 Sherri Wiggins |
What lens to purchase? I have the Nikon D70. It came with two lenses. I have a Nikon 18-70 1:3.5-4.5G and a Nikon 70-300 1:4-5.6G. I do mostly portrait work and some sports. I am just not sure if these are good enough to not buy anything else and if I need to buy something better, what is it that I need? What price can I expect to pay for something better? Thank you.
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robert G. Fately |
Hi, Sherri, and congrats on your purchase. As to your question of whether these lenses are "good enough", this depends on a bunch of things (after all, what doesn't?). For portraiture, particularly the head-and-shoulder type shots often seen, a short telephoto lens is the type usually used. This means something on the order of a 50-85MM lens (which on the DSLR with it's 1.5 crop factor, are equivalent to a 75-130MM lens on a traditional 35Mm film camera). Obviously, your current lenses fall into those focal lengths, but the other consideration is the aperture, or speed of the lens. In the land of 35MM and the days of yore, the 85MM f1.4 or 1.8 lens was considered a terrific portrait lens. This is because the fast speed meant one could achieve a shallow depth of field, so the face could be in sharp focus while the bushes in the background would be blurred and thus less distracting. For your D70, a 50MM would have the same view as a 75MM lens would on film, so perhaps a 50MM lens (f1.4 or 1.8) would be a worthy addition. The good news is, these are relatively inexepnsive. Sports usually requires longer focal lengths to make the subject loom large while allowing you to stand at the sidelines. Your longer zoom may well have the focal length for the job, but again the question of aperture may arise. At 300MM, your zoom has a maximum aperture of f5.6. Compared to a 300MM f2.8 lens, this means your lens only allows 1/4 as much light through as the faster glass. This, in turn, means that your shutter speed will need to be 4 times as long (in the same lighting and the same ISO setting). And that may lead to motion blur. This is why you see pros at the sidelines with those huge lenses - they need the fastest speeds possible and can afford to pay the associated price of weight and cost. The Sigma 120-300 f2.8 zoom is a great lens, but weighs in at about 6 pounds and costs about $1600 or so. Nikkors are more costly. All that said, remember these are just the general rules - your own shooting style may dictate a wide angle lens for protraits or that you like some blur (or the noise associated with ISO 1600) for sports shots. But Ihope this at least gives you some ideas...
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Sherri Wiggins |
Hi Bob, Thank you for your response. Our local lab has a couple of lens that I wanted to see what you thought of. One is a ProMaster 28-200mm for Nikon for $299.99 and a ProMaster 28-300mm for Nikon for $399.99. I don't know the aperture however. It did not list that on their website. Thank you for your time.
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robert G. Fately |
Sherri, Promaster, as I recall, is another third party lens brand (like Sigma or Tamron) but somewhat less expensive and not generally as good. Besides that, I can tell you that the apertures of these lenses are about the same as your 70-300 anyway, so you will gain nothing by getting either one. I think you can find the 50MM 1.8 lens (the one I mentioned for portraits) for something around $100-150; given that lens' faster speed (and thus shallower DOF) this would be worth a look. But the Promasters - personally I would never recommend.
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Sherri Wiggins |
Thank you so much for your time. That sounds good. It is so hard at times to know what to purchase b/c retailers want to sell you whatever they can. I will check into the 50mm. Thank you again.
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robert G. Fately |
Sure, Sherri - and remember what I mentioned above - that while the 75MM focal length (for 35MM film, translating to the 50MM length on the D70) is an oft-used lens for portraits, this does not mean you should limit yourself to what others do. You have a lot of zoom range between the two lenses you already own - so don't be afraid to experiment with different distances from the subject/angles (try portraiture from the floor looking up) etc.
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