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Gear / Technical Help => Photo / Video Recording => Topic started by: bluelawn on November 24, 2008, 09:29:50 AM
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ok, wife has an employee purchase plan at work for Nikon.
this will be our x-mas gift to each other.
we are both total photo newbs (point & shoot experience)
so we are looking at getting a D60- for home/general & concert use
there are 2 different packages available, please let me know your thoughts
#25438 : D60 Digital SLR Camera Outfit w/ 18-55mm VR Zoom-NIKKOR: $509
or
#9609: D60 Digital SLR Camera Outfit w/ 18-55mm VR & 55-200mm VR Zoom-NIKKOR lenses & 2 Nikon School DVDs: $649
is the 55-200mm lens worth the extra $140? another lens better for the price?
please help me taperssection i need to decide what to do by wen.
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Is there any way you could get the body and then buy an 18-200mm vr?
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FWIW, he one real drawback to the D60 is it's lack of a focus motor. It means that many very good lenses that do not have a built in motor will not auto-focus with the D40 & D60. You might look to see if they have the D80- or D90 available as they both have the motor and are also great cameras.
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Hi Seth,
As was mentioned the D60 has no focus motor, this means all lenses which are not labeled Nikon AF-S will only manual focus, which is still fine. This is the sacrifice you pay for size since they are a bit smaller. The D80/90 does have a focus motor and is a very good camera as well. I would not necessarily concern myself with the D90 unless you see a need for video, keep in mind that video in DSLR's is in it's infancy and will improve. Also it should be noted that the D80 is freshly discontinued so you should see significant savings on a really good camera kit.
As a general rule however, with DSLR's most of your money should go into the lenses you buy and not the camera. This however is backwards when you are just starting. The 55-200mm lens is fine for general snapshots, It ran about $200-250 new a year ago, perhaps a bit less now. Those two lenses together are good but I recommend trying to find a kit with the 18-200mm lens, one less to carry around.
Any of those options though will be good to learn on, you shouldn't worry too seriously. The one problem I see is if you want to take photos at concerts. Unless it's an outdoor event during the day you will have issues with those named lenses being too slow. It is highly recommended that all lenses for concerts be F2.8 or faster (meaning a smaller number), this means that there is more light available to the lens. The lenses you name start at 3.5 and as you zoom in get smaller allowing less light in. A result will be your pictures probably will not be much of an improvement over a point and shoot. This is where having a lens motor in your camera comes in handy. For $100 or less you can buy an autofocus 50mm F1.8 lens. This will only work with the D80 and above but it will be perfect for smaller shows and instances when you can get up close.
I hope this helps, I realize that it was long.
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well, we decided to get the D80 w/ 18-135mm Zoom-NIKKOR for $665.
i'm pretty excited to get into the photography hobby.
thanks for the advise guys,
i'm sure i'll have questions once it arrives in the mail.
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well, we decided to get the D80 w/ 18-135mm Zoom-NIKKOR for $665.
i'm pretty excited to get into the photography hobby.
thanks for the advise guys,
i'm sure i'll have questions once it arrives in the mail.
I think that is a great choice. The D80 is a great camera. Shout if/when you have questions....