Railfan Technology > Time For a New Lens

Hello everyone,

I'm thinking its time for me to look into a new lens for my camera. I have a Nikon D70s and I'm using the original starter 18-70mm lens. This has served me well thus far, but I'm ready for something better. I want to maximize the amount of zoom i can get without sacrificing my wide angle capabilities. Is there a good lens that can do both without wiping out my bank account? I'm still kinda new to the SLR world so any help would be great. Any Internet pages or links would be appreciated too. Thanks everyone!

Ryan
Galesburg, IL

Out soon if not already. Won't break the bank
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/55-200mm-vr.htm

Or.. do it all , but costs more.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htm

Paul

If you want a new lens simply because you want more range than your 18-70 then look into one of the do it alls like the 18-200 however image quality will be NO better, if anything worse, you'll just have more range. If you want a new lens because you want something sharper than your 18-70 then you'll have to look for something that has less range for a lot more money. If the 18-70 is your only lens then look into gettting something to compliment it on the telephoto end, the new 70-300 VR won't break the bank.

TME

I've got a couple of PRIMES for sale. 24 f2.8 AFD and 300 f4.0 AF. $180 and $450 respectively. They aren't zooms, but you can't beat their quality.

You can also check out http://www.bythom.com/ where you will find links to a few lens reviews on the home page or click on the Nikon tab at the top to get to Thom Hogan's reviews of many of the Nikon lens in the line.

If you want to add a lens which will work like the 70mm-210mm of old, check out the specs on this one. The grade values across the board for this lens are nothing short of astounding.

http://www.popphoto.com/cameralenses/3966/lens-test-tokina-50-135mm-f28-pro-dx-af.html

Here is the test for the 70mm-300mm recommended earlier.

http://www.popphoto.com/cameralenses/3857/lens-test-nikon-70-300mm-f45-56g-vr-ed-af-s.html

You can see this lens pretty much falls apart at the 300mm end. Probably the extra money for the Nikkor 80mm-400mm Vr is worth it.

There are lots of lens reviews from PopPhotography linked on this site. The Nikon 80mm-400mm VR is on page 3. You will have to search around for the headline and the link to the SQF chart, though.

http://www.popphoto.com/archive.asp?section_id=30&article_id=0

Certainly look at the Sigma, Tokina and Tamron lenses in the 80mm-200mm range to compare with the Nikkors. Decide if you want VR or not and then look at the charts and read the text. Have some fun!

It is important to remember that though the digital sensor is critical the Sony chip in the D70 is a good one. It just cannot make a good image if the photons sent to it are all garbled by a poor performing lens. Digital sensors suffer no fools where poor lenses are concerned.

Could also try:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

Lots of first hand reviews from both Nikon and third party lenses.

You sound like you're looking for a "one lens fits all situations" piece of glass.
If you're happy with the lens you have, why not look at this next purchase as something to supplement the original lens rather than replace it.

For that reason, you might consider a zoom in the longer range, like 70-200.

Next, do you plan on doing stuff in crappy light, where digital cameras of all kiinds really seem to produce spectacular results? Then you might also look at the speed of the next lens and go for something in the F4 or (if you have the bucks) F2.8 range.

Keep in mind that longer and faster lenses tend to be pricey. That's when you might look at the used market as a way to stretch your dollars.

I began shooting with one camera with a fixed lens back in the late 60s. When I finally bought my first SLR--and suddenly had access to my Dad's lenses (the same brand), wider and longer focal lengths opened up a whole new way of seeing things, but I never dumped the original lens.