Help with lens selection

My question is regarding lenses. I just recently bought the Nikon

N65 which came with a Sigma 28-70mm. I am looking at other lenses

and am a little confused. Should I wait until I can buy a $500 lens

because the under $200 are not worth it? Specifically - Nikon has a

100-300 for $179.00 with 4-5.6. I am trying to really understand the

technical side of photography but am not quite there yet!! Also in

reading the threads here many people have talked about how great the

50mm 1.8 is but nobody seems to want to use it. WHy is that? Thanks

for any help you can give me, I will be taking a class at the local

college next month so that may help also.

Kathy, - You might be best sticking with your 28-70 for now and building up some experience using it. Then when the time comes ask your college tutor what is recommended for the course.

 

Lens choice entirely depends on the sort of photography you do and what you want to do with the resulting pictures.

 

Good luck !

It really depends on what you want to use your camera for. Are you a "snap-shooter" that's just interested in better pic's from Christmas, or do you really want to learn? If learning is your main objective, and it sounds like it is, I would get the Nikon 50/1.8. I use mine almost exclusively- everything from portraits, to macro (with extension tubes), to snapshots, to well, you name it.

 

This lens has helped me learn a lot faster than say a long zoom would have- I think about composition and focal length and how they work together more than I would have with a long zoom. I'm not saying you can't learn those things with other lenses, but I think a lens like the 50/1.8 minimizes the other distractions and makes it easier to concentrate on other things. That way you develop habits and skills that will transfer into nicer images once you do get that zoom, or any other toys.

 

I would go for the 50 1.8. For the money you can't beat it. Sharp as a tack. You'll love the difference in sharpness once you use it compared to the kit lens. I rarely use the kit lens anymore, and I've been shooting with just the basics for about 4 years now.

 

Enjoy!!

 

Jen

When I first started in photography one of my mentors advised me to buy a lens and use it to photograph every conceivable subject before buying a second lens. I believe that's still good advice and sometimes you learn how to shoot a subject in a new way because its beyond the range of the lens. Good luck and enjoy.

Thanks for the input - As far as what kind of pictures I will be taking - it is more than snapshots, but not a career. I want to be able to switch out of the auto mode and use my knowledge (soon to be gained!) and my eye to take pictures that please both me and anyone else who sees them. I hike and travel a good bit so my subjects will be varied. I actually had a Minolta SRT-200 for years and years but it has been about 6 years since I have used anything other than point and shoot.

I support the recommendation to go with a 50mm lens -- and probably the 1,8 is fast enough. I started with a 50mm (with an FM2 body), then soon got a Sigma 28-70 (2,8) and used that one for quite a while, but then switched back to the 50mm (and later added 35mm and 105mm primes). It was such a relief to use the light 50mm compared to the heavy, chuncky zoom. I also experienced that I could easily fall into the trap of using a zoom in the wrong way, namely, to just zoom in or zoom out instead of doing proper composition. Going back to the fixed 50mm forced me to think more about my position, about composition, perspective etc. And it also can be so much quicker (in action situations) as I don't need to worry about zooming any more. Needless to say that the quality of the pictures is much better, much sharper, much more contrast, brilliance etc. (fewer lenses between object and film).

While a previous poster is right that it depends on what you want to photograph, a 50mm IMHO is a good generic performer; you can explore nearly all kinds of photography with it -- and some famous professionals even based most of their career on it (e.g. Henry Cartier-Bresson).

There is nothing wrong with sticking with the 28-70 Sigma for a while. If you are serious about learning, pick up an used 50/1.8 after you are comfortable with the camera for very little $ and stick with that for 2-3 years. The 100-300/f4-5.6 is very slow and very limiting to learn with.

 

A fast 50 (f/2 or faster) will let you explore available light photography and is a great lens for portrait and general photography, and with a closeup lens attachment or tubes, great for close work. The 50mm lens is a great teacher; it lets you get close to your subject so you can study it experiment with it. A great benefit is that it is typically the highest quality lens available in any maker's selection, including Nikon. They are light, quick to focus, easy to keep steady, and low in cost. Stay away from zooms until you really, really think you need one (you will probably find out you don't!).

 

Use the Sigma at 28 to learn about wide-angle photography and replace it with a wide fixed focal length later if you like that range. Years from now, get a longer fixed-length prime. Limit your bag of lenses. Lens Acquisition Syndrome is a disease, not the path to great photography. Your money will be best spent buying and processing lots of film. Most of the great photography we admire today was shot with a 35mm or a 50mm focal length, the so-called "normal" lenses.

I've got a 50mm f1.8. It's great and I use it a lot.

 

The thing about SLRs is there's the temptation to get and use so many other lenses because they give you an excitingly different view of the world. Then you get too many lenses and spend all your time changing from one to the other.

 

I like to go out with one or two lenses and see what I can do with them. It's more of a challenge to find good shots. All my lenses are fixed focal length.

 

Zooms are very convenient. You get all those different focal lengths in one package. But they do tempt you to zoom in and out to frame a shot, rather than walk around to find good shooting positions for a scene.

 

I'd advise you to use the lens you have now and see what your course tutor's opinion is for a second lens.

This won't help you decide which lens is best for which application, but there are some great reviews on Ken Rockwell's site:<p>

 

<a href="http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm">http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm</a><p>

 

Otherwise, I'll second the opinion to start out with a prime vs. zoom, especially the 50mm. The benefits outweight many disadvantages, especially while starting out.<p>

 

Kind regards,

I started with the N65 and a 50/1.8 last year and it is a great lens (and inexpensive as well). It may be the best lens you ever own. It works great for everything you want. I would get the new "D" version of the 50/1.8 and keep it on the camera most of the time.

 

Experiment with the 28-70mm as well. The 28mm end is nice for landscapes and the 70mm end will work well for close portraits. If you get the 50mm lens, experiment a little by using both lenses at 50mm on the same subject (at the same aperture) to see the difference.

 

I don't think Nikon makes the 100-300mm lens, but it will be much more difficult to learn to use. If you are hand-holding the camera, the 50mm will allow on the order of 8 to 16 times as much light to get to the film. Basically this means you need bright sunny days to learn to use the 100-300mm. You can use the 50mm in almost any light. In a nutshell, it is a great beginner lens that you'll find useful for many years to come.

Thank all of you for all your comments. I appreciate it and was pleased and surprised to get all the answers - you may see me here again with more questions!! WIll probably go ahead and get the 50mm and then stop there for a while. I am glad to be forewarned about the "Lens Acquisition Syndrome" - I think I was exhibiting symptoms but can now fight it off...now that I know it's a disease!

My advice, and you have a lot of good advice here already, is to get the 50mm f1.8 and then put the 28-70 away for 6 months and use the 50mm exclusively. Learn to compose by moving around rather than standing still and trying to get the shot you want by turning a zoom ring.

 

After you get some experience with the 50mm, you will probably want some wide angle capability. Use the 28-70 to give you that but use it only at 28mm at first and move around to compose your pictures just as you did with the 50mm. After doing this for a few months, you will finally be ready to start using your zoom as a zoom.

 

This will give you about 9 months to a year of experience to figure out what you really want. What kind of shots are you not able to get with your current equipment? Do you want good macro capability? Maybe the 60mm Micro or 105mm Micro would be good choices. Maybe you need a wider field of view? 20mm might be nice or the 17-35 zoom. Need more reach? The 70-300 is a great lens.

 

The bottom line is that lenses are expensive and people tend to buy lenses because they can without any real thought to what they need. Learn the basics of composition and exposure without the complication of zooms first, then think about what you would like to do that you can't already.

 

BTW, a good Tripod and Cable Release are good early purchases that will serve you well for years.

Welcome, Kathy, to photography, to this forum - and to the world of lens anxiety. I agree that limiting yourself to one lens is, usually, a really good thing. And you can do a great deal with 50mm - everything from landscapes and interior shots, to portraits, closeups, even macro. As has been said, they are cheap, lightweight, usually (extra) sharp, and work great in low light (because of being so fast; that is, having such a wide available aperture - 1.4, 1.8, 2.0, are the most common - to let in more light). <P>

 

When you restrict yourself to one "normal" lens, such as the 50mm, you soon find out that photography isn't really about gear, but about you and what you see. And how you interact with what you see. And that, in my view, is what makes photography really exciting. I hope we see some of your shots posted here sometime soon.

Not sure I understand why people say a prime (50) is better than a 28-70 (or whatever) zoom from a composition/ learning point of view. You could always stick the zoom at 50 and voila you have a 50 just like a prime (from a compositional point of view, not sharpness, perhaps).

35mm lense works for every occasion;wide open as you can afford.

Peter.. try taking shots of small birds in the middle of a pond. 35mm doesn't work in _every_ occasion ;-) Granted, 35mm is a nice size for _most_ occasions

Two lenses for about two hundred dollars total:<P>50mm f1.8--the foundation of any 35mm system. CHEAP, yet FAST and SHARP. You can take indoor shots by lamplight, with ISO400 or faster film, or use that wide maximum aperture to get action-stopping shutterspeeds in marginal outdoor light. The "pro" lens anyone can afford.<P>70-300mm "G" zoom--again, very inexpensive; not fast, but can be handheld in daylight with ISO400 or faster film; sharp enough for publishable results IF you stay under the "bell curve", that is, 70mm to 200mm, f5.6 (at 70mm) to f16 (at 70mm), which would be about f6.7 at 200mm to f19 at 200mm. Once you get one on your N65, you will see what all that means.

Thanks to all who have answered me. I ordered the 50mm last Friday so should get it in a day or two. AM going to try to hold off on the larger lens but doubt if I will be able to wait a year or two as some suggested...I'm thinking maybe three months! If I go used rather than new, thereby maybe being able to afford a higher quality, is that reasonably safe. Is there anything I should specifically look at to acertain the lens is still functioning correctly?

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