anil___

'IF' is one of the wonders of the world. We cannot live without IF.

I had a short affair with F5 (Just 36 exps) and almost fell in love

with it but for its price and weight. F100 with most of F5 features

and the same fast AF at affordable an price of around $1000 will

realy tempt me to buy one. I am using FM2N & F90x. AF of F90x has

its limitation when it comes to my latest passion of taking

photographs of motorsports.

 

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IMHO IF there is no ceiling on price you could buy the equipment that

is needed for the job and to satisfy your ego and get access to some

places. I made the above statement because sometimes when I carry

F90x with MB10, 80-200 2.8 and SB26 immediate recognition as a

photograher is forced upon you by the crowd controllers.

I am using Nikon FM2n with Nikon lenses. My longest lens is 80-200 2.8D. I need a longer lens for shooting wild life mainly large animals such as buffalos and elephants. I am thinking of 200-400 f5.6 D of Tamaron zoom because of the convenience a zoom. I shoot mainly slide film. My previous experience with third party zoom lens were not a happy one(Sigma 28-70 f2.8D). Experience and views of other users of tamron 200-400 zoom for the application that I have mentioned is welcome. Suggestion regarding 400mm primes wrt the zoom I have in mind will be very helpfull.

Janson you have by now received a comprehensive reply to your post.

I went in for 60mm f2.8D as my first macro lens and am happy with the

result. This lens is serving me as my standard lens because my FM2n

came with 24-120 zoom. I do shoot a lot of flowers, mainly orchids,

60mm is my preference for flowers because the perspective of this

lens suits my taste. This lens handles well and the recessed front

element helps in reducing flare to a large extend. Insect

macrography is almost ruled out with this lens, you either scare them

of or they scare you. From the list of lenses you own IMHO you could

by a set of exension rings and use your 50mm and 85mm primes for a

start. 50mm with extension gives you very good result. Except for

90mm Tamron I havent used other third party lenses. Tamron is also a

fine lens but at the asking price Nikon 105 is a better buy.

Does it have diopter correction built in ? I use spectacles and the

Hoya MC prescription lenses are a bit expensive.

I am looking forward to by a decent slide projector and came across Prodovit 150 and Hector P2 85mm/2.8. Please tell me whether there is any difference, optical and mechanical between P150 and P300. How is Elmarit P2 60mm/2.8 with P150 w.r.t Hektor. Only P150 & P150IR is vailable here in India for about $155 and $240 resectivly.

I do not have experience with slik 700DX but would like to share my

bad experience with tripods. In my country, India, availability is

big problem. I started using a Taiwan made JAUNT tripod. This was a

solid looking Al tubed one with Plastic joints. Saddled with my FM2 &

80-200 f2.8 the head used to shake even if you breath lightly. The

reasons that I could find out was that the Plastic hinges are flexing

and the rubber foot supplied was very soft. I then decided to change

to a better tripod and in the mean time came across an advertisment

of SLIK 900DX and asked a friend of mine to get it for me. He has

nothing to do with photography let alone tripods. The black beauty

was a big let down, it is as shaky as that of my Jaunt. After all

these bad experience and going through the threads on photonet I

decided to go in for a Gitzo or Bogen. I found an used GITZO INTER

PRO STUDEX in mint condition. It cost me slightly more than that I

had spent on my earlier tripods. The experience was different, it is

very stable and assuring even with my 300 f2.8. IMHO please try out

the tripod mounting your gear on it before buying. Check out its

stability, ease of seting up and do not bother about brands alone. I

still belive that a decent tripod could be made at a resonable price

by most of the manufacturers. So if you can, please do look out for

them. If I have to buy without trying out I would stick to a known

model from one of the brands even though they cost more.