 JP |
Nikon D200 DSLR- most versatile starter lense? Hello, I am upgrading to a Nikon D200 DSLR and I am wondering what would be good, versatile lense to purchase with it. I am upgrading from a Sony DSC-F717: I am unsure what type of lense the Sony F717 has so I am not sure how to compare REAL lenses to the Sony lense. I can tell you that the majority of the work I do involves indoor/outdoor shots of people, fairly close-up (i.e. shot of person drinking coffee in a dining room, senior citizens with their grandkids working in the garden, etc.) I need to be able to produce very shallow depth of field easily. I have run into some difficulty shooting indoors in tight spaces, so something that would give me more versatility there would be extremely helpful. I am also looking at the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100... but I am trying to force myself into getting a Nikon. The image stabilization would be nice: Anyone have some good tips on the Nikon D200 and what would make areally good first lense? I am on a budget.... Thanks in advance.
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robert G. Fately |
JP, first of all, let me suggest that you check out these cameras in person - making the choice based on specifications is not the way to go. Ignoring the cost differential, the biggest difference between these cameras is ergonomic - how each one balances in your hands, how easily your eye can focus and see the viewfinder information, etc. If you are not comfortable using a given camera, you will be less likely to pick it up and use it, or more easily get frustrated with it. This is just human nature - so again, go to a store and handle both of these cameras (and Canons, Fujis, and Olympus' models for that matter). That said, I can recommmend the 18-200 Nikkor zoom lens - suprisingly good for a zoom of that focal range (11x) and able to focus quite close without additional close-up lenses, etc. I do not know what lensees Sony might have in the same range, though of course the third-party vendors like Sigma and Tokina probably offer similarly long-zoom lenses for the Sony (which of course used to be Minolta). FOr the Nikon, though, the Nikkor lens is considered far better than the third-party counterparts. It also has VR (Nikon's name for image stabilization - "Vibration Reduction")
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W. |
JP, the Alpha has one feature no other dSLR has: in-camera 'DRO', Dynamic Range Optmization! The difference between "DRO'd" and not "DRO'd" photos is often breathtaking. That's nothing to sneeze at. With the D200 you can of course do "DRO" too. But manually: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDRI
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JP |
Bob, I plan to check the cameras out in person as well. Good tip. I think the 18-200 Nikkor zoom lense would be great.. A bit spendy. What would be the next best thing? I love the fact that the lense has built in Vibration Reduction. Thanks for the response. W.S., Thanks for responding. Do you have a Sony Alpha? I am very curious about it, but for some reason, in my mind, Sonys seem very proprietary in some things. Are they generally compatible with Minolta lenses? What other lenses can they use? I would love to find a direct comparison of the Sony Alpha and the Nikon D200...Anyone know of a site that can put them side by side to compare? Thanks Again!
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JP |
More on the Dynamic Range Optimization... Is this essentially an auto version of adjusting highlights and shadows in photoshop? Or is it something more as you suggested? Can you point me to some documentation and samples on this? Thanks!
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robert G. Fately |
If you haven't already checked it out, then www.dpreview.com would be a great place to start. Sony bought Konica-Minolta a couple of years ago; their Alpha is essentially the next version of Minolta's digital camera. I believe it is compatible with recent Rokkor (Minolta) lenses - no doubt dpreview will indicate. I don't know about the DRO thing, though - can't help you there.
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W. |
I don't have an Alpha, for exactly the same reason you stated: "Sony seem very proprietary in some things." "Are they generally compatible with Minolta lenses?" Indeed. I think up to 15 year old Minolta SLR lenses will work on the Alpha. And Minolta's lens line-up was second only to Canon's for 30 years! "What other lenses can they use?" Any lens with a Minolta mount (I forget what it's called). That's a lot of lenses. Tokina's, Tamron's, Sigma's. To name only a few. "If you haven't already checked it out, then www.dpreview.com would be a great place to start." Absolutely. And Google and Wikipedia are your friends! "Sony bought Konica-Minolta a couple of years ago;" Well, it was only last January, actually, and it was only the choice morsels of KM's camera technology that Sony bought. "their Alpha is essentially the next version of Minolta's digital camera." Absolutely. Sony dearly needed a market leading dSLR. So they bought one. I think the Alpha was originally conceived on KM's drawing tables (oops! sorry! CAD of course) and for Sony the prize catch from KM's inventory.
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