Newbie needs help choosing a lens! (for a Nikon D60)

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rachel88

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Hi everyone

I'm new to the world of Digital SLR's. I love photography and always have done, so now I'm attempting to learn the basics.

For my 21st birthday I have asked for money towards a lens for my Nikon D60, but I have no idea what to go for, I already have an 18-55mm but its obviously just a standard one which doesn't suit long distance or close up.

I love taking extremely close up photos so i was thinking I'd get a micro lens. but, here's the dilemna...I only have a budget of about £150...the nikon ones are over £500!

Any help would be much appreciated guys! :)
 
Hi

Congratulations on your 21st :clap:

Can't help you with a specific Nikon lens (I'm Canon), but I was given some very sound advice when I started off and also fairly recently as i was looking for an upgrade.

First thing is to decide what you want to persue - wildlife / general / landscape / motorsports etc, this will give you an idea of what zoom you require 20mm wide or 300mm long etc.

Second piece of advice I was given, was to buy the best lens you can afford, whether new or 2nd hand - as if you change your mind, you will be able to sell on and hopefully not loose too much.

I'm sure there will be some Nikon users who will point you in the right direction for specific lenses. Good luck :thumbs:
 
Hello there!

I would recommend the manual focus Tamron Adaptall-2 90mm macro: http://www.adaptall-2.com/lenses/52B.html

They regularly turn up on eBay (less regularly with the extension tube for 1:1). They're second-hand, so you're unlikely to lose much, if anything, when/if you decide to sell.

For a much cheaper option, you could try a reversing ring with your current lens. Look for member xSitara™ for inspiration.

Happy birthday!

p.s. The Adaptall lenses require a mount specific to your camera e.g. Nikon AI-S, which currently cost £15 - £30.
 
Welcome Rachel.

You kit lens is surprisingly versatile, two or even three lenses in one, and quite capable of tackling loads of stuff.

But one thing it won't do is macro, but I think there's good news for you here. There are lots of good macro lenses about second-hand within your budget, and older ones with manual exposure and manual focus will do you just fine.

I have two full auto macros and I always use them both in full manual :shrug:
 
Cheers everyone for the swift replies...and the birthday wishes!

I think I'll head down the second hand macro lens route...as I assume from everyone's advice that I can use a number of non-nikon lenses?

However, what is the extension tube you mentioned? sorry, I really do only know the VERY basics!
photon said:
less regularly with the extension tube for 1:1
Click to expand...

:)
 
One of the first links to show the relevant parts: http://techtheman.blogspot.com/2009/03/tamron-sp-90mm-f25-12-macro-adaptall-2.html

Things to note:
The clear plastic rear cap for use with the lens when the mount isn't attached is shown on the left of the first photo. It's nice (but not usual) to receive this with the lens (which will now be over 10 years old).

He doesn't show an original front cap, moulded with "Tamron" in silver-grey lettering. Nor the Tamron rear cap (though you can use anything suitable for the mount). Both caps are often heavily scratched, though Tamron SP lenses were supplied with nice cases.

The hood is missing. It's rigid plastic, plain circular, 5cm deep, bayonet fitting. They're available, occasionally, separately but a conventional 55mm screw-in type will do for the 52BB lens, and should be used when necessary. The original hood can be misplaced when the lens is used mainly with a ring flash attached to it.

If you buy via eBay and aren't sure of what's offered, the newer 52BB has the transparent window over the distance readout, as shown in the photos at the link.

Most of the lenses sold on eBay are without the extension tube. The extension tube lengthens the lens and allows 1:1 magnification rather than 1:2 so that e.g. a Visa or Mastercard symbol on a credit card will fill the frame with the lens fully extended and its front end about 10cm from the subject. There are no glass elements in the extension tube. It transfers the aperture setting from the lens to the camera. With other settings remaining the same, you have to halve the shutterspeed when the extension tube is used.

The lens is about 8cm long without hood or extension tube, and extends 5cm for closest focus, for almost a complete rotation of the focus ring. The lens barrel doesn't rotate, so a polariser could be used, but would be better with a wide hood and step-up ring or a Cokin P filter holder and hood.
 
rachel88 said:
Cheers everyone for the swift replies...and the birthday wishes!

I think I'll head down the second hand macro lens route...as I assume from everyone's advice that I can use a number of non-nikon lenses?

However, what is the extension tube you mentioned? sorry, I really do only know the VERY basics!


:)
Click to expand...

Yes, you can use non-Nikon. Third party brands to look for are Sigma, Tamron, Kenko, Tokina, but other camera brands like Canon, Olympus, Pentax, Sony etc will not fit.

Extension tubes. When you focus your lens from far to near subjects, the front moves forward. Extension tubes just move the lens even further forward, a lot further foward, so the lens will now focus very close indeed. Extension tubes are hollow, but have all the necessary lens-to-camera to couplings and so retain all automatic functions. They come in three sizes that you can use in any combination to achieve different focusing distances. Kenko make a good set for about £112. http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1007657

The other thing you might want to try is a close-up lens. In fact, thinking about it, if you don't want to take extreme close ups of tiny bugs and the like, and are happy to shoot things no smaller than flowers etc, then this is probably the way to go. Close-up lenses are dead cheap - like £17 for a +4 dioptre, which will give you a frame-filling image of a subject 6cm wide. That's pretty close. http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1013534 You just screw this into the front of your lens and away you go. You can get stronger close-up lenses, or you can use two lenses together, but image quality will begin to drop off.

Macro equipment runs something like this:
Macro/micro lens - goes very close, high image quality, easy to use, expensive.
Extension tubes - go very close, good image quality, a bit fiddly, reasonable cost.
Close-up lenses - don't go mega-close, reasonable image quality, a doddle to use, very cheap.

Best thing to do is go down to your local shop and try a few things on your camera. Any decent shop will stock these things and demo the options for you.
 
I can't comment on the image quality whatsoever, but you can get cheap close up filters from ebay, a set of +4,3,2,1 for about £7 delivered...probably worth the risk rather than £17 on one filter straight away, especially if you're new to this! Think a lot of them are 52mm, which should fit your kit lens.
 
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