The nikon 70-200mm F2.8 VR, top-of-the-line

Advantages: Beautiful bokeh, tack-sharp, vibration reduction, easy to use, many useful accessories
Disadvantages: heavy, expensive, slight vignetting, prone to flaring

...In 2004 I bought the Nikkor 70-200 VR for my trip to Southern and Western Africa. The lens offers professional build quality, image stabilisation and a very useful zoomrange . Most importantly, images come out razorsharp, with brilliantly soft bokeh. ---Background--- In the 90's, Canon introduced a number of innovations in their lenses, becoming a very compelling buy compared to the more traditional Nikon systems. For instance, from 1995 they offered image stabilisation in their lenses, suddenly opening up a whole world of possibilities for photographers. Using image stabilisation, it became possible to use a lens at slower shutterspeeds, as the lens automatically would correct minor vibrations. It took Nikon a number of years, until 2001 to be exact, to respond with their own version of this technology. The first lens to contain...

hetvuurtje 24.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Nikon Zoom-Nikkor telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 200 mm F/2.8

Excellent first telephoto lens.

Advantages: Light in weight for its size; ultra-fast focussing
Disadvantages: Faster lenses exist (at a price!); zoom range a modest x3

...I used one of these lenses on a 35mm camera for many years and now use it on my Canon 20D. It is light in weight, and, fitted with the essential but pricey lens hood, produces sharp, flare-free photos throughout the zoom range. It is easy to handle and allows manual focussing WITHOUT moving any switches to disengage the motor. In addition, the lens focusses so quickly as to be near-instantaneous and is also completely silent. The maximum aperature varies from a slow 4 to 5.6, which limits its use in dim lighting conditions, such as in a church or theatre. This is the price for the light weight design - a wider front glass makes a for a heavier, and far more costly, lens. The front of teh lens has a 58mm screw thread, allowing for teh easy attachment of a UV filter, which I would regard as essential to protect the front element...

happydadtoo 24.10.2006 · Read review
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Review of Canon telephoto zoom lens - 100 mm - 300 mm F/4.5-5.6

Great affordable lens, but make sure you get it with VR!

Advantages: Excellent lens with many features. VR gives sharp shots even at long focal lengths. Smooth focus.
Disadvantages: For the price, none that I can think of. I am happy that I brought one.

...If you are looking for a starter telephoto lens for your Nikon dSLR then look no further. This 55-200mm lens is ideal for wildlife or sports shots (equivalent to 90-300mm zoom because of 1.5x conversion factor), or other outdoor activities. Now the version I have is the AF-S IF-ED VR one, which basically means it has a quiet auto focus motor built in, internal focusing (meaning the thread you attach filters to will not twist), superior optics and vibration reduction. This makes it especially feature packed for its price, and VR is very helpful at the longer focal lengths. Basically with VR you can use this lens hand-held and at long focal lengths, but still get sharp shots. You can also shoot in dimmer light as you can get away with a slower shutter speed. This makes it a perfect lens for a beginner or enthusiast. Lens optics are...

RossUK1 22.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Nikon Zoom-Nikkor telephoto zoom lens - 55 mm - 200 mm F/4.0-5.6

Nikon D80 DSLR + 18-135mm Nikkor lens

Advantages: perfect grip, large prismatic viewfinder
Disadvantages: doesn't have internal memory

...side. Power lever has a shape of a small circle around the release button, which makes it vera fast to turn the camera on, focus and shoot. There are two scroll wheels on the back side and beneath the release, those control shutter speed and aperture value settings. You can feel the click or one-jag turn clearly, working with the camera is pure pleasure because it does what you want it to. You can add external flash and Nikon provides you with a solid plastic cover for the big LCD, so you won't need to fumble with foils and the cover's easy to remove, clean and replace. The camera supports both manual focus and autofocus, so it only depends on the lens if you can use manual focus. There are all the regimes you could want such as Full Manual, Full Automatic, 3 semi-automatic: Aperture value, Shutter speed and Program; Portrait...

jeaniecz 22.06.2008 (09.07.2008) · Read review
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Review of Nikon D80

The nikon 50mm 1.8 - a fantastic portrait lens

Advantages: great quality, low price, prime
Disadvantages: none

...As anyone interested in photography will know - lenses don't come cheap, especially quality lens, except this one. The 50mm 1.8 has a reputation for quality at a reasonable price and it's a reputation well deserved. Yes the 50mm is a 'small' lens but it's a prime lens. Some may find that the need for them to move forwards or backwards to get the correct composition for a photograph is too irritating to make the purchase worthwhile over that of a zoom lens but the increase of quality combined with the price makes that an opinion that I beg to differ. If you shoot portraits, or are looking to start then the 50mm 1.8 will prove an invaluable piece of equipment, but it's uses are not limited to portraits only. At 1.8 the 50mm is a fast lens however it dies have a counterpart - the 50mm 1.4. The 1.4 is, by comparison, alot more expensive...

Huomenna 23.09.2009 (24.09.2009) · Read review
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Review of Nikon Nikkor lens - 50 mm F/1.8

Nikon D90 - My Next 'Last' Camera

Advantages: Movies, LiveView, 12.3 mpixels, build quality, excellent lens range
Disadvantages: Still quite bulky for casual use. Expensive if that's all you want it for

...in ink now that A4 photos are pin-sharp! I?ve also noticed that photos are now more ?A4? shaped compared to previous experience where they were strictly 4:3 format which suits me fine. Likewise, movies can be shot in 16:9 mode to suit an ever-larger number of televisions. The lens in this ?kit?, the VR 18 -105 zoom comes from the upper of Nikon?s two ranges of digital camera auto-focus lenses, is superb in everyday use. It?s all too easy to read professional reviews that talk of a lack of sharpness at full aperture and full zoom and be put off by them. Then you read that they?re talking about blowing up the outer edge of the picture about 10 times, just so that some nit-picker can say, ?See I told you it wasn?t pin-sharp!? MOANS? Well, not surprisingly for something I?m going to award 5 stars to, they?re few and far between. This...

BNibbles 04.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Nikon D90

The Nikon D40, simply the perfect SLR camera

Advantages: Quality, features, battery charging, the feel, realiable, fast, comfortable
Disadvantages: Non

...This is my first ever SLR digital camera and i love it! I would recommend to anyone who enjoys photography or not. Its a good hold, perfect picture quality and its perfect for the price. You can buy some SLR cameras which are expensive, but you could gain alot more from just buying a Nikon D40! Has a good clear colour LCD screen, powerful flash, easy to access memory and battery, comes supplied with everything you need to start you off. I've been told that Canon are good makes, but to be honest, the picture quality i think is so much better on this camera, plus this camera is only a 6 megapixels, so am guessing the Nikon D40x which is a 10 megapixel camera, is proberbly the best camera around at the moment! I would buy any Nikon camera again, no dout....

starview123 05.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Nikon D40

A must have lens for any photographer

Advantages: A lens for all photographers
Disadvantages: none

...This is a great lens and will suite most amateur photographers needs. The detail and sharpness even at full zoom is fantastic even when hand held. The lens itself is light but feels very ruggedly built and is constructed of high quality glass which you would normally only find in more expensive lenses. Tamron have produced a lens that is not going to break the bank to buy and is not going to give you aches and pains carrying it around all day. I took some shots of a jackdaw in the distance and the sharpness of the image it captured was far more than i was expecting. It comes complete with a close up setting which although some would say it is not true macro it does give you the option to get a close up shot. Which is more than good enough for what i need. I have taken this in my camera bag for an all day nature walk i had planed...

falcon1959 12.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Tamron A17 - telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 300 mm F/4.0-5.6

Nikon D40 plus 18-55 lens kit

Advantages: Great beginner camera, easy to use, long battery life
Disadvantages: Doesn't came with an SD card, so don't forget to buy one!

...Having reached the limits of what a camera phone has to offer me, I have been searching for an affordable, compact and feature-packed DSLR to progress my photography, comparing Nikon, Cannon and Sony. I also spoke to some amateur photographers. On paper, the D40 is the best beginner DSLR. It is light, compact, easy to use but with lots of features to keep you busy. And I am happy to say it doesn't disappoint, giving me great pictures every time. The auto mode is useful for point-and-shoot, and there are also various other preset or manual modes once you get used to the camera. I got the kit, which comes with an 18-55 lens, for £300. There is also an additional £30 cashback offer from Nikon after you purchase. I also got a 2gb SD card from Amazon for £8, which allows me to store nearly 500 pictures at best quality (6mp...

gazza166 24.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Nikon D40

Nikon D40 SLR Camera

Advantages: A superb camera
Disadvantages: None

...! The camera is compact and a very reasonable weight compared to most of its competitors. It offers a full range of shooting modes and various combinations of auto/manual. It took me a while to get competent enough to start using it to anywhere near its full capabilities. My previous camera was also 6mp and produced excellent photos, the photos produced by the D40 are amazingly better ! Whether this is due to better processing or having a "proper" lens I don't know, but the difference is stunning. I was a bit concerned about battery life on a relatively large camera like this, but the Nikon battery just goes on for ever, despite having to power the electronics, the mirror, shutter, a large screen and the auto focus motor. I use a 2gb card (none supplied with camera) which holds 560+ photos at "best" jpeg quality, if you reduce the quality you...

moonrakerz 09.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Nikon D40