Newbie Lens Advice

sparkymark75 · 14 Apr 2007 at 21:00

I don't pretend to be an expert photographer but I was getting fed up with the quality of the photos from my aging 3MP Kodak digital camera so thought I'd treat myself to a new camera.

I waas going to get another point 'n' shoot digital camera but I want to learn a bit more about photography and given that I'm going to New York and the Caribbean this year, I was after something that would give me a better quality picture.

Anyway, enough of the background. I've bought myself a Nikon D40 with 18-55mm lens kit and I'm wondering what lens I should consider getting next. I don't have much spare cash just now so I don't mind buying second-hand but I'm just looking for some pointers. I'll probably be doing mainly landscape/scenery type shots.

dod · 14 Apr 2007 at 21:38

For landscape most people normally use a wide angle so the 18-55 should be ideal. I've no doubt though someone will recommend going ultrawide, say the sigma 10-20.

I'd be tempted to stick with what you've got just now till you really know what you shoot most and whether or not the kit lens is limiting you.

sparkymark75 · 14 Apr 2007 at 22:25

Was just looking on an auction site and there are some unbelieveably cheap lenses on there. Do you get fake manufacturer lenses?

alexisonfire · 14 Apr 2007 at 22:35

Remember only Nikon AF-S and Sigma HSM lenses will autofocus with your camera.

Geffen · 15 Apr 2007 at 07:35

You need to work out what part of photography intrest you as that will realy decide which type of lense to get.

Saying that I found that kit lenses are normally ok for landscape work and general walkaround stuff but for portraits there pretty poor due to the middle size appetures of F5.6. So one of the best purchases i bought for my camera was 50mm F1.8 as the wide appeture allowed a narrow depth of field and it was cheap.

Note that i'm a Canon owner so have no idea if a 50mm F1.8 is sold by nikon or if it will work on your camera.

Wile E. Coyote · 15 Apr 2007 at 07:41

Geffen said:
Note that i'm a Canon owner so have no idea if a 50mm F1.8 is sold by nikon or if it will work on your camera.

Nikon do the same lens, but it won't auto focus on the D40, it hasn't got a built in motor.

sparkymark75 · 15 Apr 2007 at 07:49

alexisonfire said:
Remember only Nikon AF-S and Sigma HSM lenses will autofocus with your camera.

The item is described as being a Nikon AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G Lens. Does that sound any good?

Geffen said:
You need to work out what part of photography intrest you as that will realy decide which type of lense to get.

There will be the general photography stuff when you've got a family but my main interests will be macro and landscape pics.

Geffen · 15 Apr 2007 at 09:11

mparter said:
There will be the general photography stuff when you've got a family but my main interests will be macro and landscape pics.

Based on what you've just said i would ignore the 70-300 lense i would also live with your kit lense for landscape work for now and look for a macro lense.

King4aDay · 15 Apr 2007 at 13:11

Look at the Sigma macro lenses (website) or the Tamron 90mm for macro work - I have the Sigma 150mm and love it to bits.

For landscape your best bet without breaking the bank is the Sigma 10-20mm.

alexisonfire · 16 Apr 2007 at 08:53

mparter said:
The item is described as being a Nikon AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G Lens. Does that sound any good?

No, this lens will not autofocus with your camera. On walk about and telephoto lenses, autofocus is pretty much a must. You can however get away with using a non HSM or AF-S macro lens as manual focus is normally used anyway. This is posted in the tips and tricks thread, but will copy and paste. Heres a full list of all lenses that will autofocus with the D40.

Nikon

Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED AF-S DX
Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S DX
Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX
Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX
Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED AF-S DX
Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX
Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR
Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX
Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR
Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR
Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8D IF-ED AF-S
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S VR
Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR
Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED AF-S VR
Nikkor 200mm f/2G IF-ED AF-S VR
Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S VR
Nikkor 300mm f/4D IF-ED AF-S
Nikkor 400mm f/2.8D IF-ED II AF-S
Nikkor 500mm f/4D IF-ED II
Nikkor 600mm f/4D IF-ED II
AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E II
AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II
AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E II

Sigma

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 EX DC APO HSM
Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG ASP
Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX ASP HSM
Sigma 14mm f/2.8 EX ASP HSM
Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG APO RF HSM
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO Macro HSM
Sigma 80-400mm F4.5-5.6 APO EX OS
Sigma 100-300mm f/4 EX DG APO IF HSM
Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG APO IF HSM
Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 EX APO IF HSM
Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG APO Macro HSM
Sigma 180mm f/3.5 EX DG APO Macro IF HSM
Sigma 300mm f/2.8 EX DG APO IF HSM
Sigma 500mm f/4.5 EX DG APO IF HSM
Sigma 800mm f/5.6 EX DG APO HSM

sparkymark75 · 16 Apr 2007 at 09:08

Apologies for being stupid but what does the AF denote in the lens description? I assumed it was AutoFocus :confused:

It also does state on the auction site I saw the lens that it is Auto and manual focus :confused:

bigredshark · 16 Apr 2007 at 14:08

mparter said:
Apologies for being stupid but what does the AF denote in the lens description? I assumed it was AutoFocus

It also does state on the auction site I saw the lens that it is Auto and manual focus

it does, but plain AF lenses focus using a motor in the camera body, because the D40 is cheap, they left out the motor. so only AF-S (autofocus using a sonicwave motor built into the lense) will work with the D40.

it's not a huge loss, AF can be slow and noisy, whereas AF-S is quiet and pretty instant on most lenses...

sparkymark75 · 16 Apr 2007 at 15:11

bigredshark said:
it does, but plain AF lenses focus using a motor in the camera body, because the D40 is cheap, they left out the motor. so only AF-S (autofocus using a sonicwave motor built into the lense) will work with the D40.

it's not a huge loss, AF can be slow and noisy, whereas AF-S is quiet and pretty instant on most lenses...

Just the answer I was looking for thank you.

SDK^ · 16 Apr 2007 at 15:51

It's worth noting that lenses with built in focus drives (HSM AF-S etc) cost more than those without, so the savings made on the body (D40) will be wiped out when you come to buy lenses.

bigredshark · 16 Apr 2007 at 22:42

SDK^ said:
It's worth noting that lenses with built in focus drives (HSM AF-S etc) cost more than those without, so the savings made on the body (D40) will be wiped out when you come to buy lenses.

maybe, thats one way to look at it, but Nikon's range is heavily tilted towards AF-S so it's quite unlikely that you'd have the straight choice between an AF and AF-S version. true, AF-S does cost more but likely you'd be buying it anyway...

in fact I can't think of a single mainstream lens which is available in both versions now the 70-300G has been replaced by the VR version