Photographers opinion on cameras......

[Aleks]

Re: Photographers opinion on cameras......

Ok, I ordered the camera, so it should be here in a few days! I'll have to play with it and post up some samples, and maybe a totally amateur uneducated and biased review!


Next question:

How are Sigma lenses?? I noticed they are cheaper, so probably not good, but I thought I'd give it a try?? Anyone used them?

[18TWolf]

Re: Photographers opinion on cameras......

Next question:

How are Sigma lenses?? I noticed they are cheaper, so probably not good, but I thought I'd give it a try?? Anyone used them?

Which lenses did you get?... I have found with the one Sigma lens that I owned that it was pretty good but usually slower and noisier autofocusing.

Here is a good site for getting general reviews: http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

Happy shooting,

Chris

[Khyron]

Re: Photographers opinion on cameras......

Sigma, Tamron and Tokina are not "bad brands". Each company has star lenses and duds. The sigma 18-125 is a fantastically reviewed lens, as is the Tamron 28-75 2.8 - however other lenses are not as good as their Canon/Nikon equivalent. For the most part you get what you pay for but there is a premium for the Canon/Nikon. For a bit more than the 70-200 4.0L Canon you could get the Sigma 70-200 2.8 which many people find no difference between the uber 70-200 2.8 L Canon. I find all those lenses far too mamoth for me though.

Khyron

[kuhli]

Re: Photographers opinion on cameras......

Was in looking at the Sigma lenses today in fact...have a trip coming up and the wide angle is a necessity...

The Sigma 17-35, 12-24 and new 10-20 are all pretty good lenses for the money...and good lenses in general. The thing I've found with Nikon is to not get hung up on the name of the lense...just base it on performance. www.photodo.com is an independant reviewer of lenses that provides quantitative measures of performance...the only sensible way in my opinion Although they don't have all lenses.

I'm likely to spend $550 on the 17-35 f2.8-4.0 HSM lense tomorrow, good quick lense with a good landscape to wide angle portrait application. The 10-20 is coming...and will be far cheaper than the 12-24, so if you're thinking 12-24 you may be well advised to wait.

A good source of lense reviews and samples(from real people, who sometimes have questionable talents) is www.dpreview.com, check out the nikon slr lense forum and do a search, you'll find waht you're after.

Incidentally I did ask about the premium price on the D70 over the D50 while I was in, the principle reason was the lack of studio flash compatibility on the D50.

Enjoy.

[Aleks]

Re: Photographers opinion on cameras......

Thanks.....as for the lense it came with, its the 18-55mm f3.5-5.6, and my father has an 18-70 f3.5-4.5, and a 70-300mm f4-5.6, all of them are Nikon lenses.....

I tried to compare the D70s and the D50 as well, and it seemed that it was minus that flash sync option, fine tune WB, and flash effective range is slightly reduced....that being said, the D50 did take better pictures at all ISO's in testing than the D70, but has a new CMOS sensor in it, battery life is increased, and no mirror lock is available either.....

[apoh]

Re: Photographers opinion on cameras......

one problem with using third party lenses is "rechipping". manufacturers like canon or nikon do not release their specs for their lenses so when a new body comes out, your sigm lenses may not work properly with it. you will need to send them back to the manufacturer to have it rechipped.

i recently got a chance to use sigma's 8mm fishie. the construction and finish of it looks really good compared to nikon or canon. the AF isn't as fast as an L USM canon of course but still good.

a big gripe i had with the sigma was the AF ring. if you are holding onto the ring when the camera is focusing, it will turn and the jerk can cause you to lose grip on the lens. the focusing ring on canon's usm do not turn during auto focusing.

also, a cheap place to get sigma is www.sigma4less.com. i know someone that bought from them and was pleased with the service.

[Aleks]

Re: Photographers opinion on cameras......

Yeah, no biggie, there are a number of well priced Nikon lenses on Ebay, as expected...I'll just have to try and see how it goes....

EDIT: just re-read your post.....the Nikon states what lenses can be used (D, G) with full features, and which ones will have features not working due to incompatibility....so as long as the 3rd party companies work within those same guidelines again, I don't see there being too many compatibility issues...