My Used D-SLR Kit Recommendation

Most people tend to purchase a combination of new and used equipment, and my general rule of thumb is buy the body new and the lenses used.  Bodies are much more prone to problems, while lenses will last forever as long as they aren’t dropped.  However, for this reason, resale on lenses is far better than on bodies.  If you bought a new body and lens, expect that in 3 years time the body will be worth 35-45% of the original value; while a lens could be worth 60-70% of its original value.

Here’s my used kit recommendation, again for Nikon with approximate used values in US/Canada shown:

1^st Purchase – Semi-pro body with great features and a versatile lens - Nikon D200 (about $400) with Nikkor 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 (about $175), or a Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 VR ($240)

STEP UP: The D90 ($650) or D300 ($800) are also excellent choices and have available video.  For a better lens, take a look at the excellent Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 (about $350).  The cheaper D80 at $300 is also a very good camera.

FOOTNOTE: Both the D200 and D300 meter with manual focus lenses, making them very versatile, and allowing the user to try also sorts of great manual lenses for a not a lot of outlay.

2^nd Purchase – Fast Aperture Prime – Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF-D (about $100) or Nikkor 35mm f1.8 AF-S (about $220)  There’s lots of options in this area, and you could also consider the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF-S (about $200), the Nikkor 35mm f2 AF-D (about $270) and Manual Focus lenses if you bought a D200.   

STEP UP: This means going to a very fast f1.4 and the options here are Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-D (about $270), the Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-S and a Sigma 50mm f1.4 AF-S (both about  $430).  The latter two step up lenses are the best, but you pay a premium.

3^rd Purchase – Nice Lighting – Nikon SB-600 ($200) Excellent flash that works well

STEP UP: The SB-600 is great, but I like the more powerful SB-800 ($300) better.  Don’t buy any other flash but Nikon for a Nikon camera; or Canon for a Canon camera as the electronics aren’t always 100% compatible.

4^th Purchase – Follow your interest – wide, tele, macro?

Wide – Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 (about $420)  This is a great lens that offers excellent value.

Tele –Nikon 70-300mm f4-5.6 G (about $120) OR Nikon 70-300mm f4-5.6 VR AF-S (about $450)  If you can stretch, get the lens with VR as telephoto lenses are very susceptible to camera shake and  vibrations, which leads to blurry pictures.   The non-VR is good for a telephoto taste though.

Macro – Tamron 90mm f2.8 (about $250, $350 for Di version) OR Nikon 60mm f2.8 AF-D (about $350)  Both are excellent lenses.  If you bought a wider prime, get the Nikkor 60mm; however if you bought a 50mm lens, get the 90mm Tamron. 

Nikon D2X with Nikon 18-135mm

Top 5 Most Used Photographic Purchases For Beginners

Prelude:  This week I will be making some equipment recommendations for people who are looking to set up a nice kit.  It’s something I get asked about often, so today I’ve prepared some general thoughts, with more specific recommendations to come.

There are many people who have decided they “want to take better pictures” and go out and buy their first DSLR.  A lot of people will be happy with the basic DSLR and 18-55mm lens they have bought, but very often people really get into photography and find they want to try a few different things.  Here’s my top 5 purchases for a beginner user.

1)      50mm f1.8 prime lens.  The Nikon and Canon 50mm prime lenses are cheap (approx $150-$220 new) and have excellent image quality.  Great for portraits and experimenting with shallow depth of field photography.  You could also spend a little more ($570) and get the Tamron 60mm f2, which also doubles as a macro lens.


2)      Standard prime lens.  The human eye focal length sees at the equivalent of 35mm on most DSLRs.  The Nikon 35mm f1.8 is superb, and relatively cheap ($270)


3)      External flash.  The ability to light up a large room or illuminate people without shadows in bright daylight is very useful, especially for weddings and people photos.  I’m of the “Go Big or Go Home” school.  You can never have too much lighting capabilities.  Stick to the brand that your camera is for best results.  (Nikon SB-900 - $550, Nikon SB-700 - $380)


4)      Macro prime lens or macro accessories.  Definitely a Macro lens will work better, and I prefer 90mm macros for the extra working distance ($500-$800), but a 60mm also works fine ($400-$600).  These lenses also double as nice portrait lenses.   Macro accessories such as extension rings are useful too, but harder to use.


5)      Ultra wide angle zoom or telephoto zoom.  It really depends which way your photography is going.  Most people go the telephoto route, and there are plenty of 55-200mm, or 70-300mm zooms out there.  These are great for shooting wild animals and sports, but not really for much else.  Ultra wides, such as the Sigma 10-20mm, are great for panoramas, very useful for travel photography (especially indoors) and creating unusual angles of view.

Nikon D90 with Nikkor 18-200mm VR II

Just a thought......How about upgrading your basic 18-55mm lens to an all round super-zoom.  Depending if you prefer a bias towards wide angle or telephoto will determine which route you go.  There are lots of telephoto biased 18-200mm lenses out there, and the Nikon 18-200mm is awesome, but pricey ($800); however you will never need a separate telephoto lens.  Stepping down to a 18-105/135mm type focal range will be much less costly, and look after most of your telephoto needs. 

For wider angle bias, there are less options.  The Nikon 16-85mm is excellent, but there are few competitors to choose from.  The Canon equivalent 15-85mm is also very good.  These lenses offer a nice taste of wide angle, but are certainly not as deliciously wide as the 10-20mm lenses out there.

5 lenses I wish Nikon made

Even though I love Nikon, I sometimes look at Canon’s fast L lenses with a little jealousy.  Nikon’s range of great lenses isn’t that wide, and sometimes seems constricted compared to the huge range of manual focus lenses that they produced in the 1970s and 1980s.  Here’s 5 lenses (actually 6) that I wish were available from Nikon.

1)      Nikkor 24mm f2 AF-S DX  - A nice, compact, relatively cheap 24mm lens for DX cameras that is equivalent to a 35mm f2 on Full Frame would be sweet.  Price around $300 - $350 MSRP.

2)      Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AF-S – Bringing back the 50mm f1.2 this legendary manual focus lens, but with AF, would be great.  Ultra narrow depth of field with fast AF would be awesome.  Price around $1000 - $1200 MSRP.

 

3)      Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 VR AF-S – Just add VR to an already great lens, and it would be awesome!  MSRP as per current.

4)      Fast aperture Macro  – 85mm f2 AF-S VR 1:1 Macro full frame.  Both Tamron (60mm f2 DX) and Carl Zeiss (50mm f2 and 100mm f2) produce such lenses, and having a lens that doubles as both a macro and fast portrait lens is a huge bonus for photographers.  The Tamron does 1:1 Macro and has auto focus, but is DX only.  The Zeiss lenses are full frame, but do only 1:2 Macro and have no AF.

5)      Pancake lenses – This seems to be just a Pentax specialty nowadays.   I think a moderately wide and a moderately tele pancake AF lens would be great!  I’d recommend a 30mm f2 and a 70mm f2.8, both with AF-S.  These would be great with smaller SLR’s like the D5100, but would also be very useful on full frame.

Day Lilly - Nikon D2X with Nikkor 55mm f1.2