lenses

[a fuesdale]

hello everybody,i am going to buy a nikon 7000.?i want to buy 2 lenses,but which 2,my favourit e is landscape ,and motorbike racing.is the 18-105 any good.i will have about £500 pounds to spend

[MattUK]

Hi, are you getting the body only? Or are you getting the 18-55 kit lens?

You'll struggle to get 2 good lenses for £500 to be honest. If you've got the kit lens, then perhaps a wide angle is the next step. Sigma's 10-20mm is a great one, or Tamron's 12-24 is a cheaper option

[thefonz78]

I would agree with matt. As for the kit lens the 18-105mm is not one of nikons lens it actually one of the weakest.

[James Blonde]

thefonz78 - wondering what is bad about the 18-105, and what you'd consider a better replacement?

[amk1977]

For a kit lens, I was really surprised by the image quality of the 18-105mm VR. It is a fairly decent zoom range, the auto focus was always accurate and stopped down to f/11 it was razor sharp. There was some barrel distortion at the 18mm end, which is easily corrected in Photoshop but apart from that, I never had anything to dislike about it.

If landscapes are your favourite, then a dedicated wide angle lens is your best option. 18mm on a crop sensor isn't really 18mm. Its 27mm on a Nikon APS-C sensor, so going for the ultra wide angle lenses like the Sigma 10-20mm is probably your best bet. The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is another fantastic lens but, they tend to go for around the £375 - £400 mark used, sometimes more.

For £500, like Matt rightly says, you'll probably struggle to get two decent lenses, at least at retail prices. I would suggest you look on eBay for a secondhand Sigma 10-20mm (£275-£300) of which there are two versions - a fixed f/3.5 throughout the zoom range or a f/4.5-5.6, or a Tokina 116 if you can find one for under £400.

You can also go a Nikon 55-200mm VR for around £100. Optically, its very good and extremely lightweight. Not the fastest to focus but, it should do a good enough job on the bike racing, although I would suggest you pre-focus on the track and then aim for the bikers, so that the focus doesn't have so far to travel/hunt.

If you were to get the Sigma for under £300 and the Nikon 55-200mm VR for £100, you could also pick yourself up a 50mm f/1.8D for about £80, which is an excellent portrait and general use lens. Razor sharp and has a wonderful shallow depth of field, allowing for some really creative effects. Reverse it, or mount it on a set of extension tubes and you have a decent macro lens too. The combination of all 3 lenses will pretty much cover all your bases.

Good luck and happy bidding

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by amk1977

18mm on a crop sensor isn't really 18mm. Its 27mm on a Nikon APS-C sensor,

Sorry, AMK, I agree with most of what you say (especially the bit about the 18-105) but that is just hokum. Or whatever they call it. 18mm is 18mm, until someone provides evidence that they might think it's different, which the OP didn't. And even then, it's 18mm, they just need to be educated. The magazines don't help.

Chris

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by greenwing

Sorry, AMK, I agree with most of what you say (especially the bit about the 18-105) but that is just hokum. Or whatever they call it. 18mm is 18mm, until someone provides evidence that they might think it's different, which the OP didn't.

Chris

You are correct. 18mm is 18mm on a full frame or crop sensor. What is different is the field of view, so a 18mm lens on a crop camera will give the same field view as 24mm lens on a full frame.

[MattUK]

The distinction isn't really useful - what you capture in a cropped sensor is effectively smaller than a full frame sensor at the same focal length...

[a fuesdale]

hello every body,i have bought the d 7000 +tamron sp af 17-50 f/2.8 xr di11 vc.i bought this on good advice from a man with the same setup.i will know better when i get used to the camera.

[thefonz78]

Thats a great camera and lens you will be very happy. So go out and get snapping!