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Jawbone54 · Jan 29, 2009, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

In my experience, Canon's kit lenses are terrible, while Nikon's kit lenses are excellent, even the cheap ones. Of course, they're not terribly fast lenses (i.e. the maximum aperture isn't the best), but they are optically sound and take great pictures. Of course, the 50D is usually not packed with typical kit lenses, it's sold alone or with a proper lens.

Canon's kit lenses are indeed crap. Even the IS version that came with the 5D was very blah.

I'd hate to be a lens snob, but I'd recommend that people buy bodies only (like you mentioned later in your post) and get themselves a good 50mm or a decent zoom lens right off the bat (unless they're wanting to do landscapes). I took so many shots with my kit lens that came with the XTi, and I look back on them now horribly disappointed.

I've only used one Nikon kit lens, and it did seem to be better than the Canon kits that I've used, but nothing beats a lens upgrade.

Railroader · Jan 29, 2009, 05:54 PM

The Canon XTi (350D) 18-55mm kit lens is not bad at 18mm and stopped down higher than f/5. Anything above that and you lose focus and contrast. But even so, it is still better than most point and shoot lenses at all focal and aperture settings.

Jawbone54 · Jan 29, 2009, 06:28 PM

Oh, definitely loads better than point-and-shoots. Still...it can be sooo much better...

Railroader · Jan 29, 2009, 07:34 PM

Oh yeah.

Jawbone54 · Jan 29, 2009, 09:48 PM

By the way, I just translated your sig, and I think that's a horrible thing to say about Laminar.

Railroader · Jan 30, 2009, 11:02 PM

Crap!

But it is sooooo true!

angelmb · Jan 31, 2009, 04:53 PM

So it's a Nikon the one I have chosen, since I can get this D90 with any of the lens listed below and I intend to get one right now, more later… Which one would make more sense?

VR 18-55 mm
VR 18-105 mm
VR 18-200 mm

Thanks.

OreoCookie · Jan 31, 2009, 05:41 PM

I'd say neither, get a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, you'll have a lot more creative freedom due to the larger initial aperture. It's cheaper than the 18-200 mm Nikkor you've listed.

waxcrash · Jan 31, 2009, 08:17 PM

Originally Posted by angelmb

So it's a Nikon the one I have chosen, since I can get this D90 with any of the lens listed below and I intend to get one right now, more later… Which one would make more sense?

VR 18-55 mm
VR 18-105 mm
VR 18-200 mm

Thanks.

Are you looking for an all around zoom or have you considered a prime? If you have the opportunity, check out Sigma's 30mm f/1.4. On an APS-C size senor like the D90, it comes out to about a 50mm lens.. If you get a good sample, it can be a pretty decent lens. Awesome for low light photography.

I've got:

Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Nikon 12-24mm f/4
Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

And I use the Sigma and the wide (12-24) the most.

design219 · Jan 31, 2009, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by angelmb

VR 18-200 mm

I picked up one of these last year and find my self using it a heck of a lot more than I thought I would... for location work. It requires chromatic aberration correction (especially at the wide range) but Photoshop has a great tool for correcting that when opening RAW files. Otherwise it is a fairly sharp lens for such a long zoom range and the Vibration Reduction works really, really well.

waxcrash · Jan 31, 2009, 08:54 PM

Does your Nikon 18-200mm suffer from the lens creep?

design219 · Jan 31, 2009, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by waxcrash

Does your Nikon 18-200mm suffer from the lens creep?

Sometimes when walking around with it over my shoulder it will slide out to full extension, but not when it is held still.

tooki · Feb 1, 2009, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

I'd say neither, get a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, you'll have a lot more creative freedom due to the larger initial aperture. It's cheaper than the 18-200 mm Nikkor you've listed.

Huh?

That's really only one stop faster, and you're getting a crappy Tamron lens instead of a nice, value-retaining Nikkor. As I said: you buy a Nikon body so you can use Nikon lenses (same can be said for Canon. Don't waste your money with third-party lenses, which nobody wants to buy used. If anything, buy used Nikon lenses. (The only exception, IMHO, is Tokina, and even then, only for a lens you never expect to sell.)

As for "creative freedom", one stop makes basically no difference, but giving up a wide range of focal lengths certainly does.

Another issue is that latest-generation Nikon cameras (D90, D300, D700, D3/D3x) have built-in lateral chromatic aberration (LCA) correction for Nikon lenses. This makes a huge difference in edge sharpness. If you use third-party lenses, you forfeit this advantage.

Of those three lenses, I've only used the 18-200 extensively. The 18-55 I would avoid, simply because it has a rotating front element, so it's a pain in the ass to use with a polarizer, the one filter no camera bag should ever be without. The 18-200 is a great walkaround lens. The 18-105 is a successor-apparent to the 18-70 that I have, which is a perfectly fine lens.

I'd go with the 18-200 if you don't know what lenses you'll be needing. With experience, you'll find that you use some focal lengths more than others. I, for example, found that I do far more wide angle and macro than anything else, so I got an ultrawide zoom (12-24mm) and a macro lens, and those get used far more than my other lenses.

angelmb · Feb 2, 2009, 08:25 AM

Thanks all. design219 & tooki, your info is much appreciated.

angelmb · Feb 4, 2009, 06:55 AM

OK, so the D90 with the 18-200 lens is here. Now I wonder about the SD cards and how the Mac behaves with them for a given size… which ones are you using and how big? doesn't the Mac have issues with >4 GBs SD cards if those were PC formated?, if so I guess you can rely on NTFS3G or MacFUSE (which Parallels installed onto my Mac) to deal with it, right?. Thanks once again.

Oisín · Feb 4, 2009, 08:07 AM

I’ve never had any issues with my CF cards. They’re all just regular SanDisk ones, going up to 8 GB. I assume they’re probably PC formatted, but I’ve never even bothered to check, ’cause I never had any reason to. Plug it in, Image Capture fires up, and I transfer the RAW files.

OreoCookie · Feb 4, 2009, 08:17 AM

I'd format the memory cards in the camera.

tooki · Feb 4, 2009, 08:30 AM

Always good advice!

Feb 6, 2009, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

Huh?

That's really only one stop faster, and you're getting a crappy Tamron lens instead of a nice, value-retaining Nikkor.

Not quite true. The kit lens is not f/3.5 across the entire zooming range. The Tamron is f/2.8 across the range. Although, I'm considering the new Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 - a bit pricy in Canada though so I'm not sure yet.

IceEnclosure · Feb 6, 2009, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by angelmb

OK, so the D90 with the 18-200 lens is here. Now I wonder about the SD cards and how the Mac behaves with them for a given size… which ones are you using and how big? doesn't the Mac have issues with >4 GBs SD cards if those were PC formated?, if so I guess you can rely on NTFS3G or MacFUSE (which Parallels installed onto my Mac) to deal with it, right?. Thanks once again.

I've never needed a PC or Parallels to use my 4GB SDHC card with my D40 and iMac. 8GB works the same as well.

D90 is a great camera, enjoy it!

edit: I use a MobileMate SD+ Memory Card Reader hooked to a USB cable on my desk. It's right behind the keyboard within reach and reads SDHC (and microSD) properly.

Face Ache · Feb 6, 2009, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by hayesk

I'm considering the new Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4

I'm enjoying mine. Good luck finding one though.

angelmb · Feb 7, 2009, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

I've never needed a PC or Parallels to use my 4GB SDHC card with my D40 and iMac. 8GB works the same as well.

Corroborated, I bought a 8GB SD card and it works flawlessly with the Mac.

D90 is a great camera, enjoy it!

Thanks Ice