next lens? nikon D70s

Kathermans

Kathermans

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Hi all,

I have a Nikon D70s. I can't afford to upgrade it and I can't afford an expensive lens either but I would like to know what I'm aiming for. As a very much amateur photographer I find the different lenses very confusing.

I work a lot with my 50mm 1:8 and absolutely love it. I take a lot of portraits; often of dogs but sometimes kids and people in general. It is sharp and great in low light.

I also have the kit 18-70mm that came with the camera. A surprisingly good lens too though obviously less good in low light especially as the D70s is not that great when you up the ISO.

What I need is something that gives me a bit more versatility. Ideally I'd have loved a 70-200mm 2:8 but that is way way out of my price range.

I'm sometimes asked to photograph things that I maybe wouldn't simply for pleasure. For example I took some shots of a friend's horses and the 18-70 was just too limited to do anything other than static "portrait" type shots. Obviously in the field they were all too "far away". Another example was taking shots of army and police dogs working and in that situation you can't get too physically close (for safety reasons).

I'm not wanting to set up as a sports photographer or indeed as any other kind of photographer as I'm disabled by chronic disease and broke :lol: so if there is any "compromise" that would suit best I'd love to know. My main objective here is to be able to try out different situations and types of photography in order to learn and develop my photography.

I don't have a flash yet either (and don't work much indoors so prefer to save for a lens first) and I'd say good light/aperture is the most important to me.

Thanks in advance :)
 
100ukp for 70-300 (think there is one on the adverts recently)
That'd get you zoom, or someway towards it

Portraits, 50mm f1.4 or perhaps the sigma 30mm f1.4 (both low light 30mm slightly wider tho)

See if anyone is near you and you can perhaps arrange to borrow the lens on a day out? at least you could try it/them to see whether its what you want...
 
Hi both and thanks for the replies :)

For the 70-300, is that nikkor or other? I'm presuming there's a difference in quality between lenses. I had a borrow of a sigma 100-300mm from a friend and didn't much like it but that might have been my incompetence of course and I know it's not the lens you're suggesting.
 
70 - 300mm Nikkor.
Excellent image quality from that lens and it is very reasonably priced.
 
The 70-300 VR is a cracker of a lens. Stay away from the cheap £70 70-300's. Not so good.
 
TCR4x4 said:
The 70-300 VR is a cracker of a lens. Stay away from the cheap £70 70-300's. Not so good.
Click to expand...


:agree:

If you can stretch to an extra £100-200 though, or are happy with one of the older "push-pull" versions I'd suggest taking a look at the Nikon 80-200 f/2.8.

A used "push-pull" or "one-touch" 80-200 will cost about the same as used 70-300 VR the difference in image quality between that and the 70-300 or 70-300VR lenses is quite noticeable, as is the difference in build quality. The 80-200 is a metal-bodied "pro" lens, the 70-300 VR is a plastic-bodied consumer one, although still much, much better than the older 70-300 lens that can be bought for £70 or so.
 
Don't discount the Sigma 70-300mm APO lens (the APO bit is important). For under £100 it's the best you can buy for so little money.

As always it boils down to pennies in the pocket...
 
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