Camera help....

[TinkerBell]

Well I am looking to be able to get a new camera after christmas, but I need to do some research into camera's and what not, as well as advice from some clever camera peeps ;)

I have been looking at a few camera's, mainly Nikon (sorry Betty :p), but I am willing to look at others.

The two main one's I have been looking at are the Nikon D40 and the Nikon D60. I am more likely to get the D60, as it is the overall better and more advanced camera, it will also give me more to practice and learn with. I have used the D40 many times before and loved it, hopefully it will be the same with the D60. I do need to either go to the shop and have a play or have a look at someone who owns one.

Another thing that I am interested in is getting an additional lense to the one supplied with the camera, as I want to have the option of taking close up shots at race events as I do currently with my camera at the moment.

I am pretty sure to do that I will need a lense such as the one here:-
http://www.jessops.com/Store/s26776/0/Lenses/Sigma/70-300mm-f-and-4-56-DG-Macro-(Nikon-AF-Excluding-D40-and-D40x))/details.aspx?&IsSearch=y&pageindex=1&CatId=143&ManIds=1462,1518,&SortBy=SkuOfferingPriceASC&IsInStockOnly=False&comp=n


But I am not 100% sure, also I am not 100% sure what f/4-5.6 means, I assume it means the amount of exposure you can get with the lense, with regards to shutter speed and aperture.

I assume that would fit onto the body of the D60 but not the body of the D40.

Could someone also tell me what the difference is between the above lense as well as the lense below other than the price and that it will fit onto a D40 :-

http://www.jessops.com/Store/s73535/0/Lenses/Sigma/70-300mm-f-and-4-56-APO-Macro-DG-(Nikon-AF-Including-D40-and-D40x)/details.aspx?&IsSearch=y&pageindex=2&CatId=143&ManIds=1462,1518,&SortBy=SkuOfferingPriceASC&IsInStockOnly=False&comp=y

I was also wondering if anyone has used the lenses produced by Tamson, and if they were any good? They seem to be a fair bit cheaper but I have not heard of them or used them before.

I would really appreciate any help with this. Thanks :)

[Dee]

Nikon? I shouldnt be helping you, you traitor ;)

Right, Ill help where I can here... the f/4-5.6 bit, is basically how much light the lens lets in. The lower the number, the faster it is in low light. I honestly dont know much about the Sigma range, but I was warned off the 70-300mm not long ago due to inferior quailty apparently.

Have you also considered the D40x? I have used that before, (yes! I used a Nikon ;)) and found that very easy to get around :)

[Mark]

From my somewhat vague memory of researching the D40/D40x, Nikon omitted an Autofocus motor from the body that some lenses rely upon. As a result, while they lenses may well fit, they don't work so well. That's why those lenses say including/excluding D40/D40x. I know the D80 has this motor, but haven't researched the D60.

[divine]

The D60 doesn't have an autofocus motor either, ao anywhere you see a mention of not autofocussing on a D40(x), it applies to the D60 too. Any Nikon lens from the last 40 odd years will physically fit on the camera and work to some extent, just old ones may not meter properly, and with the D40/60 may not auto focus.

Currently, in non AF-S lenses, the autofocus is driven by a little motor inside the camera, however, for cost reasons I assume, Nikon removed this from the D40 and D60, so any lens that is just AF and not AF-S, will work, but will not be able to auto focus. In the case of Sigma, lenses marked HSM will autofocus, anything else will not. I'm pretty confused as to why Jessops say one of those Sigma's won't autofocus and one will, because i'm pretty sure neither of them will and i've not heard of the APO model getting an update to include any kind of internal AF motor.

Hopefully that should explain that but if not, grab me on MSN or something, i've had to explain it a few times before as it can be pointlessly confusing to inexperienced people.

As for the lens itself, ignore the non APO one totally, it's crap. With the APO, I could honestly only recommend it if that is the absolute limit of your budget, it's one of the lenses I have and I hate it. It's loud, slow, soft and just generally not very good, I rarely use it now as it's just horrible. However, to get distinctly better, you'll be spending £350+, from what I remember when I last looked, so I suppose it'll depend on budget really.

[TinkerBell]

Thanks for all the help peeps, there is a hell of alot to take in!! Lol. Just doing some research at the moment, from your feedback.

Didn't look at the d40x although I am looking into it now :)

[petemc]

Whatever you do don't buy that Sigma 70-300. Rubbish lens. Do you need a DSLR? What about a bridge camera with a super zoom on it? Full manual controls so you can learn. Only difference is the lenses don't come off.

[TinkerBell]

Okies thanks,

Already have a bridge lense but it drives me up the blooming wall because I can't see on the screen what differences each setting makes and by the time I get home I can't remember which settings I used for which picture! :p

[petemc]

EXIF information should be retained in each image to tell you the settings. Also, looking through the lens generally doesn't give you a huge idea of how different the settings are either. It comes from understanding and practice really.

[TinkerBell]

Thanks, you are right there, but it will take me sooo much longer to understand and practice when I have to go home before I can tell what settings to change and see what a difference that makes.

[Mark]

Agreed with Pete - there's a huge gulf in what you can see between a 2"-3" screen and a big monitor. I've had plenty of times when an image has looked fine on the camera, but when I've got it home it's only really fit for the recycle bin. I've now learned to treat the in-camera screen as a guide, rather than the gospel truth. Bridge or DSLR isn't really going to change that much.

What Bridge have you got now? I'd expect them all to give you an idea of what you're doing on screen - I'm rather surprised yours doesn't. :dunno:

[TinkerBell]

It is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7.

You can tell whether the picture is going to be wayy to blurry but that is about it.

[petemc]

Take yesterday for example. 2hr shoot looking through the lens only to come home and find that there was a feint smear on the filter so all the shots have an annoying glow to them. I didn't see it looking through the lens for 2hrs, didn't see it on the filter or on the LCD preview. Its a solid understanding of photography that'll help. So you know if you focus here at this depth of field then the persons face will be in focus but the background won't be.

[TinkerBell]

I can see your point, but I have used the D40 many times before and I found it ALOT easier and quicker to learn what I needed to do to get certain shots :)