kate_compton

<p>Last year I upgraded to D5100 from D80 and very happy with its performance (especially indoors). The only thing I really miss from D80 is the view finder, D5100 view finder is horrible. After playing with friend's D7000 this past weekend, I got the itch to upgrade to D7000. So my question is, do I really gain anything from this upgrade? I shoot kids and landscape mostly. My lenses are 16-85mm, 70-300mm VR, 35mm 1.8G and 85mm 1.8G.<br /> <br />Thank you!</p>

<p>Great lens, I got mine last month and I am loving it.<br /> One question though, when the shutter is half pressed it makes a rather noisy clicking (or ticking) sound. It is from VR I guess, is this normal? I don't have this kind of noise on my 18-105.<br /> <br />Cameta currently has the refurbished one on sale for $339. It comes with 90 day warranty from Nikon and additional 9 months warranty from Cameta. I am not sure if I can post the link here.<br /> If you search for this lens on their website it shows $359, change the number at the end of url from 27552 to 75101, it changes to $339. FYI, I received this sale link in the email from Cameta.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone for the responses. More details on #1 - <br /> I am using the same lens on both cameras.<br /> It is not terribly soft on D5100, but soft compared to D80.<br /> This is only visible when I view the pictures at 100%.<br /> I shot at various shutter speed, aperture and ISO combinations indoor and outdoor.</p>

<p>I have couple of questions on the lenses -</p>

<p>1. I recently upgraded to D5100 (from D80) and the same lens I used on D80 (18-105 VR) appears to be soft on D5100. Is this caused by the more MPs? Is there anything that I can do to improve sharpness?</p>

<p>2. When I read Ken Rockwell reviews, in almost all reviews he talks about the ability to quickly override the focus without changing the AF mode. I mean the M/A on the lens. What is the real advantage of this? When some one needs to adjust focus?<br>

<br />Thank you!</p>

<p>Thank you so much for sharing Mary. Actually, I got an opportunity to see this lens and I felt it is big to keep it on the camera all the time (my idea was to replace my 18-105 with this). Although it got good reviews, I decided to pass on it. I ordered a 70-300 VR and planning to replace 18-105 with something better (probably sigma 17-50 2.8). On D80, 18-105 was sharp enough for me, but on D5100 it seems to be soft, that is the reason I am looking to upgrade it.</p>

<p>Mary, can you please share your thoughts about the lens, how heavy it feels and the IQ etc...</p>

<p>Thank you Bruce, but 50mm is ok for portraits? I thought for good portraits we need 85mm+.</p>

<p>Thank you all for the responses. I know two lens setup is the best, but I don't want to miss the moment while I change the lens. That is the only reason I am looking for an all around lens.<br>

Also, I am looking for a good lens for portraits (possibly a prime). Any good recommendations? Need not be an AF-S (I tried 50mm non AF-S on D5100 and it is not difficult at all).</p>

<p>Hello All<br>

<br />I am looking to buy a travel lens and I was very interested in 18-200. But I didn't want to spend $850 for it. With the recent price drop it looks very attractive at $599. But here comes the dilemma, 18-300 is only $100 more. The only thing that is stopping me is I read it is a BIG lens (about 10oz heavier). So my question is, is the extra 100mm worth given the bulk it is adding? Btw, I currently have a D5100 with 18-105.<br>

Thank you in advance!</p>

<p>Thank you all for the wonderful responses, this is such a great forum.<br>

Shun, I shoot little bit of everything, mostly kids, birthday parties, portraits and landscapes. 80% of shots are my kids. I don’t shoot a lot, but when I shoot, I want decent pictures, that’s why I chose DSLR.<br>

Eric, from the beginning, I am looking at the 17-50, but the only reason I didn’t go for it is because of many people saying that third party lenses are not as good as Nikkors. Now with the confidence you gave me, I am going to consider it seriously.<br>

Joris, 18-105VR is a decent lens, and produces excellent pictures when used correctly (f8, using tripod etc…). But I rarely get a chance to use it that way (shooting kids…).</p>

<p>Thank you all for your responses. I don't have enough budget to buy both lenses. Based on your responses, I see another option, like selling 18-105 and 50mm then getting both 17-50 and 35mm. The downside from this is I lose 50-70mm, which I don't mind. Please let me know if this makes sense. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>Hi<br /> I need some expert advice in buying a new lens. I have a D80 and my lenses are: 18-105VR, 70-300G, 50mm 1.8D. I am pretty happy with these lenses except for indoor shots. For example if I go to a museum, I feel 50mm is a bit long for the shots. So I am planning to buy 35mm f1.8 prime. How does this lens perform compared to 50mm in IQ? Also another thought is Tamron 17-50 f2.8. It is little more than 1 stop slower than the prime, but it has the flexibility of focal length (if I want to go wider than 35mm). How is this lens compared to 35mm in IQ?<br /> Thanks in advance for your responses.</p>

<p>Used D40 and 18-70mm lens with SB-400</p>

<p>How about:<br>

35mm 1.8D AF-S, 70-300 VR and SB-600?</p>

<p>Set it to minimum possible aperture (f22?) and give it a try.</p>

<p>One more thing to consider, the 50mm f1.8 doesn't auto focus with D40X.</p>

<p>I use Sandisk Extreme III 8GB card in my D80 and it works fine without any issues.<br>

<em>"According to Rob Galbraith's database, the fastest card for the D80 is the SanDisk Extreme III 2GB."</em><br>

This is because they only tested till 2GB for Sandisk Extreme III. And write speed of 2GB is faster than 1GB, so can we assume write speed of 8GB > 4GB > 2GB???</p>

I am using DSLRs for the past one year and still learning. I started with D40X and recently upgraded to D80. With

both the cameras I have a question on the exposure meter. Without the flash, the exposure meter on the view finder

shows the exposure correctly, I mean for the correct exposure there will be no bars and for under exposure the bars

will be towards negative side. I always use this to compose my shot first, and after taking the picture, I use the LCD

screen (image preview) to see the exposure. If it is not correct, I adjust it and take the picture again. Most of the

times it works perfectly the first time and I don't need to correct the exposure and re shoot. But when I use the flash,

the meter in the VF always shows as under exposure (bars towards negative side). I always need to depend on the

image preview. Is this normal? Or, is there anything that I can do to make the VF exposure meter work correctly with

the flash?

 

This happens with both on-camera flash and the SB-600.

If you live in a metro area, I think Craigs List is better place (dealing locally = less risk). You can get good

price on eBay, but its a hassle, particularly if you are a new seller. Resellers like KEH, B&H give you VERY low

price. I had a D40X that I wanted to sell, and when I asked quote from B&H, they gave me a horrible quote. They

are selling the same condition camera for more than double the price they offered me.

I used both SB-400 and SB-600 and my vote goes to SB-600. The only advantage of SB-400 is it is VERY light, but the deal breaker is no tilt for vertical shots. SB-600 has lot more features than SB-400, and if you upgrade your camera in future, you can use it as a remote flash unit. The price difference between these two is not much, so I would suggest SB-600. You can get it from Adorama for around $170. From eBay you can get it for about $20 less, so I would not recommend it.

Jennifer,

You find lot of junk in ebay, you need to patiently search for the item you are looking for and from a REPUTABLE seller (like Ritzcamera for example). Also you need to make sure you are buying Nikon USA product (many authorized dealers also sell import models). Finally you need to make sure that the seller uses Paypal directly for checkout (to qualify for the cashback).

 

Robert,

Amazon has 30 day "no questions asked" return policy.

In simple steps,

1. Go to http://www.live.com/

2. Search for "nikon d80"

3. Follow the link to eby from the top gray box of sponsored sites (and follow the instructions from there)

 

Shun, the detailed instructions one is a link to another forum. I will PM you the link

Jennifer, I think I cannot post the instructions here. I will send you an email with the links.

If you consider D80 body only Ritzcamera is selling it for $619 in eBay, which comes to $465 after MS cachback.

If you go to eBay, you can get 25% cashback via Microsoft live search. There are many authorized Nikon USA dealers out there. You can get the D80 kit with 18-135 for around $650. Also you can grab a SB-600 for $150.