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lenses for d80

craig winters

New member
hi everyone

i have aquired a d80 body from my brother-in-law. he is upgrading to a d200 but keeping his lenses. i would like to know what lens or lenses to buy, particularly brands. i have seen sigma and tamron brands for sale but don't know enough about them to make a decision. or should i just stick with nikon lenses?

any help would be apprieciated

craig
 

Per Ofverbeck

New member
Don´t know if it´s helpful, but for my D200, I´ve gone through three "standard zooms" in just over a year, and only now I´m quite satisfied...

First one was the Nikon 18 - 200 VR. Very convenient, decent optics, but just not quite good enough to live happy ever after with.

Next, the Tamron 28-75/2.8. Small and light despite its speed, excellent optically. Just a bit slow in focussing e.g. playful dogs, and not really wide enough.

Finally (I hope), the Nikon 17-55/2.8. Expensive, heavy, but built like a tank, and almist instant (and correct) focussing. Optically very good (although the Tamron was just as good in that respect). Not quite long enough, but rather that than something not wide enough.
 

Maria Lawson

New member
I originally bought the Tamron 28-75/ 2.8 because they were cheaper, and I was unhappy with it. The focus is very delayed, and when set on auto focus it couldn't always figure out what to focus on. Then wouldn't let me take the photo because it couldn't focus. I guess a good thing is that I got in the habit of using manual focus and now prefer it to auto focus. This might have just been a bad lens too because I also bought the Tamron 28-300/ 3.5 and I liked it. The focus works fine. Still a little delayed but not nearly as bad as the 28-75.

But I did borrowed my friends Nikkor 18-200/3.5 and I really really liked it. I almost didn't give it back. hehe. Unfortunately she needed it for another project so I had to give in.

And I was using these on my D80

hope that helps
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Tad,

We have a separate forum for all buy/sell posts. Please refrain from advertising elsewhere.

Regards,

Cem
 
If it's a good zoom you want that is relatively inexpensive, the Nikon 70-300mm AF-S VR is great. I use it quite a lot. My new favorite now however, and you would be hard pressed to find one better, is the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8. It is one fabulous piece of top quality glass.
 

Ken Mitchell

New member
hi everyone

i have aquired a d80 body from my brother-in-law. he is upgrading to a d200 but keeping his lenses. i would like to know what lens or lenses to buy, particularly brands. i have seen sigma and tamron brands for sale but don't know enough about them to make a decision. or should i just stick with nikon lenses?

any help would be apprieciated

craig

My answer to this, of course, would be "it depends"... :)

Mostly, it depends on what you want to spend.

I have a bunch of lenses that I have picked up over the last year and a half, some of which I really like and some of which not so much.

Please keep in mind that most of my shooting is done in the "telephoto" end of things, so most of my lenses are long.

If money is a factor, I have 3 recommendations.

The first is my favorite lens for the money, which is the Tamron 70-300 LD DI... I got this as part of a kit on my first D80, and my thought was I would use it for a month or two until I found something better and then pitch it. The problem with that theory was that the lens is SHARP, it is light weight, and very versatile. It has a "macro" setting which really isn't a true macro but it is not bad... I have taken a lot of decent shots with the "macro" setting on it. The only real weaknesses of the lens is it has some CA that you have to fix in post (the D300 does an amazing job in camera on this... completely eliminates it from this lens as you shoot), and the focusing is a bit slow and noisy with a bit of hunting now and then. On the other hand, I see it all the time for $130, so what can you really expect.

I also own and like the 55-200 VR. Excellent little lens for the money.

The third lens I would recommend if money is an issue is the new 18-55 VR "kit" lens. It is sharp, well behaved and inexpensive.

Now, if money ISN'T a factor so much, I would recommend sticking with Nikon and getting yourself a 80-200 f/2.8 zoom and a 17-55 f/2.8 Nikkor. I don't own either, but I have shot both and like them very much.

I have a 70-200 VR, but frankly if I had to do it all over again I would have bought the 80-200... it is about $1K cheaper and the image quality is every bit as good.

Lastly, there's always the "nifty fifty", the Nikkor f/1.8 which sells new for $100 or so bucks. It is sharp & fast (although not as sharp as the Canon cheapo 50). The 1.4 is better glass, but about triple the price.
 

Eric Van Gilder

New member
I got the Nikkor 28-80 "kit" lens when I bought my D50 and it has been a good lens to me. Some people complain because it's mostly plastic, which it is, but it has taken some great photos. I smacked it on a door frame a while back and thought it was done for. It still works, amazingly.

I picked up the Nikon 18-200 VR lens and I love it. It has consistently given me the quality of shots I would expect. I also have the Nikkor 70-300mm ED lens. It has been a solid performer, but not quite the reach I was looking for. I picked up the Sigma 50-500 (Bigma) and I like it, BUT, it seems to overexpose on the D80. The same settings with other lenses work fine. I just have to set the exposure comp to between -.7 and -1 on bright days. One the D50, it works great.

If cost was no issue, I would get the 200-400MM VR. That is one real nice piece of glass!
 

Eric Bowles

New member
There is no requirement that you stick with Nikon lenses, but you may want to consider the long term strategy as well as short term options. Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina make both pro level lenses and consumer lenses that are worth considering. With Nikon lenses, you tend to get high quality glass with a higher price than some of the quality alternatives. Also keep in mind you largely get what you pay for.

Here are some options:
For a one lens solution - the Nikon 18-200 lens is terrific. It has VR and covers a wide range of situations. Scott Kelby (probably the top Photoshop author) recently blogged about wishing he had used his 18-200 instead of a host of pro lenses on a recent trip as the flexibility would have prevented the problem of always having the wrong lens for the situation. This lens will cost $650-700 new.

For a two lens solution, the 18-70 and the 70-300 VR make a great lightweight combination. The 18-70 is a great value lens and was originally paired in the kit for the D70. You can find it used for $175-200. The 70-300 VR is the latest consumer zoom version of the popular 70-300 series. There are several different models of the 70-300. The 70-300 ED is fine, but stay away from the 70-300 G. The new VR version has nice optics and shares the 67mm filter size of the 18-70. The VR lens is available new for around $450. On a budget, the ED version is available used for around $175-200. Keep in mind the non-VR version uses 62mm filters. The new alternative to the 18-70 is the 16-85 VR - a good lens by the early reports but I have not tried it.

Down the road you might ugrade. The first step for me was something wider. Here the Nikon 12-24 is great, but in the very good quality range you will also find the Sigma 10-20 and the Tokina 12-24.

Of course, the pro level glass of the 70-200 VR, the 17-55 and the 200-400 would be great. But we'll stay realistic until you decide how much time and money you want to invest in photography.

Eric
 

Jeff Donovan

New member
I've noticed that not too many prime lenses have been recommended. Do most of you tend to stick with zooms for the increased flexibility?
 
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