Nikon D40 lens Choice

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crazygeordiegirl

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Having recently purchased a nikon d4o i now realise that I can only use af-s lenses for the camera to autofocus. My question is: how hard is it to manually focus with normal nikon lenses? Do any other d40 users use standard nikon lenses? do you have any problems? Reason for asking is Af-s lenses are way more expensive than normal ones.

All advice appreciated. :)
 
Manual focus is not that hard. Switch your current lens to M mode, and try it out. You'll get the hang of it soon enough, and if you think that you could use a lens like that exclusively then go for it.
 
It won't be available for 6 weeks but the new 35mm AF-S is a decent price, and I've got a feeling its going to be superb.

Get a 18-55 DX (£40 used), a 55-200 DX (£80 non VR, £100 VR) and maybe think about Nikon's new prime - the lot should come under £300.

I don't mind manual focus, I have a D40, and have a 28mm f/2.8 AI-S currently.
 
Back in the day MF was all we had.

Practice :)
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I have already got a 18-55 kit lens, and have been looking at long zoom and macro type lenses, I will keep my eye out for the above reccomendations.
 
crazygeordiegirl said:
Having recently purchased a nikon d4o i now realise that I can only use af-s lenses for the camera to autofocus. My question is: how hard is it to manually focus with normal nikon lenses? Do any other d40 users use standard nikon lenses? do you have any problems? Reason for asking is Af-s lenses are way more expensive than normal ones.

All advice appreciated. :)
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There is a good selection of lenses for the D40, jump on the nikon uk website and see.

The problem as you are aware is the fact that to reduce costs Nikon don't include a focus motor built into the body of the D40, so rely on a new series of lenses that have it built into them.

So if you want to use a standard nikon lens, then you limited to manual focus. But you can't use the old FD lenses on a digital body (I think thats right)

If you've setup the camera right, then manual focus is reasonable easy to do, but it will depend on the subject your trying to take a photo of, a moving subject will be more difficult to photograph than a stationary one.

There are also the third party manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron that might give you a cheaper option, although most of the lenses for the D40, 40X and D60 seem reasonable priced between £100-600.

The lens I want at the moment for my canon is the 300mm f2.8 priced around £3000. Need to save the penny's for that one :'(

Peter
 
crazygeordiegirl said:
Thanks for the advice guys, I have already got a 18-55 kit lens, and have been looking at long zoom and macro type lenses, I will keep my eye out for the above reccomendations.
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When you say long zoom, do you mean upto 300mm or 300mm +? and what's your budget?
 
crazygeordiegirl said:
Thanks for the advice guys, I have already got a 18-55 kit lens, and have been looking at long zoom and macro type lenses, I will keep my eye out for the above reccomendations.
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If it's a dedicated macro lens you're after, you'll go down the route of using MF anyway. :)
 
My budget at the minute is no more than £100, I know that is not alot but im sure if I keep looking I will pick up a bargain, as for zoom wise, im pretty clueless to what mm I want, I keep searching forums to try and pick up how close 200m,300mm etc will go. I know I sound clueless (thats because I am!) but i have just started taking an interest in this!
 
crazygeordiegirl said:
My budget at the minute is no more than £100, I know that is not alot but im sure if I keep looking I will pick up a bargain, as for zoom wise, im pretty clueless to what mm I want, I keep searching forums to try and pick up how close 200m,300mm etc will go. I know I sound clueless (thats because I am!) but i have just started taking an interest in this!
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What do you want to take photo's of. If its a wildlife lens your after then the minimum is really 400mm, unless you taking images in the zoo. Keep an eye out on the secondhand market, unfortunately £100 won't get you very far for a long zoom, but you might be able to pickup a good macro lens for that price

Peter
 
crazygeordiegirl said:
My budget at the minute is no more than £100, I know that is not alot but im sure if I keep looking I will pick up a bargain, as for zoom wise, im pretty clueless to what mm I want, I keep searching forums to try and pick up how close 200m,300mm etc will go. I know I sound clueless (thats because I am!) but i have just started taking an interest in this!
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This isn't great, but until you can try a few lenses it might give you some idea of what each focal length can give you.

http://www.tamroneurope.com/flc.htm
 
That's really good that demo thing.

I got a D40 wit ha 18-55 and the 55-200. It's all right. For birds you have to be within a couple of metres max @ 200mm so a 300 or 400 would be required for that kind of thing. The new fast prime coming out looks interesting. The next 'affordable' lens for me would be the 70-300 VR at £250-300 or so..
 
I would say if you've just started out and not sure what you will be shooting it is better to save up for an all-rounder lens like the 18-200 VR. This is quite a bit over your budget at around £350-£500 but on the second hand market I have seen these go at around £300. This is a very good around lens imo but it doesn't do macro. You could however get macro filters which will get you started in macro work for cheap.
 
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