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<p>With the camera in aperture priority (A), and with the built-in flash popped up, the camera is always at 1/90 (you'll have to cancel rear/slow). There's an exposure meter scale in the viewfinder to help set the aperture for correct ambient exposure at 1/90. Once the correct aperture for ambient is set, then if you adjust exposure compensation now, the flash exposure changes (along with the exposure compensation dialed in) but not the aperture itself and the 1/90 speed..<br /><br />It's limited to 1/90 only, and one has to stick to the aperture that goes with 1/90 for ambient, but it does allow a fill flash different from 1:1..</p>

I doubt there's any problem. The force that you exercise when removing or attaching the hood is nothing compared to what the camera does to itself.

 

Ever noticed how the AF slams into the close and far focus limits of the lens if it can't achieve focus? No other lens I have has this so fierce as the 35-70/2.8, probably because it's a metal/glass only lens. Still both the lens and all the cameras that it's been mounted on continue to work..

If the combination does not autofocus well, then don't bother throwing $100 or even $45 away. I've got a D50 and 70-300VR, and I can't accurately manual focus the combination at the long end even without a TC. The cause is the low magnification of the D50 finder, which makes judging focus manually completely impossible.

Here's a couple of things that drain the batteries, but that don't show up as pictures on the SD card..

 

Formatting an SD card. In general, the bigger the card, the more energy it takes to format. Don't use format as a replacement for deleting one or two pictures if that's all there is on the card.

 

Deleting pictures. It's a bit like formatting a small piece of the card. Efficient for a small number of pictures. But if you've got a large number of shots that all need to go, use format instead.

 

Playing around with the menu settings. Obvious. The LCD backlight takes energy to run and the processor inside the camera sometimes needs to work very hard. Same holds for image review. Make sure CSM-17 (Monitor Off) is set to a short time, e.g. 10 seconds.

 

Hooking up the USB cable. The D50 has true high speed USB2.0. That's good because it's fast, it's bad because of the electricity bill that comes with it.

 

Using VR lenses as stabilised binoculars. Tempting indeed, but the hissing noise coming from the lens tells that there are motors in there working very hard.

 

Exposure metering. The 420 element matrix is being read out and processed all the time. There a good reason that there's a custom function to tune it: CSM-18 (Meter Off). Make sure it's not set to 30minutes.

 

FV-Lock metering. If you've CSM-14 (AE-L/AF-L) set to FV-lock, the flash fires every time you set the FV-lock.

 

Using the built in flash. The penalty is a 50% reduction of the number of shots that you can take on a single battery charge.

 

Having the AF-assist light work. Beyond draining batteries, it's obnoxious, use CSM-7 (AF-Assist) to get rid of it.

 

Hope this helps..

On the D50, when AF-C is set, the camera still waits for focus confirmation

before it takes the shot. It may be called AF-C, but it's still focus priority.

 

Is this the same on the D80, or can you shoot in AF-C while focus hasn't yet

been achieved? In other words, does it truely support focussing lenses using

the button on the back, then letting that loose, recompose and finally press

the shutter?

My very first impression is that the field illumination of the 17-55 is much more even than that of the 16-50. Light fall-off at f2.8-f4 in the latter is quite visible in the edges..

Typo. Shutter lag on the d50 is in line with what you got on the F80.

I think you should first tell why you haven't used the 35-70 since you got the 18-200. If it's basically out of convenience, then you'd have to ask yourself whether you'd use a fixed 85/1.8 more than a 2.8 zoom that's already nearly 2 stops faster than the 18-200 in that focal length range?

The 35-70/2.8 shines when it comes to sheer image and build quality. It is a lens with no other compromise than its limited zoom factor. It has good contrast and saturation, is sharper wide open than my 50/1.8AFD at 5.6, has very good centering with all edges/sides equally sharp (probably because it's entirely constructed of metal), has no light fall-off (it's a full frame lens), and has negligible distortion (heck, with 2x zoom it better not have that).

 

The main cons have been addressed already. The front element rotates. The zoom mechanism is push/pull and not to everyone's taste. The focal length at close focus shortens, but that's something that happens with the Tamron lenses as well by the way..

Even though the lenses' actual focal length may be a tad different from the named value, the 1mm or so that this concerns isn't the most significant factor in what you see.

 

The 35mm uses helicoid extension to focus closer. It's 35mm all the way from infinity to close-up.

 

The 35-70/2.8 does not depend on helicoid extension, but moves the location of the lens groups with respect to each other. Focussing closer is achieved by shortening the focal length. Great when it comes to the 35mm setting, less so at 70mm as it reduces magnification at the long end.

The 35-70/2.8 (D version) is the lens that lives on my D50. For some inexplicable reason, it's way sharper at f2.8 than my 50/1.8 AFD at f5.6. It's entirely constructed of metal/glass, which means that it's not a light lens. In fact it's about as heavy a lens as I'd feel comfortable with walking around.

 

The one thing that it could be faulted for, is the already mentioned ghosting. It does however depend strongly on the lighting conditions, and I've only ever noticed it in shots where it doesn't really matter, like the one below..<div></div>

G-type lenses can only be used in P-mode and S-mode on the N90s. To get a specific aperture, you could use program-shift in P-mode (turn the command wheel until the aperture/shutter combination that you need shows), or select a shutter speed that gives the desired aperture in S-mode.

Yes, I've had problems with it. It appears that the 50/1.8AFD is one of the few lenses that can be turned too far when you keep the lens release button pressed while it's being mounted on the camera body. Turn it back/forth till the lens release button really clicks.

"A BIG minus for Picture Project. You don't even have the option of not saving your changes because PP does it automatically and it can't be stopped."

 

Picture Project does not change your original photo. It shows it with all the modification applied. But the original data is still there;

 

Under drop down menu 'Photo' select the last option 'Revert to Original'. And you get to see the original photo as it was taken..

The 70-300VR isn't bad from 200-300mm; it's loads better than a fixed Tokina 300/5.6 I used to have in the early 1980's. And not marginally better, really incomparably better. I guess most of the ho-hum comments of the performance in the 200-300 range come from comparing with the 70-135 range. And yes, the 70-300VR does have even better performance at shorter focal lengths. But, provided that you have a good sample that's not been dropped or abused, if you can't get sharp results at 300mm, it's technique rather than the lens that needs a touch-up.

 

With respect to the price difference, be aware that the 70-300VR not only is full frame, but also true AF-S. This means it has an A/M setting for autofocus that allows full manual override without actually going into manual. I find this a godsend, especially for long lenses. Not because I need to touch up focus after AF has locked, but rather because it allows me to yank the focus ring from near to far or the other way round immediately prior to AF. This way I can take the camera out of a recurring AF lock on something unintended.<div></div>

There's no doubt that a sharp lens with a range from 18 to 250mm can be built, but it won't be without compromises in other areas. Especially at the wide end you'll see considerable barrel distortion. But there are other factors besides sheer image quality that may steer your choice. Most important is how the lens handles, even a so-so lens that you feel comfortable with will give better pictures than a super lens that doesn't. If there's any chance to try them side by side, then that would be ideal.

 

For what it's worth, I really like the 70-300VR. Image quality is fine, and handling superb.<div></div>

I have the D version of this lens, and can say nothing but good about it. It's easily the sharpest lens I have, only rivaled by my Tamron 90 macro. Outperforms any other zoom I have or have had. It's even loads sharper than the 50mm/1.8 at each same aperture. It's also easily three times heavier than that because it's built of metal. No slop, no flop. Very fast and secure AF. For me the push/pull zoom is perfect, as I don't use it as an alternative to moving my feet.

 

The only weird thing about it is the 'macro' mode. You can engage it by pushing a button and twisting the push/pull zoom ring. The optical performance at macro drops to lens-baby levels, while the AF should but not always does disengage. For emergency or extremely artistic use only...

Don't know about the D80 specifically, but my D50 will not do iTTL flash with non-cpu lenses. I suspect the D80 is not much different.. So, you'd have to go full manual there as well.

It's time for a reality check I guess.. backed up with factual data instead of urban myth.

<P>

The <A HREF="http://www.micro-tools.com/pdf/Nikon/pdf/N65RepairManual.pdf"> pinout of the connector</A> is Vcc(regulated power), RW1, SCK, SIO, RW2, LBAT(unregulated power), LGND(ground) respectively. When the lens is mounted, all pins are connected. But rotated in any other position, LGND is free on the lens, and Vcc is free on the body..

<P>

 

Miraculously, this means that when the lens isn't fully mounted, there's never a connection where ground and any of the power pins are shorted, nor is there a position where any of the lens data pins are driven. Well, I actually don't think it's entirely a miracle..

My first bird pictures with the 70-300VR weren't stellar too, but I soon found that it could be attributed to user error. The shallow DOF at 300mm requires much more thought in were to aim the AF sensors. What I became aware of, was that they're much wider than the marks in the viewfinder indicate, and can make the camera focus on something outside those marks.

 

As soon as I got that figured out, I became very fond of the 70-300VR. For me, it's a splendid lens. Ok, it's not as sharp as the 35-70/2.8 I have, but it's more than sharp enough to see a lot of detail..<div></div>

There's a write-up on the <A href=http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/nikkor_20_28/index.htm>20AFD on Photozone</A>, that confirms Bruno's findings about the corner performance on a D200. And it's not focus related.<P>

"I dont see any TTL settings on the flash or the camera."

 

If the flash doesn't have a switch or slider that allows you to get it out of TTL mode, (but for instance to M or A instead), it's no good for the D50..

"Every new lens to come to market the past few years has been AF-S"

 

What about the 10.5mm DX fisheye? That's not an AF-S lens, is it?

If you equate photojournalism to snapping a picture of a car that ran into a road sign, then yes, cell phone pictures of bystanders will take over. But if photojournalism means meaningful pictures to complement in depth articles, or longer running themed stories? Then clearly not.

Why not make do with the 50/1.8 and familiarise yourself with the camera/lens combination for a while. After some time, you'll find out what you miss most in actual use, and can make a better founded decision.