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  1. #1
    Member trout bum's Avatar
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    Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    Cheers! I'm on the verge of buying a Nikon D300 and finally getting away from the ol' point and shoot. I'd like to sell some of my stuff locally and just don't pack enough camera. Anyhow, I'm not sure what type of lens I should purchase to accompany the D300 and am hoping somebody can provide me with some input. I'll probably only purchase one lens for starters and will eventually expand the gear.

    I need something versatile! Most of the shooting I do is outdoorsy scenic stuff. I'd like something with a decent zoom to capture bears and eagles without invading their space but also something that might do some macro stuff or would be good for taking fishing pictures. B&H has a combo deal with a 70/300 that looks good but I'm just not sure if that's the right lens for me or not.

    Suggestions would be much appreciated!

  2. #2
    Powder River Imaging EOSThree's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    Kenai, eh? I'm jealous, but not too much this time of year. Being able to do scenics and shoot eagles with the same lens is a tall order. The mentioned 70-300 will work OK for wildlife but 300mm is a little the short side, even with the aps-c crop figured in. For scenics 70mm is a bit long especially when you figure in the crop, it may be difficult to capture the whole scene.

    I would decide what you want to do more: landscapes or wildlife and choose a lens with that focal length. A wider lens will be more versatile for most things whereas telephoto starts to get specialized.

    I don't know Nikon very well but something with around an 18mm starting point and zooming to about 50-60mm would be a good starting point. Then something along the lines of a 70-200 will give you some telephoto capability. After that 300mm to 500mm is good for wildlife. I can speak from experience, no lens is ever long enough when it comes to wildlife.

    Here is a website that demonstrates focal lengths of lenses to help you decide what lengths may be appealing to you. Tamron Focal Lengths. I am not a big fan of Tamron lenses, although their optics have become quite good in the digital age, making them a pretty decent bargain.
    Rule books are paper they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal. --Ernie Gann--
    What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. --Oscar Wilde--

  3. #3
    Be serious Franglais's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    If you want just one lens then the Nikon 18-200 VR is the most versatile. It goes all the way from wide-angle to long telephoto without sacrificing too much image quality. I have one and so do lots of folks on the forum.

    If you can cope with two lenses for exteriors then I would look at the 16-85 VR Nikon and the 70-300 Nikon. I have the 16-85 and it gives consistently excellent results from wide-angle to moderate tele. I don't do much wildlife so I bow to EosThree's greater knowledge on whether the 70-300 is long enough.

    Personally I'm not tempted by 18-250 or 18-270 lenses that try to do everything all in one lens. The test reports I've seen say that the image quality suffers at the telephoto end.
    Charles

    Nikon D800, D7200, Sony RX100m3
    Not buying any more gear this year. I hope

  4. #4
    Member trout bum's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    Kenai indeed, although right now I'm on the North Slope and it's a bad time of the year to be in the Arctic Circle. But a guy's gotta make a livin'.

    Thanks a bunch for the insight from both of you. The 18-200 sounds like an excellent all around lens and when I have a bit more time, I'll be sure to interview the sites you both suggested. And thank you so much for responding! A good wide angle lens is a stout investment althogh I've seen some inexpesnive stuff but it's probably not worth the money. I need to do a little more investigating.

  5. #5
    Senior Member freygr's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    Quote Originally Posted by trout bum
    Cheers! I'm on the verge of buying a Nikon D300 and finally getting away from the ol' point and shoot. I'd like to sell some of my stuff locally and just don't pack enough camera. Anyhow, I'm not sure what type of lens I should purchase to accompany the D300 and am hoping somebody can provide me with some input. I'll probably only purchase one lens for starters and will eventually expand the gear.

    I need something versatile! Most of the shooting I do is outdoorsy scenic stuff. I'd like something with a decent zoom to capture bears and eagles without invading their space but also something that might do some macro stuff or would be good for taking fishing pictures. B&H has a combo deal with a 70/300 that looks good but I'm just not sure if that's the right lens for me or not.

    Suggestions would be much appreciated!
    I have the kit lens with my D70 (18-70mm which I like very much), the only thing I would say if you have the money get the 18-70mm F2.8 zoom, for low light photography. I like my 70-300mm Tamron Micro lens, but it's way to slow for hunter's jumpers for inside arena shots. For inside sports non-flash shots you do need F2.8 lenses or faster. The current kits for Nikon are the 18-55mm and 55-300mm lenses which are good lenses, but are on the slow side F3.5....
    GRF

    Panorama Madness:

    Nikon D800, 50mm F1.4D AF, 16-35mm, 28-200mm & 70-300mm

  6. #6
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    I can vouch for the 18-200vr as a great versatile lens, but it is a lot of lens, and a good chunk of cash. You say that you're "selling locally." Are you shooting items? A quality and cheap option is the good 'ole 50mm 1.8.

  7. #7
    Member trout bum's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    Freygr ~ 99.5% of the pictures I take are in an outdoors setting. Go figure being in Alaska, right? I won't be doing much in terms of lowlight photography. Nonetheless, thank you for the insight and it's definitely something to keep in mind down the road.

    Counsel ~ I mostly shoot scenic stuff: lots of mountains, rivers, sunrises and sunsets, wildlife and fish. I also enjoy macro but it's a work in progress. There are a fair number of local galleries on the Kenai Peninsula as well as some other outlets where I might be able to sell some stuff. Basically I'd like to be able to purchase equipment and write it off and one day make enough to stock up further and stay out of trouble with Uncle Sam. I've taken some pretty decent pictures these last 4-5 years and I can only wonder how much better they would have been with a professional style camera.

    B&H has a kit with a D300s that comes with both an 18-200 and 70-300. Based on the input I've received, I'm leaning toweard seeing if they'll let me change out the 70-300 for a 16-85 and just using the 18-200 for zoom shots. Would this be a wiser route in terms of having two lenses that provide versatility?

  8. #8
    Senior Member freygr's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    Just remember for birding and wild life a 300mm lens is still on the short side. For landscape I really want something shorter than what I have now (17-70mm). Please note that the 70-300mm micro lens I have only does micro between 185-300mm in the zoom range. This gives a lot of working space for bugs and other stuff. But for micro work you will need a tripod if the lighting is not good.
    GRF

    Panorama Madness:

    Nikon D800, 50mm F1.4D AF, 16-35mm, 28-200mm & 70-300mm

  9. #9
    Powder River Imaging EOSThree's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    If you are looking at the 16-85, that will cover your wide angle range, that should be a good lens for landscape work. For the wildlife side, instead of duplicating a lot of the range you already have with the 16-85 (18-85), I would recommend getting something a lot longer such as a 70-300 vr or better yet a 80-400 vr. With that range you are set for everything you want to shoot with the exception of macros.
    Rule books are paper they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal. --Ernie Gann--
    What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. --Oscar Wilde--

  10. #10
    Member trout bum's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    I checked out that 80-400 and it looks like a pretty phenomenal zoom lens, but it would knock me out of my budget. I plan on spending about $3500 cumulatively between the camera, lenses, tripod and carrying case. Which would be a better compliment to the 85, a 70-300 or 18-200?

  11. #11
    Powder River Imaging EOSThree's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    If you want the 18-200 as an all in one solution it will work well for that. I really don't know what to pair that lens with that stays in your budget. You might look at some of the 3rd party lenses such as the Sigma 120-400 to cover the longer focal lengths. I hesitate to recommend 3rd party lenses as I haven't had much experience with them lately and my experience years ago wasn't the greatest. That being said many many people love their Sigma or Tamron lenses and swear by them.

    If it were me, I would pick up the D300s kit with the 16-85, and then the 70-300. That leaves you with about $850 for a bag, tripod(get a decent sturdy one), a couple of flash cards, and maybe an extra battery. If there is any money left over after that, then I would look at a 50mm f/1.8 to have as a low light lens.
    Rule books are paper they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal. --Ernie Gann--
    What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. --Oscar Wilde--

  12. #12
    Spamminator Grandpaw's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    I would highly recommend the Nikon 18-200VR lens if you want a good all around lens. I have that lens and the Nikon 70-300VR also and that was a mistake on my part. There is too much duplication between the two lenses. I would go wit the 18-200VR because it covers a wide range and does a very good job and you can add lenses later as the need arises, Jeff
    Check out my website Here
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  13. #13
    Senior Member freygr's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    I would get a 2nd battery before getting any lenses, this is a must!

    The SD or CF card are not costly until you get the largest available. It's better to have a bunch of 2 or 4 gig card than one 16 gig card. If the one large card fails you are dead in the water, but if you have 8 1gig cards so what.

    Have you checked out purchasing a used camera body? Be careful as I've seen used camera bodies selling as much as a new body! So double check the prices and know the new prices before buying.
    GRF

    Panorama Madness:

    Nikon D800, 50mm F1.4D AF, 16-35mm, 28-200mm & 70-300mm

  14. #14
    Member trout bum's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    Has anybody had any experience with an imported lens? I've seen some lenses that are imported and significantly less expensive. They claim the lens to be the exact same as the USA model but the lens is warranted by the seller rather than the manufacturer.

    Thanks for all the input! It's been quite instrumental in my decision making. And a second battery is definitely figured into my budget and I may go ahead and just get a battery pack. A guy I work with has me convinced. =)

  15. #15
    project forum co-moderator Frog's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    In my opinion, sellers warranties are about as valuable as used Kleenex.
    I've read of cases where someone had a store warranty that said that for repair, you went to such and such a shop. When the buyer went there, the shop didn't know anything about being mentioned in someone's warranty.
    On the other hand, if the savings are significant enough, it could be well worth it. 99% of everything outlasts the warranty anyway.
    Do check the sellers ratings in 'camera dealer feedback.
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  16. #16
    Member trout bum's Avatar
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    Re: Newbie Making a Big Purchase... Help Needed

    I got my goodies! I ended up going with the D300s, a vr 16-85, vr 70-300 and 50 f1.8. Picked up some additional goodies as well and ended up going over budget which probably doesn't come as much of a surprise.

    There is one last item I'd like to get: a battery grip. I'd love to get the Nikon, but there are other options at 1/3 the price. I've seen some stuff on Ebay but am leery as some of it is probably junk. My question... what is a good after-market battery grip for this camera?

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