Change of the lens wardrobe. Suggestions needed!

cwinhall

cwinhall

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Hi all,

Been a long time since I was last in these main forums, I only usually nip in now and again for the classified section! :nono:

I am leaving the UK and I am heading back to live in Zimbabwe in 5 weeks time and I've decided this is a good excuse to change my lens wardrobe.

At the moment I have a 50mm 1.8 D, 150mm sigma macro and the nikon 18-200 VR.

I dont use the macro much at all unfurtunately so it would make sense for me to sell this but I just can't seem to bite that bullet as I really do love that lens and I feel there will be an abundance of macro oppurtunity back in Zimbabwe. So I'd ideally like to hold on to this lens.

The 18-200 however, although I;m fond of it I have outgrown the ned for this ultra zoom lens and would prefer to bracket my lens focal lengths in such;

wide angle
50mm 1.8
mid-range zoom
telephoto

I was initially thinking of upgrading my D200 to get a D300(s) but I am now rethinking that idea, and feel money would be better spent in glass for now, and upgrade the camera next year when prices will have steadied a bit more as the recession fully subsides.

So BASICALLY a long story cut short:

Wide angle - I'm looking for a nifty one in the range of 10-30mm
mid-range zoom - Something between 50-135
telephoto - 300+

Now let me say that I do not give the faintest about brands - all I care about is lens quality. So if the brand is not a well known one but it fits on my Nikon D200 and produces great quality pictures, I'm all for it!

Secondly, in regards to the telephoto. I will even go as far as to get an old 35mm SLR lens, even if it means I will have to manually focus it on the D200. If it means saving a lot of money, again, I'm all for it!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

P.S

If anyone is selling a lens that they feel would fit my criteria then do let me know! (or even better if someone wants to swap one for the Nikon 18-200VR :thumbs:
 
Lenses I might look at would be:

AFS 18-55 -- £ 80
AFS 55-200vr -- £189 (70-300vr would be better, but...)

I'm guessing that if you sold off the 18-200 for the above you might stretch to the following (selecting either the 24 or 85 assuming you keep the 150):

AFD 24/2.8 -- £306
AFS 35/1.8 -- £157
AFD 85/1.8 -- £280
AFS 300/4 -- £928

You mention older lenses, not sure you'd gain much unless you start talking of lenses longer than 300 and even the older lenses start getting expensive unless you want heavily used ones -- and then there's always the worry of parts availability, perhaps less of an issue with manual focus lenses.

Some people seem to like the new AFS 60 macro for portrait type shots (despite the sharpness) but that would take quite a chunk out of your budget.
 
Thanks for the reply acs.

I think that the 18-55 and 55-200 are although good lenses don't offer the quality I am after. (afterall, photography is my profession and quality is what I am selling)

I have been doing a bit more research myself and think the Tokina 11-16 lens seems to be a solid pick for a wide angle. The 70-300VR seems to be a very decent lens for the money too.

I think what I need to do is venture into a shop to give all these lenses a test.
 
cwinhall said:
I think that the 18-55 and 55-200 are although good lenses don't offer the quality I am after. (afterall, photography is my profession and quality is what I am selling)
Click to expand...

They're good stopped down and would give you backup coverage if you went for some primes.

cwinhall said:
I have been doing a bit more research myself and think the Tokina 11-16 lens seems to be a solid pick for a wide angle. The 70-300VR seems to be a very decent lens for the money too.
Click to expand...

No experience of the 11-16 but seems to get good reviews.

The 70-300vr is a really nice lens, especially so in the 70-200 range.
 
Thanks agian for your reply Andrew.

I have been thinking about it and I think this setup would cover me quite well:

Tokina 11-16mm 2.8
Nikon 35mm 1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 70-300mm
Sigma 150mm macro

Means I'm only missing 16-50 and 50-70. Which isn't a huge deal to me as I feel I can physcially move myself into position to get a shot for those ranges.

Unless someone can suggest a reason why this setup is not good?
 
The 50-70 gap wouldn't bother me in the slightest but 16-50 might, especially if the Tokina has any weakness at the 16 end. That'd be a 24/75 combo in old money.
 
acs said:
The 50-70 gap wouldn't bother me in the slightest but 16-50 might, especially if the Tokina has any weakness at the 16 end. That'd be a 24/75 combo in old money.
Click to expand...
Hm possibly your right, maybe i could squeeze a 35mm 2.8 in there to balance it out...:shrug::thinking:
 
cwinhall said:
I think this setup would cover me quite well:

Tokina 11-16mm 2.8
Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 70-300mm
Sigma 150mm macro
Click to expand...

with the 35mm you mention, this looks really good

only prob is logistics - the Tok 11-16 is nigh impossible to find secondhand and will command a high price
 
Yardbent said:
with the 35mm you mention, this looks really good

only prob is logistics - the Tok 11-16 is nigh impossible to find secondhand and will command a high price
Click to expand...
Your right about the tokina being impossible to find secondhand, been looking everywhere, not one in sight!

I still MUST have that though, it's definately the best of it's class by miles. I might have to look into a hong kong import at £420. Amazon has them for £508 :shrug:
 
cwinhall said:
Your right about the tokina being impossible to find secondhand, been looking everywhere, not one in sight!

I still MUST have that though, it's definately the best of it's class by miles. I might have to look into a hong kong import at £420. Amazon has them for £508 :shrug:
Click to expand...

IMO the only importer I see that has a good service record is....OneStopDigital

...and "Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war".
 
cwinhall said:
Thanks agian for your reply Andrew.

I have been thinking about it and I think this setup would cover me quite well:

Tokina 11-16mm 2.8
Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 70-300mm
Sigma 150mm macro

Means I'm only missing 16-50 and 50-70. Which isn't a huge deal to me as I feel I can physcially move myself into position to get a shot for those ranges.

Unless someone can suggest a reason why this setup is not good?
Click to expand...

Can't see any problem with that lineup apart from the gap from 16-70. Maybe a 24-70 could be slipped in to fill most of it?

I think you may be being a bit optomistic in hoping the recession is over in just one year. I hope you're right but can't help feeling it's going to take a bit longer.
 
I am impressed with my Tamron 28-75 2.8 on my D300. Have the non motor lens which is supposed to be better. Can recommend the 70-300 VR, great value lens.
 
£437.05 for the 11-16 from OneStopDigital... I suppose the extra £17.05 is worth it for a good service record... how long is delivery normally with them and whats the story with import duty with them?
 
cambsno said:
I am impressed with my Tamron 28-75 2.8 on my D300. Have the non motor lens which is supposed to be better. Can recommend the 70-300 VR, great value lens.
Click to expand...

Interesting!

My line up would then be

Tokina 11-16mm 2.8
Tamron 28-75 2.8
Nikon 70-300mm
Sigma 150mm macro

I then wouldn't need to buy the 35mm and I can also sell the 50mm... hmm... This setup would essentially cost me only £30-50 more than the previous setup.

Thanks for the suggestion I will definately take it into consideration! :thumbs:
 
Personally, I would keep the 50. It's just that bit faster than f/2.8 and that can make all the difference. Also, the trade in value (or even private sale value) isn't huge and I reckon it'll be worth more to you than what you'ld get for it (just my opinion though!).
 
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