Lenses? About This Page:

[hall0731]

I have the option to purchase a lense off of ebay for my camera. checked out the nikon website and some others and am totally confused. I have a D40 that I want a higher zoom option. I was looking at the :


NIKON 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX LENS

Nikon 55-200mm VR lens f/4.0-5.6 lense

Would these be compatible and which one would be better? It seems the VR would because it has the vibration reduction in it.
HELP!!!!

[LizardCop]

I searched E-Bay with this phrase;

NIKON 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX LENS

and found quite a few VR lenses with ED glass for under $200.

Nikon 55-200mm 55-200 VR f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX Lens, NEW - eBay (item 400023166012 end time Mar-10-09 03:44:09 PDT)

Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Nikkor Lens - eBay (item 280316217668 end time Feb-28-09 11:00:00 PST)

My preference would be ED glass first, then VR, but that is me, I always want the best glass I can afford...

[hall0731]

thanks!!!

[A & J's Dad]

I'm with Bill with one caveat. If you, or someone using your camera, do NOT have steady hands you might want to consider VR over the ED glass. You'll give up some image quality but your images won't have motion blur. Personally I don't own a single IS (Canon's moniker for optical stabilization) lens. Although I am considering buying one from a friend.

You should also note when shooting telephoto handheld, without IS or VR, you want your shutter speed to be at least 1/focal length. For example at 200mm you'd want your shutter speed to be 1/200 or faster, 400mm would need to be 1/400 or faster. Depending on the version of IS or VR you can drop that back a few stops.

To give you an example of what IS can do, with my friend's lens at 105mm I can shoot handheld at 1/8 with no blur. You should also note that VR and IS both draw considerable power from your camera body during focusing and exposure. So only turn it on when you need it.

Cheers
Craig

[hall0731]

Thanks for all this helpful information. I am going back and reading the manual now. I ended up purchasing a :

Nikon AF-S DX VR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED Zoom Nikkor Lens

I am really excited about it. I think i am going to buy one of those smaller compact tripods that would sit on the trashcan like you said. My husband can just "man" it lol

[LizardCop]

It's a good lens. Have fun.....

[hall0731]

I got lucky! My camcorder tripod works for my camera as well. fits like a glove. It can go from the size of the ones that sit on a trash can to a 5 ft tall one. One less thing I need to buy. I just need another memory card in case I get really picture happy and the remote control.