Nikkor with digital

[firestorm]

Dave,
with a D90 or any cropped sensor (DX) camera, multiply the focal length by 1.5, that will give you the effective focal length for that lens.

So an AI/AIS/AF-D/AF-S 50mm will give an effective focal length of 75mm, great for portraits. The D90 body is being sold for £650 new with 2 year warranty, a Nikon 50mm 1.8 AF is about £100 new, about £75 secondhand. Use quidco to save a few percent (quidco.com).

Get the 18-105mm VR D90 kit if you want a reasonable walk about lens, equates to 27-155mm ish. The kit is about £800 from Jessops or Jacobs. Quidco should save you about £30 ish.

Keep your old lenses and see if they're any good to you with your new camera. You might like it, I believe you'll only get full manual though.

I believe the 60mm macro lens is f2.8, I'd prefer the 50mm f1.8, much brighter lens.

Sorry for complicating things, but if you go for all new lenses, theres nothing stopping you considering the D3000 or D5000, much lighter and significanlty cheaper than the D90.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Tenson]

Dave, I just treated myself to the 18-200mm Nikon lens, so if you want to make me an offer on my practically brand new (about 3 weeks!) 18-105mm send me a PM.

For portraits the 18-105mm is fantastic IMO. It really turns in a good performance for focal lengths beyond about 35mm.

 

[cliffpatte]

Is a standard 50mm 1.8 OK for the job ? I like the idea of this because it's supposed to be high quality and it doesn't cost much but isn't it way too short ? If I go for a longer one at reasonable price they appear to be 'macro' or 'micro' which I think Cliff suggested. Have I got this right and are they suitable for portraits or just close up work ?

Thanks again,
David

David, the 50mm F1.8 Nikkor is very much a so so lens. It is OK but thats about it. The PC Micro Nikkor is a master of two things, it is great as a portrait lens on a DX crop body and also great for close ups when you need it. You won't actually need wider than F2.8 for 99.9% Of portrait photos (The standard lens on a Hasselblad 500 series camera is "only" F2.8 for instance).

This was shot using the 60mm Micro Nikkor on a D3X body

If you can get your 18-105 cheap enough, you might as well have it, but at F5.6 maximum aperture at the interesting end of the range you are going to have a problem indoors for portraits without bumping up the ISO into noisy territory.

If you have to have a fast medium telephoto portrait lens, you'll really be wanting the 85mm AF-D 1:1.4 lens and it is possibly Nikon's best lens for bokeh too.

This was also a D3X using the 85mm 1.1.4 lens at F2

Lastly you will still be able to mount your 105mm lens on a D90 body, but I don't think it will meter it correctly so you may need to guess or use a light meter and set the speed manually on the camera and set the aperture on the lens. It will work properly, but it won't be as quick as using programme mode with a more modern lens.

PS I still think that Sigma 70mm might be the prime lens for any D90 user!

 

[Cesare]

Lastly you will still be able to mount your 105mm lens on a D90 body, but I don't think it will meter it correctly so you may need to guess or use a light meter and set the speed manually on the camera and set the aperture on the lens. It will work properly, but it won't be as quick as using programme mode with a more modern lens.

PS I still think that Sigma 70mm might be the prime lens for any D90 user!

If I had a lens on a DSLR which didn't meter for me, i'd simply take a snap and check the exposure on the screen. It's not difficult to get within a stop or two of the right light, then just bump the settings a little in manual mode. It would take 10 seconds to get the exposure right without a light meter.

Cesare

 

[firestorm]

David, the 50mm F1.8 Nikkor is very much a so so lens. It is OK but thats about it. The PC Micro Nikkor is a master of two things, it is great as a portrait lens on a DX crop body and also great for close ups when you need it. You won't actually need wider than F2.8 for 99.9% Of portrait photos (The standard lens on a Hasselblad 500 series camera is "only" F2.8 for instance).

Hi Cliffe,
I was under the impression that the depth of field (dof) is inversely proportional to the size of the film/sensor, so for a given f stop, say 2.8, you will get more dof as the film or sensor size goes down.

So a f2.8 may be great for 6x6 on your Hassy or a large format camera, but not so good for a DX sensor sized camera for selective focus.

Or a smaller sensor needs a larger aperture to throw off the background.

Regards
fs

 

[Tenson]

You are all making it a bit complicated. I think David just wants to shoot some decent photos, which I take to mean he probably doesn't want to faff around with a selection of different lens'. At least not to start with. So I think a zoom with a good range is the best option.

A couple of points with regards to what Cliff said about the 18-105mm. At focal lengths of around 35-50mm it offers F4.5. Also for indoor portraits remember it has one of the best vibration reduction systems so you can simply shoot with longer shutter speeds. I really don't think it will put much limitation on his shots.

Alternatively consider the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 zoom lens. It is a physically smaller and faster lens than the Nikon, but bare in mind it has no vibration reduction system.

 

[cliffpatte]

Hi Cliffe,
I was under the impression that the depth of field (dof) is inversely proportional to the size of the film/sensor, so for a given f stop, say 2.8, you will get more dof as the film or sensor size goes down.

I've been thinking about this recently when using Nikkor lenses and Leica lenses on an olympus e-p1 using adapters with no optical component. Amazingly with a much smaller sensor than the D700 or M8, the results in terms of DOF are identical. (Now there's a thought, Dave could always buy and e-p1 and a Nikon adapter ;-) )

My theory is that strictly speaking, all that sensor size does is crop the frame coming from the lens. The sensor does not alter the optical properties of the lens. If a given lens is designed to create an image circle at the film/sensor plane which is just bigger than 35mm film, it will have exactly the same DOF properties when you crop it. (Imagine using a lens to throw an image on a bit of paper, now draw a Full frame circle in the middle and a DX sized circle in the middle of that, is the image in the centre of the inner circle any different because you drew the circle?)

The Nikon 50mm F1.8 prime is a full frame lens, so it will have the same DOF for a given F Stop on a D700 as it does on a D90.

Now, if we were talking about DX lenses where the image circle is smaller than 35mm film, it will have done this using a smaller front element, resulting in less divergant light coming from the subject - this is called a reduced Field of View. Narrower FOV does indeed generate wider DOF at a given Aperture.

Since the FOV of an 80mm lens on a 6*6 camera is roughly the same as 50mm on a 35mm camera, you should get roughly the same DOF on the Blad as you do on a D700 or a D90 with the 50mm Nikkor at F2.8

Feel free to shoot me down in flames if you think my theory is wrong.

 

[firestorm]

Hi Cliff,
we better start a new thread, we've thrown in way too many variables into this. Having said that Dave does have a F3 and not a P&S....

 

[hifi_dave]

That's right, you've given me a Migraine - get your own thread.

Meanwhile this is all interesting stuff and I'm getting there. As I said, I will use the F3 with the 105mm occasionally, just for fun, when the weather's good. I can cope with that and I can also try the 105mm on the new camera.

I will also get a D90 with a zoom because it's cheap and I can see how I get on and what sort of focal length I use most to get an idea of what prime lens to go for. I like the idea of the 60mm and 85mm Cliff recommends but they are expensive. In a few weeks, when I've got a better grasp of the camera and the download thing, I'll buy a decent lens.

It's a pity that someone in my position isn't able to try a lens or two to see what suits and the results. Meanwhile I'll pick your brains if you have any more recommendations.

Thanks,
David

 

[Tenson]

You can however see the results other people are getting from the lens' since its all digital and can be put on a website

I'll PM you a portrait I did with my 18-105mm.

 

[Joe P]

Dave,

You can peep at pix taken with various Nikon lenses at pixel-peeper.

It might help you narrow down the choices you're considering.

Joe

 

[cliffpatte]

Meanwhile this is all interesting stuff and I'm getting there. As I said, I will use the F3 with the 105mm occasionally, just for fun, when the weather's good. I can cope with that and I can also try the 105mm on the new camera.

Maybe you should forget the idea of the new camera and just get yourself a good scanner instead and some film ;-)