forgot how slow kit lens was

p1tse

p1tse

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i've been using my sony a300 with a tamron 28-75 f2.8 and use it with no flash on 'P' setting indoors and just clicks away

i was at a friends house playing with a nikon d60 with 18-55 kit lens and again in 'P' mode no flash, and yikes i couldn't even get a picture out as it was so slow

is this due to the kit lens or the body?

i was thinking of a nikon d90 with 18-105 kit lens for a bit and would it be just as slow?
 
It'll be the lens - I was looking at a colleagues' Fuji S1-Pro yesterday and it had the old Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 - the old 'Pro'-spec lens prior to the 70-200 VR....man it was clunky - I couldn't believe we used that for 'real' jobs - it took an age to focus...sounded like the AF was powered by windlasses being cranked round by pressed French sailors...
 
Arkady said:
It'll be the lens - I was looking at a colleagues' Fuji S1-Pro yesterday and it had the old Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 - the old 'Pro'-spec lens prior to the 70-200 VR....man it was clunky - I couldn't believe we used that for 'real' jobs - it took an age to focus...sounded like the AF was powered by windlasses being cranked round by pressed French sailors...
Click to expand...

Do you know which version of the 80-200 f/2.8 you were using yesterday, Arkady? Just interested if the last version of the 80-200 f/2.8 was/is slow and clunky?
 
This one:
LINKY

The old 80-200 f/2.8D

Having said that it's probably optically better than the newer 70-200 f/2.8VR lens I currently use and doesn't have any vignetting problems with FX cameras, designed as it was for the old F5 and F90X film cameras...
 
Arkady said:
It'll be the lens - I was looking at a colleagues' Fuji S1-Pro yesterday and it had the old Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 - the old 'Pro'-spec lens prior to the 70-200 VR....man it was clunky - I couldn't believe we used that for 'real' jobs - it took an age to focus...sounded like the AF was powered by windlasses being cranked round by pressed French sailors...
Click to expand...

Could the focus speed also be down to the camera body?
 
p1tse said:
i've been using my sony a300 with a tamron 28-75 f2.8 and use it with no flash on 'P' setting indoors and just clicks away

i was at a friends house playing with a nikon d60 with 18-55 kit lens and again in 'P' mode no flash, and yikes i couldn't even get a picture out as it was so slow

is this due to the kit lens or the body?

i was thinking of a nikon d90 with 18-105 kit lens for a bit and would it be just as slow?
Click to expand...

When you say 'slow', do you mean focussing or in terms of aperture?
 
To the OP, dont forget that the kit lens isnt a 2.8 so if you were at the point of zoom where it was 5.6 wide open then the shutter speed would need to be quite slow to get enough light in.
 
Arkady said:
This one:
LINKY

The old 80-200 f/2.8D

Having said that it's probably optically better than the newer 70-200 f/2.8VR lens I currently use and doesn't have any vignetting problems with FX cameras, designed as it was for the old F5 and F90X film cameras...
Click to expand...

I'm quite surprised this version of the 80-200 2.8 is slow. I have the even older push pull pre D version made between 88 and 92 which is known to be slow to autofocus. Is the one you tried much of an improvement? I ask as I am thinking of getting one of these next.
 
I'm also surprised how slow you found the 80-200. I borrowed one a few years ago with my friends d1x and took some pictures at Twickenham, it seemed very quick to focus

I think I am correct in saying the camera body does play a large part in af speed so could it have been down to the S1 which is a relatively old dslr?
 
p1tse said:
i was at a friends house playing with a nikon d60 with 18-55 kit lens and again in 'P' mode no flash, and yikes i couldn't even get a picture out as it was so slow
Click to expand...

I there's some confusion here as to whether "slow" means slow to focus, or slow as in relatively small max aperture.

I think the OP means slow max aperture, given the references to not using flash; I've not found the 18-55 AF-S to be slower to focus than any other AF-S lens. Maybe if you're using a peripheral focus point it will struggle to detect AF, try the central point.

As Janice correctly says, the aperture @ 55mm is f/5.6 with the kit lens, so much slower than you're used to.

Should be ok indoors if you bump up the ISO, or activate auto ISO, which is disabled by default on the D40, maybe on the D60 also. That's the first thing I would check.
 
sorry i meant the apperature

focusing was fine, but the processing of the picture (in camera) would take a very long time
 
aha...I meant the AF was creaky, slow and haphazard (in low light it 'hunted' quite significantly), despite the wide max aperture...

The 70-200VR f/2.8 I use now is lightning-fast by comparison - and quieter!
 
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