New lens, why?

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lennye4evo

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Hi all ive curently got a d40 with kit lens im always reading that one huge reason for buying a dslr is the fact that lenses are interchangable. I mainly do night photography of buildings inside and out, so i was just wondering if it would be worth buying an additional lens and which type as i havent a clue! hope u can give me so ideas/info cheers
 
the reason to buy a new lens is when yours is limiting you, is there anything bout your lens that you feel is holding you back?

is it good enough in the dark to get the picture you want?
is the wide end wide enough for your usual shots?
is the other end enough to get the shots?
do you need VR to remove camera shake?

there so many different directions to go, that unless you have a vague idea where you want to go, it might not be worth trying
 
I have to agree with the above, you only need to get new equipment when what you have isnt upto the task anymore.

I am still using my kit lens and I dont really see the need to upgrade it to anything else either.
 
What Fletch and Dal have said is right...you only really need to buy if you are beginning to think "I wish I had that bit extra reach..." or "I wish I could open up just a little more..."

Going off what you say about night photography though, it sounds like some fast (and therefore expensive :lol:) lenses might be useful for you, perhaps start with something cheap and cheerful like a 50mm f1.8, if you find it is of benefit to you, then look into other lenses like 30 f1.4s and so on! If it doesn't benefit you, then it only cost £80 and you could sell it on near enough for that much so no great loss :)
 
have to agree with purple clouds, the 50mm is a good start on a new lens that most people find quite usefull yet hardly use. the only prob being you will have to manually focus as there is no motor in the lens( i think).
 
Pretty much in line with the others IMHO there are only two reasons to get new lenses

1. Needed to do the job you want

Last year I started doing a bit of gig photography ..... lighting is crap (mostly). I soon found that my then selection of lenses (mostly used for landscape and general work) were just not up to the job as they were all around f4 or f3.5-5.6 and my shutter speed was often down at 1/15th and lower ....... a lot of very blurry shots resulted.

I couldn't really afford to buy the f2.8 zooms on offer so I decided to get some fast primes. Ended up getting (over the course of the year) a 28mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4 & 85mm f1.8 ...... they gave me up to 3 stops of light to play with and I was the up at around 1/125th shutter & smiling.

2. Want to explore a new area of photography

With my crop sensor camera I could just never get wide enough to do the dramatic, slightly distorted, wide angle shots that I used to get with my 35mm film camera and a 22mm lens ..... so I bought the 10-20 Siggy and I love it to bits because it has enabled me to explore that particular area of my photography. Same principle would apply to getting a long lens for bird photography etc.

What I’m trying to say is that you get new lenses because you need them. Anything is just the acquisition of male jewellery ;)

Cheers, Dave B.
 
I had the d40x with kit lens and found it very good, i recently upgraded to a d90 and wanted a faster lens so bit the bullet and bought the 17-55mm f2.8 nikkor, its made quite a difference, however its debatable wether its £700 better, in low light certainly is and gives a much better depth of field which in the long run should negate the need to buy primes, so depending on your subject matter or how much you need/want the extra creativity should make your mind up for you.....in my humble opinion....
 
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