What lens to use for Nikon D70

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mah100

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Hi

Can you help me please, I went on Safari last year and using my Nikon D70 I took long distant photos using a AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4. f/5.6G but found that this did not give me the distance I needed. I've been looking at other lenses and see that Nikon has a AF-S VR 70-300MM f/4.5-6G IFED lens which I can pick up for about £330. My questions are: will this lens give me the opportunity to take longer distant shots, will I see much improvement, or should I be looking at a different lens altogether (my budget is up to £600)?

Any help will be appreciated.
Cheers
Mike
 
Good question ..i use a 70-300mm and find it an excellent lens. Obviously if its long distance shooting a preferable lens would be a VR maybe a 80-400mm(Vibration reduction) but these are expensive...a good starting point link is below

Ken Rockwell

Ebay have some Buy it Now ..but it over steps your budget slightly (£700). Still looking though as i fancy a better mag one .
Below picture probably 50ft using a D50 with 70-300mm lens

70-300mm VR
 

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I'm actually wondering the same thing myself.

I have a Nikon D40X with a Nikon 18 - 135mm lens.

I was at an Air race thingie near the 02 Dome in Greenwich today and figured I could have used a lens that got a little closer to the planes.

The quality was good, focus was fine, capture was quick, it's just even at full zoom I had a whole lot more sky in the pic than aeroplane.

Is there a cheaper option that would start from 135 or thereabouts?

I will post some pix of the Air Race event later, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day out, despite my sunburnt forehead ;)
 
I use a Sigma 70-300mm APO DG 1:2 Macro lens on a D50 (pretty much the same as a D70), its fantastic, costs about £170, and is better than the Nikon equivalent (friend has one)

See my airshow pics for examples :)
 
christopherpostill said:
I use a Sigma 70-300mm APO DG 1:2 Macro lens on a D50 (pretty much the same as a D70), its fantastic, costs about £170, and is better than the Nikon equivalent (friend has one)

See my airshow pics for examples :)
Click to expand...

It was your air show pix that made me wonder whether I'd made the right choice of lens or not.

Basically, I figured my Nikon 18-135 Lens gave me the most flexibility for the price, a sort of 'all-rounder' if you will, which it is, I guess, although it cost almost as much as the camera.

I'll be posting some pix of the air race in Greenwich shortly and you'll be able to see I just can't get close enough to the aircraft.

I was wary of the Sigma lenses, which I why I chose Nikon but if your pix were taken with a Sigma lens, that's good enough recommendation for me. I shall look at their range, maybe considering a range of 150 - 300 or similar if such a beast is available, to compliment the lens I have already.

btw, James, one of our American members here, brought the camera/lens/memory/filter in The States for me and brought it over in June en route to business in Germany.

He saved me £200.00 from the cheapest I could find for this setup in the UK.

So thank you James :) :thumb:
 
btw, whatever happened to mah100, the thread starter? We get a lotta them one-offs, don't we? :lol:
 
Flops - the Sigma version of this lens is FAR better than the Nikon. My friend cant seem to get many decent pics from hers at all.

Also, get the macro APO version aswell.

http://www.fotosense.co.uk/shop/Sig...FREE_58mm_UV_Filter.asp?productID=4920&tabID=

Thats the one you want. Its not the fastest lens aperture or focus wise around, hence price, but as you can see in my portfolio, it takes good pictures!!

Is the lens you have the one that they bundle with the new D80? i was quite interested in it...
 
This is the package I got: Link. When I ordered it in May (from James) it was £659.00, it's cheaper now.

Plus I got a UV filter thrown in. It cost me £450.00 from the States, thanks to James.

Plus, him being a bit of a softie, he brought me a 2Gb memory card, a good quality one, and a five year worldwide warranty plan.

On top of that, I bought two spare batteries from Hong Kong via Amazon for about £15.00 each (they're about £50.00 each from Jessops), a 2Gb top of the range memory card and a real nice case from Jessops This one

I haven't messed with it much yet, the lens I have means I can't take macro shots, I'm really impressed with the detail and quality of the pix I've taken, the auto-focus is really fast, I do need a bigger telephoto facility if I want to take fast moving race-car/aeroplane pix, I have yet to mess about with manual settings, will do soon and that's about it, really.

Basically, I had enough money to either buy this camera or a flat screen TV.

Well, it's summer, ain't it? :D

So, what I'm looking for is a lens to take close up shots with and a longer telephoto facility.

And I've just realised, it's not 18-165 as I stated, but actually 18-135.
 
Great pics Chris :thumb:

I took with this cheapo 52mm Lens and Macro filters these ..All for about £30
 

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Are they cropped at all Rush?

I'd love a short macro lens...especially for £30! Where did you get it?
 
By Chris
Are they cropped at all Rush?

I'd love a short macro lens...especially for £30! Where did you get it?
Click to expand...


The first one maybe with Picasa2 but the rest are as they were taken .

Lens here or search for similar and 4 piece macro lens kit here . The Macro lenses are fully interoperable and can be added together to give a closer image. (nb the macro lens mentioned is a X 10).

I used the X10 and X4 together.

Great pics for the cost though.



 
So are they like filters that screw on the end?

My telephoto macro lens is 52mm filter size i think, would those screw on?
 
By Chris

So are they like filters that screw on the end?

My telephoto macro lens is 52mm filter size i think, would those screw on?
Click to expand...

Yes, they are filters really and yes they just screw on the end. I may buy a set of 62mm for my 70-300 or just buy a stepping down ring 62mm-52mm and try the ones i have .
 
So how do the filters work? do they allow you to focus from a much closer distance?

If they have any in 67mm i might aswell just get some for my 18-70mm or is there any advantage to getting the lens in your link?
 
Yes , i will give you an example .

D50 with a 18-55mm lens only.

and the second with a D50 , 18-55mm lens and 10+ and +4 screw on filters.
excuse the quality Rush job in my garden but you get the drift .
 

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And assuming both are at their minimum focus distance, thats a pretty good difference!!

*Chris wants some* :D
 
By Chris
And assuming both are at their minimum focus distance, thats a pretty good difference!!
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well they are both taken in P mode and Yes are at their minimum focus distance (not bad for £10)..so an expert could squeeze even better quality out of them in an Aperture/Shutter/WB kinda way :p
 
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