Another Camera Advice Thread. What lens?

Zascar

OK so I am one of the many who want to take the plunge from compact to Digital SRL. I have not yet made up my mind on wheter to go for the canon D400 or the Nikon D80 - but don't worry I'm not asking for advice, I've seen all the other threads, I'm going to go and take a look myself and deside which I like more, either one is still an excellent camera.

My real question is to do with Lenses. What i plan to do is buy a 'kit' most likely fom ebay. I am wondering, how versitile is the standard lens. Do you think it is definitely worth getting a better lens with the camera?

For example, this NIKON D80 camera +18-200mm lens looks like a good bundle. To be honest I don;t know that much about lenses etc but 18 should be handy for wide angle, and 200 gives a decent zoom.(am I right?)

I hear the Nikon D80 is a better camera, however I have always had canons and from what I can tell form looking at it online, I think I would perfer the 400D, but I cannot find many 'kit' deals online. However I could just get the standard one Canon EOS 400D camera+18-55mm and later buy another lens such as a Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC. Do you think this would be a better idea?

This is all a bit new to me so any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks

Fajitas!

Would you consider getting the 400D body only, and get the Sigma 18-200 aswell? no point in covering the same focal lenght twice if you have to pay for it, and as far as I know, the f/stops of the lens at different focal lenghts are the exact same.

mtracey

The Nikon 18-200 lens is meant to be very good indeed.
If difficult to get a hold off though.

Zascar

Fajitas! wrote:

Would you consider getting the 400D body only, and get the Sigma 18-200 aswell? no point in covering the same focal lenght twice if you have to pay for it, and as far as I know, the f/stops of the lens at different focal lenghts are the exact same.

Yes I might do that, however you don't save a whole lot of money going for body only. On ebay cheapest is £369 for body only, but £399 you can get the 18-55 lens too. I would probably just do that, and then wait, save some cash and get a better lens down the line.

What othre lenses would be worth considering?

Calina

Zascar,

fwiw, I bought the 350D with the kit lens, the 18-55mm. I know that a lot of people don't think it's a great lens, but I found it was a grand starter lens and I still use it quite a lot.

A month or so later, I added a Sigma zoom - namely the 70-300mm DG APO which has become my defacto standard lens - it's worth noting I shoot a lot of sports though. I think that you'll occasionally find package deals for the Canon entry level digital SLRs including a 200mm zoom lens but what I would recommend is that you get the body with just the kit lens and learn how to use the basics of the camera first. You will then get a much better feel for what you want to be able to do with the camera as time goes on.

my two cents worth.

Zascar

Thanks Calina. Yes I had looked at that Sigma 70-300 it looks really nice. However what I was thinking of getting is a lens that has a larger range from wide to zoom – something like a 28-200 perhaps, which would be great for everything I recon. How do you find the 70-300 for general day to day use? Obviously it would not be great for landscape etc, but what about normal use, photographing people etc? Do you find yourself switching lenses a lot? As I have little experience with different lenses on an SLR I'm not sure what I actually need. I don’t really do much sports photography but who knows that I might get into, and I’m sure a nice zoom has many other advantages for general photography too…

Any advice from the more experienced users would be appreciated. What lens to most people generally go for after they decide to move from the standard 18-55?

Thanks
Zascar

Borderfox

I went from the kit lens to a Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX. Superb lens and miles ahead of the kit one. I find the kit lens range good for a walkaround one. I think Sigma are doing their 18-200 with optical stabilization now. Also most people end up with a 70-200 lens in their bag, although this depends on what you want to shoot. I had the Sigma 70-300 APO and it was a super lens for the money.