Just joined the Nikon Club. Picked up a used D70 kit with 18-70 lens from a buddy. So far I am loving it and been testing it out for a couple of weeks now.

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

Picked up a D90 with the 18-55VR kit lens and picked up the 50mm 1.4 as well. I'm borrowing my friends 18-200VR for my 20 day trip in Asia. Should be fun!

 

Did you all the see the new Nikon freaking masterpiece?? The D3X? Its got 24.5 megapixels!!! Thats amazing! The camera costs $8,000.00!!
http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/...25442/D3X.html




.......I want it!

 

have a vintage D100 and a nikon 18-70.
should i sell the 18-70 and buy a 18-200 VR?
or keep the 18-70 and buy a 55-200 VR?
thanks in advance.
boxcars

 

Get the 18-200mm VR, you can pretty much carry just one len and go anywhere. You can never go wrong with the 18-200mm VR

 

The 55-200 is a fine lens for the price point and much cheaper than the 18-200. Of course, the price you pay for the 18-200 (besides the price) is there is a loss of image quality at both ends. I'd also look at the Sigma 18-200 - heard good things about it and it's much cheaper.

 

both prost and cadfael make good points, i'm still undecided...........
any other opinions?
thanks in advance
boxcars

 

As a long time Nikon user, I always wait for a good compact digital camera from Nikon. Finally, Nikon comes with a decent one. Not perfect but almost, the Coolpix P6000.



Perfect to be my carry around camera. Most of all, works with the Nikon CLS system that I already have.



Some key features......

• 13.5 Megapixels for stunning prints as large as 20 x 30 inches. Sharp resolution captures the finest details, crop creatively and produce incredible enlargements.
• 4x Wide Angle Optical Zoom-NIKKOR ED Glass Lens superior optics provide exceptional pictures throughout the versatile zoom range plus two ED Glass elements reduce chromatic aberrations and get you sharp, crisp pictures. NIKKOR optics offers the finest quality glass in the industry which gets you incredible pictures with brilliant colors and sharp details
• Incredible, Bright 2.7-inch High Resolution LCD and Optical Viewfinder makes it easy to compose and share your pictures with friends and family. The incorporation of the optical viewfinder enables you to see through the lens in any type of lighting condition.
• Optical VR Image Stabilization compensates for camera shake to prevent blur producing clearer, sharper results in lower light or unsteady conditions. In addition, the benefits of Nikon's VR system extend to faster framing on the monitor and smoother action when using the movie mode.
• Program, Aperture, Shutter, and Manual Exposure Modes allow you to have the ultimate control over your pictures. The D-SLR-type mode dial on the top of the camera provides quick access for greater personal and creative control. Now you can adjust the camera's settings for any type of lighting conditions and get as creative as you want.
• Auto adjusts up to ISO 6400 and lets you keep shooting, even in lower light. With a light sensitivity range of up to ISO 6400 in manual control, this creates new opportunities to take sharper, more natural-looking photos in lower light conditions
• New COOLPIX RAW mode (.NRW) with Windows Imaging Component allows you to take and edit pictures in RAW mode with Windows Vista.
• New GPS capability will automatically geo-tag your photos with the exact location of where you shot that picture. Upload pictures directly to my Picturetown, then conduct searches based on the location of where your pictures were taken. You can also view them all at once. A great way to have instant organization of your photos!

 

I just recently played around with my friend's 50mm 1.4 nikkor, and, OMG, I am in LOVE with that lens (uber sharp, uber fast!). I always thought a 50mm prime was uber-lame, but I've come to eat my words. I guess there's a reason the 50mm prime has been around since the stone-age, and I needed to be more open minded in how I take my shots. That lens has made me realize my Sigma 70-300mm is a POS (it wants to be cuddly, it's soft and fuzzy ALL the time!) and my 18-70mm kit lens (I have a d70) is decent, but I could stand for better.

Trying to hold off on purchasing the 50mm though since I'm amidst trying to buy a house right now, and the cash spent on a lens could well help pay for the house inspector!

 

If you want to become a better photographer, work with a prime for a while. It forces you to be more creative. We tend to get lazy and boringly redundant when using zooms all the time. A prime makes you come up with new ideas for framing, composition, etc.

 

Hear, hear! I have to agree with this comment regarding prime lenses (I have five)! What I like about my 50, 28, and 10.5mm is getting up close to your subjects.

With the two 105s, portraits come out great!

 

A quick snapshot of my son with my new Coolpix P6000.

The image is from the first 15 minutes the camera arrived.

Lighting was a simple wireless off camera set up by using P6000, a SB-800 and SU-800, with some minor tweak on Photoshop. Shooting at 8M fine (max. 13.5M)

Not bad at all for a point'n shoot.



File Info 1

Camera Info
Flash
Image Settings

 

Hey guys, fellow Nikon shooter here. I am looking to buy a Mini soon, I can't wait because it will give something new to shoot. I've shot about as much as I can of my Wrangler..

I'm about to turn 18, and shoot with a D40, 18-55, 55-200 VR, and a Vivitar 285hv flash. I'm looking to get a strobist kit going, ordering a gadget infinity wireless trigger soon, and an umbrella next.

I think a mini should open up all new photography skills for me, and there will be cooler to shoot in the urban areas where I live.

 

Random D80 shot


New Magnaflow Exhaust

 

Happy New Year Nikon Club,

You can also find great info at http://www.nikonians.org/
Also checkout the Image Doctors podcast. One of the Hosts wrote a book on Nikon Capture NX2 that is really helpful.

Greg

 

New Christmas Glass

55-200vr, I like it a lot for the price. ($140 Nikon refurb). It will help a lot until I can afford more expensive gear. Next stuff I get will probably be a tripod and umbrella for my strobe, I've got a poverty wizard on the way. I think I want the 50mm 1.8 for my birthday in February, and I'll start saving up for a D200 body.

 

Thanks Thomas, and please add me to the New Year happy list. I wish all here many good photos this year and lots of fun on the drive to take them.
Below is one of my last photos from 2008. I visited Palm Bay Fl for Christmas. This picture was taken on 12.28.08 at 7:51 A.M. near the bridge to Melborne, Fl on rt 192. There is a small park on the main land side of the bridge where my wife and I spent the morning (after a very early stop at Starbucks).
D70s with Sigma 120-300. ISO 400, 1/125 f25


This may be the year I pick up a D-300

 

I gave in and picked up the 50mm f1.4 of my own. After using it on family through the holidays, I do believe I've certainly gotten more creatively lazy with that lens

I always wondered what possessed some of my photographer friends to take portraits at odd angles. I always thought it was some stroke of creative insight. Using the prime 50mm, my motivation wasn't nearly as enlightened: I found myself taking pictures at odd angles because the people in the picture didn't fit in the frame, so rather than stepping back I got lazy and just took the shot at a diagonal so the subject would fit

I've given up eating out for the rest of the winter to get this lens. I love this lens and it will have to pried out of my cold, dead hands before I let it go!

 

Sadly, I've stopped taking my own advice, and have been shooting mostly with my 70-200/2.8 VR.

I've decided I will take this year to save my money so I can get a D400.

 

Just ordered the D300 from B&H. Now that I have ordered the 300, the 400 will be announced next week.
I wanted to go through Penn Camera but the price difference was to much. The local Penn Camera (Tysons) is a great shop and I'll continue to rent lenses and purchase the eye cups I some how continually loose from them.
I did go through the ByThom site so hopefully he will get some credit for the sale.

 

I'm sure the price would be a good bit more though. Hopefully that means I can get a 300 in 6 months or so instead of a 200. I was planning on a 200 because the body is only $800 on Amazon and I can't justify the added expense to go to a 300 when I'm only 18. I'll try to get the best I can afford when I get started into some photography classes in college.

 

I was saving for a D200 when they came out after buying the D70. Instead I paid for my daughter to join her HS Crew team, then got a nice lens (Nikkor 17-50 f2.8) then I was spending so much time taking sports photos of autocross (gotta keep the thread car related) and crew...I picked up a used lens (Sigma 120-300 f2.8) then paid for the Daughter's wisdom teeth removal... well you get the idea. I have been waiting about 3years to upgrade the D70. The D200 is a great camera.
John

 

When the D400 comes out it'll be $1800-2000. The D200 was $1700 new and the D300 was $1800 new, so it stands to reason. I have a D200, so I always said I would get the successor to the D300 and keep the D200 as a second body. I would like to start carrying two bodies when I do race events: one with my 70-200 VR and the other with my 17-55/2.8.

 

That is good thinking. I really should have waited to pickup the 300 until the 400 was out, but this is the last year my daughter is in HS and I want the better camera for the team pictures and family events.
I currently have to camera bodies, a D-70 and a D70s. I go to events with a long lens on one and short on the other. It is very nice that both cameras use the same media (CF cards) and batteries.

To answer the unasked question. I did not just go out and get a second camera. I thought I had broken the 70 and purchased the 70s. A few months later while discussing the ENEL3 battery issues I asked the Nikon rep how much it would cost to repare the D-70. He told me the problem was covered by Nikon. It would have been nice if the sales guy at Ritz knew that. I am very impressed with the NIKON USA repare facility after sending a camera and a lens (17-55 f2.8's do not bounce well from pool decks). The lens was covered by the warrenty I purchased. The new camera has the Nikon extended warrenty.
John