Digital Camera Lenses - advice anyone?

[Shirley]

I've got a Nikon D100 and it currently has a 35mm lens on it - which isn't good enough for my requirements.

I want a zoom lens - but also want a macro capability. I'm guessing that I would need more than one (well I'd LIKE more than one )

I want to take wildlife pics, and landscapes and also portrait pics but these would only be family. Does anyone have any recommendations for me??

[Martin]

sounds a simple question.......
What you've got there is a "standard lens" - it gives roughly what you see (neither enlarged nor "widened") - so a good compromise is what's called a "short zoom" - I've got an 18-70 in my digi - it ranges from a fairly wide angle (good for landscapes, and "getting big groups in" up to a short telephoto - it's enlarging roughly times 2 - so it'll "bring things closer" - ideal for "portraits")
Then if you want to bring things a lot closer, you'll need a telephoto zoom - something like a 70-210 - it takes over where the short zoom leaves off, and is ideal for focussing on a distant animal or whatever
Just to further confuse matters, some manufacturers are now making lenses which claim to do the lot all in one lens - I've seen 17-300 offered! - they are pricey, and they are very much a compromise - and do not generally give anywhere near the quality you'll get from using the two zooms.
For true macro, you need a very specialist and expensive lens, but often a form of macro setting is available on the short zooms - check with your local camera shop - it varies from maker to maker! (I'm a bit out of touch with digi Nikons, my last Nikon was an FM2 - which I've still got!)

[funkypixie]

Hi Shirley,

I've been picking DH's brains for you - he never leaves home without his camera.

Sigma 70 - 300 is a pretty good, cheap option - it's what my DH has for his D50. It cost about £125 from Jessops - can probably get it cheaper online. He says you want a 50m f1.8 prime for good portrait photos (about £75 on ebay) - it's what he's after for Christmas

If money is no object the dream lens would be the Nikon 28-200vr zoom (whatever that means ) but it's about £750... - he's not getting that for Christmas

If you want an idea of the pics you can get with the Sigma, have a look at his Flickr accounts.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheekyboy/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesthorpe/

Hope this helps a bit!

Anna x

[Martin]

and to further confuse matters, cameras like Nikons are backards-compatible with their older lenses made for 35mm cameras - as the sensor is a different size to film, a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera is slightly wide-angle, on a digi, it's the "standard" lens!
Hence that concurs with FPs "use A 50mm lens for portraits" - the old classic 35mm portrait lens was something like 80mm!
Very roughly, digital lenses are roughly two-thirds of that of 35mm - a 24-105 on 35mm is roughly the same as a 17-70 for digi. This can have advantages - I bought a 75-300 tele zoom made for 35mm, on my digi, it gives me something like 110-450mm (and works a treat!)
Just to clarify the "quality" thing - ideally we'd use "prime" lenses all the time - they can be made with no compromises in design, and will give the best results. Modern zooms are a very good alternative to carrying a bag full of lenses, and except for the most critical work prime lenses are unnecessary (many wedding photographers use a high quality zoom for all their wedding work). In my experience, those lenses that try to "do it all" really do fall down on performance.
The other point to bear in mind is that dust is no terrific worry in 35mm, but constant lens changing on a digi can allow dust to land on the sensor, which can be a pig to remove!

[Shirley]

Thanks folks....

DP came home with a Nikkor 70-300mm that he bought from a friend at work (it's legit!!) - it's not the best for the digital camera as the Digital lenses are supposed to be better... but it's better than what I had for what I want to do!

Now all I need is some good weather so that I can go and practice with it - it's blowing a gale outside and the rain is falling now too.

[Martin]

excellent choice! - it should work really well - if it's one made for a 35mm camera, it'll effectively be something like a 110-450, so bags of magnification - in poor light especially, you'll discover how much you "wobble", so you'll need to set high shutter speeds, or use a monopod or tripod!
Here you are - I took this with my 70-300!

[Shirley]

I've got my tripod ready!! Thanks for the tip.

Nice pic!

[pskipper]

Now all I need is some good weather so that I can go and practice with it - it's blowing a gale outside and the rain is falling now too.

Sounds like perfect atmospheric weather if you get a sunny spell :)

[Shirley]

Now all I need is some good weather so that I can go and practice with it - it's blowing a gale outside and the rain is falling now too.

Sounds like perfect atmospheric weather if you get a sunny spell :)

Yeah... but it was also nighttime

[wulf]

Low-light setting? A friend of mine recently bought a Nikon D50 before going on holiday. Among the excellent pictures he brought back were some fascinating ones done using a low-light setting (slow shutter speeds to let in lots of light and giving a fresh perspective on the world).

At the moment, I'm still living in point and click land although my friend has offered to lend his D50 to me, which I definitely will take him up on at some point!

Wulf

[lindysman]

We have an Olympus c-765 ultra zoom, it has a 10 x optical zoom lens & 4 x digital zoom.
Its a brilliant piece of kit, not too expensive either.
You can compose your picture on the screen, or switch to the viewfinder, its about the nearest thing to a 35mm.

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews72511.html