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Digital SLR camera & lenses: Who has the best lense for standard and telephoto? Also, best camera?

I looked at consumer reports – that rated the Nikon D40, D80 pretty highly. I like the 10 megapixels, but some people have been telling me its all about the lenses. Therefore, What lense to people recommend?

there are standard lenses that come with the nikon d40/80 but I looked at nikon.com and they have tons more to choose from. I’m not sure what I should do.

another more experienced photographer I know bought the sony alpha, and said he is going to use his old minolta lenses.

My price range for the total package body + lense is probably 1200-1500.
Any thoughts?

I shoot with the nikon D80, an awesome camera. I haven’t had any problems with it. My lens collection includes the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, and 50mm f/1.8. The camera body, depending on where you buy it, will cost you around a grand. If you’re looking for a good lens, I can tell you that for the price (about $150), the 50mm f/1.8 is the best I own. It is known as a normal or standard prime lens and is both fast and extremely sharp. My 70-300mm VR lens is not the fastest lens I own, but with vibration reduction, aperture speed is less of a concern for what it is used for at the longest focal length, which with my image sensor crop, translates to 450mm, equivalent to what is seen with a full frame camera. I usually keep it around f/8 when shooting outdoors and I get very sharp images. It set me back around $600, not cheap, but cheaper than the 18-200mm VR superzoom which I wouldn’t mind buying to replace my third lens, the 18-135mm f3.5-5.6. That lens was kitted with my D80 when I bought it and really of no use to me unless I need a wide shot. I used it to shoot some sunsets, but I prefer my 70-300mm VR for walking around town, and 50mm for shooting portraits. Third party lens manufacturers like Sigma also make very good optics and less the VR, sigmas 70-200mm f/2.8 is said to be sharper than the nikon equivalent with VR and almost a grand cheaper. I have my eyes set on the sigma 70mm f/2.8 macro to use as a portrait lens. A macro is great for portraits for the detail they render along with being a full 1:1 macro lens, it runs about $420.

If you want to stick with your price range, and you don’t need a super fast zoom lens, get the D80 and kit 18-135mm lens. If you don’t need a zoom at all and would like to use a fast and economical prime lens, get the D80 body and the 50mm f/1.8. Primes are a little more tricky to work with because they force you to make better compositions, but in the end, you get the best optical quality. Get a telezoom lens when you can afford one later, because they are usually the most expensive. Fast apertures are great for low light and indoor shooting, but are more expensive. A f/3.5 lens is not terrible and usually have a focal length to aperture size range, are compact and light and all nikkor lenses have supurb optical quality, no matter their speed. Wide lenses, whether prime or zoom can also be quite expensive, especially given fast aperture, but are highly specialized lenses, as are macros. You’ll know if you need one and plan to come out of you pocket some serious money.

Also, take some consideration in other photography related accessories like external flashes, memory cards, tripods, and camera bags as they will add to the final cost.

And one more thing, if you are serious about photography, DON’T buy a sony alpha. Don’t even bother looking at it.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

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consumer best buy digital camera

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