[Manic78]

I had a little think today. I then went for a lie down.

Would it be of any use to people new to getting a dslr if the bods on here were to be specific to camera brand and their top 3 lenses?

For instance...

Sony Alpha 100.
1
2
3

Canon 40d
1
2
3

Would this be of any help to any other newbies looking to expand their ranges?

I know I'd be interested (Hence the Sony!) and after all the post on the previous thread I thought making it camera specific may make searches easier.

Or am I talking dung?

PS... Sony first please, I'm looking for new ones!

[Pirate!!]

Hic! . . . belch!

A teaser this due to the fact not all of us own or can afford what we would like to own, so to start on the A100 side of things for those on a tight budget:

Sigma 75-300mm APO DG Macro (has very useable macro @ 1:2 and for the long zoom is hard to beat on price). IQ is also good throughout the range. A little unsharp mask does help in pp.

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7. Just one gem of a lens. Tack sharp, superb for portrait and low-light. f/1.4 version or macro derivative costs at least a kidney, so f/1.7 version for the have-not's (like me).

Lastly, a walkabout lens. I don't have the range I would like with my Sigma 55-200mm DG, so would look at:

Tamron/Tokina/Sigma (whoever does one) in a:

18-200mm
18-250mm
28-200mm
28-250mm

Depending on price of course. Fair to say we don't all have kidney trees in the back garden so us mere mortals have to work on tight budgets and compromises.

[Strobe]

You might want to post a budget as this will have an obvious impact on the lens choices.

[Manic78]

Yeah budget probably limits it a HUGE amount!

Hmm. I dunno....... What I would call normal amounts and what others would may be way out!!

OK, not fantasy lenses. Just 3 you'd love in your bag / couldn't take out of it.

[Pirate!!]

Hic . . burp!

My offerings are up to £110.00 for those budget restricted:

Siggy 70-300mm APO DG Macro = £109.99 @ OSD
Minnie 50mm = circa £50.00-£60.00 (eBay, adtrader or freeads)
Siggy 28-200mm (for example) = £99.00 (eBay item: 310032785319)

Subject to final price, this would be a bit nice: (eBay item: 260223847377) for walkies.

[Tobers]

What I've got...

Canon 1Dmk3
Sigma 10-20
Canon 24-105 F4L
Canon 70-200 F4L

What I'd ideally like if I could have only 3...

Canon 14mm 2.8L II
Canon 24-104 F4L
Canon 70-200 F2.8L IS

[m488dkw]

Nikon choices for anything other than the D3 would be

1. 12 - 24mm f/4 DX (or alternatively the Sigma 10-20mm)
2. 17 - 55mm f/2.8 DX
3. 70 - 200mm f/2.8 VR

Plus if there is room for some more the 105mm VR Micro

[Manic78]

Just a quickie.......

A big one for me, the older minolta lenses the magnification? is altered putting it on a digital camera. Is there a particular formula to work this out?

[RobDickinson]

Originally Posted by Manic78

Just a quickie.......

A big one for me, the older minolta lenses the magnification? is altered putting it on a digital camera. Is there a particular formula to work this out?

If its on a sony camera then there 1.5 crop so 100mm becomes /kinda/ like 150mm.

[Yandros]

Originally Posted by m488dkw

Nikon choices for anything other than the D3 would be

1. 12 - 24mm f/4 DX (or alternatively the Sigma 10-20mm)
2. 17 - 55mm f/2.8 DX
3. 70 - 200mm f/2.8 VR

Plus if there is room for some more the 105mm VR Micro

Heh, good choices
How about the Tokina 12-24 mm f4, and the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 as other low cost options?


Here are a couple more sets:

The naturalist...

Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR Macro
Sigma 150-500mm DG OS HSM (the new 'bigma') (or the classic Nikon 300mm f4 +1.7 TC)
Nikon 18-200VR (covering everything else, and saving weight, considering the other two!)

The generalist...

Nikon 16-85mm VR
Nikon 70-300mm VR
Nikon 50mm f1.8 for portraits (or a Nikon 35mm f2 for street photography maybe)

[Manic78]

"If its on a sony camera then there 1.5 crop"

Heard of this, just explain it though!!

[RobDickinson]

Originally Posted by Manic78

"If its on a sony camera then there 1.5 crop"

Heard of this, just explain it though!!

The image produced by the lens is still a 35mm film size. The sensor is smaller, so its like taking aphoto and cutting the top/bottom/left/right off a bit.

You end up with a narrower field of view.

[Yandros]

Originally Posted by Manic78

"If its on a sony camera then there 1.5 crop"

Heard of this, just explain it though!!

The image circle projected by the lens into the back of the camera is bigger than the sensor (ie the sensor is quite a bit smaller than a 35mm negative). This effectively crops the image, ie magnifies it. Remember though that ALL lenses are always referred to by their actual focal length, not the effective one (ie 100mm actual = 150mm effective on a 1.5x crop sensor). A 20 year old 100mm lens from an old film camera has the same effective focal length as a modern 'designed for digital' 100mm lens.

[Manic78]

Ah! Got you!

So no matter what the lense is if it's 100mm it will effectively be 150mm
50 would be 75
200 would be 300 etc etc?

Thanks everyone!!

[Strobe]

I think for general purpose on the Sony mount I would be looking at something along the lines of the following:-

1. Tamron 17-50 F2.8
2. Tamron 70-200 F2.8 or the new Sony 70-300 G
3. Tamron 90mm Macro (I do like the Sony 100mm Macro and did own one for a while but it's prohibitively expensive compared to the Tammy) or KM 50mm prime.

Money no object then you would have to have the Sony 70-200 F2.8 G in there.

I would also consider Sigma's but there have been several forum postings regarding the A700 stripping gears on Sigma lenses.

For Canon (I am also considering this) ...

1. Canon 17-55 F2.8 IS or 17-40 F4L or Tamron 17-50 F2.8.
2. Canon 70-200 F4L IS (by all accounts a shockingly good lens depsite it not being an F2.8).
3. Tamron 90mm or Canon 50mm prime.

[lmccauley]

Originally Posted by Yandros

The generalist...

Nikon 16-85mm VR
Nikon 70-300mm VR
Nikon 50mm f1.8 for portraits (or a Nikon 35mm f2 for street photography maybe)

Well, that's almost me - just substitute 18-70 for 16-85VR (and I'm looking at Sigma 30/f1.4 rather than Nikkor 35/f2).

As people have said, budget and shooting requirements/style make a big difference.

[denno75uk]

Considering that my bag fully laden is as heavy as I'd like to lug around then I think I'll always try to stick to three lenses and I'm slowly gettin toward my 'perfect' setup (see below). Fortunately I didn't even have to pay for the most recent addition (Tamron came as the result of a whip-round at work following my recent sejourn in hosp). I think I'd like to add a UWA like the Sig 10-20 at some point and probably a 1.4TC for the 70-200, but the current gear list suits me nicely for all-round applications.
Considering the budget options though, I'd probably go for
Canon 18-55 IS
Canon 50 1.8 II (for the things it can make you learn as much as anything)
Sigma 70-300 APO Macro
Brand new those three could be had for about £350. And they say photography can be expensive.

[Holowlegs]

Hello there

Mines nearly the same as denno75uk.

For those on a budget with a Canon 350d or 400d

1. Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro Good value for money zoom, with 1:2 macro (half life-size) £109.99
2. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Great value for money lens, and good low light lens.£55.99
3. Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Very good replacement for the kit lens. £192.99

Total price £358.97

Add to this the Canon 430EX Speedlite £147.99

Total £506.96

Still a fair bit off money for some, but a good start I think.


Cheers Holo

[Radiohead]

D3:

Zoom kit - 14-24/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8VR
Prime kit - 35/2, 85/1.4, 180/2.8