Recommended lenses for Digital SLRs? Moving to the Digital SLRs I noticed that some guidance/recommendations on lenses might be good info for newbies and maybe not so newbies (like myself).The best lens range I have seen so far was the 28-200 that my Sony DSC-F828 offered. Honestly; I have not found a matching lens yet (range wise).Is there anybody out there that can recommend a generic lens, with a nice range? Recommended lenses for Digital SLRs? Moving to the Digital SLRs I noticed that some guidance/recommendations on lenses might be good info for newbies and maybe not so newbies (like myself). » Read More Recommended lenses for Digital SLRs? Moving to the Digital SLRs I noticed that some guidance/recommendations on lenses might be good info for newbies and maybe not so newbies (like myself).The best lens range I have seen so far was the 28-200 that my Sony DSC-F828 offered. Honestly; I have not found a matching lens yet (range wise).Is there anybody out there that can recommend a generic lens, with a nice range? « Show Less
1373624
If you are willing to fork out $500 - $550, I highly recommend the SAL 18250 (This is the best range I have found so far for the A350). This lens is SOLID, no drift, extremely quick focusing. If you don't want to schlep around those low quality "kit lens's", just buy the sony body and invest in this GREAT lens. Pic quality turns out great!! I have had this now for almost 4 months. Took it on a trip to Alaska and found it extremely versatile, going from wide to telephoto. The convenience factor alone (of not having to swap lens's) means a reduction in camera inside gunk that can spot up your pics, and easy shooting under any situation. If you are willing to fork out $500 - $550, I highly recommend the SAL 18250 (This is the best range I have found so far for the A350). This lens is SOLID, no drift, extremely quick focusing. If you don't want to schlep around those low quality "kit lens's", just buy the sony body and invest in this GREAT lens. Pic quality turns out great!! I have had this now for almost 4 months. Took it on a trip to Alaska and found it extremely versatile, going from wide to telephoto. The convenience factor alone (of not having to swap lens's) means a reduction in camera inside gunk that can... » Read More If you are willing to fork out $500 - $550, I highly recommend the SAL 18250 (This is the best range I have found so far for the A350). This lens is SOLID, no drift, extremely quick focusing. If you don't want to schlep around those low quality "kit lens's", just buy the sony body and invest in this GREAT lens. Pic quality turns out great!! I have had this now for almost 4 months. Took it on a trip to Alaska and found it extremely versatile, going from wide to telephoto. The convenience factor alone (of not having to swap lens's) means a reduction in camera inside gunk that can spot up your pics, and easy shooting under any situation. « Show Less
1373625
you should check out this site... it has excellent reviews of lenses for the sony alpha series dslr cameras.http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp
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while the 10-30 and 30-100 are very good. I bought the 10-100 lens for the easy of having one lens to deal with. the nikon 1 series camera has a fast autofocus so i didn't want to slow down by changing lens.
1864063
I'm a hobbyist. I'd like to upgrade from the 28-135mm to the 24-105mm, but I'm afraid of spending this much and getting a lens that isn't a "good copy." I'm just not expert enough to know if a lens needs to be recalibrated or something. Is it best for someone like me to buy local and ask the camera store to evaluate the lens sharpness? Or buy from someone like B&H; and ask them to evaluate it before they ship it to me? I resell a lot of lenses, too, and I wouldn't want to resell it some day and have someone complain it wasn't sharp.
604837
Hi Jack - to be honest I've not had hands on with this lens. It was bought for my Son for his birthday. And from what I do know about it it is smaller and with the Macro capability - a more useful lens, also the 18-200 has less focal range then the newer Macro Lens. Seems to have pretty good reviews and as my son uses it for digital video - he's pretty happy thus far. Sorry I can't be of more help.Chuck
501123
Congrats on the nice lens! I have the 17-85. It's better than my 18-55, but I would love to get the 17-55 someday. Heck, I'd like to get a lot of different lenses someday! But being completely new to dslr, I think what I have now will suffice until I get going.
8522
Hardy,Thanks for the info about getting better lenses. I just "bit the bullet" and bought the 24-105mm L lens. I have heard this same wise advice from other photographers, and I am looking forward to getting sharper photos with the new lens, and I will try to get only L lenses from now on. In the end, you truly get what you pay for.
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Hi Mr. Hewitt (I wonder if we have any relation?) Anyway, for a true beginner (as in you've never used anything but a point-and-shoot) I'd recommend you get a Nikon D40 and an 18-200 VR. Keep the 18-55 kit lens, you'll find it lighter when your just taking snapshots of the family or whatever. The D40 is an excellent starter camera, it has almost all the tweaks of this much more expensive camera without the weight and cost. The D300 has many advantages over it, but I really feel you'll learn a lot faster with a simpler camera, and step up to this when your ready. I actually started out with a D40 a bit over a year ago, it made starting out quite fun. The 18-200VR will follow you as a great lens on the D300 too, and you can use any newer AF-S lenses on it. If you have older AF-D Nikon lenses lying around that you want to use, a D80 is also a good place to start. It's easier to make the custom tweaks you'll learn about in your photography classes on the D80, but it still has Auto modes as well to get you started. Checkout www.kenrockwell.com, especially his recommended camera page. He's a bit more eloquent than I am. And I wouldn't be so fast to recommend the D60 to anyone, it's just the D40x's guts (plus active D-Lighting, but without the other enhancements of the D300/D3) with a different name stamped on it. I wouldn't recommend the D40x or D60 to anyone, they exist to fill a price point to compete with Canon. If your eyeballing either, jump to the D80 and don't look back.
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What camera bodies do you currently own and for what type of shooting?? For portrait, people love the 85, some even say they prefer the 100mm. I own the 50L, the only thing I can say is that shooting at f1.2 takes practice, and the auto focus is a bit slower than most other modern day lens with AF.
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I just went through the same decision process, in fact I literally bought the D60+ lens kit and returned it (package unopened) for the D80 (body only) + the fabulous 18-200 VR lens. Why? 1) I wanted the additional metering controls vs. the D60 and in fact used all of them on my recent trip to the Hoh rain forest. 2) Keeping to my budget, I opted to spend the money on the 18-200mm VR, and yes, I used its FULL RANGE without having to change lenses. A great way to go when outdoors and taking advantage of opportunities as they present themselves (e.g. deer twins walking right towards us while on the trail!). 3) Quickly realizing the super-zoom wasn't going to get me a FAST lens, I was able to pick up the 50mm f/1.4 right before my travels (which would NOT have AF working with the D40 or D60). If I had the $$$ I might have opted for a D300 and picked up the D40/60 for a lightweight second body, but as the only Digital SLR that I'll be using for the next couple of years, and the small price difference, I am extremely happy with my purchase.
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By far the best overall performing lens is the Pentax DA 18-250mm F3.5-5.6. This lens is a miracle performer from wide to zoom. Hunting around you can get this lens for under $400.I would highly recommend having more then one lens so you can shoot in a greater variety of settings. I currently have 3 lenses but my 18-250mm spends the bulk of its time on my K20D.
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Ok, great info as usual! I'm not going to be taking many close up "macro" type shots or shots with focused forground objects w/ blurred backgrounds to start off, and I really like the 24-105 f/4 L IS lens, would that be probobly the best "walk around" lens for the XSi then? Also, can a 2.8 lens take landscape / scenic shots where the foreground and background are both in focus? I am confused about that with the f# & lenses.The night railroading shots I posted before are a main priority and I have seen some excellent night / low light posted images under the 24-105 f/4 L IS lens here on Amazon.I have a question on the 50D kit lens quality but I'll try to post that under the 50D discussions. Thanks again for all your input. Ok, great info as usual! I'm not going to be taking many close up "macro" type shots or shots with focused forground objects w/ blurred backgrounds to start off, and I really like the 24-105 f/4 L IS lens, would that be probobly the best "walk around" lens for the XSi then? Also, can a 2.8 lens take landscape / scenic shots where the foreground and background are both in focus? I am confused about that with the f# & lenses.The night railroading shots I posted before are a main priority and I have seen some excellent night / low light... » Read More Ok, great info as usual! I'm not going to be taking many close up "macro" type shots or shots with focused forground objects w/ blurred backgrounds to start off, and I really like the 24-105 f/4 L IS lens, would that be probobly the best "walk around" lens for the XSi then? Also, can a 2.8 lens take landscape / scenic shots where the foreground and background are both in focus? I am confused about that with the f# & lenses.The night railroading shots I posted before are a main priority and I have seen some excellent night / low light posted images under the 24-105 f/4 L IS lens here on Amazon.I have a question on the 50D kit lens quality but I'll try to post that under the 50D discussions. Thanks again for all your input. « Show Less
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If your are deciding between a 35mm and this lens.. I would ask.. What do you plan to shoot? If you need a wide lens for landscapes I suggest the 18 - 50... If you are looking for a portrait or low fstop fixed lense for close ups I say go with the 1.8 35mm. If your asking Nikon versus sigma.. I would say you get what you pay for. As far as the sigma performance... I use the lense quite often. I shoot in low light bars and venues and the lens is covered in beer..The lens is great for low light shooting at 18mm. I usually switch to a 50mm if I need a closer shot.
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Well, considering your ranges, I think for you it would be nice to have some more options in the wide angle range. For you I recommend the Sigma 10-20mm DSH. This one actually comes at about $470, which is more than half for the comparable Nikon 12-24mm and it is wider by 2mm; which is a lot at this range. Sigma is of course, a third party lens manufacturer. But I assure you that with some research and inspection, you can find a copy that meets your satisfaction. They are other wide angles, but so far sigma comes with the widest of the wide for your camera body. By the way, if I was you, I would trade in your 28-80 and 18-55, keep the 50mm lens and if your 18-200mm happens to be the Nikon 18-200mm DX VR, of course keep it too. When you first start out with SLR systems, you think you want a bunch of lenses, but in reality, you don't. You will be more than satisfy with a set of tree or even two lenses that meet all your photographic needs. Finally, I will state that there is no nicer artistic tool than the exaggeration of perspective that wide angle lenses may provide you.
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You have to know if 50mm equivalent works for you. Also look at 17 and 14mm from Olympus and Panasonic if you need wider field of view. I have the lens you ask about and it's great but focal length you shoot at is first priority. Look at previous pics and see. Also using Amazon I've bought new and used like-new with equal good results but cost a lot less!!!
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I also had a Minolta 7000i, with 5 different lenses from Sigma for the Minolta. I took them to Best Buy and tried them on a Sony a230 dslr.......... they all worked flawlessly........... I would expect the same or better from your old Minolta lenses........ a big plus there are a ton of the old Minolta lenses for sale on Ebay for pennies on the dollarSony Alpha DSLR-A290L 14.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55 Lens Sony kept the Minolta lenses mounts.............may not be true of manual focus lensesI don;t know if Canon and Nikon kept the same mounts for their new DSLR's I also had a Minolta 7000i, with 5 different lenses from Sigma for the Minolta. I took them to Best Buy and tried them on a Sony a230 dslr.......... they all worked flawlessly........... I would expect the same or better from your old Minolta lenses........ a big plus there are a ton of the old Minolta lenses for sale on Ebay for pennies on the dollarSony Alpha DSLR-A290L 14.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55 Lens Sony kept the Minolta lenses mounts.............may not be true of manual focus lensesI don;t know if Canon and... » Read More I also had a Minolta 7000i, with 5 different lenses from Sigma for the Minolta. I took them to Best Buy and tried them on a Sony a230 dslr.......... they all worked flawlessly........... I would expect the same or better from your old Minolta lenses........ a big plus there are a ton of the old Minolta lenses for sale on Ebay for pennies on the dollarSony Alpha DSLR-A290L 14.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55 Lens Sony kept the Minolta lenses mounts.............may not be true of manual focus lensesI don;t know if Canon and Nikon kept the same mounts for their new DSLR's « Show Less
1736484
I have both the 18-200 and the 85 mm f/1.8 among others. These two are the lenses I most use (I photograph people and places). The 85 mm is great for head shots, particularly indoors without flash. If $450 is a reach, try eBay where you'll see lots of them.
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The 24-70 is great for family portraits on the wider end. For individual portraits, and this may sound counter-intuitive, a 70-200 is better for the bokeh and getting in tight on your subject, but that's if you're shooting full frame. If you're using it on a DX body like the D5000, I think the range is ideal. As for the lens, it is an incredibly high image quality optic that can potentially stay with you forever as you upgrade from camera to camera. Good lenses are an investment. Mediocre lenses get replaced as your skills improve, pretty much like dslr bodies. I bought this to replace a Nikon 28-105, which I've happily retired. So, in short, buy this great lens if you plan to stay with Nikon bodies.