A colleague e-mailed me this morning asking which camera they should buy and which lenses? Over the past few weeks I have answered this question quite a bit and even more in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. I decided to just post my thoughts in lazyweb style, that way I can just forward this link in the future.
First off, it should be obvious I have a Nikon bias. It's what I use and what many of my friends use. Ok, that's out of the way.
One of the first questions I have back to anybody that asks for camera advice, "What's your budget?" The answer generally falls into one of three categories:
- Around $500-$600
- Around $1000
- Up to $1500
The second question I ask is, "How serious are you?" As in, is the camera just for fun, quick family shots, or are you looking to fulfill a photography hobby?
Typically the folks that are looking for fun/family stuff are usually in the $500-$600 price range. For this audience, the D40 and D40x are both great cameras with the basic kit lens. This past holiday season all the major box stores had great deals on both of these cameras and quite a few friends bought them and are very happy with them.
The D60 is the next evolution of this camera. With it's release the D40/40x will become even cheaper.
If you've been using a D80 or another standard DSLR, it's amazing to see how tiny the D40/40x/60 body style is. I've often toyed with the idea of getting a D40 and a simple prime lens for quick/everyday use.
While the D40/40x/60 line is great and an awesome entry point, there is one thing they're missing...an on-board focus motor. What this means is that you need to buy AF-S type lenses if you want auto-focus functionality. While this will not impact many users, if you ever want to expand your lenses you can hit some limits.
For example a few friends have bought one of the great 50mm prime lenses (either the f/1.8 or f/1.4). These lenses are not AF-S, so you need to manually focus. Sounds trite and trivial, but if you're attempting to shoot in low-light environments, auto-focus really helps.
This is the bridge to the next level of camera, budget and interest. I've seen a few friends say, "I only want to spend around $600", they buy the D40/40x and then quickly fall in love....and hit some limits. If they would have spent around $1000 they might be in a better position.
If you budget right around $1000 then you're into D80 land. You can buy the D80 with the basic kit lens for under $1000 and the body only for under $900. Sure you're stuck with the basic kit lens, but you have a platform you can expand on. Dave recently went through this. He started looking at the D40/40x but soon realized that the D80 would allow him to grow. I know he's very happy that he made the step-up.
Next up, lenses. I think many photography friends will tell you that then kit lens that comes with most camera's is usually the cheapest lens they make. There is nothing drastically wrong with the lens, but it's not the best :-)
When giving advice I ask, "How soon do you think you're going to buy lenses?" If you're going to buy soon, then get the cheapest kit lens, or the body only. If you're not going to make an investment for a while look to get the 18-135mm. It's a good versatile lens.
If you plan to expand your lenses, where to start first? For me the gateway drug was one of the 50mm prime lenses. In Nikon's lineup the 50mm f/1.8 can be bought for less that $100 and the 50mm f/1.4 is around $300. For many folks new to photography, these low-light primes lenses really get them excited, plus they're not that expensive (relatively speaking).
For future lenses, it also comes down to budget. Are you looking spend $500, $1000, $1500? In the next part (Friday), I'll be talking some more about lenses.
Comments, questions?
Visitor Comments
Your advice was great, and I've been very happy with my choice. I also went for the very-versatile-but-middle-of-the-roadish 18-200mm VR lens, and have been wowed by it. That's the only lens I have right now, and I do see myself getting a 50mm prime next, because the 18-200 is just not the right tool for shooting objects at close range(think product shots), or photography that's more like portraiture.
If you look at my Flickr stream and click backwards, I think you can see a pretty solid difference in my photography pre- and post DSLR. If you want to see a line of demarcation, page back and forth from here, the first shot in the stream taken post-D80 get.
Posted by: Dave C. | February 7, 2008 1:18 PM
Also it should be noted, the d40/x can take Sigma HSM lenses as well as AF-S from Nikon.. In my opinion sigma has a better offering with the 30mm 1.4 and a few other, and their very sturdily designed compared to the low end nikon lenses.
Anyways I agree: Really think head about what you want to do, because the limitations on the D40 and D40x are pretty deep.
Posted by: Judson Collier | February 7, 2008 2:24 PM
If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was the colleague you mentioned, but I forgot to ask you.
This post couldn't come at a better time. I'm looking to buy in a month or two and have no idea what I'm doing despite having a photographer for a father in-law. He just knows too much, so it's hard to get a straight answer.
Thanks for posting this. Great info for someone like me.
Posted by: Ryan Lack | February 7, 2008 2:37 PM
Josh - thanks for the insight! Your love of photography is infectious, and this post helps me better plan on where to start with DSLR.
Have a nice day.
-Dan
Posted by: Dan Blank | February 7, 2008 3:39 PM
Spot on Josh. As you know I bought the D40 last year after lusting over the quality of your photos from SoCon07 and PodCamp 2007. I was quickly disappointed with the D40's limited selection of lenses and lack of even reasonable low light capability.
The D40 is really an awesome camera for the price, but because there were so few reasonably priced f/2.8 or brighter lenses I've often instead wished I bought a Canon even though I like everything else about the Nikon better. I was finally about to find an f/2.8 lenses with a motor for the D40 and have since been reasonably happy with the D40+lens though I continue to wish I had more reasonably priced options (<$400 per lense.) The lens I got was a Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX DG IF HSM Aspherical Super Wide Angle Zoom lens for ~$250 from Cameta Camera via Amazon.com; see http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SMMN1E/
OTOH both Nikon and Tamron have announced several new motored lenses so it's getting better but it's still not great. I really wish I had the option to buy a $100 f/1.4 lense like you D80 owners! Not sure what my next step will be, i.e. a new body or a better lense, but it'll be a while as I have other things I unfortunately have to spend my disposable income on first. :-)
BTW, I spoke to a Nikon tech rep at the Atlanta PhotoJournalism conference a few months ago who very arrogantly told me that people buying the D40 were not interested in low light capabilities. When I pointed out he must be wrong because I was a D40 buyer who is very interested in low light capabilities he quickly dissmissed me and my needs/interests as being insignifcant in the grand scheme. He also told me that there was absolutely zero chance Nikon would offer any reasonably-priced low-light lenses for the D40/D40x/D60 because "We've done a tremendous amount of market research and there is simply no market for it." Needless to say, his total lack of willingness to listen to a customer's needs didn't leave me with a warm and fuzzy positive feeling about my choice of camera vendor. Maybe I will switch to Canon.
P.S. My SoCon08 photos are online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeschinkel
Posted by: Mike Schinkel | February 10, 2008 2:24 PM
Oops. The URL for my SoCon08 photos should have been: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeschinkel/sets/72157603885909533/
Posted by: Mike Schinkel | February 10, 2008 2:27 PM
50mm/f1.8 for less than $100? Please tell me where! :)
Posted by: Jason DuPre | February 22, 2008 1:20 PM
Thanks a lot because I was thinking about buying D60, but now I will buy D80. Thanks for stoping me from spending money, cause I am 13 and I was saving for 1 year. Thanks ^_^!!!!
Posted by: Diana | March 20, 2008 11:26 AM
Re comment that the D80 can use non-auto focus lens, I have some vintage 1985 lens, including a 35-105 3.5-4.5 zoom Nikkor lens. Is this zoom lens compatible with the D80 and will the D80 internal auto focus feature work with this lens?
Thanks for any input.
Posted by: Art Wood | May 22, 2008 9:49 PM
As a simpleton photog who doesn't even understand what he's missing out on, I still love my "lowly" D40.
Posted by: Todd Defren | July 10, 2008 9:17 AM