For a 1.5x crop sensor, 50mm to 90mm lenses seem to be very suitable for short tele portrait duty.

And above 135mm the real tele lens work begins on a 35mm full frame. For 1.5x crop that would be more like 90mm and above.

[jeisner]

Hey sorry to bother you,

no problems, thats what forums are for ;-)


would you mind giving us a little feedback on how the k100d compares vs the IST DS :D in terms of image quality please ?? :) thanks a lot!!

In RAW there isn't much difference as you would expect sharing the same sensor, although noise seems slightly improved (maybe processing differeces?)..

In JPEG mode there is definately improvements, that was always a weak point (esp in reviews) for the ist DS, the RAWs were fine but the JPEGs where a little on the soft side.. Pentax seem to have addressed that issue with the K100d, as the JPEGs straight out of the camera are very good now..


p.d. by the way I love the photo _IGP0319.jpg!

Thanks! I like taking penguin shots, I always seem to end up there for a while when I go to the zoo..

[FishFace]

But the perceived perspective is not only a function of focal length, but also a function of how far a subject is from us.

Minor point - perspective is a function only of subject distance, i.e. if you have a subject that is a long way away (you are therefore likely to use a telephoto lens) then it has a "compressed" perspective. At short distances, perspective is exaggerated, which causes the big noses in wide-angle portraits.
The reason the two seem to be linked is because if you increase the focal length, you have to stand further back to get the same size image, and in moving, you alter the perspective.

Not sure whether you know this, but I guess the OP might not :)

[JREMKE]

Why don't you save yourself more money and buy a refurb D-50?

JRE

[Warin]

Why don't you save yourself more money and buy a refurb D-50?

JRE

1) Dual control dials

2) Cable release option

3) Wireless speedlight controller

4) LCD cover

5) Existing compact flash cards?

6) Want for that "new product" rush you dont get with a refurb ;)

[eduardofrances]

no problems, thats what forums are for ;-)



In RAW there isn't much difference as you would expect sharing the same sensor, although noise seems slightly improved (maybe processing differeces?)..

In JPEG mode there is definately improvements, that was always a weak point (esp in reviews) for the ist DS, the RAWs were fine but the JPEGs where a little on the soft side.. Pentax seem to have addressed that issue with the K100d, as the JPEGs straight out of the camera are very good now..



Thanks! I like taking penguin shots, I always seem to end up there for a while when I go to the zoo..

many thanks! for your input!! it has been very helpful, my friend has wanted a pentax DSLR because he and his father has tons of Pentax (old and new) lenses, but they were worried by the reviews on the IST DS on the JPG, but after seeing your gallery I showed to him, and he was impressed (mostly because of your skill and your beautiful photos) and then he asked if I could do a few questions to you! I copied and pasted the reply and he replied an hour later that he ordered one! thanks thanks a bunch for your help

[eduardofrances]

You are not totally right, eduardo. When you crop a picture a lot, in effect you get a tele photo, even though the focal length stays the same. Here a little demonstration:

This lovely crooked photo (I can make them crooked like no other :D) from Fira on Santorini, Greece, shows a scene made on a 1.6x crop camera with a focal length of 40mm.

Now lets crop the hell out of that photo. Resulting photo on the bottom. Not only is it now a tele photo because it brought something that was far away a lot closer, also you can see that the distance shortening you would expect from a tele lens is also visible. Look at the arches in front of that church. From front to back, they all seem the same height... while with a 40mm lens we would expect a slightly exaggerated perspective! Strange huh?

But the perceived perspective is not only a function of focal length, but also a function of how far a subject is from us.

Wide angle is just that... a wide angle. When you crop, the angle isn't that wide anymore!

So, while wide angle normally starts at about 35mm, on a 1.5x crop camera it starts at about 24mm (24mm and down, of course).

A normal lens (50mm for 35mm film) ona 1.5x crop camera would be about 33mm, so a 35mm prime seems perfect to take the job of a 50mm prime on full frame.

Slight telephoto portrait lenses on 35mm are between 80 and 135mm. For a 1.5x crop sensor, 50mm to 90mm lenses seem to be very suitable for short tele portrait duty.

And above 135mm the real tele lens work begins on a 35mm full frame. For 1.5x crop that would be more like 90mm and above.

I know about the 1.5x crop, but the lenses are called the same
even when the 50mm has a 75mm equivalent field of view, it is still called standard lens, the categories hasn't changed with the appearence of the DX format and their other brands counterparts ;)

[coldrain]

I know about the 1.5x crop, but the lenses are called the same
even when the 50mm has a 75mm equivalent field of view, it is still called standard lens, the categories hasn't changed with the appearence of the DX format and their other brands counterparts ;)
Yes, the 50mm is a full frame lens. Not a DX lens. Of course they call it a standard lens, its a 35mm SLR lens.