tdlavigne

<p>I'd recommend if you don't mind refurb bodies a D200 from adorama for $750, coupled with a Tamron 90mm macro lense for approx $400. The macro also serves as a good portrait lense for halfbody and headshots. This would leave you approx. $800 for another lense. Be it a wide angle like the 12-24 or a telephoto like the aforementioned 300 f4 used. If you don't like the D200 body I'd opt for the D90 instead, but it's a couple hundred more. Gonna be hard to get a telephoto, macro, and wide angle with your budget, but you can get a body and 2 out of 3 easily.</p>

<p>I have the Tamron equivalent. Used the 80-200 (non-afs) and 70-200 from Nikon as well. Basically all the reviews of the 3 are correct. It depends on your style of shooting, but since your doing weddings I'd imagine the VR Nikkor is the one for you. I have no need for VR so the Nikkor was overkill for me. Quality wise (keep in mind I didn't do any real scientific testing) the Tamron holds it's own against both Nikkors. Focus wise, the Tamron sucks. Slow, and hunts in anything but the best conditions. Again, not a problem for me since I'm usually in controlled environments. For most people, I'd rank them:<br>

Nikon 80-200 (not much of an improvement over the Tamron to warrant the additional cost)<br>

Tamron 70-200 (excellent IQ; solid but not as well built as Nikkors obviously)<br>

Nikkor 70-200 VR AFS (for most the VR and AFS would be the dealbreakers; equally excellent IQ)<br>

Haven't used the Nikon 80-200 AF-S but if it's as fast as the newer one then I'd probably rank that above the Tamron as well. BTW, I used the 70 on a D300 so I'm not considering any of the rumoured vignetting. All in all, very nice lense. I'm just too cheap to enjoy it for myself lol.</p>

<p>He means the 50mm is only "cropped" to give the same field of view as a 75mm lens. It still behaves like a 50mm.<br>

<br />Also, the 50mm is an amazing lens for full and for most people, half body. I would not recommend it for close-ups of faces though. Too short and unflattering due to distortion.</p>

<p>The 50mm is perfect for full body. It's also the cheapest prime you're gonna find (at least a new AF one anyway) that will do what you want. I personally don't think it's too tight for full body, I used it 99% of the time when doing full body and now I use the 70-200 between 70 and approx 100mm for my full length shots. This all depends on how much room you've got to stand back from the subject of course. But at 70mm I need to be around 15ft or so, so 50mm shouldn't require too much space.</p>

<p>In my opinion the 50mm is not a good choice for "close-ups of faces". Too short a focal length. Will distort faces a bit. This depends on what you mean by "close ups" though. While the lens should definitely be something you should purchase otherwise (for 1/2 or full body) I'd opt for something quite a bit longer. I usually shoot around 150-200mm for headshots so the 55-200 may be something to consider. I'm not familiar with the lens so I'm not sure about it's close-up capabilities though.<br>

My overall vote: Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro. Can be had for around $300 used or $400 new. Good focal length for headshots, sharp, nice bokeh, and not too expensive. Otherwise you may want to look at the Nikkor 60mm macro.....</p>

<p>I too upgraded from the D50 to D200. Pro's are the superb build quality, faster frame rate, and dedicated buttons/controls for everything important. Only cons are noticable after using my friends D300, and those are just how bad the high ISO performance is, AF isn't that great, and I hate the rubber falling apart.</p>

<p>I loved the 24mm 2.8D when I had it. Worked great on my D200 and N55. Wish I had some pictures from the short time I owned it. Will probably buy another soon. What's your budget? If you don't mention anything you'll soon get a hundred responses from people suggesting $1700 pro glass. Do you want a zoom, or prime? If you're looking for a prime, what focal length do you use the most with your 18-55?</p>

<p>I suggest the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 with this you get a constant 2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range, and it's fairly light and makes a good walkaround lens. Very nice IQ too. If you really want to go wider, then this might not be the lens for you as 28mm isn't very wide on a DX sensor.....but if you can live with that focal range it's a very nice lens. Was around $400 last I checked.</p>

<p>I think someone said the D200's were $600 at BB. I'd rather buy a D200 and save $300 than get a D90, but that's just me. In fact, with them being discontinued and prices dropping lower and lower, I'd expect you can find them for under $500 used soon. In your shoes, depending on the budget I'd shoot for a D300, or you said the end of the year is when you want to upgrade.....so maybe a D700 if there is a replacement that would drive prices down?</p>

<p>LOL, all these people putting down the D200. Anyone wanna give me theirs? :) Anyway, I think age does have something to do with it. If she's a kid (like a young teenager) I'd give her the D200 and offer to buy her an accessory with it for around $300-400 like another lens or two or a flash. If she's older like 18+, the way kids that age think....it might be better to just get her the newer of the two. To me they'd both be great gifts, but it depends more on how well you think your daughter will receive the D200....</p>

<p>LOL, I knew it was something silly on my part. I never even considered using the modeling lamps or simply moving the lights back. Thanks Garrison. Using studio lighting is still very new to me :) And I'll look for a polarizer too Andy, would a ND filter work just as well?</p>

<p>I'd like to play with depth of field in a shot (with the 50mm 1.8) and when syncing at 1/250 and the AB's at their lowest power I can't get lower than f4. Would like to open up a bit more to throw elements more out of focus. Is there another solution that I'm not thinking of?</p>

<p>Ok, so I did a search and didn't find anything so here's my question. I occasionally rent a studio that include access to 3 Alien Bee 800 strobes, and pocket wizards. My camera body is a D200. I asked a question before about using Auto FP mode (high speed sync) and got it solved pretty quickly here so I was hoping someone could help me out here. I was there last week and I tried to bump up the SS to 1/500 or so and I was getting that tell tale half black frame meaning Auto FP wasn't working. I went through all the settings and they were the same as when I use it for triggering multiple SB-600's in high speed sync mode. In the settings: on camera flash was in commander, set to "--" and Sync Speed was "Auto FP". Any idea what I might have been doing wrong, or a possible work around? Thanks</p>

<p>I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. When you go into the e3 menu you have to change the built in flash to "--", I had it on "M". Now everything works perfectly. Thanks guys</p>

<p>Frank, I do step 5 (set ss in manual mode to 1/500) and then as soon as I get to step 6 and I pop up the built in flash, the SS automatically drops down to 1/250 again. The flash is in commander mode, and I double checked and I have auto fp selected too.</p>

<p>I don't think the monopod would be doable since I'm using everything from homemade beauty dishes to softboxes and large umbrellas on as many as 3 flashes, even for one I think weight and fatigue would begin to factor in. What is the longest pc sync cable? Is that the SC-29? </p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestion Ellis. Hmmm, I guess I'll have to invest in those. Although I'd really like the ability to move about while shooting. Is there really no way to do it wirelessly? Like if I were to get some cybersyncs would that help?</p>

<p>Yep, it works fine on camera. Does anyone know if there is a way to do it off camera?</p>

<p>I need help, I've read about 4 tutorials online about how the Auto-FP/High Speed Sync mode works so far. But I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong on my camera/flash that won't allow it to go to shutter speeds faster than 1/250. My main question is, Is it possible to use HSS when using an SB-600 off camera via the CLS system? Camera is a D200. I've got the flash menu set to commander mode, and the channel and group match the flash. It's also set to TTL mode. The flash will fire normally, but when I try to bump it higher than 1/250, nothing happens. It's like the SS maxes out there. Also the flash doesn't show "FP" in the LCD screen like the booklet says it should. Is there something I should look for that would explain what is wrong?</p>

Well I was going to suggest the XTi since the sensor seemed to be the same one in the XS and it was $200 less. But my friend ultimately went with the XS and 18-55IS and 75-300 anyway. He's already saying he wants a longer IS lens instead of the 75-300 so I guess that's a good thing.... One final question though, I looked on adorama to see how much the 75-300 IS ran and only found used ones for $350.....so I'd imagine the new one is around $400-$450? In that case wouldn't the 70-200 f4 L be a better investment for a little more money, given that portraiture is what this camera will be used for 99% of the time?

 

BTW, I'm so jealous of you Canon guys and your 70-200 f4.......I wish Nikon would get off their butts and make one.

Hmmm, well thank for the responses guys. I'll point my friend to this page and see if that helps with the decision. Thanks again all.

Hi, I'm not a Canon user (shoot Nikon) but a friend of mine wants to buy his first dSLR in the next couple days and

I'm trying to help him out. He wanted the Nikon D40 but I guess I've swayed him away from that camera since I

think it is a bad deal personally with the lack of AF motor in body, and only 6mp, and ccd sensor, among other

things. He's fairly new to cameras and photography but would like to focus on portraiture. His budget is only approx

$600. For this reason we've narrowed his choices down to two cameras: The XTi and the XS.

 

Here's the thing though, he can get the XTi with 18-55 kit lens for $360 new in box mind you, or the XS with 18-55IS

and 75-300 III from B&H for $525. Now I've reviewed the specs on both on dpreview side by side, and it appears that

most are the same between the two, with AF capability leaning towards the XTi and the only real benefit for the XS

being live view. Is there something that I'm missing? Wouldn't the XTi for the price be better, and leave enough for a

decent lens on the long end equal to the 75-300? What do you guys suggest?

 

Also, he's used to the D40 and likes the feature where if you're not in focus the shutter won't fire. I know this is a

standard feature of Nikons, but have only played with a few Canons and have never paid attention to this. Is this

something the XTi or XS are capable of?

Ok, so I just ordered my first shoot-through umbrella from adorama. Only paid $25 so I'm not expecting anything

fancy but I was expecting more than what I got. The umbrella among other things arrived today and upon inspection

the inner surface appears to be dirty. Like a pitcher rubbed dirt from the mound on it in a couple places. Is there an

easy way to clean this, or should I contact adorama about a replacement? I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble and

time to go through replacing this since it's only $25, but I would like to be able to use it this weekend if I can clean

it. Any suggestions?

85mm 1.8 or 18-70mm Kit Lens

Go for the D50. Good high ISO performance for an older camera and works with the screw type AF lenses. I only ever went as high as 8x10 tthough printing, so I'm not sure how big you can go if you want 20x30's or something....If you really need larger prints maybe look for a D80, which I've seen for as low as $500, maybe those will drop a little more soon.