New with a Lens Question

[Dianne]

Pleased to meet you all! Hope that someone can give me some good advice.

I have been shooting with a Nikon EM for the past 15 years, finally gave up on me and I purchased an N80. With my EM, my lens was 50mm f1.8, the new lens is 28-80mm f3.3.

The photos that I take are b&w mostly children and old stuff like broken down cars/houses/boats, I'm concerned that this new lens isn't going to give me the same shots that my old lens did.

I am not technical when it comes to my photography so I apologize if this doesn't make much sense, I'm just wondering if I should return this new lens and get one that is similar to my old one.

[Dianne]

I think I've answered my own question.

Keep the lens that came with the kit and get the 50mm lens for $100.
Just had to read a couple of threads to figure that out.

[another view]

Sounds like a good idea. 50mm lenses are a bargain for how sharp they are, plus at f1.8 it will work pretty well in low light. One thing about autofocus cameras is that the lenses have to be "faster" than f5.6 (meaning a wider aperture or lower "f" number) to work reliably in low light. In this case, the faster the better - your viewfinder will be a little brighter with this lens.

Keep the zoom, it should be handy in a lot of situations. I don't know this lens, but even if it's not the sharpest one out there it should be fine for most uses.

[Dianne]

Thanks so much, I just needed someone else to say it. This morning I looked through both lenses and I can really see the difference.

The new lens will take a little getting used to, as will the completely automatic-ness of the new camera, but I'm excited about the change.

Going to buy the 50mm today so I can shoot all weekend!! Thanks again!

[another view]

the completely automatic-ness of the new camera

The N80 can be used completely manually - well, except for the film advance! Alot of people - myself included - use a camera that can be fully auto or fully manual, but end up using it somewhere inbetween usually.

Once you get used to the camera, try all the features and see how they can work for you. One good one is the on-demand grid lines in the viewfinder that are set through the custom functions. I've got it "on" with my Fuji S2 (same body). It probably also lets you select whether or not you want auto film rewind - I usually set it up to do this on the one I've got, but turn it off when the noise might be a problem.