Friday, 23 May 2008

Digital Nature Photography

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digital nature photography
What lenses to buy for nature photography for a Nikon D200?

I am about to buy a Nikon D200 for my backpacking trip in Canada. This will be my first digital camera and I would really like to get some nice lenses. I have been looking around and so far I think what I would like is the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor for my main, 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor for a macro, 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D ED-IF AF Zoom-Nikkor for a wide angle, 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor for a telephoto, and 10.5mm f/2.8G ED AF DX Fisheye-Nikkor and for a fisheye. Are these the best choices? I am not up to date on the Nikon equipment and am not sure if I am making the right choices.


That plus a tripod is a lot of gear to haul around... unless photography is the purpose of your trip.
The 18-200: a great all-in-one lens if you can find it in stock anywhere.
105mm micro: good choice.
10.5mm fish eye: another great lens. The 12-24 that fhotoace suggests is also very good in case you don't really want/ need the fish eye distortion. The 12-24mm replaces the legendary 17-35 for digital bodies. The 17-35 is still the landscape lens to beat in terms of image quality but it's an awkward range with the 1.5 crop factor.
You're losing me with the 18-35mm and 85mm f/1.8. Or rather, why purchase a $750 18-200mm if it's not good enough? Perhaps skip these three lenses and get a 12-24mm in combination with a mid-grade 18-70 f/3.5-4.6 and used professional quality 80-200mm f/2.8. Or a new 70-200mm f/2.8 if cash is not an issue. And if cash & weight is not an issue, you might as well get the 17-55 f/2.8 instead of the 18-70mm.
You can use the 80-200 and 70-200 in combination with teleconverters to extend you reach.


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