Photography - Suitable lense for Nikon D70

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Eric Zwartjes

December 12th 04 11:37 AM

Suitable lense for Nikon D70

Dear Forumvisitors,

I decided to buy the Nikon D-70 camera. I am however in doubt to make the
right choice for the lense.

The standard lense Nikkor AF-S DX 18-70/3.5G IF ED seems nice, because it
has a good wide-angle range but just a small tele-range.
But I also consider the Nikkor Nikkor AF-S VR 24-120/ 3.5-5.6 G ED.
This lens has a smaller wide-angle range, but a bigger tele-range, and is
also stabilised.

Who could share somes experience with these lenses, concerning sharpness,
etc.?

Eric

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman

January 3rd 05 04:29 PM

The standard lense Nikkor AF-S DX 18-70/3.5G IF ED seems nice, because it
has a good wide-angle range but just a small tele-range.
But I also consider the Nikkor Nikkor AF-S VR 24-120/ 3.5-5.6 G ED.
This lens has a smaller wide-angle range, but a bigger tele-range, and is
also stabilised.

The stabilization will be really helpful in some circumstances. In
general, the narrower the range of a zoom, the better the quality, but
I suspect that the differences in quality will not make much of a
difference in a digital camera. (And neither of these lenses has been
reviewed on http://www.exc.com/photography/ If you have 60 seconds and
own one of these lenses, can you take a minute to let others benefit
from your experience?)

-Joel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please feed the 35mm lens/digicam databases: http://www.exc.com/photography
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Dr. Joel M. Hoffman

January 3rd 05 04:29 PM

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman

January 3rd 05 04:29 PM

paul	January 3rd 05 08:35 PM

Here's my notes to myself on this issue:
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php...sc/photography

In retrospect, maybe I'm not in such bad shape with my 28-200 & maybe I
just need to learn how to use it properly. It definitely lacks wide
angle though so if you think you may need that I'd go with the kit lense
unless you can afford a wide angle plus a telephoto zoom, then you might
as well get a huge stabilized tele & go for broke but if you aren't
inclined to go that route, the kit lense is really the best choice.
Image stabilization probably isn't really needed until you get into long
telephoto. Another one-lense option is the VR 24-120 with adapters for
wide & macro. Agh, too many choices.

A good combination if you are willing to get a fancy lense later is the
kit lense plus a future VR 80-400mm which is not overly bulky & would
really buy some bang for the bucks down the road when you really decide
you want tele.

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:
The standard lense Nikkor AF-S DX 18-70/3.5G IF ED seems nice, because it
has a good wide-angle range but just a small tele-range.
But I also consider the Nikkor Nikkor AF-S VR 24-120/ 3.5-5.6 G ED.
This lens has a smaller wide-angle range, but a bigger tele-range, and is
also stabilised.

The stabilization will be really helpful in some circumstances. In
general, the narrower the range of a zoom, the better the quality, but
I suspect that the differences in quality will not make much of a
difference in a digital camera. (And neither of these lenses has been
reviewed on http://www.exc.com/photography/ If you have 60 seconds and
own one of these lenses, can you take a minute to let others benefit
from your experience?)

-Joel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please feed the 35mm lens/digicam databases: http://www.exc.com/photography
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

paul	January 3rd 05 08:35 PM

paul	January 5th 05 03:54 PM

Ed Ruf wrote:
On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 12:35:59 -0800, in rec.photo.digital paul
wrote:

inclined to go that route, the kit lense is really the best choice.
Image stabilization probably isn't really needed until you get into long
telephoto. Another one-lense option is the VR 24-120 with adapters for
wide & macro.

Remember that to keep AF you need a combined f# of 5.6 or lower.

The D70 has an AF assist light though I'm not sure how far that reaches
& it is annoying for shooting people indoors but seems to work well.

I read more & discovered the good tele adapters are not usable unless
you have a fast f/2.8 lense. I also searched hard for a 77mm threaded
wide angle conversion with no luck. This would be a cool mid range zoom
for general purpose use but lacks in both tele & wide so I'd want
another 2 lenses to cover that. Another problem with this one is the odd
72mm filter threads so probably couldn't be given a close-up diopter so
it really is just what it is & nothing more. VR would be useful though
for me & it's pretty compact.

A good combination if you are willing to get a fancy lense later is the
kit lense plus a future VR 80-400mm which is not overly bulky & would
really buy some bang for the bucks down the road when you really decide
you want tele.

FWIW, all the reviews on the 80-400mm talked about focus not being fast.
Though a tad bit more, I went for the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR and then added a
TC-20E later. I believe this combo is more flexible and the 70-200 VR is a
stellar performer.

Yes that was eventually my conclusion that the 70-200 f/2.8 was a better
purchase if one was inclined to spend that much & for another $350 could
be adapted to a 400mm. It's a big honking lense though (both are
really). It would have to be paired with probably the kit lense since
I'd be hesitant to lug it around.

I'm still unclear what effect a +2 close-up diopter would have on the 5
ft min focusing distance.

bob	January 5th 05 04:03 PM

"Eric Zwartjes" wrote in
:

The standard lense Nikkor AF-S DX 18-70/3.5G IF ED seems nice, because
it has a good wide-angle range but just a small tele-range.
But I also consider the Nikkor Nikkor AF-S VR 24-120/ 3.5-5.6 G ED.
This lens has a smaller wide-angle range, but a bigger tele-range, and
is also stabilised.

I think it depends on what you like. For me, the 18 (which is eq~28 in
35mm) isn't really wide enough. I just spent a vacation with my CP5k,
and shot at least 1/3 of the photos with the wide angle adapter on the
lens (eq~18mm in 35mm). The 24-120 is eq~35mm at the wide end, which is
too long for the kinds of photos I like to take.

My inclination, if I were to get a D70, would be to get the 12-24, but
it costs a lot more than either of the choices you mentioned.

Bob

Scott Peterson

January 6th 05 07:55 AM

(Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) wrote:

The stabilization will be really helpful in some circumstances. In
general, the narrower the range of a zoom, the better the quality, but
I suspect that the differences in quality will not make much of a
difference in a digital camera.

I bought the D70 with the 18-70 and have not been very happy with it.
It just doesn't feel right in my hands. The focus is the inner ring
and I always reach for it instead of the zoom ring. I'd be much
happier if they were reversed. g It's also way too difficult to do
anything precise at the telephoto end of the range. The scale is
almost logrithmic. Too much at the wide end and too little at the
telephoto where it's needed. Having said that, it's a very nice lens
and I can't fault the pictures taken with it.

The 24-120 works very nicely as long as 40-mm at the wide angle end
is all right. My biggest complaint is that it's a heavy and
relatively slow lens. The VR makes up for a bit of that, but it's
still a handful. You might even consider the older 24-120 as the
prices on those are really down and it's a pretty nice lens.

So far, however, my favorite zoom on the D70 is the 28-105 f3.5-4.5 D
lens. Most of my pictures are taken using a mild telephoto and flash
taking pictures of animals. The combination if this lens and the
SB-800 flash has been very close to perfect for me. I've kept the kit
lens for when I need a wide angle, but other than that, the 28-105 is
the one that's on the camera the most.

Scott Peterson

--
If you try to fail, and succeed,
which have you done?

251/601

Scott Peterson

January 6th 05 07:55 AM

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