Lens Help!

[CarreraNicole]

I'm looking buying a Nikon D80. It comes with a kit, 18-55mm ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens. Can someone please tell me what " ED II AF-S DX Zoom" means exactly? And do you have any suggestions as to other cameras that might be of better value/quality?

I also do a lot of Macro work and was wondering what would be a good macro lens to invest in.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

[another view]

I don't usually recommend to put off a DSLR purchase, but this might be a good case for it. Nikon just announced a D90 which will replace the D80. You might want to either wait for it, or lower prices on D80's still in stock at camera shops.

ED = extra low dispersion glass, the quick version of the story is that it can make images sharper but usually it's more of an issue with longer lenses (200mm or more). It's good to have it.

AF-S = autofocus with silent wave focus motor (motor is inside the lens, not using the one in the camera body) - they're quiet and can be manually focused just by turning the focusing ring on the lens, so you don't have to change the focus mode on the camera first.

DX = works on DSLR's with small sensors, not full frame like the D700, D3 or film cameras.

Not sure what the II is, but maybe it's the second version of this lens...?

[Franglais]

cameras.

Not sure what the II is, but maybe it's the second version of this lens...?

It's the second version of the lens. The third version was introduced with the D60. It also has VR - meaning that the lens has moving elements inside which compensate for camera shake and give you sharp pictures at slow shutter speeds (within limitations).

All the Nikon 18-55's give good performance but they are not built for hard use - the lens is all plastic. But then so is the 18-135 that the D80 is often packaged with, and so is the 18-105 introduced with the D90.

Get the D80 with the 18-55 if you get a really good deal. Otherwise the D90+18-105 looks very promising.

The Tamron 90mm macro is good and reasonably priced. Tamron just introduced a new version that supports low-end Nikon bodies without a focussing motor (must be at least the 6th)