The Official Nikon Thread

[Medo]

Great pictures. Excellent detail. Show the wife ASAP, she will go awwwww and the credit card bill will not matter to her.

You should also tell her that there is no way you are going to use a cheapo point and shoot to take pictures of your baby, these pictures will document your baby's early years and you need a capable camera to capture every moment with breathtaking detail. That should bring a tear to her eye and she would think what a nice and considerate father you will be. It's all in the delivery, you need to make it sound like you bought the camera for the baby and not for yourself.

NOTE: Flash may hurt baby's eyes.

[T0M]

Originally Posted by Medo

Great pictures. Excellent detail. Show the wife ASAP, she will go awwwww and the credit card bill will not matter to her.

You should also tell her that there is no way you are going to use a cheapo point and shoot to take pictures of your baby, these pictures will document your baby's early years and you need a capable camera to capture every moment with breathtaking detail. That should bring a tear to her eye and she would think what a nice and considerate father you will be. It's all in the delivery, you need to make it sound like you bought the camera for the baby and not for yourself.

NOTE: Flash may hurt baby's eyes.

Cheers Medo, I might just print that off and read it word for word (or would that be missing the point?).

Re. the flash, I think I may have blinded my son already (although that first shot was taken without the flash).. oh well, at least I got some good photos which he can, er.. not, look back on...

[Joka]

My camera and only lens, got the body on sale for 599€ and the lens to go for 9€ (which is just about how much the lens is worth). Hopefully I'll be able to afford a 18-200mm and/or a 10-22mm Sigma soon.

[T0M]

Whislt waiting for my new lens I thought I'd give my Grandma's old Nikon lenses a quick spin yesterday. Bit of a steep learning curve as I've never used a camera in fully manual mode, controlling everything from ISO, shutter speed and apature.. but I got the hang of it eventually and these are some of the restults (which go to show that a quality lens is always a quality lens, no matter how old)

Taken with the Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 with polarising filter

[T0M]

And here are a few taken with the Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8

I just love the results from this lens, it makes taking portraits child's play.. I just click away and have got some amazing results with relatively little effort (well, they're amazing to me, who's used to point and shoot compacts!)

[Medo]

Great pictures. Prime lenses are always sharper than other lenses.
I use my 50mm lens more than any other of my lenses.

[T0M]

Cheers Medo (what's a 'prime' lens? Does than mean it's a fixed focal length?).

The results from the 50mm are brilliant, and I'll be using that for all the photos of the little fella as he grows... but for the out and about stuff, there can be only one... I'm picking up the new lens tomorrow... can't wait!!

[Medo]

Yes prime means fixed focal length.

[Erebus555]

I've just started messing around with my Nikkor 50mm f1.4 literally about 5 minutes ago. Just took photos of random things like my whisky flask and other lens, and funk me sideways with 2 litre cola bottle... it's incredible! The possibilities are endless. A whole new window has been opened up to me that my last lens was unable to do. Low light conditions? Pfft! I can handle 'em! Fan flipping tastic!

[Medo]

Yep it's brilliant, it produces razor sharp images.

[Smarty]

Originally Posted by Erebus555

I've just started messing around with my Nikkor 50mm f1.4 literally about 5 minutes ago. Just took photos of random things like my whisky flask and other lens, and funk me sideways with 2 litre cola bottle... it's incredible! The possibilities are endless. A whole new window has been opened up to me that my last lens was unable to do. Low light conditions? Pfft! I can handle 'em! Fan flipping tastic!

Do you think the lens is as / more important than the camera then ? Hmmm - that's food for thought.

[T0M]

Hi smarty, I'm no expert, but I've done a lot of reading up on cameras and lenses (and a lot of bugging Medo every 5 mintues) over the last few weeks, and the overall consensus seems to be that lenses are the single biggest determinant of image quality after the photographer themselves.. provided you're using a half decent camera. That's why I opted for a cheap (ish) dslr and a lens which was almost twice as expensive (YES - I've swaped my 16-85mm for the 18-200mm! ). I'll still be using the lens in years to come, whereas the camera will probably be replaced in a few years as digital technology changes rapidly, but the basic elements of a good quality lens haven't changed for half a centuary.

I've just been using my Grandma's old Nikkor prime lenses which are nearly 30 years old and the results are stunning. So that tells you something.

[Erebus555]

I completely agree! I see the camera body itself as the engine to capture the ability of the photographer and lens. I still see it as a very important piece of kit - I mean, how else am I going to get a picture? I'm a lost duck with myself and a lens!

Still can't get over how sharp this lens is though. Makes me want to throw my Sigma 70-300mm lens out the window in true rock and roll style now!

[Joka]

Can we see some comparison pictures of the F1.4 and F1.8 50mm lenses? Is it worth the extra money?

[Smarty]

Originally Posted by Erebus555

Makes me want to throw my Sigma 70-300mm lens out the window in true rock and roll style now!

I've got one of those and now want to do the same

So if you were starting out from scratch with a new Nikon camera and had say £500 to spend on lenses, what would you go for ? No specific photgraphic needs but would like to have a good range from relatively wide angle to decent zoom.

[Smarty]

Originally Posted by T0M

That's why I opted for a cheap (ish) dslr and a lens which was almost twice as expensive (YES - I've swaped my 16-85mm for the 18-200mm! )..

That probably answers my previous question. 18-200 would cover most scenarios. How much was that ?

[T0M]

Originally Posted by Smarty

That probably answers my previous question. 18-200 would cover most scenarios. How much was that ?

Yes, that's probably the best bet. There are some excellent reviews of it about and having given it a test run it really does cover everything from wide angle (important to me for taking photos of buildings) and very impressive telephoto. The images are nice and sharp and in low light or at high zoom the image stabilzation seems to really work.

All this doesn't come cheap... good price for a new lens is around £400, but you can pick them up in good nic second hand from £300 upwards on eBay.

Now that I've got this and the old 50mm prime lens I pretty much have everything I need. The great advantage of the 18-200mm is that you only need to take one lens out with you on photo shoots, I keep the 50mm at home for portrait style shots of family and friends.

Good review here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htm

If you've already got the camera I'd get this lens, and possibly this http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog/...FQ6S1QodEihpqA

I'm sure Medo has plenty of good advice to offer as well though...

[Erebus555]

Messed about with the 50mm lens in the garden today! I can see why everyone loves the lens! I can't achieve a picture this sharp and just so.... awwww with any of my other lenses!

image hosted on flickr


My only issue with the lens is that I am having trouble with focussing - especially on very small objects. I guess it's not built to work like a macro lens but I find that it tends to focus on the stuff immediately around the subject as opposed to the subject itself.

Example (although almost impossible to tell at this size). Here the lens focussed more on the flower than on the bee itself. It's hard to tell but it's still annoying for me! Am I asking for too much?
image hosted on flickr

[T0M]

Great shots Erebus! Pin point sharpness. Because my lens is older I have to manually focus it and so don't know how well the autofocus works, but it can only ever be so good. I'd suggest using manual focus for shots like the bee, and actually most shots, because with that type of lens you're rarely shooting fast moving objects, and manual focus gives you much more control.

[Erebus555]

I can't manually focus because my right eye is a bit dodgy. I rely on the auto-focus to get it just right! I have tried adjusting the view finder but I still find it difficult to tell if I have focussed properly on something. I have tried shooting whilst wearing glasses but that's just very uncomfortable.