Okay, here is my story. I have only used point and shoot cameras in the past with limited success. No photography lessons. I am willing to learn. I have looked at a Nikon D40 and discussed with a few people along with a few salespeople. I really want to take pictures of my grandsons playing baseball along with some outdoor photography, birds, etc. I was told that in order to get close up action shots with the Nikon D40 it would require a 70-300 mm lens. My questions are:
1. Will the Nikon D40 & the above noted lens allow me to take those photos, or are there better choices?
2. Presuming that the D40 will do the job, what are the other items, such as memory cards, etc. would I need to get launched?
3. Where would the best place be to purchase those items?

I thank you for any advise you might be able to provide me on these matters.

They should.
We had a recent discussion on the 70-300 afs vr in the Nikon forum http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?t=42543
and with the vr lens you should be fine for outside baseball shots.
Birds might be tricky as 300 is a bit short but I think you can get an extender as mentioned in the above post.
Don't know what your budget is but the 70-300 vr seems to be about 500-600 dollars.
As far as where to buy see our dealer feedback forums http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?t=37380
Some good and some bad places to buy have been added off and on so do your research.
Also note that the 'bad' places list is a lot longer than the good ones.
I tried finding the 70-300 at B&H which always gets good ratings but I guess they aren't carrying it.
There are a few good ebay stores. Just make sure they are USA authorized dealers or you won't get a manufacturer's warranty. Cameta comes to mind but might be others.

Okay, here is my story. I have only used point and shoot cameras in the past with limited success. No photography lessons. I am willing to learn. I have looked at a Nikon D40 and discussed with a few people along with a few salespeople. I really want to take pictures of my grandsons playing baseball along with some outdoor photography, birds, etc. I was told that in order to get close up action shots with the Nikon D40 it would require a 70-300 mm lens. My questions are:
1. Will the Nikon D40 & the above noted lens allow me to take those photos, or are there better choices?
2. Presuming that the D40 will do the job, what are the other items, such as memory cards, etc. would I need to get launched?
3. Where would the best place be to purchase those items?

I thank you for any advise you might be able to provide me on these matters.

For sports you should be shooting faster than 1/250 th of a second so the VR is not really needed for baseball. If you going to take sports photos of basket ball then you will need a faster and more $$$ lens. As for birding you will need the VR as the light levels will require longer exposures, and you may have to install a telephoto extender which reduces the F stop of your lens. But remember the less light the slower the autofocus will be and you may have to us the manual focus.

Depending on what memory card(s) you get, my advice would be to get at least two of them and keep one for backup. I have seen too many postings on this forum and others where people were complaining about memory cards gone bad. Make sure you format them in the camera before each use.

The other thing you might want to think about is getting a card reader instead of having to plug your camera into a computer everytime you want to download images. They are relatively cheap and can be left attached to your computer at all times.

My 0.02¢

Cheers,

WesternGuy

Depending on what memory card(s) you get, my advice would be to get at least two of them and keep one for backup. I have seen too many postings on this forum and others where people were complaining about memory cards gone bad. Make sure you format them in the camera before each use.

The other thing you might want to think about is getting a card reader instead of having to plug your camera into a computer everytime you want to download images. They are relatively cheap and can be left attached to your computer at all times.

My 0.02¢

Cheers,

WesternGuy

I agree but I use multiple memory cards in a rotating system. That way if you have a computer crash before you backed up your photos you can recover them.

I agree but I use multiple memory cards in a rotating system. That way if you have a computer crash before you backed up your photos you can recover them.

I have been doing this, and it's like having yet another backup until you use the card again. I think a lot of card problems have to do with pilot error (i.e. oops). Don't ever try to remove or unplug a card when it's connected to the computer (use the disconnect utility first), the LED light is on or flashing, or the camera is turned on.

Download the images, create a backup and throw the card back in the wallet. Next time you need it, format in camera and shoot - and repeat. This way, you have that backup from the time you download until you use it again. No problems here - ever...

I have one card (getting another soon) but I have never connected any of my cameras to my computer, I cant afford to replace either camera or computer lol. I will use the rotating card system though, thanks for the info!