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spirit

Moderator
Staff member
Id love a 600mm. How many arms and legs are we talking? Im sure after a year of saving I may be able to afford 2 more good quality lenses. Also, both the lenses mine came with say DX on them. Is the D3100 not a DX body?

And yes, Im shooting in just RAW.

Yes, the D3100 is a DX body, but there are also FX bodies which are the digital equivalent of 'full frame' (the DX bodies are 'crop bodies' and the focal length is usually multiplied by 1.5 when used with a crop body, so your 200mm is really acting as a 300mm lens on the D3100 I think). Some lenses work better with DX, some with FX.

Turns out the 600mm might work fine with FX, but your D3100 is going to look tiny perched on the end of this beast http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-600mm-T...8&qid=1382950280&sr=8-1&keywords=nikkor+600mm :D

I don't know if you'd need to lose an arm and a leg in order to pay the $10,000 cost, or lose an arm and a leg just to carry it out around. ;)

You could always spend ten times less and get a Sigma 150-500mm http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-150-500...F8&qid=1382950389&sr=8-2&keywords=sigma+500mm, or if you wanted a wider variety of focal lengths, there's the Sigma 50-500mm which is a little bit more http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-50-500m...F8&qid=1382950423&sr=8-5&keywords=sigma+500mm
 

G80FTW

Active Member
Yes, the D3100 is a DX body, but there are also FX bodies which are the digital equivalent of 'full frame' (the DX bodies are 'crop bodies' and the focal length is usually multiplied by 1.5 when used with a crop body, so your 200mm is really acting as a 300mm lens on the D3100 I think). Some lenses work better with DX, some with FX.

Turns out the 600mm might work fine with FX, but your D3100 is going to look tiny perched on the end of this beast http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-600mm-T...8&qid=1382950280&sr=8-1&keywords=nikkor+600mm :D

I don't know if you'd need to lose an arm and a leg in order to pay the $10,000 cost, or lose an arm and a leg just to carry it out around. ;)

You could always spend ten times less and get a Sigma 150-500mm http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-150-500...F8&qid=1382950389&sr=8-2&keywords=sigma+500mm, or if you wanted a wider variety of focal lengths, there's the Sigma 50-500mm which is a little bit more http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-50-500m...F8&qid=1382950423&sr=8-5&keywords=sigma+500mm

After looking at the Nikon lenses on their site, I decided maybe its best just to spend $500~ on a teleconvertor and use that with my 200mm lens. If my lens is in fact acting as a 300mm on my camera then that would increase the focal length to like 510mm right? Im not good with math but it said it would increase it by 70% haha.

If so, 510mm should be more than enough for me I would think. Even this 200mm does have a pretty nice range.
 
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spirit

Moderator
Staff member
I've never used teleconverters and I'm not too sure what most people think of them. If it was me, I'd probably get one of those Sigma 500mm lenses rather than a teleconverter.
 

Geoff

VIP Member
After looking at the Nikon lenses on their site, I decided maybe its best just to spend $500~ on a teleconvertor and use that with my 200mm lens. If my lens is in fact acting as a 300mm on my camera then that would increase the focal length to like 510mm right? Im not good with math but it said it would increase it by 70% haha.

If so, 510mm should be more than enough for me I would think. Even this 200mm does have a pretty nice range.

I've never used teleconverters and I'm not too sure what most people think of them. If it was me, I'd probably get one of those Sigma 500mm lenses rather than a teleconverter.
I can't speak for Nikon, but with Canon you can only use the teleconverters on the L lenses with fixed apertures, not on the lower end lenses such as the 70-300 f/4-5.6. I use a 2x TC on my 70-200 2.8 and it does a good job, but even though that lens is considered one of Canon's best in terms of AF performance and IQ, when I stick a 2x Canon TC on it AF is drastically slower, and IQ is worse (only slightly above cropping an image without one), I just use it to retain the extra resolution. Also, using a TC lowers the maximum aperture, so my 2.8 lens is now a 5.6 lens - making it much worse for low light work.
 

G80FTW

Active Member
I can't speak for Nikon, but with Canon you can only use the teleconverters on the L lenses with fixed apertures, not on the lower end lenses such as the 70-300 f/4-5.6. I use a 2x TC on my 70-200 2.8 and it does a good job, but even though that lens is considered one of Canon's best in terms of AF performance and IQ, when I stick a 2x Canon TC on it AF is drastically slower, and IQ is worse (only slightly above cropping an image without one), I just use it to retain the extra resolution. Also, using a TC lowers the maximum aperture, so my 2.8 lens is now a 5.6 lens - making it much worse for low light work.

Yea the one i looked at said it would also lower the aperture by 1 1/2 f stop. For the price of it, maybe it would be better just to get a better lens. But it will be a while probably befote i can afford anything. Right now i am certainly satisfied with what i got.
 

Fatback

VIP Member
Pick up an old Vivitar V2000 today for $7 at a thrift shop. Probably one of my favorite I have found yet. Besides my Minolta X-570


1378779_762101407149557_1377379634_n.jpg
 

Punk

Moderator
Staff member
Finally got a real camera, the Nikon D3100 kit from best buy that came with the standard 18-55mm lens and a nice 55-200mm lens. Im having alot of fun with the 55-200mm lens.


Welcome to the World of photography mate :)

I'm sure we'll get along better than that police state thread :D
 

Fatback

VIP Member
My first camera was a Vivitar. Back in the late 90s. Was a 1.3MP.

I was just a kid back then lol. This is a 35mm. Trying to get into film photography and expand my knowledge of cameras. Plus My fiance and I love collection old film cameras.
 

Geoff

VIP Member
i-3jV4gPV-XL.jpg


Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 24-105 f/4L
Canon 2x Teleconverter III
Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II
Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro
Canon 17-40 f/4L
Canon 85 1.8
Canon 50 1.8
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
Bumping this to show some additions to my kit since I lost posted in this thread. :)

Excuse poor picture quality - the camera on my Nokia isn't the best! ;)

Anyway, here is my current camera gear.

From L-R:
Rode VideoMic with Rycote Mount
2x Nikon batteries
3x SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD cards
Nikon D3200
Jessops 360AFD Flashgun
Sigma 10-20mm f/4.0-5.6
Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G

And I store most of this in a Lowepro Nova 180 AW bag.

I also have a Hahnel Triad 30 Lite tripod which isn't amazing but not bad for a 30 quid tripod. I don't use it that often anyway so no complaints.

Also got the Nikon ML-L3 infra-red remote which isn't pictured.

Camera Gear - January 2nd 2015 by JasonBrown2013, on Flickr

Here is what I have in my bag. Tend to store the body with the 17-50 attached, and then store the 10-20, 55-300 and flashgun separately. I would put the 10-20 in its pouch but the Sigma pouches are huge! Got two of them sitting on my shelf now! ;)

 
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NikonGuy

banned
erdi85.jpg


This is about 50% of my gear. The rest is flash tripods, umbrellas, reflectors, backdrop, flash gels, 3 16bg class 10 pro SD, 3 batteries a few more simple filters. The tripod is a Dolcia Proline. I have a pan head and ball head, really don't know which I like more.
 
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NikonGuy

banned
Looking at my stuff quite a bit of it is used too (notably both of my Sigma lenses are used). If you can get a good deal used then go for it, I say. ;)

Both my lenses are used. Both are refurbished by nikon, got an amazing deal on both, so yeah ;) I had 4... But sold 2 and my D3100 just to get the big lens.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
People who buy this stuff tend to look after it very well so it's rare to come across one that's been abused unless you buy spares/repairs.
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
My 70-200mm f/4L was listed as used on Amazon but was in amazing condition. I had a decent gift card so I only paid $525 or so for it.

The Rokinon was also listed used but looks brand new and I got it for just under $300 or so.

Those are the only two lenses I personally purchased :D The rest were either gifts or I bought them off Geoff when I bought the 7D.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
Yeah both of the Sigmas that I have purchased used from eBay are both in excellent condition and you can hardly tell they are used.

Admittedly, when the 17-50 arrived the other day I was a bit concerned that it had been owned by a smoker (packaging smelt a bit but the lens itself smelt of new rubber!) and reading online about using camera equipment previously owned by smokers scared me a bit but the lens honestly looks new with no signs of any 'yellow stuff' from a smoker ( ;) ) and the images look great so nothing to worry about. :)

It did say in the description though that it was purchased in April 2014 and had only been used once or twice, so it was pretty much new. ;)
 
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