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Hi Eysha,
As mentioned above, IF you can afford to buy new, then do so, as you have the guarantee on it, that should anything go wrong, then it will be replaced under warranty.
The main thing to watch with the different Nikon camera bodies is that some have focus motors and some don't. The ones that do can use the older and still excellent AF-D type lenses in autofocus mode. Those that don't will only autofocus with the newer AF-S lenses, which have the motors in the lens itself. Its swings and roundabouts. The bodies that don't have the focus motors are cheaper but, the AF-S lenses are more expensive than their older AF-D counterparts. Then again, a lot of the AF-S lenses have the VR (Vibration Reduction) feature in the lenses too. AF-D lenses don't.
You can of course use older manual focus lenses like the Ai/Ai-s lenses. Unfortunately these won't meter on the D90 (camera won't be able to tell what aperture the lens is at and what shutter speed to use), so you have to use it in full manual mode, choosing your own shutter speed on the camera body, and manually turning the aperture dial on the lens, to stop it down. For action shots, this obviously would be a real pain in the bum, as not only would you need to continually adjust your focus but, you also would need to change the shutter speed/aperture to get a correctly exposed image. Not impossible to do but, certainly a lot more difficult to achieve. For still life, portraiture and landscapes, this isn't a problem as you can just fiddle with the settings until you have a correctly exposed photo.
Depending on what your photography is going to primarily be, will determine ultimately, what lenses and camera body you would ideally require. Prices vary greatly for lenses. You can use old 3rd party lenses via and adapter for very cheaply, sometimes £20-30 (M42 mount to Nikon adapter). These would be used in full manual mode, in terms of focusing, aperture and shutter speed. Kit lenses like the 18-55mm VR can be had for around £70-80 on eBay. The 55-200mm VR around £110 and the 50mm F/1.8D for about £80.
More specialized lenses like macro lenses, super wide angles and super telephotos tend to be much more expensive. Also the wider the aperture the lens can use, the more expensive they are. For example, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D is about £110 brand new. The f/1.4D version is about double the price, as it is a "faster lens". IE, its maximum aperture will let more light in, enabling you to use a faster shutter speed. It also has a shallower depth of field.
Batteries can be quite expensive for genuine Nikon ones but, you can use 3rd party lenses which are much cheaper and to be honest, just as good. Provided you don't go for the really cheapy ones, you should be fine. You can pick up decent 3rd party batteries for around the £15 mark. Memory cards can be had quite cheaply too. I wouldn't bother going above 4gb. Its far better to have 2 x 4gb cards, rather than 1x8gb. If you are shooting all day and the the card fails, you've lost everything on the single 8gb card. If your images are spread over 2 x 4gb cards, then at least you still have half the photographs.
If you can suggest what type of photography you are interested in, then people can recommend lenses for you and explain the pros and cons of body/lens combinations.
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10-08-11, 09:54 PM
