portraits....with some magnifier , can be used as makro...
i use it for some object shots for display products kinda photo...

it's all about creativity how u wanto use the lens..
do drop by D80 thread for more sharing by users there...

ah ic ic. damn i really wanna get the 18-200 but its so friggin expensive. 2.6 k right?

get the body alone, drop the kit lense, and pair it with the 18-200, and yes, the nikkor is very expesnsive, might want to consider sigma

btw, bsm, do update me the scouting result, am planning to pay by installment too for the body ... if the price is right, and spend money for lense.

This post has been edited by d8kd: Jul 22 2007, 08:36 PM

hmmm. if pay installment for the body then can get the 18-200 no prob and pay full for the lense. but if no installment then die lah. will come up to 6k just body n 18-200. then got no sb600. how?? sigh...

sure d8kd will let u know soon. so far i only seen fotokem that has easy payment. but not to say ive checked many shops yet. just a couple.

haha ... that is causing a headache for me too. hopefully can source for a cheap body. might consider getting the parallel import from shashinki.

hmm ... i think for flash, i'll go for a 3rd party at the moment, maybe later, next year assuming ... then only get the sb800 ...

though they said 0% installment, but the price is always higher.

hmmmm. i think ill stick with the original body. dont know whether the parallel one reliable. especially as far as warranty is concerned. just not sure now whether to get kit and sb600 n worry about 18-200 later or body and 18-200 which will cost much more

Well, if you have the funding, get the 18-200mm, it's a very versatile lens.

To share with you, I used to be crazy over the 18-200mm, but i read and read and considered....

I already have the kit lens, which covers the 18-135mm range. So I am planning to get a 70-300mm VR lens which costs 1.8K.

The 18-200 is soft at the further range of the lens.

After my telephoto lens, I will need to save up for a constant aperture lens like the Tamron's 17-50mm f/2.8. It's more affordable than Nikkor's 17-55mm f/2.8. (RM1.5k vs 4.8k)

stop the poison..... no money....

you could look up so many shops ard klang valley... if in penang normally we head to click n snap.... fren bought his at RM4050 wit kit lens...

hahaha...
nothing as ppl poisoning you... but u poisoning yourself by dropin here and reading it.. ahhah..
anyway, the 18-200 Vr is one of the best to travel with... light weight, big zoom range n etc... anyway, no money mah bo pian lor... jus use kit lens 1st la... 135mm - 200mm is oni abt 1.5X extra zoom....the advantage of it is the VR which helps stabilises abt 3-4 steps...


This post has been edited by d_scientist: Jul 23 2007, 01:44 AM

yeah man.getting poisoned every second. the more n more posts here, more im getting poisoned and gian to get my d80. how come the 70-300 is so much cheaper than 18-200? 18-200 around 2.6k right?? better to get 70-300??

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Added on July 23, 2007, 5:15 amoh yeah...does the top lcd have backlight?

This post has been edited by bsm: Jul 23 2007, 05:15 AM

Let's do some simple math.

If you were to get a D80 body only, it would cost you around RM3.5k for original.

Set 1
D80 With Kit lens 18-135mm= RM4200.

Set 2
Body only = RM3.5k
With 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR= RM2.5k
Total = RM6000

Set 3
Body only = Rm3.5k
With 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR= RM1.8k
Total = RM5300

Set 4
D80 with Kit lens (18-135mm) = RM4200
With 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR= RM1.8k
Total = RM6000

Set 5
D80 body only = RM3.5k
Tamron SP AF 17-50MM F/2.8 = RM1200
With 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR= RM1.8k
Total = RM6500

If I were you, and had the budget, I would get set 5.

It's good to have a constant aperture lens for low light conditions and without flash photography.

You will miss the 50-70mm range in between the 2 lenses, but nothing to worry about that. You just need to move back or forward of your obect by a few steps.

It all depends on your budget really. If you have the funds, I strongly suggest you to get a good set of lens to start with. They're suitable to start with.

I got myself a D80 Kit Lens because my funding wasn't that good at the point I bought my camera.

This post has been edited by calvin_gsc: Jul 23 2007, 07:24 AM

thanks man. u set out all the options really nicely for me. sorry for asking, how does constant aperture lens differ from normal lenses. cant u just set the aperture on the kit lens too? btw..u forgot to include sb-600 which would cost me another 700?



sorry...the smaller number on lenses state the distance or width? coz someone once told me it was the width

http://photonotes.org/cgi-bin/entry.pl?id=...perturezoomlens

get D80 body + 50mm f/1.8

ah ok..no wonder...someone once told me like 18-135, 18 is the width and 135 was the length. thats why a bit confused. damn...now 50mm 1.8 shinchan?? im sooo confused. i especially want a lens that can zoom quite a bit so i can take photos from far e.g. concerts and stuff. not that far like all the way from the back but i mean if im a bit far that the lens can help me zoom quite a bit.

70-300 is a slower lense as compare to 18-200.


options 5 is indeed a good choice, might source for 2nd hand lense right now


prepare to spend RM6500 - RM8000 for the basic set. hahaha ... that's killing.


hmm ... might consider 18-200 or the 70-300 then

Sorry I missed out on the Sb-600, didn't know you were getting it all one shot. Lucky you!

Constant aperture lens means that at any focal length, the biggest aperture size you can can be a constant f/stop.

For eg. Tamron's 18-50mm f/2.8

from 18-50mm range also it can be set to f/2.8 which makes it a fast lens.

However, for eg. the 18-135mm f3.5-5.6G, at 18mm, it can open widest to f/3.5 and at 135mm aperture can only open biggest to f/5.6. This makes a lot of diff compared a f/2.8 lens.




Another reason why I am not getting the 18-200mm VR lens is that it has very bad distortion at 18mm compared to the kit lens.

18mm at 18-200mm VR



18mm at 18-135mm kit lens

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Added on July 23, 2007, 4:45 pmSave the RM350 on the 50mm 1.8d for the lenses I recommended if you don't need the 50mm.

The 50mm 1.8d is a very sharp lens, great for portraits, close ups and macro (paired with close up filter/extension tubes/reverse ring)

One good thing about the 50mm 1.8 is that it's really fast.

It's great for indoor low light photography without flash.

But the downside is that it's not a variable zoom lens.

Which is why I ask you to invest on a Tamron 18-50mm f/2.8.

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Added on July 23, 2007, 4:52 pmI don't think you should compare 18-200mm with 70-300mm.

The working range for both lenses are different.

70-300mm is more of a dedicated telephoto, so it doesn't have the speed available on the wide angle part of the 18-200mm.



If you compare the same focal lengths, clearly you can see the 70-300mm VR lens is a slightly faster lens than the 18-200mm.



This post has been edited by calvin_gsc: Jul 23 2007, 04:57 PM

oh man...its getting worse hahaha. anyway, like i said im interested in taking good normal close shots (not so much macro, more like standard portraits) and also some telephoto capabilities for distance shooting. thanks for all the in-depth info especially the grid pics n all, (although i cant understand it at all hehe). anyway, im still caught in between all of this. really no idea what to choose. is anyone free tomorrow or wed to go scouting around? thanks.

get them first and then you will understand all that.
d80 body+kit lens 18135+sb600.

thats simple
just get a D80 body and buy from me a brand new nikkor 18-55mm
then you can get urself a SB600 too

all in less than 4.5k