@elainor: sounds are normal. There are two kinds of sounds, one when the AF-S motor is working, and the VR sound when VR is active.

AF-S sound is like a high pitched whine when the lens focuses, or is hunting for focus. It is a sort of dry grinding sound. Its quite soft, though how soft... unless you already know how it sounds like, its kinda hard to explain. Some lenses are lounder than others. The huge lenses are quite loud, and the cheap non-ultrasonic AF-S ones (18-55, 18-105, 55-200) are loud too.

The VR sounds like rapid clicking, sorta like if you go snorkelling and you hear rapid short clicking of the fish and crabs picking at the corals.

To differentiate the sound, hold the lens near your ear, and half press the shutter. Initially you'll hear the grinding whine, and maybe half a second later will be the rapid clicking. Once focus is achieved, the grinding whine will stop. The clicking will be continuous until you release the shutter half press.

Hope this helps.

@elainor

Sounds like the afs sound to me... Others with the 18-105 might be able to tell better. Sorry I don't have that lens to compare, but my AF-S lenses sound pretty much the same if you ask me...

I think you probably should head back to the shop and ask them to help you out, either try on another 18-105 or ask for their feedback. I'm sure the shopkeepers are quite familiar with the sound.

ProTama, Keep, Sotong brand from China = Bad = Flare, Ghosts and maybe even not optically flat glass giving weird distortion and soft blobs.

B+W, Heliopan, Hoya Pro1D/HD = Good = No above problems.

Uh-oh... Post some pics with full exif and we'll try to help...

Not to be offensive, but maybe its a noob-ness problem. We'll help you out

I'd like to point out that the colours not good part is a very good one haha. Last I checked, all my nikkors for the past 20 years or so have been giving me the same colours across all types of film and digital bodies. And also... low light not good enough cos its what, 2/3 of a stop slower than the 18-70.

Might want to ask nikon why they put VR on the 16-35 also. Hands shaking? hahaha

Makes for good lazy saturday afternoon humor, no?

Its expensive because Tamron can get away with it. And Tamron can get away with it because its 1/2 the price of a Nikon 17-55. And Tamron can sell it for less than 1/2 the price because they cut corners. They cut corners like lower build quality (plastic internals and externals), cut some performance that usually people don't see like some vignetting, poor sides when fully open, T-stops that are 1EV lower than F-stops, skip the AF-S (no full time manual override), aluminium mount (vs. chromed brass on Nikon) and other stuff.

Bottom line you get what you pay for.

And Tamron still sells well because everyone who wants to upgrade their lens looks for that magical holy grail of f/2.8. Which is, actually, not as magical as being there at the right place, at the right time with your camera, and having the right lighting conditions, either natural, a tripod, or a flashgun.

I think the 18-55VR is a damn good bargain for its price. Sadly, nobody appreciates that. I'd keep that RM2k and go for a holiday instead.

Look back and think about what I told you before about the high ISO and all about the D7000. Seems like you didn't get it then, and you still don't get it now.

There is no difference except in the lab tests.

Spam some of my pics. Are the technically perfect, no. Zero noise, no. Very very sharp, no. But to me they mean something. Good subjects, good colours to me. Good enough to tell stories to the viewer, I think so.

One of my own favourite pics
#1: Fallen tree at sunset, Sipadan


#2: Wildflowers


#3: Tokyo Millenario arches, Japan


#4: Dawn, Tobu Asakusa Station, Tokyo Japan


#5: Wildflowers 2


#6: Painter and creek, Nikko


#7: Blue and yellow macaw, Blanco Museum, Bali


Now tell me. Which of these pics are made with a DLSR, and which are not.

This post has been edited by adriancs: Nov 21 2010, 11:50 AM

You're right. Its not. Not the only one though.

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Added on November 21, 2010, 2:18 pmYou're right too. More than 2 are not from a large sensor.

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Added on November 21, 2010, 2:29 pm1. Settings in the head. Previsualize picture in mind.
2. Compose, include subject in frame and exclude distractions. Take into account subject to background relation, foreground objects, depth of field and environmental conditions.
3. Bring camera up to eye. Zoom to frame. Wait for the elements to fall into place.
4. Meter off the correct Zone V area. Over or underexpose Zone V for dynamic range. Dial exposure in.
5. Focus or tap the AF to lock in focus. Reframe if you need to focus off the center AF point.
6. Lock shoulders and elbows in close to your body. Brace the camera against your face. Breathe in, breathe out... hold... squeeze the shutter release.
7. There. Made your good picture.
8. Post process to move back Zone V to correct exposure. Adjust contrast, white and black points. Adjust colour saturation. Apply some sharpening if needed.

Oh. And be there at the right moment. And bring your camera. Any camera will do.

This post has been edited by adriancs: Nov 21 2010, 02:29 PM

I'd say 35/1.8. Its wide enough for environmental portraits and more general purpose use. The 50/1.4 would be quite a telephoto on DX and wouldn't be so useful day to day.

@BenSow:

#1 thru #6 is made on a 6 year old compact auto point and shoot digital with only 5 megapixels and a very noisy max ISO400. Only #7 was made on a DSLR. The compact has a crappy 2 piece square aperture thats why #1 and #4 has that weird 4-pointed flare thingie.

@ccf1286:

You still don't get it. Its not about playing with the camera. The camera is a solution to the problem. The problem is composing the picture in your mind. Its about making the picture in your mind, then making the camera capture it. You seem to be having problems with low light, and like I said earlier, your solution does not lie with the camera. In good light, all cameras and most lenses are equal. A 18-55 kit lens at 50mm and f/11 will not be much different from a 50/1.4 at f/11 in good light. Likewise a 34/1.4 35/1.8 or a kit lens at 35mm and all set to f/8 or f/11 will give same results.

Zone V is the neutral "correct" exposure region. Typically most cameras can do roughly about 3 stops over and 3 stops under, giving you about 7 stops dynamic range. Some better cameras may be better giving you about 9 stops dynamic range. For more info on the zone system, see here: Zone System

@aldosoesilo

Meter off the bright background, lock in the exposure, and reframe your subject, then take the picture.

Its this camera here

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-revi...-t1-review.html

Has a 3 fixed ISO, 100, 200, 400, and 3 aperture settings, 3.5, 5.6, 8 and well, its a auto PnS. But it has a spot- and center-weighted average meter, which is a very nice thing to have. It also has very crappy macro flash, where its uneven and the upper right will be too bright, and lower left too dark.

Get the 24/1.4 you wont regret it. Of course your wallet will cry...

And gold rings??? I tape up my gold rings... They attract too much attention...

Nikon's 16-35/4, 17-35/2.8, 18-35/3.5-4.5, 20-35/2.8 and 24/1.4 all use 77mm filters. The huge bazookas use a thin 52mm rear drop-in filter and an optical flat up front for protection.

If even that makes you disappointed... wondering what would make you happy.

I'm very happy with my 24/1.4. Absolutely fantastic performance. So good that it has replaced all my other wideangles.

I go in between and use a 105/2 DC. Cheaper than either a 85/1.4 or a 135/2 and probably 95% as good. I find 85 a little too short for half body or headshots during an event or stage show, you have to get too near, and end up looking up the nose. I prefer to stand a little further to get a nice perspective.

Of course, the best is a 70-200 and 1.4 converter, a 2-level aluminium staircase and a loooong monopod.

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Added on November 22, 2010, 3:20 pmNot only pocket koyak... backbone also bengkok...

This post has been edited by adriancs: Nov 22 2010, 03:20 PM

If you're new go out and take photos, not read forum and buy lens.

Wow... congrats. Glad Nikon did the right thing by their customers.

35/1.4??? Out already?? How much was it?