Nikon Lenses

[barnzy]

Hello everyone,

I'm chasing some information and hopefully some helpful links to places that I can purchase them.

First lens I'm looking at is 24-70mmf/2.8 - For general and all purpose shooting. I'm trying to find a decent price for this lens new and would like members feedback and also where you shop at.

Second lens is 70-200mmf/4 (Was looking at the 70-200mmf/2.8 but it is a lil out of my price range for now) This lens is for shooting motorsport and general sport photo's.

I look forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts and also where you shop at.

Thanks,

Barnzy

[I @ M]

Barnzy, the 24-70 can be found for sale at a multitude of on line and bricks and mortar stores at an enormous range of prices.
Do you care if it is a grey market unit or are you wanting a local Nikon Australia sourced item?

I have absolutely no idea where you are going to obtain a 70-200 F/4 lens from though unless you have inside knowledge that Nikon have such a lens in the production pipeline. Even if they do have and they announce it tomorrow it will be a minimum of 3 months before it hits the shelves of any store.

[Bennymiata]

The Sigma 24-70 F2.8 is also an excellent lens, and reasonably priced too.
I used one extensively on a Pentax, and it was truely excellent.

Have you looked at the new Sigma 70-200F2.8 with OS?
The price is pretty good, and from how good the latest Sigma lenses are, it should be pretty good too.

[barnzy]

Hi Andrew, Thanks for the reply!

I didn't know if Nikon offered a 70-200mf/4 lens and fro your reply I'm guessing that they don't! That case I might be looking into a different lens for sporting action.

I would prefer a Nikon Lens but if the quality of the lens is good I'll consider it!

[junqbox]

You might be able to find a VRI version of the 70-200 used for a good price.

[N*A*M]

DWI have been good to me over the years

[darrenmars]

I'm sure there was a 70-210 f/4 AF lens available some time ago... Would you settle for used kit or do you require new? If used is ok have you considered the sigma or tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses? or something like this

[I @ M]

There was a 70-210 F/4 lens made --- http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/lenses.html#70-xx --- that looked like this -- http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/af70210.jpg -- however it is an "AF D" lens and where sport is concerned the faster the focus the better which is where even one of the older Sigma 70-200 F/2.8 lenses would be a better proposition on a budget.

Barnzy, which body are you wanting to use such a lens on, that will have a bit of a bearing on reccomendations as well.

[danny]

After recommendation through AP I have started to use DWI and think that it is great! Highly recommend. How they can deliver from Hong Kong to Goulburn in 3 days (including weekend) is truly unbelievable.

Cheers
Danny

[barnzy]

Thanks for the replies guys and feel free to keep them coming along!

I @ M - I'm currently using a Nikon D60 but from research it looks like I might have to upgrade my body shortly as well. But if I can get away with using it for a while with these two lenses that would be great!

[I @ M]

That helps a bit Barnzy.
Whilst the D60 is quite a capable camera it will fall short in a few areas when it comes to getting the sport shots you want.
It is limited to only having autofocus capabilities with AF-S lenses and it will ultimately prove frustrating to get the shots that you want with the number of focus points and fast frame rate capability that you will require for sport shots.

Your ideals of owning the 24-70 F/2.8 are very sound and while it it will work excellently on the D60 body you will only be getting around 70% of the capabilities of that lens because of the lower resolving abilities of the "old style" sensor and processor in the body.

My recommendation at the moment if you are going to start spending serious dollars on good lenses would be to try to pick up a good low mileage D300s body, buy the 24-70 as a future proof investment and then to save for a better quality 70-200 lens. Even then, you may start to feel that the 200mm is a bit on the short side and then it becomes really hard as a Nikon owner to find ( at an affordable price ) longer lenses ( 300 - 400 mm ) to do the job.

On further reflection, I hate to be the one to bring it up though, maybe jumping ship to the Canon system where bodies and lenses at suitable lengths for sport are available at slightly more realistic prices could be the way to go before you out lay any further dollars.

[kiwi]

I'd prob go 24-120 now, and sigma 70-200 with a sigma 1.4tc

[barnzy]

Thanks again for the reply. Well after doing research today and finding out that they D60 is a awesome body but just isn't suitable for what I want I think that I might be switching over to the Canon Camera. Their prices on lenses look a bit better and have a good range. Also I find a lot more people these days are using Canon camera's.

Now comes another question though, what body from Canon would I be looking at? I know that the D300 from Nikon is the selection that I need but what about Canon, what are the ups and down and what is recommended for the shots I'm looking for!

[kiwi]

Rubbish

[Chris Michel]

What parts rubbish ??

[knumbnutz]

If you are looking at a D300 for motorsport, try a Sigma 120-300 F2.8, its a great lens.
If you want to ask about Canon gear then post on the canon part of the forum.
Any longer length lens is going to be expensive and 200 is not really long enough. a kit lens is also not really going to cut it because their Fstop at the long part is too high.
Also for motosport or any sport, you will need a camera that can run at a high iso and have some intuitive constant focus like the D300s.
You may well get a cheaper or lesser camera but in the end you will need something decent and if you spend the money to start with it will work out cheaper than buying a cheap camera and upgrading in the future when the cheapy doesnt cut it, same goes for the lenses and then there is the technique required..... that is some else altogether and will be far more beneficial to good images than camera/lenses.
Cheers Neil

[kiwi]

Pretty much all of it

[Chris Michel]

I cant give any light other then all the NRL and AFL games we goto there seems to be a 20 to 1 ratio of Canons over Nikons. That includes the test cricket we watched in Sydney earlier this year

[kiwi]

You know why ?

By the way I shot the super15 and state of origin with nikon, and it was more even

[Chris Michel]

we went to origin game 2 in Sydney and there was an even bigger ratio of canon over nikon.