Nikon flash & lens help

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adam27

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Hi there, Im fairly new to 'propper' photography. i have a nikon d40 and would like a new lens and an off camera flash setup. Ive looked around on the internet but theres so many different people saying contradicting things i thought i would come here and get some advice.

I currently use the 18-55mm kit lens. Ive read that lenses for the d40 are limited due to no motor in the camera body or something? and i dont want to lose auto focus. But im after a lens that reaches to about 200mm so i can get closer to the action (I shoot bmx, motocross and increasingly, more and more landscape stuff) So what would you recommend for me? £200 is probably about my maximum any cheaper would be great.

I am also after an off camera flash setup, i have no idea about what exactly i would need? But i want an ok setup for as cheap as possible. Any help would be much appreciated!

Many thanks :help:
 
Hi Adam and welcome to TP.

You're right its a bit confusing when you start off there are many different options. If you want to stick with a Nikon lens that will autofocus on your d40 you need lenses which have AF-S in their title such as this :
Nikon 55-200mm f4-5.6 G AF-S DX VR IF-ED
Now, this may be a little over your budget (about £233 at Warehouse Express but you should be able to get it cheaper) but it does have VR which is vibration reduction, very useful.
If you want to go with 3rd party lenses Sigma signify their autofocus with HSM in the title and their lenses can be bought for less.
If you don't mind second hand have a look at the classifieds on here, trustworthy bunch I think you'll find.

As to a flash the Nikon SB-400 is a very good model to begin with and costs around £110 new and £75 2nd hand.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Andy
 
SB400 is a great flash BUT it will only bounce in landscape mode, so if you take portrait shots it wont be much cop! On landscape shots though it will make a huge difference to picture quality although I do much prefer my sb600.
 
Depends on your definition of 'proper photography' but for serious photography your budget is tiny.
 
The SB400 will bounce off the wall in portrait - in a normal sized room enough light gets bounced back from the wall to the ceiling and then back to the subject to give quite nice lighting. Watch the WB though, custom WB works best. Alternatively get a flash synch lead and put it off camera.
 
The cheapest way to achieve off camera flash with the D40 is with the D400 flash and a flash synch cord or a radio trigger. I've never used radio triggers so can't advise on those.

Regarding using the excellent Nikon wireless system - Unfortunately the D40 on board flash can not act as a 'commander' - in other words you can not use the on board flash to trigger another off camera flash wirelessly. To use the Nikon wireless system, you would need either an SU800, SB800 or SB900 on camera to act as commander and either a SB600, SB800 or SB900 as the off camera flash (or flashes). Obviously this does not come cheap!

This and this might help explain the Nikon system better.
 
Thankyou for your help everyone, still a little mind boggeling but i think im starting to get my head around things (or maybe not as the case may be)

lens:

http://www.jessops.com/online.store...55-200mm f4-5.6 AFS G (Black)-29832/Show.html

flash setup:

http://www.jessops.com/online.store...ducts/Nikon/SB-600 Speedlight-28582/Show.html

PT-04 trigger & reciever shown here :

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=157807

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-bowens-handy-stand/p1033057

Please let me know if ive got it all wrong, cheers :thumbs:
 
The SB-600 is a great choice, but not at £239 - I'm sure Kerso (you'll find him in the Classifieds) would be able to do you one a lot cheaper ;)

7dayshop do a Konig stand for around £13, delivered. I've got a couple and you really can't complain at the price :thumbs:
 
same with your lens' - I'd go for the VR version of that lens. Its a little more pricey but well worth it. I think that the 55-200 punches well above its weight in terms of image quality.

Amazon market place have it listed from £162 which is less than the non-vr version at jessops

Hugh
 
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