I have been thinking about an upgrade from a Point and Shoot to a D-SLR for over a year now mainly because my Kodak 5MP is 6 years old now, has an adapter to use Kodak's Wide Angle lens which blocks the flash and I have no focus control.
I really haven't considered any other brands like Canon or Fujifilm, Pentax because I had been set on a Nikon. Specifically the D80. I finally decide after reading countless reviews and the like that I am going to be getting a D80, I have already ordered an 8GB SDHC 150X with 20Mb/s write speed card for my camera.
I had originally thought I was going to get the kit from Best Buy which was the D80 with an Extra Battery, a Case, and an 18 - 135mm and a 70 - 300mm. The latter lens alone is $567(on sale which is normally $630). The body only comes in at $800 and finally the 18 - 135 at $400
That brings the separate total to $1767 and $1830 without the sale price on the 70 - 300mm lens respectively. Basically this means that in their kit price of 1767 they are giving you $100 for the battery and case.
I thought this was an OK deal but I began looking at the kit and I knew absolutely nothing about the lenses from the mm to what they catch in the viewfinder (SLR means what you see is what you get) or anything. I did research to find out what I need to know and I looked at a few friends cameras and set their lenses manually to the same mm specs and took some pictures that I normally would take with my old camera and wow, that gave me a reality check. I now know that I definitely don't want the ranges of lenses that come in that kit.
I start thinking about the information I have at hand and my budget of around $1800, taking into consideration that I mainly use Wide Angles for landscape type shots, I realize that 18mm just is not going to cut it on the low end. I learned that 35mm and below is considered wide but the wide angle on my Kodak must be a Semi-Fish-Eye to Super Wide Angle type. I need a much lower mm to be the width I need at the short distance I am shooting from. Generally the closer to 0 degrees you get the faster the width goes wider so from 18 - 12 is a huge difference which is equivalent to say 70 - 120mm at medium focal length.
I start looking for wide angle Nikon lenses and come across the Nikkor 12 - 24mm which is perfect for what I am wanting (108 degree viewing angle at 12mm) but holy cow this lens is $1099. I am on a bit of a budget so... If I have absolutely got to have this lens I do need one more I think well I and going to use the telephoto a lot too so the logical choice is the 70 - 300mm. So were talking $600 $1100 $800 = $2500 without a bag or spare battery and I realize that the most used mm spec is 35mm(SLR is Film or 35mm) give or take 15mm so we are talking a 20 - 50mm lens. OK Nikon has a 17 - 55mm but it is another $850 or I could get the 18 - 135mm for $400 with extra zoom but a plastic mounting ring rather than metal.
So this bumps me into the $3500 range which is double mu budget. So then I talk to a photographer who suggests non OEM lenses so online at a review of the 12 - 24mm Nikkor and several comparable models and I decide to get the 10 - 20mm Sigma Wide Angle that supports the AF-S functionality of the Nikon D-SLR so AF works (Meaning that the Auto Focus and Silent Wave Motor or Sigma's version of it are driven by the AF function of the D80) and this one is significantly cheaper at around $500 pairing that with a more expensive 18 - 200mm for around $800 and I'm more in the ball park with $2200, it is a better option to spend more on that lense with VR (Vibration Reduction) and have one less lens so the 18 - 135 and 70 - 200 are not split into two lenses which would increase price about $500 and I would be switching all the time.
With these two lenses paired I have all the ranges I want except for the upper telephoto topping out at 200mm. This gets me thinking about something, all the lenses have threads for external filters and the lens hood snaps over but is also the same mm measurement. Why can I not buy a 3x multiplier and s***w into the end of the 18 - 200mm making it into a 54 - 600mm lens?
That is the question I am asking you guys...can i do that. The s***w in lens is made for the lower end cameras such as point and shoot but if the threads are the same and nothing comes out of the end of the lens which I know it will not because the filters could not be installed otherwise. Can't I use that just for long telephoto which is usually pretty specific of a shot such as a bird or something. There is the possibility that the WYSIWYG will view the outside diameter of the 3X lens showing a ring and black corners on the final picture which is can be easily cropped out anyway.
What do you guys think? the 3x multiplier is $100 verses $1600 for a 80 - 500mm lens.The only problem I could see as a possibility would be the filters s******g on the outside versus the 3x s******g on internally.
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