£300 Walk around lens

[cosmicma]

get yourself a beanbag i use mine more than anything else
i also carry in the boot a tripod , monopod and hide clamp but it's the beanbag that gets used the most

[Endrick]

Au,

I think that you have to turn VR off on that lens if you put it on a monopod or tripod. If you don't then you will get blurred pictures. Check it out - with my older VR lenses it needs to be turned off.

Malcolm

[shagbat]

Originally Posted by AU

Thanks for all your help and advice, I have just picked up used Nikon D200 With less than 10k clicks for £350 and it included a 18-55 VR kit lens I will also be picking up a 55-200 VR at the weekend. this set up should keep me going for a while.

Sounds like an excellent buy.
If you are buying the 55-200 new, I would urge you to go for the 75-300
if possible. This will give you a 35mm or full frame equivalent of a 450 max.
and gives an excellent 'macro' capability.
I was very happy with mine (and would not part with it even now) until I got my 50-500 Sigma. In many respects the 75-300 is a much more manageable lens and much cheaper!
Best of luck.
s

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Endrick

I think that you have to turn VR off on that lens if you put it on a monopod or tripod. If you don't then you will get blurred pictures. Check it out - with my older VR lenses it needs to be turned off.

My experience is that VR always softens your shots so I switch it off permanently on both my VR lenses and the presence or absence of VR would not be a factor when deciding which lens to buy.

There may be a (very) few occasions when there is absolutely nothing to rest the lens against and it's worth trying with the VR switched on. But my experience is that although in such circumstances you may get better shots with the VR than you would without it they will still be slightly soft.

See VR (or IS) - Is it worth it? for a more in-depth discussion.

Dave P.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by pressld2

My experience is that VR always softens your shots so I switch it off permanently on both my VR lenses and the presence or absence of VR would not be a factor when deciding which lens to buy.

Interesting - I've wondered about that.

It's contrary to traditional lens design to allow lens elements to move, and great pains are usually taken to ensure that they're securely fixed on a common optical axis. It doesn't surprise me to hear that lens based image stabilisation results in a reduction of image quality, though I guess it's generally less than that caused by camera movement - so it's a 'trade off'.

Jim