There is no One Ultimate All Rounder Lens as you may wished or wanted. Photography is very subjective, preference can be from many views, aspect, likeliness, habit, attitude, etc. What that fits one will not fit all. Some prefer sharpness, some prefer bokehliciousness, some prefer versatile reach, some prefer contrast, some prefer lightweight... and many more.

If your friend know not about Nikon Centre at Berjaya Times Square that has a library of lenses for testing, bring her there and help her to decide which suits best for her. What I mean by help, is explaining the differences between the lenses rather than telling her what to pick base on your judgement. Don't be surprise you'll learn something too in the process.

A friend of mine from HK looked for me last week (via chatting) stating that he's interested to get a DSLR. After almost a week of discussion and explanation, he bought Panasonic Lumix LX5 few days ago and he's damn happy with the purchase for not making the wrong decision. People tends to make wrong decision for insufficient understanding

kudos to your friend!

Canon got one ultimate all rounder lens -> 28-300L

nikon also got 28-300 maa

you mean this ?
Never try, but should not be that bad

Nikon 28-300mm VR

Its just the 18-200 FX version, no big deal. Don't expect great optics out of it as an all rounder.

very sharp already

http://www.kenrockwell.com/trips/2010-10-04-395/

Very true; many people thought must get DSLR only can get good pictures, so the first think they thought about is get a DSLR without much understanding, how it will effect them, will they be using it, etc. Moreover, most people will give suggestion to buy a DSLR without understanding the person's needs/requirements and situation.
Many people I talked to or after I provide them more information, they found out many things that they didn't know and never think about before and it makes them consider properly.
For people with lots of Vitamin-M, it's not a problem, but for many people, this is a very expensive investment. What's the point spending so much, when later they don't feel like using it and use their more compact camera instead?

Anyway, regarding the LX-5, and your friend is from HK somemore; Make sure he doesn't watch the recent "DigitalRev" video about LX-5 VS GF-3....

She is from US.
well she just like more on hobby side, not really into pixel peep one la, so ya what is the common type of the nice focal length of the lens?

i also dont know what's her budget =x

link there, just put whatever opinion you want... err dont put like canon or sony stuff la =x :
https://www.facebook.com/dawn.henke?and=agito.loh

Unfortunately, in today's internet age, people have easier access to poisonous pictures in Flickr, FB, etc. Photographers like us usually have filtered out
a lot of failed shots before uploading them online, so giving newbies a wrong impression that DSLR can take good pictures. Even DSLR can shoot lousier pictures, and probably 10x lousier than a normal compact cam, if every other factors are not in favor with the scene.

Speaking of Vitamin-M, many people these days are treating photography like a gadget collection hobby, like computer parts. If the game doesn't fulfill the requirement, upgrade RAM, graphics lousy, upgrade graphic card, new Windows version 64-bit come out, throw away the motherboard and change the CPU. Photography is very much different. You cannot look at it the same way especially dealing with camera lenses. Camera lenses are expensive because the production costs are so high.

10-15 years ago during the film days, did anyone care about bokeh? Anyone care about DOF in photographs? Anyone care about cross-processed photographs through certain development chemical? It was much costlier in the old days, people go bankrupt with photography, getting themselves into loans, etc. Almost as expensive as being an audiophile collecting high-end A/V equipments.

This post has been edited by geekster129: Sep 9 2011, 10:33 AM

US can look for the "fro" for advice
Go the Allen's camera and ask for the "fro" price

True, not to mentioned, post processed photos.

Without proper use, the DSLR pictures taken can be no difference (or quite often) worst than a compact camera; Handling a DSLR is different, looking through the viewfinder is different and need to get used to especially those that are used to LCD type and never really use a viewfinder before; They may have taken great pictures with their compact cam, good composition, etc. But when they use the DSLR, suddenly, their photos can become very poor, but sometimes they may not notice this. Well, this does not apply to everyone, just sharing some examples; That's why there're many articles that mentioned about DSLR picture quality look like Point and Shoot and those problems.

Sometimes, we don't even know a photo was taken with a DSLR, or sometimes a photo look very good, we may think it's taken with a DSLR or some high end camera; So, this goes back to the saying that the camera is just a tool.

Add On:
Actually, I'm not saying it's wrong to use DSLR and take poor quality pictures or whatsoever, it's the person choice, what the person want to do and what he/she like. Just saying that the perception of thinking to take a good photo, must get a DSLR mindset.


This post has been edited by Andy214: Sep 9 2011, 10:35 AM

may i know latest price for 85mm?

I think it roots to how people see things. We always have the habit of pulling out the camera (doesn't matter what kinds of camera), points at the scene and shoot it, usually for documentation and for memory-keeping purpose.

About photography being subjective, yes. I agree. The photography compositional rules still applies (rule of third, etc) because they form a structure or the grammar of a picture on how you can express what the picture is. Can say it's like a formal way of aesthetically making a photo look beautiful. Just like make-up, usually the common tools like foundation, blushers, concealer, lipstick, etc. are used to beautify a woman, and when it comes to breaking the rules is how you slowly tweak how much of each of the elements being used to make a statement of the makeup style and look you want to give to the lady.

How you want to express the picture depends on you because each people express things different. Some people like it elaborate, some people like it simple. Just like how we say a certain sentence in our daily conversation. Different people have different tastes.

Why certain people can take good pictures even with compact cam is because how they train themselves up to have an eye to see things differently, something that an average layperson will not see. Some are talented with it, and most people can be trained to look at things for a different angle or perspective. So as you are used to document things in your daily life creatively and distinctively, as you upgrade your equipment to DSLR and use it to the fullest potential (since DSLR can be further tweaked to produce higher visual impact to strengthen your shot), the outcome can be phenomenal.

This post has been edited by geekster129: Sep 9 2011, 10:51 AM

What I know is, when one put their eye through the viewfinder, especially for the first time or when they're not use to it, the view is limited to the viewfinder; Unlike LCD, it's very easy to take photo and compose and see your surroundings, thus you may see usually people may took good and nicely compose photo with point and shoot or even phone camera, but when using DSLR with viewfinder, suddenly, you may notice their composition or angle become dull or less interesting, plus with point and shoot shooting with LCD, it's easy to take with different angle, etc. When they put their eye through the viewfinder, it becomes different. It may take some times to get use to, but to some people, they may tend to sort of prefer to use the LCD.

True that DSLR can do much better job when it's properly used, the problem is, actually many people may just want a simple and easy to use, point and shoot, but because they "thought" DSLR can take good photo, they get it, but use it like a point and shoot, not really willing to know too much technical or details. So, DSLR may not be a proper/good choice as they prefer something that is easy to use, yet able to produce good photo. Of course, it's not wrong to buy a DSLR too, but just saying the mindset, after buying they may find there's much to learn and probably invest to take utilize the camera, and the bulk/budern to carry, in the end, they may give up using it. So, it can be quite a waste. If we encourage people to take photos, I believe, it's more important that the person bought what he/she needs and fullfill his/her requirement and that he/she will use it often, rather than spend on something good, but end up not using/utilizing it, instead use back the old compact or handphone camera.

F1, MotoGP needs long lens. Minimum is a 70-200mm range. You can go "cheaper" alternative and get the Nikon 70-300mm VR instead.

Most people don't miss it but I know quite a bit of people that focus using the AF-ON button.

I'm also not used to using AF-ON button for focusing but some people feel it is more natural to separate focusing and releasing button.

Dave Black uses the 28-300mm quite alot for his light painting.

I agree with you, the handling of a DSLR sometimes is like driving a car. When we are walking, it is easy to move about and manuver around easily, but after we get onto the driver seat, suddenly there are so many things we need to worry, like applying correct pressure to the clutch pedal and the accelerator, engage the correct gear at which speed, so that the car will move at an expected pace, then when making turns, how to properly turn the steering wheels etc., same thing with DSLR. So many factors need to be taken care: SS, Aperture, ISO, WB , eV, Flash direction, AF points, metering...sometimes, we had to worry so much on the technicalities until we become clumsy when taking just a simple photo.

i read somewhere that the 28-300, except for the nano coat, has the exact same optics as the gold ring 24-120 f/4.
so its optics isnt exactly that bad.
but if want value for money in a all-in-one zoom lens, go ask ur fren search for a used 28-200...they're around rm800-900.

i somewhere fell in love with this lens...
do the times square allow us to testing it?

Yup, even a luxurious 85 1.4G lens they also let you test, after that help you wipe your current lens somemore.

Well, it depends on the acceptance level of a person. Some people even treat 18-200 as a sharp lens.

But then again, I remember reading factors limiting optics in a lens. 28-300 is covers a lot of focal length, and the design and all will sacrifice IQ.