New purchase

[Doody]

I have decided to buy a Nikon D7100. I am considering an 18/200 and a 1.8 35mm for lenses. I would appreciate input before I spend on these lenses. I haven't purchased anything but point & shoot in years so it is confusing. Also, any suggestions for UV filters, speed lights, wifi & tripods. Thanks.

[Mike Buckley]

Even if you have already been welcomed to CiC, I'm happy to extend another warm welcome.

You'll receive more meaningful responses if you explain the kind of photography you intend to do with your two lenses, with speed lights and a tripod. Perhaps also explain your thinking about why you believe those two lenses will be a good fit.

[DanK]

David,

Just to expand a bit on Mike's questions: a pair of lenses that is ideal for one use can be lousy for another. To make this concrete, Mike lists 5 lenses in his signature. I currently have 5 lenses as well--but there are no near matches at all! And when I look at his list, there is only one lens (the Tokina) that is anything like my short list of additional lenses I want. I'm guessing that he and I do very different types of photography.

So the more you can tell us about what you want to shoot, what circumstances you will be shooting in (e.g., outdoors vs. indoors with low light), etc., etc., the more folks can give you useful suggestions.

Dan

[Manfred M]

Very good advice from Mike and Dan. The one red flag that goes up for me is that you have the f/1.8 35mm lens as well as the 18-200mm lens listed. You would be duplicating a focal length if you bought the prime, so unless you have a very specific reason for doing so, you might want to put the money into something else.

Many people do use a UV filter to protect the front element of their lens, but strictly speaking, one does not need one for a DSLR as they have one built into the sensor. Tripods are a personal choice; I use one a lot, but that speaks more to my shooting style than anything else. I know people that get through life quite nicely without one. That being said, if you decide to get one, get a good one, otherwise you will be wasting your money because it will be frustrating to work with and you'll end up using it quite rarely.

What you should consider investing in is some image editing software, as images out of the camera always need a bit of tweaking and cleanup.

When it comes to a flash, the D7100 has a basic built in unit; it may be enough to get you started. With its modern sensor, that camera has some very high ISO range, so you may use flash less than you think. If you find these limiting (and most serious photographers do), there are options out there to match your needs. The problem is that you need to figure out what they are before you spend money on them.

WiFi - one word - USELESS. Way too slow to be used on a 24MP camera.

My suggestion is that you go with the D7100 and the 18-200mm lens. If you find that you are frequently running into a shooting situation that you can't handle with your existing gear, then spend the money to fix that problem. My wife rarely shoots with anything other than her 18-200mm lens; and we have lenses that range from an 8mm fisheye right through to a 500mm (at the long end) zoom. It is quite versatile.

[Doody]

Thank you. I really don't know. I do travel, Italy, France and New York mostly. I'm looking to rejuvinate an old hobby and I want to spend a couple of thousand +/-. I like still and action. Thanks again.

[Doody]

Thank you for your input and warm welcome.

[Manfred M]

Thank you. I really don't know. I do travel, Italy, France and New York mostly. I'm looking to rejuvinate an old hobby and I want to spend a couple of thousand +/-. I like still and action. Thanks again.

It sounds like where I was just over 4 years ago when I bought my first DSLR (I had been shooting film SLR and various smaller digital cameras). Funny; but France (Paris), Italy (Florence and Venice) and NYC were some of the first places I had the DSLR along for. That doesn't count the trips to remote parts of Western Canada and Namibia...

The 18-200mm you are looking at should be quite useful for your travel photography; but might be a bit challanging to use in action settings. I find I also tend to shoot with a fast ultra wide angle lens when I get into some of the interesting buildings as well. The beauty of a DSLR is that the cost of experimentation is "free" once you have bought the equipment. You might want to consider getting an extra battery and memory cards for your camera for your travel. Running out of power or memory is not a great thing to have happen on a trip.

[William W]

I really don't know [what I want to shoot]. I do travel, Italy, France and New York mostly. I'm looking to rejuvinate an old hobby and I want to spend a couple of thousand +/-. I like still and action.

I suggest you buy the CAMERA where the controls and the size and the weight and the balance feel good in your hands and the FUNCTIONALITY and OPERATIONS and MENUS make some sense to you.

I further suggest you buy the standard kit zoom lens - that will be something like: 18 to 55 F/3.5~5.6. for an APS-C format camera or something like a 28 to 135 / 24 to 105 Lens if it is a 135 Format Camera. (135 Format - AKA - "Full Frame")

I suggest you hunt around for a good deal and just buy that - camera and standard kit zoom lens.

If there were any criterion that I suggest you place as "high" for the camera it would be good HIGH ISO capacity.

I make these suggestions because it's my opinion that you need to get back in the saddle, shooting, before you will really know what you want to do: and the most prudent way to do that is be minimalist with lenses, initially.

The other factor that I think is important to generally understand is how the LENS SYSTEMS of DSLRs work differently between the two main manufacturers, Canon and Nikon.

In summary the key difference is:

Canon have two TYPES of lenses (and lens mounts) EF and EF-S: EF will mount to all EOS DSLRs, but EF-S will not.
Nikon have varieties of lenses, these have different operational functionalities.

WW

[Doody]

Good advise, thank you. I like Florence, Milan, Verona and only day trips to Venice (too crowded anymore). We love Avignon, France but dislike Paris eventhough we stay at the George V. I've been lucky that I have traveled literally all over the world but I am slowing up in my old age. New York City is one of my favorite places. I use to develop my own b&w film back when and really enjoyed it. I'm really just screwing around trying to keep my mind active by learning new things. I really appreciate your advise as well as others.

[jcuknz]

Unlike those with a stable of lenses , which I confess I have the remanents of from olden days, I have simply one lens which corresponds to the 18-200 with my 14-140 on MFT ... quite a good choice for a travelling man though maybe not fast enough for sports where the APS-C apparently still reigns supreme The 18-200 gives you a 27-300 Angle of view in 35mm film camera terms while I have 28-280 AoV ... very little difference at either end. The fast 35mm might be useful inside old buildings but the narrow angle of view would be a pain unless you were prepared to match your camera with a good editor ... which you should do anyway ... that is the way digital crumbles A lot of the choice depends on how sensitive you are to noise, it bugs a lot of people but doesn't unduely bother me so I am quite prepared to up the ISO to compensate for the relative slowness of my f4-f/5.8 lens ... plus I have a camera which is quite good for noise, ie doesn't seem to show it
But that could be becuase I shot jpgFINE rather than RAW which is what many do and see the whole nitty gritty instead of letting the camera reduce the noise automatically for me .... swings and roundabouts ... which sums up photography for me and there are a lot more variables to think about unfortunately ... there is no silver bullet for everything.

I have yet to get a UV filter for my lens but if I knew I was going into a seriously dangerous envoronment I would get not a UV but a plain glass of good quality to protect my lens, meanwhile I have a lenshood on the lens 7/24, in or out of its bag.

For the travelling man I would suggest you consider a mini-tripod as there is usually something to sit it on or hold it against. Try and get one which permits the camera to work horizontally while the MT is held firmly against a wall etc. I had to make myself a right angle bracket with mine which adds to weight somewhat otherwise it is a nice compact solution though with OIS I rarely use it or any of my other tripods these days ... that is VR to a Nikonian

I would suggest that you only get a speedlight after having the camera for some time as the built-in pop-up flash is very useful these days. Being close to the lens it gives a very flat light and is good for close shots in sunlight ... though usually depreciated by 'those who know' and lug a ton of gear around. I have taken my speedlight on-tour and apart from one use when I used it with the on-board flash for a family group photo it was not used. My camera will trigger the speedlight while fiing its on-board for a 'two light' set-up without needing any gadgets. The flash has its own built-in optical trigger.

I don't have Wi-Fi so cannot express an opinion

To your #9 post I would suggest that you will be able to do much much more and much much cheaper and quicker with a good editor than ever you did in the darkroom with film .... I didn't really appreciate what I could do until digital arrived ... ce magnificent [ or something ] The good editor is as important a purchase as the camera though fortunately for our bank balances not nearly as expensive. Finally for travels I have a notebook to download the day's shooting to each evening and make a back-up copy before emptying the camera card[s] ... more weight but it gives peace of mind to have the precious files in more than one place.

EDIT .. At 81 and having done digital for about a decade now I like to think it is keeping me active along with other things though my body reminds me from time to time to question that But while it objected to me shifting a load of gravel this morning it is happy enough for me to sit with the computer this afternoon.

[Shadowman]

A lot of good advice so far, especially William's comment about the kit lens. My thoughts are, unless you have an immediate need for additional lenses, such as an upcoming trip or you know of an offer where you can get a set of lenses with the DSLR purchase, you can hold off on the other lens until you know what you really need and have researched the quality of the lens. Get out and shoot with the kit lens and exhaust your possibilities, will you be shooting in low light, will you need extra zoom, will you need more closeup focus? Find out what you need first, then delve into the fun world of "craving the glass".

[Mike Buckley]

David,

Now that you have clarified your needs, I can make some recommendations based on pricing at B&H, which is very reliable.

Unless you have a compelling need for a Nikon D7100 that you haven't explained, I recommend that you instead purchase the Nikon D7000. I agree with the recommendations for the 18-105mm kit lens. That combination can be purchased for $1000. As an alternative, consider the combination of camera and 18-200mm lens for $1500. (The D7100 and 18-105mm will cost $1500.)

You haven't mentioned the specific situations that you plan to use a speed light or a tripod as suggested in your first post, but the above recommendation leaves more room in your budget to purchase those items and other accessories such as memory cards and a circular polarizer and still keep close to your $2000 budget.

Tip regarding the memory cards: The D7000 has two memory card slots. One of them can be used to store all of your settings. I use that capability to start out each shoot by loading my start-up settings, ensuring that no matter what my settings were at the end of my previous shoot, I'm beginning with my basic settings. Use your oldest, smallest memory card for that purpose. Mine is -- I kid you not -- only 128 MB. Yes, that's megabytes, not gigabytes. I don't know about the D7100 but it probably works the same.

Consider purchasing used equipment from B&H, KEH and others to save money and get top quality merchandise.

[Doody]

I want to thank everyone again for advising me. This is a great site with great information and members. I downloaded the manual for the Nikon D7100 and read it in it's entirety. I like and understand much more than I did about the camera. The most difficult decision is about the lens kit only because lenses and their applications are really a learning curve. So I think I'll select a couple and start learning by doing. The editing will be eaiser for me because I have been using Adobe PS and Corel PS for over 20 years. I am an AutoCad freak and have used it for design work for almost the same length of time. Computers, PCs and Macs, are no big deal to me but I am finding cameras a great challenge. Thanks again.

[Mike Buckley]

The most difficult decision is about the lens kit only because lenses and their applications are really a learning curve.

You can always sell your lens for a very reasonable price if you decide to move onto something else in the future. It's always amazing to me to see the price that people pay for used Nikon lenses that, when sold by individuals, come with no warranty. Compare that with a new lens in the USA that comes with a 5-year warranty. One of my friends used a Nikon 18-200 lens for several years and sold it on an eBay auction for 90% of what he paid for it new.

[DanK]

I'm looking to rejuvinate an old hobby and I want to spend a couple of thousand +/-. I like still and action.

I agree with John: buy the basics and wait for the rest. If you get a decent SLR (sorry, I have never owned Nikons, so I can't speak to the 7100/7000 question) and a decent kit lens or two, you will fairly soon learn what kind of photography interests you most and in what ways the starter equipment is holding you back. One option is a superzoom (large zoom ratio), as you are considering. Another option is a pair of zooms with smaller zoom ratios. The former has the advantage of convenience, but it has the disadvantage that large zoom ratios generally mean more compromises in optical quality. There is a reason why the most of the best zooms have ratios of 3 or 4. Again, I don't know the Nikon world, but Canon offers a kit pair, one 18-55 and the second 55-250. I assume Nikon offers something similar.

Given that a single good lens can set you back $500-$1500, with some going for much more than that, it seems best to me to take it slowly, investing only once you know what you want. For example, when I switched to digital, I bought Canon's kit pair. It took some time, but eventually I found that the 55-250 range was so important to me that it was worth investing a lot in the Canon 70-200 f/4 IS. I would have had no idea at first that this was a sensible choice for me.