Digital Camera and Lenses

[Mark70]

I'm currently researching the purchase of a digital camera. I've been using a Nikon N70 and am considering a D70. My question is about lenses. Kits with the D70 are available with "D" lenses and some are not. What's the advantage? I know the cost goes up with these lenses but to what advantage.

I like to experiment and have lots of learning to do. I like to take pics of all sorts of things whether it snapshots or getting artistic playing with aperatures and exposures. I can't wait to use the digital lenses as the opportunity for growth seems to be incredible.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Mark

[deckcadet]

I'm currently researching the purchase of a digital camera. I've been using a Nikon N70 and am considering a D70. My question is about lenses. Kits with the D70 are available with "D" lenses and some are not. What's the advantage? I know the cost goes up with these lenses but to what advantage.

OK here it goes....
Don't bother with anything like a 28-80 or 28-105.. Just don't.
Buy the 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Aspherical, at least. Effective Field of View is that of a 28-105 on your N70.
This lens is inexpensive but is a great performer for the price, and i've seen more than one pro use it. Stopped down you really start to realize how much bang you get for your buck.
"D" has nothing to do with digital, just to get rid of that misconception. It refers to the 'Distance' chip in the CPU of the lens, which gives distance information to the metering system of the camera for best results with flash and regular exposure. Without D, the camera will lose the full 3D color Matrix metering.
Now here's the thing.
You'll see 'G' lenses out there too.
ALL G LENSES ARE ALSO D!

DX stands for a lens that has an image circle large enough for only a DX sensor throughout its range. Usually the cost isn't higher than the equivalent lens....12-24 DX is cheaper than the rough equivalent 17-35 AF-S, 17-55 DX is cheaper than the 28-70 AF-S, 18-70 is around the same as the 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 counterpart.
All DX lenses are G and thus D.

All currently produced AF nikkor lenses are D, G, or DX, so all have D. In addition, the 85mm f/2.8D PC Micro Nikkor, despite being manual focus only and full manual aperture, also has the D-chip.


Other than the 18-70 you may want to consider the Nikon 18-200mmf /3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR Aspherical. It has an 11x zoom range with good quality- equivalent field of view to a 28-300mm lens on your N70. 2 ED elements (18-70 has 3) but 3 asphericals elements (18-70 has 1). It has only a marginally longer close focus limit. The 18-70 when retracted is 2.9x3.0 in, 18-200 is 3.0x3.8 in. The 18-200 weighs about 170g more than the 18-70, but then again it does add VR (very useful for slower lenses for avoiding camera shake) and a much longer zoom range. It does extend a lot more when zooming though. The 18-70 is very compact. Doesn't seem that way at first sometimes, but then again a photographer's perspective changes once giant lenses like the 70-200 come into play

[Mark70]

Thanks for the feedback! Great help. I'm going to print this up and keep it for future reference!

[another view]

That was quite a reply - maybe we should make this one a sticky!

[deckcadet]

That was quite a reply - maybe we should make this one a sticky!

I was just going easy on the technical stuff....if you want sticky material, i can probably get enough lens info together (with camera specific info of course) to crash the server