Nikon D80 questions - Help needed please :)

general_x

QUESTION 1
I'd love to get a Nikon D80 kit with an 18-200mm lens. (Second choice is the D80 kit with an 18-135mm lens) I'm having trouble finding a kit for under €1300. I would be extremely greatful if someone could tell me if they've gotten it cheaper or any information at all.

QUESTION 2
I'm looking for the Nikon lenses but can anyone tell me if it would majorly noticeable if I just bought a Tamron or Sigma lens instead?

Thank you so much!

run_Forrest_run

general_x wrote:

QUESTION 1
I'd love to get a Nikon D80 kit with an 18-200mm lens. (Second choice is the D80 kit with an 18-135mm lens) I'm having trouble finding a kit for under €1300. I would be extremely greatful if someone could tell me if they've gotten it cheaper or any information at all.

QUESTION 2
I'm looking for the Nikon lenses but can anyone tell me if it would majorly noticeable if I just bought a Tamron or Sigma lens instead?

Thank you so much!

I bought a D80 with Kit lens 18-135mm in a shop in Cork City, it was priced at around 1200 but I got a bit of a deal with a decent gadget bag, a 2Gb card, UV lens filter for just over 1300 (this was about 6 months ago). Personally I wanted to buy locally for numerous reasons.

You can also have a look at this price:
http://www.technikdirekt.de/main/en/foto/fotodigital/digitale-slr/109662/-/Article.html?

About question 2: I am fairly new to all this stuff so I would not be sure about
lenses but this guy swears by Nikkor lenses and often regards the other
makers for Nikon bodies as rubbish (perhaps a tad extreme)! Might be worth a read:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/index.htm

hope I've helped a bit.

GristlyEnd

Sigma, Tokina & Tamron make great lenses for Nikon cameras (even Canon cameras). Ken Rockwell in my opinion is the last person you want to check for advice on a product. Have a look at fredmiranda.com. They have a great review section.

mathias

Yeah , Ken ( chuck Norris ) Rockwell is the tabloid journalism of photo reviews , hes good for a laugh sometimes but leans towards the extreme most of the time,definitely to be taken with a pinch of salt.

For good lens reviews go to

www.fredmiranda.com

and for camera reviews I like www.dpreview.com

Fredmiranda is a user review site that posts samples taken with each lens , I find that very useful .

This site has the D80 and a Sigma 18 -200 for about 1132 I think ,
http://www.technikdirekt.de/main/en/foto/fotodigital/digitale-slr/page.html?page=2&brand=NIK&eurorate=1

When you click on the link , pick the Irish flag and it should take you to the page with the D80 and lens kits.

digitalbeginner

I've been a Nikon user for over 20 years, but when it came getting a 14mm 2.8 Prime Lens I couldn't justify the €2200 that Nikon where asking. Local dealers in Dublin were quoting €1150 for the Sigma 14mm 2.8 EX but I ended up getting it in Jessops in Grafton St for €699. I'm very pleased with the lens, it's great quality and built like a brick.

If you want I can email you a couple of high res shots taken with it,

Dave

pete4130

The lenses you buy are probably only as good as what you are willing to pay. What I mean is if you buy a cheap lens to start off with it won't produce the quality no matter what the brand. Kit lenses do an ok job to get you started but they wouldn't be top quality and this is reflected in the price you pay for the body and lens kit. I've got a bagfull of lenses and all but 2 of them are Nikon lenses, the others being Sigma. The reason being is that Sigma had the lenses that suited me the best at the time if purchase so I went for them. In saying that thought they weren't the cheapest lenses and I did my homework on them to see if they were worth the money. My only 2 Nikon lenses would be the Nikon 50mm 1.8 (cheap, sharp and really fast!) and the Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye which I would use quite alot. My previous fisheye lens for my 35mm camera was the Sigma 15mm Fisheye. It was cheaper than the Nikon 16mm and is super sharp. The only thing that let it down compared to the nikon fisheye was its extra size and weight but I could live with that.

Pete.

run_Forrest_run

mathias wrote:

Yeah , Ken ( chuck Norris ) Rockwell is the tabloid journalism of photo reviews , hes good for a laugh sometimes but leans towards the extreme most of the time,definitely to be taken with a pinch of salt.

wow, didn't realise he was seen as that! FredMiranda is good alright. I just thought Ken Rockwell was very informative and written in simple english for the non too technical people...(maybe that's why U call him 'tabloid'!).

Good to know anyway.

daedalus2097

For question 1: I bought the standard 18-135mm D80 kit, a bag, a 2GB SanDisk IV card and 5 years' insurance from Dixons in the duty free in Stansted airport, for the equivalent of about €1250... Which isn't bad I reckon Considering the kit alone costs more than that in some Dublin shops. Extremely happy with it, and the Nikon prime 105mm F2.8 lens I bought recently. Haven't had too much experience with Sigma lenses, but the few times I have used them I haven't had any complaints. Quality wise they feel pretty close to the Nikon ones, and the quality of the shots isn't noticeably different (to me anyway...) to those taken with Nikon lenses.

You could also consider second hand lenses - Birmingham Cameras on the quays in Dublin stock a fair few and are generally quite helpful...

mathias

I just thought Ken Rockwell was very informative and written in simple english for the non too technical people...(maybe that's why U call him 'tabloid'!).

Actually I meant tabloid in the sense that most of his stuff takes liberties with the truth and is just designed to grab as many readers as possible. Sensationalism if you like.

This guy on the other hand , keeps it simple and accurate ! Just does Canon though. Merely pointing out a style of journalism.

http://www.bobatkins.com/

Benster

I have a Sigma 28-80 zoom at home for the past few years, build quality isn't great but it gives good results.

I'd say that unless you are going to do some really high-end photography where the reliability and quality of those expensive Nikons are going to make a difference, you'll be fine with the cheaper option Sigmas etc.

Start off with the cheaper brands until you know what it is you want to improve upon, then make your choice for a high-end lens.

Cheers,

B.