Find The Best Digital Slr Lens

[16Paws]

I have been trying to get my head around the basics of lenses and I came accross a very helpful guide which as a noob I could easily follow. I think it would probably be helpful for those more experienced as well

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/best-digital-slr-lens.html

I printed the worksheet before reading the article and I'm about to perform a search using the wish-list I created (makes sense if you read the guide )

Edited May 5, 2010 by 16Paws

[SchnauzerBoy]

It is a very interesting read... there are some mistakes in there (e.g. All Canon Lens will fit on all Canon cameras - wrong as they changed their mount a few years ago!).

Believe it or not but there are adapters out there to fit a Canon lens to a Nikon body, but as you lose the electronics kiss goodbye to Auto Focus, Metering etc etc.... but can be handy if you want the sharp 400mm f2.8 Canon on your Nikon!

The final line is interesting... cheap lenses take poor photographs - I bet there are several people on here that would say their $120 50mm 1.8 takes some of the crispest photos available.... not to mention my 28-80 f3.3-f5.6 which is one of the cheapest yet sharpest Nikon old-school lenses available.

Also, small note, there is no real mention of crop sensors. It means that there is then no mention of the 17-50 scale lenses being 25-75 lenses on crop bodies which is great for portraits. On the subject of portrait lenses, there is no mention of the Nikon 24-70 f2.8 which is seen as one of the best lenses on an FX body.

The recommended landscape lenses are correct - the Tokina/Sigma mentioned are the best on both Canon/Nikon (IMHO)

The recommended action lenses misses out the Sigma for Nikon... after lots of testing I went for this because the HSM was as fast as the AF-S and the $1000 extra cost wasn't worth it.

As for wildlife - the Nikon 70-300 is a dog and I'd rather use the Tamron 28-300 even though it goes up to f6.3 it now has OS and is much sharper. However, for the cost I'd rather get the 80-400 Nikon. Sigma also do a 150-500 which is pretty good.

All just my humble opinion from reviews, discussions and of course playtime with each lens I have had before purchasing. I think that is often the most important thing, most reviews are just opinions from people and until you get your hands on it, you never really know.

However, there is a lot of useful information in there that can help anyone looking for a new lens, so thanks for posting

[RottnBullies]

Thanks for that looks like It's very helpful and In simple enough language

I always find It hard to understand all the differences In so many lenses out there

[16Paws]

Thanks for the extra info SchnauzerBoy. For me the guide was more useful for the general lense information and terminology. I would never buy a product based purely on one online guide.

[FHRP]

Thanks for the link 16paws! It put pretty much what I already knew into a structured makes sense format! Now to find out about Sigma and Tamron lenses...

[SchnauzerBoy]

Why oh why did you choose to go with Nikon?? If you'd chosen Canon all my problems would be solved and I'd have a personal encyclopedia on hand whenever I needed to know something!

Well I did look at the 5D MkII and the 1D Mk IV before going to the D700 but they just weren't up to what I want to acheive.

However, I'd love to know some of your PP skills