[Mrvile]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What do you Nikon experts think of the 12-24 Tokina? I've been looking through my old shots and most of them were shot at wide angle, so I don't think I would make proper use of the 18-200 range of the 18-200vr. Any troubles with the lens? Any good places to buy it new or used? Thanks for the help!

I owned the Tokina 12-24 for Canon for a while. It is a very nice lens...it's sharp, consistant, fast f/4 aperture, and it's distortion is reasonable. For UWA lenses, you're always going to have some level of barrel distortion, and the Tokina's isn't any worse than the Nikon 12-24, Canon 10-22, or Sigma 10-20. I wouldn't worry too much about the distortion.

In the end I traded the Tokina 12-24 for a Sigma 10-20 because 10mm is actually considerably wider than 12mm. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[WhatMACHI]

I had a look today at Digital City because my parents wanted me to get a warranty (super safe people) and it turns out that they only had ONE D50 left which was their Demo model...they said they didnt ever demo it, but yes they demo'd it to me a few times before they knew i was gona buy, so im geussing they demo'd it to other people, also had a set of scratches on one corner from a drop....they said they scratched it putting it in on the glass (bahahah what an excuse).

So i geuss ill just convince my parents that its probably a better idea to order from B&H, so im gona have to go get some scans of my credit card before i can make the order T_T

Might get the order in tomorow afternoon if i can, then im gona have to wait T_T damit

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevesurf /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nice setup; you'll have a great time with them. There's nothing like opening up a new gold box...

Yup, was great! But after a few minutes of zooming in and out with nothing i decided lenses are no fun with out a camera hahaha

 

[mbriant]

Perhaps this has already been mentioned, but have you checked e-bay? There's lots of them (brand new) there, some with and some without lenses. You can always buy a Mack extended warranty as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Nikon-D50-Di...QQcmdZViewItem

EDIT: Never mind. I just checked B&H's price.

 

[dj_mocok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhatMACHI /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had a look today at Digital City because my parents wanted me to get a warranty (super safe people) and it turns out that they only had ONE D50 left which was their Demo model...they said they didnt ever demo it, but yes they demo'd it to me a few times before they knew i was gona buy, so im geussing they demo'd it to other people, also had a set of scratches on one corner from a drop....they said they scratched it putting it in on the glass (bahahah what an excuse). So i geuss ill just convince my parents that its probably a better idea to order from B&H, so im gona have to go get some scans of my credit card before i can make the order T_T Might get the order in tomorow afternoon if i can, then im gona have to wait T_T damit Yup, was great! But after a few minutes of zooming in and out with nothing i decided lenses are no fun with out a camera hahaha

No way, I'm not gonna get a demo one which had been dropped before.
If you really wanna be safe at this stage, I think the other option is to go for a brand new D70s from European Cameras, they are not gray market products and have a full Australian warranty. But looks like you're pretty set with D50 already, then probably B&H is your best bet then.

 

[WhatMACHI]

Well im not gona ge tthe demo model, Im hoping they can find another D50 in one of their other stores, or ill just order from B&H. Had a muck around with my friends D80 tonight, a bit of a change from the Nikon EM ive been using the past few weeks haha

 

[stevesurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nogrot /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Nikkor and Tokina are both DX-style lenses, so the ability to use them on FF bodies is unproven as of yet.

From byThom on the 12 ~ 24:
Quote:

Drawbacks Lottery Winner Price. Not a professional grade build, and an f/4 aperture, so why the over US$1000 cost? It's Bigger and Heavier than you'll Expect. If you thought a lens designed to cover a smaller sensor size would be smaller, you'll be surprised. This thing takes 77mm filters! 12mm Performance could be better. While good, the performance at 12mm isn't up to the levels produced at 24mm. Positives Cut Yourself Sharp. At 24mm, this is the only lens you'd ever need (as long as the f/4 maximum aperture didn't get in your way). Even at its weakest focal length, 12mm, it produces contrasty and sharp results, albeit with a touch of chromatic aberration. Works on 35mm. Yep, you can use it as an 18-24mm zoom on your full frame or 35mm bodies, though almost any filter will vignette at 18mm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nogrot /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Sigma is a FF lens and can be used with film bodies.

Sigma 10 ~20
Quote:

* Vignetting will occur if the lens is used with digital cameras with image sensors larger than APS-C size or 35mm SLR cameras

Quote:

Originally Posted by nogrot /img/forum/go_quote.gif My rectilinear Nikkor 14mm f/2.8 is pretty awesome, though I don't use it that often. Most of the time I find the 10.5 Fisheye to be more fun.

The 14 is an amazing lens; I had to sell it to fund the 17 ~ 35! That huge front element got me some amazing shots, but I was always worried about it scratching!

 

[perplex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant /img/forum/go_quote.gif Perhaps this has already been mentioned, but have you checked e-bay? There's lots of them (brand new) there, some with and some without lenses. You can always buy a Mack extended warranty as well. http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Nikon-D50-Di...QQcmdZViewItem EDIT: Never mind. I just checked B&H's price.

Hi, I'm interested in knowing what your lens collection is. I just know you have a D2h which you regret overpaying for

.

 

[WhatMACHI]

....-_-'' wow the Camera god really loves me so much that hes throwing obstacles in my way left right and center. Heres a reply from B&H when i asked them about sending to Australia.

Quote:

Due to an agreement with Nikon USA, we can not ship or export Nikon DSLR's outside the United States. B+H Is happy to ship overseas including APO Military addresses. All international shipments comply with U.S. Customs regulations, which include a valid, accurate, fully detailed commercial invoice & proper export documentation. Modification of the commercial invoice for tax savings purposes is a violation of US Customs Law. All transactions are in US dollars. We can not provide currency conversions. All of our shipments are insured against Loss and Damage. For International customers, shipments will be made to your home, or to a USA residence address, we can ship via Air Parcel Post (approx. 2-4 weeks for delivery, (for orders with up-to a $500.00 value), or International UPS, depending on the weight, value and destination of your merchandise. Order! s with a value of $500.00 and up, can ONLY be shipped via UPS International (3-4 days door-to-door delivery). B&H only applies NY state sales tax (approx 8.625%) on orders shipped in NY State or purchased in person at our NYC store. All other orders are not charged tax by B&H. Unfortunately we can not offer specific advice on import fees, duty, Customs or taxes that you may be charged when your merchandise reaches you. Please consult your local government import office with any questions regarding this matter. We can not alter the package or billing invoice in any way. The item(s) we are quoting you a price on is brand new (not used or refurbished), in the box, made to sell in the US with a full US warranty. You also get all the accessories the manufacturer intended to include in the package. Your shipping / handling fee is determined by the parcel's weight and destination. The total value is also considered for insurance purposes. Some orders ! are shipped in multiple parcels. Figuring out what your total bill of sale (US currency) including shipping and handling costs on our web site is easy. (Remember, Insurance is included on your order) Add your item(s) to your cart. In the cart screen you will see a shipping calculator. Type in your zip code (for orders delivered in the USA ) or country ( outside the US ) and hit submit.( NO other information is needed ) In the shopping cart screen, you will find your total including shipping rates for your items plus an explanation of our various shipping methods. Please be aware that shipments via UPS are significantly faster, are easily traced, should they go astray, and have a guaranteed delivery time. Shipments sent via air parcel post can take much longer to reach their destination and cannot be tracked. We accept MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover. We do not accept Diner's Club, and cannot accept check or COD orders via the web site at this time. Please be advised that your order cannot be processed w! ithout the billing information your bank has on file. Payment by credit card is subject to your banks verification of your billing information. Your order will ship once this has taken place. Please make sure you supply us with the correct billing address. For large orders or if your credit card is billed outside the USA, our verification dept will require you to send us a photo copy of your credit card. We will notify you by phone or E-Mail should your order be delayed. Please remember to include the order number and to send both sides (front and back). To use our secure up-load page www.bhphoto.com/ccupload Any questions regarding your credit card should be sent to our Verification department. To contact our Verification Department:

Ok, i might send to a relo in California, then get them to send it here which would take AGES, or i can just hope digital city found a NEW D50 in one of their other stores (slim chance) or i could be real cheeky and ask my friend to get D80/D70s from HK for me who is coming back in the next week or so

(id rather go D80 since its much newer than the D70s but, meh, ill see how it goes)

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrvile /img/forum/go_quote.gif I owned the Tokina 12-24 for Canon for a while. It is a very nice lens...it's sharp, consistant, fast f/4 aperture, and it's distortion is reasonable. For UWA lenses, you're always going to have some level of barrel distortion, and the Tokina's isn't any worse than the Nikon 12-24, Canon 10-22, or Sigma 10-20. I wouldn't worry too much about the distortion. In the end I traded the Tokina 12-24 for a Sigma 10-20 because 10mm is actually considerably wider than 12mm. Just something to keep in mind.

Thanks for your help Stevesurf and Mrvile, I think I will be saving up for this lens!

 

[WhatMACHI]

Yay i found a store in Sydney with the D50 in stock, so my dad being the warranty person he is jumped for it much more so than the D80 being bought overseas. Hopefully we'll be going in tomorrow to get it

Also im just curious, what kind of UV lenses should i look at (that screws into the end of the lens) im not too worried about UV and whatnot, im more concerned that this will protect the end of the lens from dust, statches or accidental drops.

So tomorrow im gona grab
D50 Body
A couple UV lenses (or whatever little screens you guys recommend)
And a Bag

 

[dj_mocok]

How much can you get the D50 for in Sydney? This is probably the last chance before you jump, but if it's not so much different from D70s, get the D70s IMO.

About UV filter:

I think your 18-135 comes with a lens hood right? Just use the hood everytime you take picture, don't worry so much about UV filter, waste of money IMO.

Last time I was considering to use it because I didn't have the lens cap that could fit into my hood, plus what I have is Nikon L37c filter, which is not cheap at all, that's why I was considering to use it.
But now since I already found a hood and lens cap to go with it, I'm not using the filter anymore.

About 50mm, again, try to get a retractable rubber lens hood for it, so you also don't need to use UV filter. You can buy 52mm retractable rubber lens hood (for 50mm 1.8) everywhere and they're cheap. If you camera falls lens firts on the ground, if the hood is on, the rubber hood will take the hit, therefore preventing a dent on your lens (hopefully)

If you worry about dust on your lens, instead of buying UV filter, buy a Giotto lens cleaning pack for AUS$ 29.95. It comes with the rocket blower, microfibre cloth, the solution to clean lens, and 10X pointy cotton swabs.
The blower can be used to blow your sensor too if it got dust inside.

If you always use the hood on, and not overly clumsy, I think you won't even need a lenspen and can just use the blower to clean the occassional dust spots on your lenses.

PS: If you're planning to buy lens hood, or filter or whatever and wanna try it on your camera first, please don't let the shopkeeper try it for you. Refer to my earlier post. I speak from experience

PS #2: I forgot to say, since your dad is involved, why don't you persuade him to buy a D80 instead (ask him to chip in or something)? If you're having a hard time persuading him, you can use this quick method: (provided he's a camera guy)

1. Easy way to do is bring him to the shop that has both D50 and D80 on display (on the way there, mention how glad you are to have such a nice daddy), also bring your 50mm lens, mount on the D50 first, let him play with it (look through the viewfinder, the LCD screen on the back,etc..), and then mount your 50mm to D80, and let him look through the viewfinder. By this time he's probably realised how different the viewfinder and the LCD screen are.

2. Remove lens, put it back to D50 again, and ask him to take some pictures using different apertures. You'll notice that he will frame, shoot, put down the camera, look at the top LCD screen, and change the aperture by holding one finger on the tiny, semi-recessed EXP comp. button and rotating the back dial at the same time, and bring the camera up to his face again, and take another picture, and then for next aperture, same thing again. By this time he also gets a reminder that D50's viewfinder is small.
Put the 50mm back to D80 again, ask him to take pictures with different apertures. When he looks through the camera, he'll notice that again, it's freakin' bigger and everything looks clearer, and guess what, when he wanna take pictures with different aperture, he doesn't even need to put down the camera to check aperture, he can just keep sticking his eye on the viewfinder, and use his finger to rotate the front wheel to change aperture. This way he doesn't need to lose the composition and recompose.

3. Ask him to take pictures with ISO 100 and ISO 3200 on D50.

Well, apart from those 3, study the other differences between the two and overload his brains with all the cons. I'm sure he will let you buy D80.

 

[av98m2]

I'm going to give me 2-cents on UV filters.

Unless you are willing to clean the front element of your lens directly on a regular basis, slap a decent filter on every lens you own (Hoya HMC, B+W MRC etc)

A suprising amount of dirt/smut can accumulate on the lens element within a short time. And I'd rather clean the filter, which is a lot easier since its flat, than the curved front element of my lens anyday.

And depending on where you're taking your pictures, water, mud, etc can also end up on your front element, through no fault fo your own! (I have also shot events where beer/wine stains, bits of cream etc ended up on my filter)

So a lenspen and good blower are must-haves for me.

Most people who wear glasses can also identify with this, I think. I need to quite literally wash my glasses daily! And I work in an air conditioned office!

 

[dj_mocok]

If you put filter on, doesn't mean that you don't need to clean the filter anyway, but then if it's only a matter of dust, curved or not, blower will get rid most dust easily.

Of course if you're going to take the camera to extreme environment, filter is preferred, just to be safe. But for everyday general purpose, I don't think you need that much protection.

When I sold my 2 yrs+ old digital camera, the lens was still mint, and this was a camera I used a lot and went out a lot with it. I think as long as you are careful with your camera, you won't get finger prints/dirt?

/or whatnot on it. Of course you can't predict some unfortunate freak accident. But then, what are the chances?

I remember I think I only got fingerprint on my camera twice for that course of 2 years and more, and that was because I thought I had put the lens cap on, but didn't. But they were easily cleaned with lenspen. Oh yeah, and once I got a twig touched my lens while I was doing macro, lol (focused too close). But it didn't leave any scratch.

 

[av98m2]

Ah well, I guess it depends on what your doing with the camera.

In other news, compact digicams are getting faster and better I'm actually thinking of going back to them and selling off my entire nikon dslr system (except for my sb800, which i can still use with compacts)

 

[dj_mocok]

Yeah, I was just trying to save some of his money by not getting the unnecessary stuff. A proper filter isn't cheap, and add that to the fact that here in Australia everything is more expensive.

About compact camera, well, not really compact, but the one that I am highly interested is the new Olympus 18X zoom. It looks so nice and man, 18X optical. But I know if I buy it, that's just because. And image quality will be far better using DSLR.
But then again, it all comes down to what you wanna shoot with your camera, and how important is image quality or certain aspect of picture is to you. I'm sure some people are just equally as happy with a proper compact like Canon G series or something.