Recommendation on a general use lens for D70

raskal311

raskal311

New member
Ok so I picked up a D70 with a nice Macro Lens and a Zoom lens (I think). It doesn’t have a normal lens for normal everyday use. I basically have to stand really far away to take regular pictures with the lens I have now. Can someone recommend a general lens in the range of $200-300? I found a lot of Nikon lens on http://www.bhphotovideo.com in that price range but I have no idea what I’m looking at. I basically need a general lens for parties and such.

I also don’t mind paying a few dollars more and buy it at a local shop so if you can recommend a good store in Orange County, CA that would be great.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/12041/Digital_SLR_Interchangeable_Lenses_for_Nikon.html


Thanks!!
 
It sounds as though your looking for a wider angle lens. What focal lengths do you have now?

"Zoom" simply means that the lens changes its focal length.
"Telephoto" is generally anything above 85mm
"Normal" is considered about 35-50mm

If you are looking to get like an entire room in frame without backing up your looking for wide angle which on DSLR's means 12-20mm and Tokina makes a really good version of the 12-24mm f/4.

For a bit more "normal" your kit lens (the lens that normally sold with the D70) which was I think a 17-70DX takes very good photographs for the price.

You cannot beat Nikon's 50mm f/1.2 (or for a bit less money the f/1.4) prime lens...great piece of glass.
 
I currently have a these two.

Sigma 150mm 1:2.8 APO Macro
Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6g


Any specific recommendation for a 50mm? I think I need something in the range of 18-55mm.
 
See if you can find the 18-70 DX lens that used too be sold with the D70, its cheap and a nice piece of glass. If you want to step up too a better lens Nikon makes some very nice faster zooms, I have the 28-70 F/2.8 and there is also a 17-35 that is supposed to be outstanding
 
Nikon 18-50 18-70 or 18-135 would be some choices clsoe to your price range with the 18-70 being reported as the sharpest. Some even claim that it even matches to the 17-55 2.8 nikon lens when stepped down to 8-11.
if you need fast glass the 17-55 2.8 from Nikon is the sharpes but will cost around 1500 usd.
the Tamron 17-50 2.8 is reported to be as sharp wide open as the nikon 17-50 at around 400 usd it is a great lens for the money. Still some QC issues at manufacturing of the first lenses so make sure you have one that does not suffer from front or back focus issues.
Sigma also offers an 18-50 with a newer version coming with a macro button it's also a fix 2.8. One advantage of Tamron is that it zooms in the same direction as Nikon. Sigma does the opposite and this can be an inconvenience.
 
f/(insert number here) is the widest aperture of a lens.

If it has a single digit after it that would mean the lens is capable of keeping that aperture throughout the zoom.

i.e.
Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 can be opened wide at the widest aperture of f/2.8 anywhere along its 'zoom' range so you could shoot 70mm at f/2.8 or 200mm at f/2.8

You have a Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6g, put that lens on your camera and set it at 70mm, aperture priority and f/4. If you now try too zoom in to 300mm along the way the aperture will change automatically as the lens is not capable of keeping that f/4 aperture throughout its zoom...by the time you get to 300mm your maximum aperture is f/5.6.

The faster lenses generally speaking have better glass and will take better images....they also allow you more options in poor lighting by having the wider aperture.
 
A smaller number corresponds to a wider aperture which means more light allowed to go in so the lens can perform better in lower light. at the same time the deapth of field goes thinner ie the region in focus is more limited. a 1.4 lens for example can have very thin deapth of field but will aloow you to shoot in less light. sometimes lesser deapth of field is usefull to creat a Blurredf smooth background (Bookeh) and put your object of interest in focus. DOF also varies with Distance from your object and zoom. Sometimes on the other hand like in product photography or landscapes you need more DOF to have a most of the scene in focus. then you use smaller apertures (bigger numbers) to gain DOF this in return minimizes the amount of light enering the lens which means longer exposures if you're not shooting in brightlight so then you need to up the ISO (which in return results in increased noise) or use a tripod with longer exposures.... it's like a huge chain of events that are inversly related. Bottom line faster glass is desired as it can perform at lower light as well as in good light. Downside is that it's more expensive. Sometimes much more expensive.
for examle an 18-70 can zoom from 18mm which is wide to 70mm which is midrange. I think it has an aperture of 4.5-5.6 which means that your max apertures goes smaller (5.6) at max zoom this lens costs around 450 usd.
a 17-55 gives you 1mm more at the wide side and only zooms till 55 instead of 70 however it will maintain a constant 2.8 max aperture along the range. (you can clsoe it if you need to) the price of this lens is close to 1500 usd. In addition to the maximum opening there is something called pro quality glass. It usually comes with better built, better focusing , most importantly glass quality is much better to reduce artefacts... all of this comes at an increased price. Another feature in Nikon glass is VR (Vibration reduction) known as IS (Image stabilization in Canon ) this also increases the price of a lens while correcting for motion from handshake which n turn is claimed to allow you to shoot at a 4 times slower exposure with no increased motion due to handshake. This can also increase the price of PRO glass. it is also present on some Non pro (but still very good quality lenses) like the famous 18-200 VR.
In the end there are a lot of lenses to choose from and a beter explanation of your targets in photography can allow us to better assist you in which lens is best suited while avoiding overkill.
 
Wow, great info guys. I guess I’ll have to consider my needs more before deciding on a new lens.
 
Well, looks like everyone already suggested most of the lenses that I would have suggested if you are looking for a "walk around" zoom in that price range. 18-70 or 18-135....but you could also consider the 28-105 as well.

The toughest parts are 1) deciding what your needs are and 2) deciding what to get when. You should see my "lens lust" list.......I'm gonna have to win the lottery to get the lenses I know I want to have for my kit at some point!!!
 
Re: Recommendation on a general use lens for D70

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10491872#post10491872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raskal311
Ok so I picked up a D70 with a nice Macro Lens and a Zoom lens (I think). It doesn’t have a normal lens for normal everyday use. I basically have to stand really far away to take regular pictures with the lens I have now. Can someone recommend a general lens in the range of $200-300? I found a lot of Nikon lens on http://www.bhphotovideo.com in that price range but I have no idea what I’m looking at. I basically need a general lens for parties and such.

I also don’t mind paying a few dollars more and buy it at a local shop so if you can recommend a good store in Orange County, CA that would be great.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/12041/Digital_SLR_Interchangeable_Lenses_for_Nikon.html


Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Kevin,
Check out Samys camera store at South Coast Plaza on Bristol Ave. You can bargain the price with the saleman.
 
not sure if anyone mentioned, but the 18-200mm VRII really takes the cake for an all around general use lens.

It's great at both ends, not the best but for me it does the job.

I've done portraits, landscapes, you name it, with this lens.

my flickr page is almost all 18-200mm shots: http://flickr.com/photos/kinetic
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10507438#post10507438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raskal311


"Important Notice!
DX lenses are NOT recommended for use with 35mm or APS SLR cameras "

What does this mean?
Click to expand...


DX lenses are *only* for digital crop sensors (aka DSLR cameras). They are designed to take advantage of the smaller sensor. What this means is that if you took a DX lens and tried to use it on a "standard full frame" camera (like a 35mm film SLR) you would have some problems.

That's the bare bones explanation. Does that help?
 
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