Doing 200mm @ 1/8s, you still able to get tact sharp image or acceptable quality? That's my definition of "great" in the sentence earlier.

Yeah. It's wayyy heavier than the kit lens, but with more solid handheld. Now I'll be carrying D7000 + BG + 17-55 + SB-900 weight for the entire day of shooting!

I shoot RAW and the sharpness I mean is the RAW, not JPEG. IMHO, the sharpness can outbeats the 50mm f/1.4 at any time.

Great aperture is very useful but it stills depending on what photo to capture, isn't? I'm yet to get myself familiar with big aperture. I tried the 50mm f/1.4 last time and most of my shots went hairwire

Thanks matey and to everyone that shared thoughts, opinions, recommendations and suggestions with me. Finally I ended up with the 17-55 instead of 24-70 or 16-35

Yupz. Just got it recently and now gotta make myself familiarize shooting with it

On contrarily of what you're sharing, you feel that 1.5x crop factor is not necessary to be included in Rule of Thumb for DX or crop-sensor body?

Hmm... it does make sense, isn't? 50mm on FX will be 50mm while 50mm on DX will be 75mm. It takes 75mm on FX to produce the equivalent photo of 50mm on DX and vice versa. Still thinking of the logic of this...

Too sharp, eh?

But till today, Nikon is yet to implement VR into any of their lens with less than 100mm focal length with aperture 2.8 and larger.

But RAW can produce much more dynamic color compared with JPEG.
What's the sharpness level setting that you're using now for your JPEG?
Haha... hell yeah. Especially post-processing and delivering to client, RAW is a massive hectic! Anyway, I bought another 16GB yesterday and can store JPEG into secondary slot

Of course for FX will be heavier, not to mention the equivalent of 17-55 on FX is 24-70 which weights more.

It's a great piece of lens. Quality immediately noticeable from the first snap. However, I'm yet to use it for real shooting. Will reserve my comment for now, but I'm happy that I have it. It's my first gold ring after all

DX has a higher tendency of showing errors due to the 1.5 magnifying factor compared to the FX... hmmmm

Anyway, for me Rule of Thumb is just for reference and not necessary to stick with it most of the time. A person with proper technique and steady hands will be able to snap tact sharp photo at SS lower than required by the rule.

Why Nikon came out with the 16-35mm f/4 with VR? That's because it's f/4 and it's kinda unbearable for body with less noise toleration such as the D90 and to achieve high SS by using handheld.

aldosoesilo is one of the forumer in this thread having the combo you mentioned, you can try to ask him. So far, nothing abnormality heard of from this combination. Speaking of which, where's aldosoesilo ah? Disappeared and not posting anything

Before we head on into anything, what's your budget for the stuff?

Family photos... (wide + standard zoom)
Close up facial... (standard zoom)
landscape/sceneries... (wide)

Shooting these, the kit lens 18-105 should be sufficient but no doubt, the 18-200 will provide more versatile shooting. Shooting at lengthy zoom has higher tendency for blurry photo due to handshake. In addition, shooting family should be standing more close with them therefore standard zoom up to 50~70mm will be just nice . You may not want to shout from far away

Usually, long zoom range will be useful for shooting subject far away from within your reach. In example you couldn't get anywhere nearer by foot such as birds, concert hall, car racing, etc. including candid shots as well where you may not want the subject to know you're taking the photo and the natural expression.

The current ongoing promotion of bundling 50mm f/1.8D with the D7000 is a prime lens (no zoom available) at standard zoom range and usually used as half-body portraiture lens. The big aperture f/1.8 will enable you to shoot bokeh shots where the subject will be distinguished from the background. In other words, photos with blurry background and I'm pretty sure you have seen them much.

Although they do bundle the 50mm f/1.8D, I would recommend you to get the newer version 50mm f/1.8G instead at the price which almost doubled up the predecessor (lowest offering @ RM650). Reading from reviews and people who own the new lens, it's sharper and color reproduction wise better than its predecessor as well.

Try goto Nikon Service Centre at Berjaya Times Square and test the DSLR there with the kit lens. Try zoom in and out against people (not the miniature objects) and that will roughly give you the idea of what focal length you may need. Again, you may not really know until you experiencing yourself by shooting more. Therefore, going with the kit lens will be good but if you wanted less hassle and has extra money to spend on, 18-200 definitely more versatile.

Hope this input helps

This post has been edited by vearn27: Jul 11 2011, 02:09 AM

You're welcome. Please do take note that I'm just sharing based on my experience and my view personally, different people may look at it differently and therefore different opinion. It's advisable that you listen to several opinions and take the one which you think suits you the most

Please don't take it wrongly. Nikon *may*, as you mentioned trying to clear the stock of the old model. However, 50mm f/1.8D still a very good lens for its price and it's just that the newer version came out that's better.

Err... you're asking opinion on lens rather than body, but you only try the body grip at BTS Nikon Centre rather than noticing the zoom length of the lens instead?

Dude, he's asking opinion on lens selection which focal length related specifically and he did mentioned that he's going for D7000. It is necessary to explains about those you mentioned?

This post has been edited by vearn27: Jul 11 2011, 11:11 AM

If that's the case, he shouldn't be going to DSLR in the very first place. There are better options available such as the mirrorless category. Those settings, button and menu access can be learned. There's a learning curve but it's not that steep.

If he bought it and find it difficult to use... then nasiblah... and good luck to you next

Yups. Below is the extract from Nikon website

This post has been edited by vearn27: Jul 11 2011, 12:03 PM

Celciuz... you have got godlike hand?

I think you're the "factor" that make it possible

I can't stop laughing... you made my day

Like celciuz said, those models below D7000 are using the silver type instead of the black squishy type. It helps minimize hand-shake when you press the button down to snap. There's even another function which is "Exposure Delay Mode" (couldn't be sure) where the shutter mirror will delay a while before it flip back up. That's to help distinguish the slightest shake on the camera

In fact, I find the button just nice instead of being too sensitive . Sometime the camera also accidentally snap when I hang it on my neck and the battery grip's shutter hit my body

Yet to try VR2, only normal VR...

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Added on July 13, 2011, 8:40 pmWhy the flower blocking their faces?

It could be intentional... but I couldn't get the idea

This post has been edited by vearn27: Jul 13 2011, 08:40 PM

Anyone here using Aipo drybox? Can recommend what size to be used to store 1x body + BG, 1x body, 2 ~ 4 lens, 2x flashgun?

This post has been edited by vearn27: Jul 13 2011, 09:57 PM