Little-Miss Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I'd like a 1.8 lense for my camera (is that right, im still learning!) There are some on Fleabay but im loathed to spend £80 on there...incase the goods dont turn up! I gotta Nikon D3000.
siuko Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 You might need to provide a little more detail.. 1.8 could mean the f-stop of the lense or something else? What exactly do you plan to do with this lense? Have you any links to any that you are interested in? I've only just got into dslr photography so I'm definitely no expert hehe
K.C.Leblanc Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 A 1.8 lens????? I'm guessing you're looking at the 50mm 1.8. That lens won't auto focus on the D3000, you need to be looking out for AFS lenses. Unless you're happy to focus manualy. The only AFS 50mm is very expensive, there is an AFS 35mm 1.8, it's about £200. A good place to look for cheap prices - Camera Price Buster - UKs cheapest camera gear A good place to ask questions - Talk Photography™ 1
tech_guy Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I wouldn't purchase off eBay as a lot of the lenses are counterfeit ( a colleague spent £400 on a Nikon VR lens from a seller in HK & it turned out to be counterfeit when he checked the serial number with Nikon ). I buy my lenses from either Pixmania or Bristol Cameras. Sometimes Amazon come up trumps as well.
cromertech Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I got a 75/300mm lens from amazon for my sony at quite a good price. If you have a search there you may find a macro lens which i think is what you want. I guess the 1.8 you refer to is the focal length so you can do close up shots?
K.C.Leblanc Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I guess the 1.8 you refer to is the focal length so you can do close up shots? 1.8 would be very close. The closest lense I've even seen is a 14mm. 1.8 is almost certainly the appeture, since it's quite a common appeture on entry level prime lenses. 1
tech_guy Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I've got this lens - for candids / portraiture it delivers some crisp shots on my D90: Nikon 50mm F1.8D AF Nikkor Lens: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo 1
Little-Miss Posted June 28, 2010 Author Posted June 28, 2010 lol sorry guys.... My camera came with a 18-55 mm VR Lens Kit....which is fine. I'd like to...i dunno, be able to get more in the picture?! Oh i dunno, does anyone know of a good guide so i can get my head around this stuff. I'm waiting on a book ive ordered. Ok, if you had my setup, what would you be going for? I like landscapes etc and i like close up and i know you need a macro lense for that.
Little-Miss Posted June 28, 2010 Author Posted June 28, 2010 wow....do you have to purchase the crane seperately?
keithu Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 If you're interested in making panoramic landscape pictures you might like to investigate Image stitching - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia As jinnantonnix says, your existing lens is already fairly wide. Anything wider is getting into the 'ultra-wide' category and would be quite expensive for something half-decent. Anything costing less than a few hundred would probably be a waste of money. 1
JPS Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 Go into your local branch of Jessops (try to avoid busy times) and take your camera with you. They should be able to help and allow you to try out the lenses there in store (I know not quite the same as for example photographing landscapes like the Grand Canyon etc) and at least take some pics and as its digital you can take them home and see on PC before you make a decision. Identify which one you want then look for the best price. Take evidence of the price back to Jessops and they should match it. James (former employee of Jessops) Canon EOS 350D + Sigma 18-50mm F1.8 EX Canon EOS 50E + various canon USM lenses. 1
Ric_ Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I've bought loads of kit of Fleabay and never had a problem (touch wood). I do own a Canon mind and maybe Canon-people are more genuine than Nikon If you follow the usual Fleabay buying rules (check the feedback, make sure there is a picture of the ACTUAL ITEM and only buy from the UK) you should be fine. Warehouse Express is another good place for camera gear. As for choosing lenses: * The shorter the focal length (bit in mm), the more you will fit in your picture * The smaller the f-stop, the more light can be let in and the quicker your shutter can operate which helps in low light (it also decreases depth of field - this is the blurryness behind and in front of the object that is in focus) If you start playing with panormas, I've found the stitching ability of Photoshop CS4 to be rather good. 1
Robz Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I also have a D3000 and I find Amazon to be pretty good, Nikon Lenses will be quite expensive but their alter ego Sigma are generally a lot cheaper. You need to bear in mind when buying that the D3000 has no Vibration Reduction or Auto Focus on the body, it is all in the lense so if you want it you'll have to pay for a lense with it. As others have said, shops are generally the best place as they have guarantees, unless you're not fussed by imperfections etc on secondhand lenses from fleabay. 1
webman Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I bought a Nikon 50mm f/1.8D from Ebay (and it is a fantastic lens) for around £75, after considering all the extra money for the 1.4G really wasn't worth it. Genuine lens with fast delivery from a UK seller with good feedback. Just do your research first Good for portraits and when you want to throw the background out of focus from the main subject. Since buying the 1.8D it's hardly been off the camera body. 1
ajs Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I'm a Canon man, but is it true that modern Nikons can take the old fashioned Nikon 'F' fit? If so, you can scout around the camera shops for some second hand bargains. You might get a nice quality lens for a few quid. Of course they won't auto-focus, but for landscapes that's no problem. Yep, all Nikon DSLRS still use the F-mount. Aside from the FX/DX lens issue, the only real problem is whether or not you need AF-S lenses in order to be able to autofocus.
docboggle Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I have bought a few things from 7dayshop.com - Online shopping made easy ! before now. Worth a look. 1
sted Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 argos sometimes arnt too bad for standard lenses think one of mine came from there as it was cheapest place (or at least close enough) ebay is ok for filters but id be very wary about lenses (but im not the biggest ebay fan though) as to 50mm 1.8f prime ive got one and tbh hardly ever use it i usually end up using wither my 18-55 efs or my 55-250 efs-is (another canon man here) i tend to find for what i do (which is mainly motorsport or "quick snaps" of things you need to be too far away with a 50mm as i tend to either be shooting in the distance of pretty close up 1
tech_guy Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I love my 50mm as it forces me to get up close and personal and really think about composition. Zooms make you lazy!
sted Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 I love my 50mm as it forces me to get up close and personal and really think about composition. Zooms make you lazy! i finf the oposite i end up having to walk away and sometimes cant get things in shot
webman Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 It all depends on what you're photographing. If you find you have to move back more than you do forward you'd probably be more suited to a 35mm. The best way to find out, if you have a zoom, is to use it constantly at a fixed zoom level equivalent to a prime (35mm, 50mm...) and see how you get on.
gibbo_ap Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 (edited) Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 G DX Lens they are hong kong based but i have used twice (same lens - dropped the first doh) my friend has one and it is amazing - focus time is almost 0! i would say dont worry about getting to much in the shot, learn to use what you have. i got a 1.8 purly for gig photography (low light). i am still learning mind, but happy with the results so far. i would say that a great trick/advantage of digital is shoot til your card is full, and take lots of the same thing. i learnt along time ago that whilst it looks in focus on the lcd its not when its blown up on screen - shooting afew times you are more likely to get a good shot + blinking of the subject is reduced. dont spend loads on equip, i have just finished my kit now (canon 450d, 18-55, 50 1.8, 70-200 + jessops flash ... oh and a bag of fleabay) i have a lens for each occasion and the power to use it, i just need the experience and knowledge to use it. ps. if you want wider that 18mm it cost ... alot. unless you go manual focus old lenses. i can prob ask my make the site he gets his from but i believe they are forums. he told me a quick trick - ask uni's that are/maybe getting rid of old stuff. when you do get on look at deviantart.com - shameless plug time - gibboap on deviantART pps. alwas shoot 'photography' in raw, (and remember to take it off raw when shooting prat around 'facebook' images, really need to bulk convert a load of raw stuff from a house party the other week arrrg) i have rescued a load of photos from gigs that the lighting was pooh. Edited June 28, 2010 by gibbo_ap 1
sted Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 G DX Lens they are hong kong based but i have used twice (same lens - dropped the first doh) my friend has one and it is amazing - focus time is almost 0! i would say dont worry about getting to much in the shot, learn to use what you have. i got a 1.8 purly for gig photography (low light). i am still learning mind, but happy with the results so far. i would say that a great trick/advantage of digital is shoot til your card is full, and take lots of the same thing. i learnt along time ago that whilst it looks in focus on the lcd its not when its blown up on screen - shooting afew times you are more likely to get a good shot + blinking of the subject is reduced. dont spend loads on equip, i have just finished my kit now (canon 450d, 18-55, 50 1.8, 70-200 + jessops flash ... oh and a bag of fleabay) i have a lens for each occasion and the power to use it, i just need the experience and knowledge to use it. ps. if you want wider that 18mm it cost ... alot. unless you go manual focus old lenses. i can prob ask my make the site he gets his from but i believe they are forums. he told me a quick trick - ask uni's that are/maybe getting rid of old stuff. when you do get on look at deviantart.com - shameless plug time - gibboap on deviantART pps. alwas shoot 'photography' in raw, (and remember to take it off raw when shooting prat around 'facebook' images, really need to bulk convert a load of raw stuff from a house party the other week arrrg) i have rescued a load of photos from gigs that the lighting was pooh. unless you plan on heavily editing the photo i dont see the point of raw tbh all i end up doing is converting them back to a jpeg anyway 1
Ric_ Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 unless you plan on heavily editing the photo i dont see the point of raw tbh all i end up doing is converting them back to a jpeg anyway Got to disagree there... you never know when that added flexibility might come in handy. I still get 600 RAW images on a 4GB card and hard drive space is cheap for backup. One great advantage with RAW is in low light conditions because you can get away with under-exposing your shots by as much as a stop sometimes and you can still get enough of the detail back!
sted Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 Got to disagree there... you never know when that added flexibility might come in handy. I still get 600 RAW images on a 4GB card and hard drive space is cheap for backup. One great advantage with RAW is in low light conditions because you can get away with under-exposing your shots by as much as a stop sometimes and you can still get enough of the detail back! i have used raw before and not found it worth it and iirc slows down the number of shots you can take in quick succession and my main bug atm canon dont support x64 with their codecs and its been years since ive run an x86 as my main pc infact its probably 3-4 years ive been on vista/win 7 x64. Ive just found a nice plugin pack for paint,net though so at least i can now do something with them
webman Posted June 28, 2010 Posted June 28, 2010 Having the right software to open and edit RAW photos is half of the equation. Without it, just stick to JPEG. 1
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