Scoping Out 70-200 VR with 18-200 VR

[will_shepherdson1]

<p>Hi! First time poster here! I'm an amateur photographer and next week I'm going to be shooting a event in a theater with available light. For this event, I'm going to be renting a Nikon 70-200 VR for use with my D80. I've been trying to scope out when to sit (the first row? the orchestra pit? elsewhere?) with my D80 and 18-200 lens. However, I'm not entirely sure how the focal length translates between the two lenses since the 18-200 is a DX and the 70-200 VR is an FX. I've read that the 70-200 on a DX is equivalent to a 105~300mm on a FX camera. Which brings me to my question: which focal length should I use on the 18-200 to scope out the venue? (70? 105? something else?) Thanks for any help you can provide!</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>No, mm is mm. Only field of view changes, not the actual focal length.</p>

<p>The 18-200 is 18-200, the 70-200 is 70-200.</p>

<p>The "equivalent focal length" (in "FX"terms), is about 27 - 300 on the 18-200 and about 105 - 300 on the 70-200.</p>

<p>That help?</p>

[ian_rose]

<p>Will as Peter said mm is mm and do not change with FX or DX lenses so while checking out the venue use the 70-200 settings on your lens.</p>

<p>Ian R</p>

[will_shepherdson1]

<p>Thanks! So it looks to me that I will get the same field of view with 70mm on the 18-200 as 70mm on the 70-200. Right? <em>Looks like Ian beat me to it...</em><br>

Thanks Peter and Ian!</p>

[will_shepherdson1]

<p>[Accidental double post]</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>Yes...</p>

<p>but...</p>

<p>Zoom lenses tend to "cheat" their focal lengths. In other words. The 18-200 at 200mm is only 200mm at infinity focus, and the focal length shrinks quite a bit as you focus closer, more than other lense, it seems.</p>

<p>So... at 200mm, it seems the 18-200 might be a bit wider than the 70-200. How much? I don't know. But it might not matter at all in your application. Also, the 18-200 focuses much closer than the 70-200, too.</p>

<p>In any case, you will probably LOVE that 70-200 and want to buy one.</p>

[jose_perez3]

<p>When a lens designed for an FX camera sized sensor is used on a camera with a DX sized sensor, its apparent focal length is increased by a multiplier equal to the crop factor. This just means that the lens angle of view will be narrower. 200mm x 1.5 crop factor gives the angle of view of a 300mm lens. This happens because the image projected from the FX lens is cropped. The image projection is larger than the DX sensor. This happens to be a good thing with the 70-200mm as far as sweet spot. You will get a better quality image from the 70-200mm lens by only using the un-cropped portion from the sweet spot of the lens. The outer (cropped portion) of the image is not quite as sharp. I am also a amateur photographer, so I am not talking form experience. But, you may want to rent a D700 along with 70-200mm lens to use the high ISO in the available light in your theater shoot. I own both a D80 and D700 and IMO the D80 won’t work anywhere as good in low light.</p>

[bms]

<p>Ditto on the suggestion of a D700, or at least a D300...... or at least a good tripod. Remember that hand holding a 70-200, which you'll presumably use mostly on the loner end, will be quite tricky in low light.</p>

[will_shepherdson1]

<p>Thanks! I don't know if I'll be able to rent a D300 or D700, but I'll look into it.</p>