Camera lens problem...

[manarak]

crops

[pacman]

Jake, Manarak is bang on with his comments about the focusing of your lens. I doubt that 2mm is something noticeable & I am sure it would be within factory specs.

As for a 'walk-around' lens, the Nikon 18-105mm zoom is a marvellous piece of kit that should be readily available on eBay or some similar site. You should be able to find one that has never been used. Many guys have their own glass & flog the kit lens straight off.

It has better image & distortion properties than the 18-200 Nikon lens but if you can pick one of them up for the same money, then go ahead. I know how young guys feel about long telephotos. I was the same until I realised I almost never used it & I was carrying around a bigger, heavier lens that wouldn't focus as closely as a shorter focal length lens. Something to consider.

The money you can save with this option can then go towards a wide angle zoom or the 35mm f1.8 Nikon prime lens.

The Sigma 10-20mm that I covet has an enormous front element & should be covered with a skylight filter just to protect that large piece of glass. Otherwise, fliters for most amateurs are a waste of time.

Pop a hood onto your walk-around lens by all means but don't forget to remove it when you are using flash. The top of the hood leaves a distinct dark spot on your pictures. As I discovered...      

I am sure the Tamron 18-270 is fine but I wonder how much extra you need to pay for a lot of zoom that will be rarely used. Take your D90 to a shop & try a few of them first.

And yes, the D90 has a 1:5 crop factor.

[manarak]

or the 35mm f1.8 Nikon prime lens.

he's got that one already
that is the lens Jake complains about, focus off my 2mm @ f/1.8 !!

here are few prices from my preferred supplier (all new):
Nikon Objektiv AF-S DX VR II 18-200mm, f/3.5€“5.6 G ED: 783 USD
Sigma Objektiv 18-250mm, f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM, Nikon: 582 USD
Sigma Objektiv 18-200mm, f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM, Nikon: 495 USD
Tamron Objektiv AF 18-270mm /F3,5 -6,3 Di II VC LD, Nikon: 541 USD

The lens pacman is proposing:
Nikon Objektiv AF-S DX VR ED 18-105mm: 295 USD

But Ken rockwell is not fond of it:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18-105mm.htm
Plus the 18-105 has a plastic mount and the image stabilization is not good.

But this Rockwell guy is hilarious:

Don't even consider second and third rate brands like Sigma or Tamron simply because you can get genuine Nikon for about the same price.

I don't bother with discount lenses like Tamron and Sigma. Sigma is very poorly made (actually I've been told the name is derived from SIGnificant MAlfunction), so of course it costs less. When you go to sell the lenses you get much more much faster for real Nikkor lenses so I see no reason for the false economy of cheap lenses. Of all the cheapies I'd try Tokina first.

(taken from his page http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm)

So I don't understand... cheapies or same price ??
and then there are reviews of Sigma and Tamron lenses anyway...
and then him saying the Tokina 11-16 lens beats any other lens out there.

what happened to consistency?


and from:
http://www.photolectic.com/reviews....on.html

UPDATE! (November 27 2008) Finally I got my 18-270mm VC in my hands! This lens is amazing, optically better then Tamron 18-250mm and Nikon 18-200mm VR. Even better, VC (Vibration Compensation) is very effective(up to 4-stops advantage)! My Nikkor 18-200mm VR is going... Detailed review will be coming soon.

http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_threa...read_id=127192
a poster was a bit enthousiastic:

The vibration control is out of this world. Apparently it's the equivalent of 6 stops,

But I like it too :-)

[Torurot]

Mr Rockwell is depending on perspective confused .... mistaken  (got to use some new & not so often used/unused icons)

This snippet from a man [David Kilpatrick] who REALLY does know what he is talking about.      He not only uses Sony, but also Nikon and Canon.

Here is some further David Kilpatrick insight into third-party lenses from the comments section of a review -  

His forum here: PhotoclubAlpha (Sony/Minolta etc)
http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/

================================================== =========
The Sony SAM lenses are not all Tamron, or made by Tamron. The 11-18mm is not SAM, it is screw drive (and definitely a Tamron). Konica Minolta made specific changes to Tamron lenses, such as reversing the direction of focus or zoom rings to match older Minolta standards where possible €“ Tamron always made their lenses to work the same way as Nikon, which is the reverse to Minolta. It was not always possible and the 28-75mm (pre-SAM) for example works exactly the same as the Tamron.

The 18-200mm and 18-250mm lenses are also Tamron in origin, and not SAM, just screw drive. The 17-35mm (discontinued) was Tamron. The original 55-200mm was definitely Tamron, I am not sure about the SAM variant.

Tamron, Tokina, Cosina and Sigma should never be thought of as second-tier lens companies. They certainly all make, or have made, budget priced lenses; that's where the market lies. All have also made lenses which everyone thinks of as being from the camera manufacturer; in some cases they held the patents, and developed the design. Hoya-Tokina, for example, created the Minolta APO 100-400mm and 100-300mm APO designs. Sigma produced the Leica R 24mm which replaced the Leitz-Minolta period 24mm.

Minolta used to sell most `end of life' lens plant to Shanghai Optical (Seagull) in China. Shortly before the Sony takeover of the Alpha line, KM set up a joint venture for a new optical plant with Shanghai. That plant produced the Sony 50mm f/1.4. Sony was also involved in setting up yet another plant in China, with Carl Zeiss help; in the meantime, Tamron was contracting some lens production to a Chinese plant, or was/is a partner in one.

Sony/Zeiss established a plant in Japan. Sony took over the Sakai (Minolta G) plant and initially closed it down, moving the equipment and engineers. It seems that unit has now been relocated to a single Japanese facility which combines the Sony/Zeiss and Sony/Minolta G teams. The SAM lenses are not made there (so far) but come from Tamron (Japan or China) and one of the various Chinese units €“ looking at the design and construction of the 30mm f/2.8 macro and 50mm f/1.8 SAM, I don't think it's Shanghai Optical, but probably the same plant which made the pilot run of the 16-80mm Carl Zeiss which was a failure (and was transferred permanently to Japan).

In every case, no single plant makes everything. The optical units of the Carl Zeiss lenses are produced in the Sony/CZ factory and subjected to benchtest quality control. They are then shipped to the Sony (non-CZ) assembly plant where they are mated with barrels to produce the complete lens. This is why Sony/CZ lenses have two serial numbers, one of the optical assembly and one for the barrel.

This is not an unusual process. Tamron specialises in the production of hybrid aspheric (glass/plastic sandwich) elements, a technology originally developed by Minolta and licensed by Tamron. It's likely that Tamron actually makes most, possibly all, of the hybrid aspheric elements used by all makers. Sigma developed moulded glass aspheric technology after a period of working with Carl Zeiss. As far as I know, they are the source for most moulded/pressed glass aspheric elements and supply Zeiss and others (the original glass comes from yet another source).

In short €“ you can't untangle all this and class the third party makers as inferior, because a lot of the time, they are also making for the big names. As for QC, or design down to a price, that's another matter. You get what you pay for. I don't know who made my Nikon 18-105mm VR for example, but it's no better than any Tamron or Sigma and also didn't cost any more!

David Kilpatrick
================================================== =========

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2009/0...ha-380-review/

[Jake_Sully]

Nice article.

BTW thanks for great advice manarak, torurot and paccie.

I'm currently thinking between 3 lens for walkaround lens:

1. Tamron 28-75 F2.8 fixed aperture
2. Nikon 18-105 VR
3. Different versions of 18-200(270)ish lens.

Obviously the Nikon 18-105 is best budget but I want to be able to use a big aperture so I can use polarizing filter to fix smog and haze like this in landscape shots. I don't think I can fix this in photoshop.

[Jake_Sully]

Btw now that I have some free time, here are some photos from the first test drive.

I was pleasantly surprised that NEF(RAW) images of 12MP are only around 7MB. I was thinking they would be more like 20 so .

It being my first DSLR, feels like a real camera in my hands, with very good ergonomics, that fits my hands perfectly. I've been debating about using it with a wrist strap though.

As for the image quality.. see for yourself: (These are unedited, and were all shot in aperture priority, 35mm f/1.8 at 1.8 aperture.)



100% Crop:







100% Crop:



However I need to learn a lot about this camera especially how to use it in aperture priority mode.. it seems lower aperture creates a very nice bokeh often including the subject :







And to be honest, unlike my FZ35 where I felt I was camera limited, now I feel I'm limited by the 12 inches behind the camera. I can realistically keep every picture if I shoot it well. The camera hasn't made a mistake for me yet.

My only gripe is that it could have included the ability to switch between saved custom settings with 1 or 2 keys instead of going through the whole menu. But I'm not paying double the price for that feature on a D7000.

[Jake_Sully]

And sorry manarak didn't mean to hijack your thread! But I felt it maybe right since we were talking about lens here.

[azza33]

However I need to learn a lot about this camera especially how to use it in aperture priority mode.. it seems lower aperture creates a very nice bokeh often including the subject :

Can i recommend using aperture mode and taking the same flower shot at f1.8 f2.5 and say f3.5 and compare them to see the outcome for yourself.
Don't get caught up using f1.8 all the time as the photos aren't great per the above flower shots.

[Jake_Sully]

Hey azza. Yes I definitely agree, and will do so next time I get a chance. It seems f1.8 is great indoors/ low light but seems I need f4.0-5.6 for outdoors in bright sunlight.

I noticed the pictures were overexposed too and shot in 1/4000th shutter speed which is the fastest possible.

[rxpharm]

That's probably because your ISO setting was too high in combination with the f1.8 aperture. I would suggest this quick course from Dyxum : Basic DSLR techniques an interactive course from Dyxum.

[azza33]

1st is night pic, no flash at f1.8 - happy with the result
2nd is shot in my home town looking back at city over flame of remembrance.
3rd Looking down the Yarra towards the hallowed mcg

Last 2 were taken using my newly acquired f4.0L series canon lens.

[Jake_Sully]

Those are really good azza and thanks rx, I'll give that a read. I've been using Auto ISO, but I think it maybe time to start using manual iso. The camera chose ISO 200 for the shot.

There's going to be a learning curve with the DSLR. I'll try and take it out for fun later this weekend and come back with a few snaps.

[azza33]

(Jake_Sully @ Nov. 02 2010,06:00) There's going to be a learning curve with the DSLR. I'll try and take it out for fun later this weekend and come back with a few snaps.

I've had my 550D for around 6months now and i really don't know that much but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.