Please Help!

[jpperry]

This was also posted in the Nikon Section.

Hello everyone, I need some help deciding on a new lense. I will be honest with you, I haven't done much research yet so I don't have a list to narrow down from. I have a D70s that I have had for about a year and love. I purchased it with the 18-70 kit lense, and I also have a cheaper Nikkor 70-300 f4-5.6 that I had purchased for an N65. I mostly do landscape type shooting and have never done any portrait work. I think I would like to get something different, like a fisheye or a macro but am open to suggestions. Maybe I should just go with a decent prime? I think the price range (this will be a gift) would be $200 - $300, so I am looking for a good lense that is bang for your buck type. Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It would also be cool if you have used the lenses you are suggesting if you could post some pictures from them.

Thanks.

[another view]

Generally, the best way to choose a piece of equipment is to think about what you've shot and what you haven't been able to shoot because of an equipment issue. If there's a piece of gear that will make your life easier and/or images better, then it's a good thing to consider. Of course that's easier to say when you have been shooting for awhile and have a few lenses, etc...

Do you have an external flash? An SB800 would be pushing your budget but may be a good addition, and there's always the smaller (less expensive) SB600. I can't think of a lens that would really be great in that price range other than the ~$100 50mm f1.8. Maybe this lens and a good polarizing filter like Nikon's or the Hoya HMC series.

[jpperry]

I was actually thinking about the SB800 right after I submitted this message. I also was looking around at BH and other assorted sites and didn't see many lenses in the range I listed that looked to appealing to me. Being somewhat of a novice, who am I kidding, a full novice I have had no experience using an additional flash, what does it gain you?

[another view]

With a D70s, quite a bit - I think. My DSLR doesn't have iTTL but that system alone would make the upgrade worthwhile. I have a Fuji S2 which is built on an N80 platform and is a few years old. Moving the flash off the camera can do a lot to make your lighting more dramatic. With some Nikons, you can use the built in as a commander to fire the SB800 wirelessly, but I don't know for sure if the D70s in particular does this.

Many people think of flash for people shots, but they can have a lot of great uses with nature. There is a technique known as "dragging the shutter" (or as Nikon calls it, slow sync) where you use a slow shutter speed like 1/15 or one second, etc. The flash fires very quickly and freezes motion, but the long shutter speed lets light build up in the unlit areas and puts a blur around that sharp image. Can't think of an example I have handy at the moment... On-camera flashes are rarely too powerful, but sometimes you'll be wishing you had more flash power. I'd recommend an SB800 over the SB600 just for that reason.

[Greg McCary]

I'm not sure about what you want but a fisheye effect can be created in Photoshop...
Greg

[freygr]

This was also posted in the Nikon Section.

Hello everyone, I need some help deciding on a new lense. I will be honest with you, I haven't done much research yet so I don't have a list to narrow down from. I have a D70s that I have had for about a year and love. I purchased it with the 18-70 kit lense, and I also have a cheaper Nikkor 70-300 f4-5.6 that I had purchased for an N65. I mostly do landscape type shooting and have never done any portrait work. I think I would like to get something different, like a fisheye or a macro but am open to suggestions. Maybe I should just go with a decent prime? I think the price range (this will be a gift) would be $200 - $300, so I am looking for a good lense that is bang for your buck type. Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It would also be cool if you have used the lenses you are suggesting if you could post some pictures from them.

Thanks.

I have a D70 and I do Panoramas and Microphotography, and very few times have I wished for a shorter lense. But then I never had anything shorter 35mm lense for my film camera, and the 18mm works out to 28mm in a 35mm film lense.