New lens, flash and compact camera.

[Tuffie]

Okay so I've got a D60, which I've kinda stopped using since my 18-55 VR lens broke (damn plastic rear bayonet.) I also have a '70-300mm Sigma AP0 DG' which is a complete pile of arse.

So I'm now looking for something which will replace both of the said lens's, or at least just the 70-300, and I'll have the 18-55 replaced. I've been looking at the "AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR" is this a good option.

You need to be patient with me here but, what figures define the quality of one lens over another? As I obviously shouldn't be purchasing a lens via price range..

I am looking at a flash as well, any recommendations?

Also, I'm looking at a 'Point and Shoot' type of compact camera, could anyone make some suggestions, I'm probably looking only at Nikons, just because I've had good experiences with them. I'm only really going to be using it for photos with friends when travelling, going out or at parties and such (so it'll be used for a bunch of night time shots.) Waterproof would be a bonus.

 

[davidireland]

You need to be patient with me here but, what figures define the quality of one lens over another? As I obviously shouldn't be purchasing a lens via price range..

There are a couple things to consider when looking at lenses. If you are buying lenses from manufacturers other than the OEM (Nikon in this case) then you should do some research on their product lines. A lot of manufacturers have several different "series" or "families" of lenses that offer different qualities (by which I mean glass quality, construction quality...things that might not necessarily have absolute VALUES or STATS attached to them)

An important 'figure' to look at though is the aperture of the lens (the 'F' stop). Every lens has a 'mm' value, which is its focal length and an 'f' value which is the aperture. The LOWER the aperture is, the brighter, faster and crisper (as in depth of field) the lens is. So basically the lower the f value, the better the lens. For example, a 50mm f1.8 lens is a good lens for portraits, and will perform better in low light than the 18-55mm stock Nikon lens because typically the stock Nikon lens is an 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 (or close to that) meaning that at ~50mm on the 18-55mm lens the aperfure is close to 5.6. When you compare a 5.6 aperture to a 1.8 (which you would get from the 50mm f1.8) the 1.8 will be must brighter, faster, crisper, BETTER. In fact, there are also 50mm f1.4 lenses that almost eliminate the need for flash in at least FAIRLY well lit conditions where, if you were using an 18-55 f3.5-5.6, the picture would be too dark to even see.


So in summary, look at the lens "series/family" it is in (Canon, for example has 'L' series which is high end and better than their other lenses), look at the MM value to see which TYPE of lens you need (Macro, portrait, telephoto) and pay CLOSE attention to the f-stop or aperture to see how bright and fast that lens will be!

Hope this helps

 

[davidireland]

I am looking at a flash as well, any recommendations?.

Right...perhaps I should have fielded your other questions before responding before...got a little excited after all that typing...

Well, it depends on your needs. If you want to do some creative lighting effects, including OFF-CAMERA flash, then you will need a lens that will support a certian feature set. If you just want more power, then just get a cheap flash that will get the job done, or the entry level Nikon speedlight flashes, those are decent...you might also consider a flash diffuser to soften the flash, particularly on people's faces.

Also, I'm looking at a 'Point and Shoot' type of compact camera, could anyone make some suggestions, I'm probably looking only at Nikons, just because I've had good experiences with them. I'm only really going to be using it for photos with friends when travelling, going out or at parties and such (so it'll be used for a bunch of night time shots.) Waterproof would be a bonus

This REALLY depends on your price range. If you really like Nikon, which is fine, then basically spend as much as you can afford on the camera with the features that suit your needs. You get what you pay for with just about everything, but I find this PARTICULARLY true with cameras. Even a slight increase in budget can make for a much better camera.

Things to consider with a P+S:

1) LENS QUALITY (With Nikon, this can be hard to determine because they pretty much all use NIKKOR lenses, of varying quality. Other manufacturers, like Sony and Panasonic will use different series of lenses on their low/mid/high-end cameras. (Panasonic uses Lumix DC Vario on lower end, Leica on high end for example...)

2) Zoom - decide how much zoom you want. A small zoom will mean a small camera, and vice-versa. 10-14x zoom cameras are my personal favourite because they have recently shrunk in size compared to previous years and they offer a lot of zoom! Enough to zoom in from more than a hundred feet away.

3) Stabilization - make sure the camera has OPTICAL stabilization, or you are going to blur alot. Nikon would call it VR (vibration reduction), so make sure its not digital VR.

4) Misc. "cool" features - maybe pay some attention to the cool perks that some cameras offer like HD video and GPS geo-tagging that you might find interesting.


Nikon makes some good P+S cameras, but DON'T be afraid to give Panasonic a chance either. A big personal P+S favorite of mine. Sony has some nice cameras too with their "Sony Lens G" lens cameras.


There are lots of new cameras coming out right at this time of year. So, buy last year's models SOON and get the best pricing of the year, or wait for the cutting edge cameras and pay the price!!


EDIT: Sorry for the TL;DR type post here...I just got to typing...couldn't stop... XD

 

[Tuffie]

Thanks so much for your help David.

With your suggestions I've started looking at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT10, and the Nikon SB-600. What do you think of these?

 

[taylor22]

You might be best off with the 18-200mm if you're interested in that wide zoom range. Nikon compacts are a great choice as well--since you've been familiar with the brand, I would stick with that.

 

[Tuffie]

Yeah that's what I was going to do, but then I found out Nikon doesn't make any waterproof compacts.

It's a feature I'd really like.