About to buy a D70, which lenses?

Hello all,

I am about to purchase a Nikon D70, my first SLR, and know very little about lenses. The kit I am planning on buying comes with two Sigma lenses; 28-80 mm & 70-300 mm, for $1229 out the door. Are these lenses good to start with? My main areas of interest are both macro and people. I don't have too much more to spend right now, but I'd rather buy right the first time. Also, can anyone recommend a good but affordable flash? TIA.

Brian

What are the apertures on the lens (f2.8,f4.0, f4.5..f5.6, etc.)?
With lenses, you'd need to pay attention to the aperture. It's the amount of light the lens will let in. For instance, if you're in low light, f5.6 wouldnt be your best bet, on the other hand, 2.8 might do fairly well. Usually the Aperture advertised with the lens will be the maximum, so on zoom lenses, you'll see something like "f/4.0-f/6.3", which means, at the lowest focal length (70mm) the aperture is f4.0, and at the longest (300mm) it's f/6.3. This isnt to say the lower aperture, the better quality, though. Check out the Reviews section on this website to see how the kit lenses are rated, and read user reviews.

Hope I cleared some things up. Sorry I couldn't answer any of your real questions, though.

Thanks for your quick response. I checked the reviews, and for the money they seem to be a pretty good deal. I figure they will be great to start out with while I'm feeling out the camera. and when I get a feel for how they work, I'll figure out what I really need and upgrade accordingly.

Thanks for your advice and your time.

I was interested yo see what people thought of the Lnese that comes in the D70 Kit.

It is the Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED lens. Decent? In addition Is Nikkor an official Nikon lense? Or is it like Canon which has EF lenses and Lseries Lense.? or is it third Party

Thanks

Peplogic

The 18-70 Nikkor is an excellent, lightweight, and compact mid-range "prosumer" zoom lens, with superb optics for its class, and fast AFS focusing as well. It is an official Nikon lens. I replaced my 28-105 Nikkor (another excellent affordable optic) with the 18-70 just a few weeks ago. This focal length range is well matched to the Nikon DSLRs, giving you an equivalent field of view of 27-105mm in 35 mm format, which is exactly what I had before with the 28-105 and an N80. The only downside of the lens compared to the 28-105 is slightly more barrel distortion at short focal lengths, and no 1:2 macro function. This lens would be a good place to start with a new D70 or D100, unless you want pro zoom glass, which is typically f/2.8 constant, and a lot more expensive (and heavy).

Cheers.

I just bought my D70 about two weeks ago and couldn't be happier. I came up from a Minolta Dimage Z1...MAJOR Difference!!

Anyway, after researching everything on the planet for the D-70, this is just my opinion:
The 18-70mm lens that comes in teh outfit is killer and quite versatile. I am planning on purchasing a 70-300 mm Nikkor ($129.00 on Amazon) for it. Down the road, I would like to add the 12-24mm to my accessories, but even the Sigma lens is over $600!!

One thing I will state is that if you can go on ebay and buy the little remote for the D70 (about $15). It is well worth its weight in gold for remote access to shooting.

Also I have been researching the two available flashes for the D70 namely, the SB-600 -vs- the SB-800. The SB-800 will work with almost any camera whereas the SB-600 only works with the D70.

I realize this information expands the scope of the original question, but I thought that it would be important info to know for anyone looking to get into the D70 Kit.

Scott

I bought the SB 800 flash and it is SUPERB on the D70 and on a bracket.
Get the Nikon kit lens, the 18-zoom that comes with the D70. My friend says it is great for studio portraits as well as all around shooting. He said it is sharper that the 24-85, a very nice lens which both of us own.

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Originally Posted by castleforte

Hello all,

I am about to purchase a Nikon D70, my first SLR, and know very little about lenses. The kit I am planning on buying comes with two Sigma lenses; 28-80 mm & 70-300 mm, for $1229 out the door. Are these lenses good to start with? My main areas of interest are both macro and people. I don't have too much more to spend right now, but I'd rather buy right the first time. Also, can anyone recommend a good but affordable flash? TIA.

Brian

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First question is - should you buy the D70 with the Nikon 18-70 kit lens or with the Sigma lens pair? I haven't seen any tests of the D70 with the Sigma lens pair and nobody who has replied so far has actually tried it.

So this is guesswork but - I would say go for the Nikon 18-70 kit lens and save up for a tele lens. The Sigma lenses are low-end and designed for film. They probably perform reasonably with film but if by any chance they have lots of chromatic aberration then they're not going to look very sharp on the D70. Plus the focal lengths are wrong for the D70 - remember that because the sensor is smaller than a 24x36 film frame, lenses come out looking more telephoto than when fitted on a film camera (the 28-80 has the viewpoint of a 42-120). The right thing to do is - just do the same as everybody and get the 18-70.

As for flash, Sigma have announced a couple that are compatible with the D70 but for the time being the Nikon SB600 is the "reasonable" choice. (BTW as far as I can make out this flash is fully compatible with film cameras and earlier digital cameras)

Charles