What nifty fifty do I need for my d40?

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alexsmith

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I have been asked to take some informal wedding photos at a friends wedding... I'm guessing that the lighting indoors might not be good (its in a little hotel) and so my 18-55 5.6 might be struggling for light...?
I don't want to spend loads (£100 ish) but what lens will do me best. Loads of people on here talk about indespensible 50mm's but there seem to be loads of variations....
ANY advice will be grattefully recieved :):cool:

Alex
 
Biggest issue you will have with the nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8) is that it is going to be manual focus on the D40 - I used to miss the focus on a fair old whack of shots at f/1.8 on it before I got the D300, especially on moving subjects :(
 
alexsmith said:
I have been asked to take some informal wedding photos at a friends wedding... I'm guessing that the lighting indoors might not be good (its in a little hotel) and so my 18-55 5.6 might be struggling for light...?
I don't want to spend loads (£100 ish) but what lens will do me best. Loads of people on here talk about indespensible 50mm's but there seem to be loads of variations....
ANY advice will be grattefully recieved :):cool:

Alex
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The only ones that will af on the D40 will cost you a lot more than £100, even secondhand.....
 
Your best option would probably be the AF-S 35/1.8G -- it makes a nice 'normal' lens on a Nikon DX camera. You might find a used Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM, though likely more expensive than you want.

The autofocus 50s, acting as a mild telephoto on DX, are a fair bit more expensive -- if you still want one, you should look at the AF-S 50/1.4G or the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM.

Another option might be to consider an SB-400 speedlight -- you could maybe add a cable to get the flash off the camera.
 
go for the Nikon AFS 35/1.8 for about £175 if you can stretch to it.

manual focus is no fun on the D40, and a 50mm lens is not ideal on digitals with the DX 2x factor.
 
tim_uk said:
...with the DX 2x factor.
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It's 4/3s system that has a 2x multiplier, DX is just 1.5x.

50 can be a bit long for general shots, though the 1.5x takes the 50 to and effective 75mm thus making it handy for portrait type shots.
 
well spotted acs - I used to be good at maths !

I still think 75mm is an odd choice though, the closest is 85mm with 35mm and although I have 85/1.4 on my film cameras it isn't used that much.
 
acs said:
At twice that price it maybe a bit expensive but, if you're going to hire something, the AF-S 24-70/2.8 might be good for a wedding on a DX body.
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Of course, I was only offering the option as the OP stated a requirement for a 50mm lens.
 
Sure, it just made me wonder about other options.

Later, when I spotted the single day hire option at Calumet the 24-70 looked even more interesting.
 
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