Camera lens

BrusselsNick · Post by **BrusselsNick** » 27 May 2006, 11:16

Hello everybody ,

I'm op to buy a new camera soon , and I' d like to know wich lens fits best with a Nikon D70:

Are that lenses from NIKKOR
or lenses from SIGMA

grtz and regards ,

Nick

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 27 May 2006, 11:50

There is no Perfect fit ! Some people prefer a certain Nikkon lens, other prefer a certain Sigma lens. The choice of your lens usually depends on the quality you want and the budget you have. While you have normal Sigma lenses, you also have Sigma EX lenses (better optical quality). I don't have much knowledge of Nikkor lenses, but there it probably is the same.

There are other things to consider too. Do you want an all-round lens ? or do you want a wide-angle lens and a tele-lens ?

My personal favourite is the Sigma EX 50-500. Although quite heavy (1.84kg) and rather expensive (around 1.000€), it does offer you superb images ! The 10x zoom gives you excellent flexibility. Zooming out to get the 747 entirely or zooming in to the littlest detail ...

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1032840/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1032814/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1032516/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1032812/L/

I do say, this is my personal favourite as other people will think another lens is more fit for spotting.

Do remember, when choosing a lens, that you have to deal with a 1.5 Crop-factor. The can be translated to 50-500 "transforming" to something like a 75-750 ...

If you would go for the more basic 70-300 (either Nikkor or Sigma, that doesn't matter) it will become something like a 110-450. And personally, I find that 110mm as a minimum is not very handy !

Greetz,

Andries

Jense · Post by **Jense** » 27 May 2006, 11:55

Or go for a prime-lens: this gives overal in most cases better image quality than zoom lenses

If you decide to buy the 50-500, keep in mind that this lens needs a lot of light and that it is almost impossible to take decent pictures in bad weather (=low light).

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 27 May 2006, 12:04

Something I forgot :

The quality of your images is more dependent on the lens you use than it is of the body !

In other words, the lens will have a much bigger influence on your image quality ! It's better to buy a very good lens and a normal quality body. I made the mistake of buying a great body (EOS 10D) and buying a sh*tty lens (Tamron 28-300 ==> NOBODY buy this lens ! it stinks !) ... Please don't make the same mistake as I did ! I know I regretted it !

EDIT :
What also makes a notable influence in eventual image quality, is the image-processing software you use. About a year ago I used Capture One and Paint Shop Pro 9.0 to edit my images. Now I have switched to RawShooter and Photoshop CS 2.0. And I must say I have seen the quality chance ! The eventual results now are much better than before !

Greetz,

Andries

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 27 May 2006, 12:23

pietn wrote:(one tip: the Nikkor 80-400 looks atractive, but it is SLOW!)

The same can be said about the Sigma EX 80-400 OS. The autofocus is remarkably slow while the Sigma EX 50-500 has HSM (very fast and silent autofocus).

pietn wrote:Only one minor sometimes: vignetting at 500 mm in low light conditions. (but you can't have it all). The reason for that is that the minimum aperature is f6.3.

Yep, it's a matter of setting your priorities ... Do you want a flexible zoopmrange (making you give in on light) or do you want light (making you give in on zoomrange) ... Most people I know choose for the zoomrange and take the disadvantage of the light with it. Like pietn said, you can't have it all !

Greetz,

Andries

Tommypilot · Post by **Tommypilot** » 27 May 2006, 12:35

Andries wrote:The quality of your images is more dependent on the lens you use than it is of the body !

Also the quality of the pictures not only refer to the "superb" lens or body you are shooting with, but also to an experienced photographer.
I have seen enough great pictures taken by photographers with less "superb" equipment, but with experience and a motivated mind in order to not give up too quickly...

I have another opinion of "superb" images and it does not mean that when you have pictures on a.net, that they are "superb". (some are far from that) But this is only my own opinion and view about photography.

To Nick: try out some lenses and/or bodies as every photographer has his choice of its preferred "troops".

To some of you: you cannot exaggerate (at least I can't) about the quality and perfection of Canon L primes...in disregard of bad copies...you just have to learn working with them.

pietn · Post by **pietn** » 27 May 2006, 12:45

Hi there, sounds like a topic for me cause I have a Nikon D70 with Sigma 50-500 EX and Nikkor 18-70 DX.
The thing is that the Nikkor DX lenses are more suitable to their digital cameras then a normal Nikkor lens because Nikon alsa mentions the DX sensor in the D70 (and onther) bodies. I have a normal (older) Nikon lens too and I find you can notice the difference by wich I mean sharpness and color. Unfortunately, till now, Nikon only has small DX lenses.
Then there are also the "D" and "G" variants. These ouccur more on the larger zoom range lenses(like the Nikkor 70-300). D stands for a bit higher quality than the G, wich is also notable in price. The "G" is build up from cheaper materials. The 70-300 mm by the way is a pretty good lens.
Offcourse, if you buy the really expensive Nikkor lenses with large zoom range, you always have good quality, with or without D,G or DX.
(one tip: the Nikkor 80-400 looks atractive, but it is SLOW!)

Then the Sigma story. Once agian, as Andries said, you have the EX variants wich stands for quality and then the normals.
Untill now, I haven't regret any moment or any cent I gave to that lens. Only one minor sometimes: vignetting at 500 mm in low light conditions. (but you can't have it all). The reason for that is that the minimum aperature is f6.3.

But the choice between Nikkor or Sigma is totally yours, it depends on which zoom range fits you the best and is available with Nikon or Sigma. The Nikkor DX and Sigma EX are the same quality, if fact, you also have Sigma DC which sigma is busy fitting on almost all there lenses. DC means that they are updating their normal lenses to digital standard. But I think EX will still be better then.

greetings, Pietn

Post by **Bottie** » 27 May 2006, 16:56

Tommypilot wrote:To some of you: you cannot exaggerate (at least I can't) about the quality and perfection of Canon L primes...in disregard of bad copies...you just have to learn working with them.

This doesn't help the topicstarter

He was asking for a lens on a Nikon D70.

When comparing lenses, make a diffirence between zoomlenses and primelenses. Not only the price, but also the kind of lens. No doubt primelenses provide the best quality, you also lose some flexibility. I'm not going to talk about some Nikkor lenses. Why? Simple, I don't use Nikon

About the Sigma 50-500. For the money it costs, you'll get a good lens, great range but one big disadvantage, she needs light ... Or you need to switch to a higher ISO-value on your cam resulting in more noise in your pictures.

BrusselsNick · Post by **BrusselsNick** » 27 May 2006, 18:30

thanx guys

AN124 · Post by **AN124** » 27 May 2006, 18:48

Have a D70 myself and recently bought the new Nikkor 18-200 lens with VR function.
I must say I'm really pleased with this lens. It's really fast and makes great shots also in bad weather.
Next to this lens I'm using the Nikkor 70-300 ED. Also a nice and fast lens however results are a little less with bad weather, however still very nice shots are delivered by this lens.

Greetings,
Yvo

Lyulka · Post by **Lyulka** » 29 May 2006, 21:18

At this moment I am also looking into buying one of the high zoom lenses. I noticed that Tamron, nor Sigma have optical stabilisers on their 500mm zoom lenses. Is it still possible to take decent shots without this? Perhaps someone who knows a brand that does have a 500mm zoom lens that has this stabilizer on board?

gumblebee · Post by **gumblebee** » 29 May 2006, 21:30

Lyulka wrote:Perhaps someone who knows a brand that does have a 500mm zoom lens that has this stabilizer on board?

On a Konica Minolta Dynax 5D or 7D (soon to be Sony Alpha) (almost) every lens becomes a stabilized one.

westwings · Post by **westwings** » 29 May 2006, 21:40

Andries wrote:The same can be said about the Sigma EX 80-400 OS. The autofocus is remarkably slow while the Sigma EX 50-500 has HSM (very fast and silent autofocus).

Autofocus on the Sigma 50-500 does not work on the D70 or any other Nikkon in the D..series. Only manual focus!

Lyulka · Post by **Lyulka** » 29 May 2006, 21:52

I use a Canon EOS (analoge!), so unfortunately no IS on board...

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 29 May 2006, 21:53

westwings wrote:
Andries wrote:The same can be said about the Sigma EX 80-400 OS. The autofocus is remarkably slow while the Sigma EX 50-500 has HSM (very fast and silent autofocus).
Autofocus on the Sigma 50-500 does not work on the D70 or any other Nikkon in the D..series. Only manual focus!

Incorrect. I have never heard pietn complain about his autofocus. he has a D70 with a 50-500 ! If what you said was true, the 50-500 wouldn't be the succes it is now !

Greetz,

Andries

westwings · Post by **westwings** » 29 May 2006, 22:05

Oops sorry

, I haven't got mine very long so I'm still learning.

Anyway this is in their guideline:

'This lens operates both in manual and autofocus modes with the following Nikon Camera: F5, F4-series, F100, F90X/N90S, F90N90, F80/N80, F70/N70, PRONEA600, PRONEA S. However, other models of Nikon cameras which are not noted on the above list can be used in the manual focus mode, not in the autofocus mode'

Anyone more info

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 29 May 2006, 22:49

Just put the switch on your lens on AF, put the lens on your camera and start shooting ! That's about all the info you need

Greetz,

Andries

Stoney · Post by **Stoney** » 30 May 2006, 09:43

westwings wrote:
Andries wrote:The same can be said about the Sigma EX 80-400 OS. The autofocus is remarkably slow while the Sigma EX 50-500 has HSM (very fast and silent autofocus).
Autofocus on the Sigma 50-500 does not work on the D70 or any other Nikkon in the D..series. Only manual focus!

Quite incorrect indeed, AF does work on a D70. I use this combo with success, I would never have opted for this combo if AF didn't work...

For me, the 50-500 is perfect, I only go out taking pictures when the weather is nice and when there is plenty of light and then the 50-500 performs great...
Taking pictures in grey weather will result in grey pictures with any lens...

westwings · Post by **westwings** » 30 May 2006, 20:46

Andries wrote:Just put the switch on your lens on AF, put the lens on your camera and start shooting ! That's about all the info you need

Greetz,

Andries

My lens doesn't have a AF-M switch. I'm afraid it's a malfunction

Anyway thanks for your answers

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 30 May 2006, 21:09

westwings wrote:
Andries wrote:Just put the switch on your lens on AF, put the lens on your camera and start shooting ! That's about all the info you need

Greetz,

Andries
My lens doesn't have a AF-M switch. I'm afraid it's a malfunction

Anyway thanks for your answers

Are you sure ? normally al modern lenses have it ! it is located near the mount of the lens. As far as I know, there is not a single 50-500 without Autofocus

Greetz,

Andries