'Oooroo from beyond the black stump..

[FrankieP]

Hi everyone,

I take it this is more or less the Qld sub-forum? I lived on the Gold Coast for seven years if that helps as a qualifier, but have been in Charleville for the last five and much prefer it! Before the Goldie I lived in NZ for eight years, throughout teenagerdom pretty much, and prior to that I was born and raised in SE London until 12. I moved to Aus for an international surf-lifesaving ironwoman competition, and am now a Paramedic.

I've always loved photography and remember finding an old Brownie at a jumble sale and proudly carrying it everywhere and snapping pics on holidays.. sadly though I can't for the life of me remember what style it was as I'd love to find another! Now I've upgraded somewhat and have had for a whole week my first DSLR, a Nikon D40 with the usual 18-55mm kit lens. It's fab and I'm having a ball getting to know both it and the vagaries of 'proper' photography, and of course am already salivating over all kinds of lenses and goodies. Am already saving for the 18-200mm VR lens and after that a micro.

I photograph anything that catches my eye really, though mostly love taking unusual shots of usual things - seeing the normal in abnormal ways. Diddling photos in Photoshop is fun, I only have ye olde CS version but there's more than enough there to get me going just yet, and I'm learning a lot in what makes for a good or bad shot by simpy experimenting in both taking the photos and working with them afterwards. I love taking macro shots with short depth of field, and am excited to finally have a decent camera with which to learn rather than battling on with my old compact.. I'm also a cactiphile and have found they're amazing plants to take close shots with due to their unusual and quite architectural shapes and their wide variety of textures and colours.

Living in the outback means I do miss out on snapping cityscapes and have much less variety of shooting locales, but on the other hand I have access to so much beautiful outback scenery others won't even visit in their lifetimes, and am looking forward to making the most of what I can see. One thing I love is the night sky, so learning how to shoot nightscapes and star trails is high on the agenda.

Any other bush basher snappers here? Charleville is roughly halfway as the crow flies between Brisvegas and Birdsville, ten hours' drive from the coast. When I don't have a camera attached to my face you'll usually find me with running shoes upon my feet or a coffee cup in my hand. Others loves are reading all kinds of science literature (though mostly evolutionary biology and ethology), learning guitar, and fashion. I already post on a bunch of other forums but now that I can properly indulge my love of photography I expect to be spending rather a lot of time on this one....!

Cheers,
Franks x

[biggerry]

wow, i now know more about you then I do my own neighbour Welcome, I am sure there are plenty of members here from sunny qld.

means I do miss out on snapping cityscapes

trade ya any day

anyway enjoy and check out some relatively recent posts about that 18-200 if you need more info.

[phillipb]

Welcome to the forum Franks,
Can't wait to see some of those macros and outback photos you're talking about.

[Matt. K]

Welcome to the forum Frankie. Guitars and cameras....a speciality of this site if you search way back.

[sheepie]

Welcome Frankie

Know what you mean about the outback - looking forward to you sharing some of your life with us (photographically at least ).

You should find plenty of advice here, don't be afraid to ask anything - there's not too many questions we get sick of hearing! As for Charleville, I haven't quite made it that far yet - it's "on the list"! Pretty sure there's a few here that would know that area of the country well though - you'll find there's a few of us here that like to get out of the city occasionally!

[who]

Welcome..... although can I please suggest if you are saving for better glass, you sidestep the 18-200 and start collecting some nicer spec lenses, even if you choose Sigma or Tamron f2.8, they will be nicer than the 18-200 IMO.

Maybe.... get a Sigma 70-200 f2.8, then you will have the main range covered..... then a f2.8 wide or whatever you use the most.

I spent the dollars on a 18-200 then went on to buy a Nikkor 28-70 f2.8 and 80-400VR and the 18-200VR gets no use now in reality (apart from me putting it on for SWMBO to use the D200).

Although - with the D40 you do need lenses with the focus motor inbuilt.... which limits you a bit.

Edit: Here is a lens that would suit 2nd hand FS.... at a nice price. I have bought a few lenses through this forum now and all have been as promised/described.

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=35867

[FrankieP]

Hi everyone, thanks for the welcomes. Will have to do some research on the guitar & cameras front here, I'm curious now!

I've 5 days off over this weekend starting today (woohooooo!), so will be getting out and about and will hopefully have some interesting shots to share of the outback soon. Am also going to a fancy dress party tomorrow night which should be good for some unusual portrait shots, provided the alcomahol doesn't get the better of me!

Who, thanks so much for the recc'! I was thinking 18-200 just so that I wouldn't have to change lenses so often, but obviously I don't know too much yet and so all advice is gratefully accepted. Oh, and the VR too was something I thought would be good. I like the idea of the faster shutter speed on the 70-200 though, and for a wide do you mean something like the 12-24? As potential candidates for my imaginary lens kit I was also thinking of the 35mm or 50mm prime and also getting the Tamron 90mm macro, but since money (or acute lack thereof) is an issue I'd like to get lenses that can do double-duty as much as possible!

Will do some more searches here on the perfect all-rounder lens kit for the D40, someone's bound to have asked this already....

[aim54x]

Who, thanks so much for the recc'! I was thinking 18-200 just so that I wouldn't have to change lenses so often, but obviously I don't know too much yet and so all advice is gratefully accepted. Oh, and the VR too was something I thought would be good. I like the idea of the faster shutter speed on the 70-200 though, and for a wide do you mean something like the 12-24? As potential candidates for my imaginary lens kit I was also thinking of the 35mm or 50mm prime and also getting the Tamron 90mm macro, but since money (or acute lack thereof) is an issue I'd like to get lenses that can do double-duty as much as possible!

Will do some more searches here on the perfect all-rounder lens kit for the D40, someone's bound to have asked this already....

Depends on what you want? convenience (18-200VR), affordability (add the 55-200VR to your current kit), absolute quality and longevity (14-24 + 24-70 + 70-200 + 60/105 micro or Tamron 90 - but this is a lot of dollars and heavy overkill for a D40 but will be a good kit to collect as any camera upgrade will not have you buying more glass) or somewhere imbetween (Tamron 17-50 + Tamron/Sigma 70-200 + Tamron 90 - or even their new 60mm f/2 macro).

There is a huge selection so maybe hold off these thoughts and work out what you shoot, what you need and what you want. There are plenty of people who own and use these lenses so ask away when you decide you are interested in a a particular lens.

Cheers
Cameron

[FrankieP]

Goodness.. see, I'm not even sure where to start yet, haha! Convenience is a big plus, whilst mega $$$'s an unavoidable minus. I do still really like the idea of such a large range with one lens for most 'everyday' type photography, hence the 18-200, and then having a couple of cleverer lenses for other work, such as the Tamron 90mm Macro for macro and portraiture and a shorter prime or shorter zoom I guess.

Since I'm starting out too I've so much to learn yet that I think I can start with 2 or 3 lenses that will cover most bases until I know exactly what I like doing and thus what I need to add / replace. Ack. Now my brain hurts...!

Thanks for posting, Aim!

[aim54x]

Goodness.. see, I'm not even sure where to start yet, haha! Convenience is a big plus, whilst mega $$$'s an unavoidable minus. I do still really like the idea of such a large range with one lens for most 'everyday' type photography, hence the 18-200, and then having a couple of cleverer lenses for other work, such as the Tamron 90mm Macro for macro and portraiture and a shorter prime or shorter zoom I guess.

Since I'm starting out too I've so much to learn yet that I think I can start with 2 or 3 lenses that will cover most bases until I know exactly what I like doing and thus what I need to add / replace. Ack. Now my brain hurts...!

Thanks for posting, Aim!

With that I would recommend one of two options (expensive and cheap):

CHEAP
-AF-S 55-200VR ($350 buys you a nice lens to complement your 18-55, not the best quality but very good for the money this is a DX only lens)
And one of the following:
-AF-S 60 f/2.8 ($865 - a proper macro lens, does double duty for portraiture)
-AF-S 35 f/1.8 ($345 - cheap, quick, sharp BUT a DX only lens)
-AF-D 50 f/1.8 ($205 - cheap, sharp, quick BUT no AF on the D40)
-AF-S 50 f/1.4 ($685 - more expensive, quicker than the above)

Expensive
-AF-S 18-200VR ($1050 - the one that you and everyone else wants, this is a DX only lens)
OR
-AF-S 16-85VR ($895 - wider and shows a bigger difference in the angle of view between the wide and long ends, this is a DX only lens) -- this lens get my vote if you are thinking about this kit
And one of the following:
-AF-S 60 f/2.8 ($865 - a proper macro lens, does double duty for portraiture)
-AF-S 35 f/1.8 ($345 - cheap, quick, sharp BUT a DX only lens)
-AF-D 50 f/1.8 ($205 - cheap, sharp, quick BUT no AF on the D40)
-AF-S 50 f/1.4 ($685 - more expensive, quicker than the above)

If you go either way you will not be carrying more than 3 lenses at most and all of them are very compact.

I have grabbed the prices from ECS (http://www.cameras.net.au) who are one of the cheapest Nikon retailers in Sydney you should use them as a guide for pricing on Australian Stock (you will have warranty, grey market stock means warranty can be an issue).

[FrankieP]

Thank you for this! I've not seen that store before but their prices are much better than the other places I've been looking.

What do you mean in larger difference between angle of view, is it that the short end is wide angle whereas the long end isn't? I'd really like a wide angle lens and the 16-85 is a nice handy range, but were I to get the 55-200 to still have a longer lens too I'd be overlapping a bit.. or maybe that doesn't matter? (The 70-200's seem incredibly expensive!!!)

Being such a fast lens and with a teeny DOF if wanted, would the 50mm f/1.4 be good for close-up work? I know it wouldn't be a 'true' macro lens, but I was thinking I could get some versatility out of it in that respect as it'd be nice and sharp too..

[aim54x]

What I meant by a difference in angle of view is:

18-200mm VR - 76-8 (deg) which is a 68 deg difference
16-85mm VR - 83-18'50' (deg) which is a difference of 72'10' (deg)

so technically the 16-85 gives you a bigger difference in the frame between the wide and long ends.

the 50mm f/1.4 will not have the ability to focus close enough to be an effective macro, it is however a very nice lens and getting some extension tubes or a close up filter set it will do a decent job as a macro, but still not as good as the 60mm f/2.8 macro (it will still be a good portrait lens).

Getting a 55-200mm VR is not a problem if you are getting the 16-85VR, but if you want better quality have a look at the Sigma 70-200mm for much less than half the price of the Nikkor and apparently very similar image quality. Another option is the Nikkor 70-300mm VR this will give you more reach with good optics http://bythom.com/70300VRlens.htm.