What lense for a newbie?

[1957split]

I've just past my FZ28 onto Connor and purchased my first DSLR, I managed to get a Nikon D80 at a reasonable price mainly because that model has been taken over by the D90.

The camera came with a 18-135 kit lense which looked huge compared to the skinny looking telephoto lenses of my slr day's, I rushed outside [as soon as the battery had charged up] and took a few picture's of birds on roof tops, telegraph poles etc and downloaded these to my P.C.

They weren't good, infact the 135mm although looking huge still left me with tiny black dot's in the middle of white pictures [the black dots were the bird's], I am totally new to digital SLR's and just spent quite a large amount on the D80. What I need to know is what telephoto lense should I buy [I only really have money for one at this stage], the bulk of our picture taking is walking along the riverbank taking pictures of waders then perhaps coming back through the wood's and getting a few shots of birds in tree's etc. If we're really lucky we'll get a picture of a kestrel hovering over it's breakfast though not seen our local one for a while now.

Right I know nothing about the numbers on the lenses or the right lenses for the D80, I'm currently watching about 75 on ebay but really don't know if any's suitable.

Help guys

Thanks
Brian [who's off out with his Son this morning and going to get trounced in the pic department]

[DavyG]

Hi Brian,

I'm not a Nikon user but, across the various camera brands, it would appear that the Sigma 50-500mm is the most popular and cost effective birding lens.

Their are a number of WAB members who use the Bigma and have success with it, NicolaB has posted some good bird in flight images lately.

Here's an example I took with the Bigma last year:



I hope this helps.

Dave

[camo]

Hi Brian

Your question totally depends on your budget. Don't be concerned about what it is but even if it is say £100 members can give you appropriate advice. The Bigma is a good lens but heavy, you may want to think around a 500mm lens but the Sigma 150 - 500 may be more comfortable for walks. Any 500mm is going to set you back at least £300 so if your budget is less than that the Sigma 70-300 macro is good value and offers you all round opportunities however it will struggle to fill a frame.

Roy

[1957split]

Wow Dave, thats an awsome shot of the Kestrels

Thanks both Dave and Roy for your replies

I found when making my choice of camera budget was an issue, I first had £300 but wanted the features of the £400, I got £400 and found I liked the feel of the £500, I got hold of a Cannon 30D and loved it but according to the reviews I'd read other newer cheaper camera's appeared to have the same if not more functions.
I started looking for a Cannon 40D and because of me budget not being brilliant I was really only looking for a used one on ebay, funny some of them on there were making more than you could buy them new
I visited PC World and got my hands on a D90, it seemed a similar size [got big hands and all thumbs] so I came home and started reading up on those, I didn't want video recording and didn't know what live view was but soon discovered the D90 was going to cost me close to £800.
A visit to Curries in Rochester gave me my first glimpse of the D80, same size, felt well made and was a great price at £499 though I found out this was for the demo/shop model and it was the only one they had.
The camera was filthy and there were bit's missing out of the box [charger for one], I really didn't want to hand over £500 for this.
The Curry's guy did a PC search and said the Gravesend branch had their demo model left so I shot off down there, things seemed promising as the camera was in a glass case though following inspections revealed somebody had removed the lense and touched everything internally as it was covered with finger prints, the coating on the lense was scratched and they couldn't find the manuals for it.
A further P.C search revealed the Bluewater Curry's had one left also and as I wasn't that far I decided to shoot down there, I walked into the store and all the camera's were out for everyone to play with, I was really starting to imagine the worse. A few minutes walking up and down and I still couldn't find their D80 so I asked a sales assistant informing them that two other stores said they had one left, the assistant said we do have one left but it's out the back I said what condition is it in and she replied "Brand New, it's never been out of the box"
I managed to get a brand new, sealed box D80 for £499 with a sticker on the side that gave me two years warranty with Nikon UK I was chuffed to bits.

The camera appears well made, has loads of feature's, ton's of stuff for me to read up on but as it is, unless the bird's in a cage I won't get it

My budget for a lense will be whatever it takes really [within reason] I can't go to £800 for one as I'd get shot by the other half, the important bit is only having money for the one and I need to get that together yet.
It's got to be the right one for now and not a disapointment, if I spent £300 on a used one and I've messed it up it'll be a long time before I can go for another.

I'm not one for sitting still or taking a tripod out with me, we like to move from area to area and the camera will be used for everything [wildlife, car show's, holidays etc]. I have the 18-135mm that came with it and am hoping to get away with just one other lense for a little while.

Things I don't understand are:
Fast lense?
What's right/wrong for my camera? [I've read that some Nikon lenses work on mine and some don't?]
The 5.4 5.6 type numbers on the listings? what do they mean and what should I be aiming for?

If anyone has links to ad's for the correct type of lenses I'd love to see them.

Many thanks to anyone that's read that lot and has some input

Thanks again
Brian

[Lancashire Lad]

Hi Brian,
You are finding out the hard way, the problems of stepping into DSLR ownership. I have a D80, and believe me, it is a fantastic camera, and regardless of what anyone else might say, it will deliver exceptional photo's.

As you rightly say though, a 135mm lens isn't going to get you near enough for most off-the-cuff bird photos. I have the Nikon 70-300 lens which again is a fantastic lens, if used within it's limits, but even that isn't too good for birds. (Luckily, I'm more into wild flowers & fungi) so I don't need extreme focal lengths.

Due to the present economic climate, (and some blatant profiteering if you ask me ), the cost of the Sigma 50-500 has practically doubled in the last two months, and nowadays you would be lucky to get one for less than £1000.00. Realistically, if you don't have a big budget, you will be hard pressed to get anything longer than 300mm.

This very problem, is one of the reasons why I have always advised people to go for a bridge camera, unless they want and can either afford a full DSLR kit, or unless they are prepared to compromise on what they can shoot.

A top end bridge camera costs about £350.00, and will give you most of what a DSLR can do (again - with the proviso of using it within it's limitations), with the advantage of having a lens offering everything from super macro, up to 400mm zoom on many models, and the equivalent of over 600mm zoom on the new Nikon P90 bridge. (I must admit, unless I'm on a dedicated photography outing, I still often go out just with my Fuji S9600, and leave the D80 kit at home).

Don't be too disheartened though, If you use your D80 plus whatever lens you can afford to get, within their limits, you will be very impressed.

Best regards
Mike.

[1957split]

Hi Mark

I started out with slr's when I was 17 [some 30 years ago] but hadn't used that kit for more than twenty, I bought one of the first Olympus digital camera's approx 10 years ago and if I remember right was about 1.4mp and £700 plus price . I have for a few years borrowed my Son's compact camera up until I got real interested in wildlife photography again, I decided I wasn't going down the route of having to carry a kit bag full of lenses again and did decide to buy a bridge camera. I purchased the Panasonic Lumix ZF28 with 18x zoom plus optical equating to around 400mm, I used this for a few months and knew I wanted more, although enjoying this bridge camera it had it's limitations and denied me a lot of the options I had with my old 35mm slr.
I enjoy the hobby that much that I needed to be able to have more control, I missed many a shot because the ZF28 wouldn't let me do what I wanted to do at the time.
Connor now owns the ZF28 and is getting great results with it, it's smaller size is perfect for him and it's no where near the weight of a full size dslr.

I now wanted a dslr but what I was unsure of was what type of lenses I'd require in this world of digital technology, mistake I made was I knew nothing about digital lenses
Looking at lenses for sale [second hand] a 300mm could be £50 or £300 and I never knew why? I have learn't now that the cannons and nikons have no image stabilisation built into the camera and this is incorporated in the lenses [FZ28 it's in the camera] making them more expensive, I have also found out that the auto focus drive motor on some nikons is to be found on the lense and not the camera so not all nikon lenses will work with auto focus on the D80, I'm getting there

I'm after one lense now that'll keep me happy for a while, I reckon it's got to be 400mm plus, Connor uses the ZF28 on full optical [400mm] most of the time so something like a 200-500mm [do they do that?] should get me similar results
especially if it's cheaper than a 50-500mm.
I'm unsure what I'm looking for regarding a fast lense, what markings should be on it? and I guess it's got to have the image stabilisation/shake reduction/VR built in.

A pointer for a lense that meets the above would be appreciated

Thanks again
Brian

[camo]

Hi Brian

the following lens will do everything you need and has good reviews.

Sigma APO 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM
150-500 is about as big as you are going to get for money.
It is lighter and cheaper than 50-500 but glass is of same quality.
sells for about £600 new.
F5-6.3 is a reasonable speed for a 500 lens. The faster a lens is the more light it can take in and therefore the quicker the shutter will be and the sharper the photo. 2.8 is ultra fast 5-6.3 average speed.
DG is a lens coating which improves image quality.
OS is optical stabilisation
Lens is available for a Nikon fit.

Roy

[1957split]

Thanks Roy, off to see how cheap I can find one

[skywatcher]

Camo's advice is good! The D80 is a great camera and that lens that came with it is a good bit of kit.Does good close ups, certainly.get the Sigma 150-500 os if you can.
Good luck,
Skywatcher

[1957split]

Originally Posted by skywatcher

Camo's advice is good! The D80 is a great camera and that lens that came with it is a good bit of kit.Does good close ups, certainly.get the Sigma 150-500 os if you can.
Good luck,
Skywatcher

Can only find one on ebay and it's a canno fit still, one will turn up [I hope]