"Gary Seven" wrote in message ...

Hello all. Can some of you good folks here help me out here? I am thinking
about buying the Nikon D80. I don't want to start or hear flames either for
or against Canon/Nikon, just looking for some advice here.

I will probably go for the D80 mostly because it fits my hand much better
than say, the Canon 30D. There are other little "pleasantries" I like,
especially the viewfinder.

The D80 is an excellent choice for those reasons (finally a really
good viewfinder again in an affordable Nikon!) plus well laid
out controls. If it would meter easily with my many manual-focus
lenses (the more expensive D200 does...), I would have one
immediately.

I'm at a loss though, of the type of lens or
lenses to purchase with the body. There are two types of shooting that I
do: (1) family shots of my two little girls (indoor and outdoor) and (2)
landscape style photography, mostly of my vineyards here in Priorat (Spain).
Along those lines I like to do shots of vines, overall vine/row shots,
background "mountain" shots, and I would also like to do very close-up
(macro?) shots.

I was surprised by most of the suggestions - with most leaning
more toward convenience than quality. If you want fairly inexpensive
convenience, get the 18-70mm Nikkor - it will do pretty much
everything you mention, and do it fairly well (27mm-105mm
equivalent in 35mm terms). Add a 60mm f2.8 (90mm) macro for
the highest quality macro work if you want. If you get that one,
you could skip the zoom and get higher quality and greater speed
with the 35mm f2 (52mm equivalent) and maybe a 20mm f2.8
for wide angle (30mm equivalent). This set with maybe a 50mm
f1.8 (75mm equivalent, fine, and cheap) or 85mm f1.8 (or 127mm
equivalent) covers all your bases very sharply, and with fast lenses
that can be used wide open (except the 20mm). For a "longish"
zoom, the 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 (36-127mm equivalent) rather
good compared with most others in its range, and it could be
combined with the Tokina 12-24mm or Sigma 10-20mm, if you
want super wide and can take a hit in image quality...

So what to do here? I have the feeling that buying just one lens (I assume
a tele-wide) will NOT be a one-size-fits-all solution. I get the feeling I
will need two, but simply don't know which way to go here. Of course, my
budget is not unlimited and I simply can't plop down another $2000 in glass
on top of the $900 I will be spending on the body.

If you are not looking for the very highest quality, but good
useful range with a convenient, affordable lens, go with the
18-70mm - and maybe add some non-zooms later...
--
David Ruether

http://www.donferrario.com/ruether