General Lenses for D70

[marsha7]

Assuming one buys a D70/D70s, with the 18-70 lens (27-105 in 35mm), I can also see buying a telephoto for long shots, but would money be wasted to buy a standard lens (equiv to 50 in 35mm), or will the 18-70 take the place of a standard lens

With the multi factor, I assume that a 50 lens in 35mm would only be about 34 for digital?

[24-heures]

I have the 18/70 which came light years back (in technology terms anyway) when the D70 was launched. For what it is, namely a cheap made-to-a-price consumer lens it is very very good indeed and much better than the Canon equivalent. Moving on up it depends on your budget but I would recommend the Sigma 70/200 F2.8 if you can stretch to it (much cheaper than the Nikon VRIFED 70/200) or failing this the Nikon 70/300 which is not bad or even the new 55/200 of which I have seen no report yet. In this range of lenses you also have the Sigma 70/300 APO lens which again is good value for the money. If you can give an idea of budget constraints please, I'll be pleased to be more specific.

[GaryPauley]

I don't have the D70, but the S3Pro and the 12-24, 35-70 and 80-200.
While satisfied with the images, the lenses are huge, and of course I have to deal with the 1.5 crop factor.
If only the newer Digi lenses with correct FOV's were not so expensive and had DOF markings on the barrels.....

[hartcons]

consider the Nikon micro-nikkor 60 f2.8. I tried this in the store the other day and was impressed by the close focusing distance and overall image sharpness (at least as far as I could tell on the LCD). wide aperture (low F) has some advantages and with a prime in this range you don't have to worry about the lens requiring a tripod. I think there's also a micro 100.

or look at the Nikon 24-120VR which I really like.
without/with vibration reduction:


I shot a race this past weekend with the Nikon 70-300ED (nice to have that long reach and it's not that heavy although the barrel does extend quite a bit when you zoom and the barrel turns when you focus so it's harder to use a polarizer):


Lots of choices when you have a Nikon lens mount.

[DavidRM]

When I bought my D70s back in May, I skipped on the kit lens and bought an AF Nikkor ED 28-200mm 1:3.5-5.6G. With 1.5 factor, it's equivalent of 42-300mm.

The lens added a bit of heft to the camera, but I've enjoyed the versatility of it. Sometimes I get into situations where I wish I could go a bit wider, and in the next year or so I'll probably get that new 12-24mm lens from Nikon to cover those situations. I'm still in the "enthusiastic amateur" category, though, so I'm putting off that particular expense for now.

-David

[Alice Morrison]

David, welcome. What a neat blog!

My joy with Nikon was how many lenses, new and old, were available for the system. My and frustration is that they always commanded top dollar!

[Scotty_R]

Originally Posted by DavidRM

When I bought my D70s back in May, I skipped on the kit lens and bought an AF Nikkor ED 28-200mm 1:3.5-5.6G. With 1.5 factor, it's equivalent of 42-300mm.

David, forgive me for swiping a photo off of your blog, but I couldn't resist.* This is one great photograph...maybe not the best technically, but it does everything a photograph should do, IMO.* When I saw it, I thought to myself, "now this is what a marriage is about."* Great photograph, just wonderful.*

[DavidRM]

Thanks, Scotty! I appreciate that.

We had a lot of fun that day, shooting the portraits in the park.

-David

[dougjgreen]

Marsha, the Multiplier factor works the other way. A 50mm lens on a D70 is effectively like a 75mm short tele on a film camera.

But if you're used to what the focal lengths look like on a digital, a 50mm lens will be the same length as your 18-70mm when that lens is set to 50mm. The main advantage of the 50mm prime lens is that it's fast, at f1.8 so it can be used in available light, and the wide f1.8 aperture can be used to blur the out of focus background due to the limited depth of field.