Nikon AF-s DX 55-200mm lens needed

thebroker1980

Could anyone advise me on the best possible place, to cheaply source the 55-200mm lens for my Nikon D40x

Just picked the camera up a month ago, and have an 18-55mm which came with it. But need to move onto long distance shots now.

Can someone please help as this hobby is seriousley draining my disposable funds.

Thank you all in advance

wolfman

There's a guy on eBay, sells the 55-200mm Nikkor VR lens for £150 (I think that includes postage).

I bought one a couple of weeks back. Came boxed, etc... new. Am very happy with it. Gives about 11x zoom, and VR helps. I've played around with VR on/off.

This is the seller:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-NIKON-55-200mm-VR-AFS-DX-ZOOM-NIKKOR-LENS-55-200-mm_W0QQitemZ180155220868QQihZ008QQcategoryZ30070QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I know what you mean about the cost. I've spent all I'm going to at the moment, although I'd really like a macro lens!

moonrakerz

Concur ! Don't know about that supplier, but is an excellent lens.

thebroker1980

Thanks Wolfman, did you have ny problems at all with this seller as I am slightly wary about purchasing products of this kind from ebay...?

darich

depending on how close you are, you could ask if you could uplift it.
Even if you have no intention, you could still ask - it'll often weed out the unscrupulous sellers - i've done it in the past.
Genuine sellers have no issue and i've even asked if i could use a seller's PC to pay via paypal and was told that was no problem - it was good to know that had i been successful, i was probably going to be fine with that purchase.
On other occasions i've asked and told that it's impossible since the seller is out of town. Even a meeting is not on since the goods are "with a supplier".
Funnily enough, these dodgy ones are normally selling Canon 1Ds MKII cameras for £3-4k with zero feedback.
Wonder why????

thebroker1980

Thanks very much for that Darich, could I scrounge any free advise on taking long shots...?

wolfman

I was a little wary myself. I found the cheapest I could get it was around £190 I think maybe £200, so £150 was an excellent price.

They're UK based though, and I think I paid via PayPal on a Friday, and got it the following Wednesday. Like I said I was very happy, and it came well packaged etc...

I know what you mean though about certain eBay sellers, especially the way some of the auctions "look" and the prices they have. I'd buy from this seller again though. Shame the only seem to stock that one Nikkor lens. I'd still like a macro lens.

thebroker1980

Thanks for that Wolfman..

darich

thebroker1980 wrote: »

Thanks very much for that Darich, could I scrounge any free advise on taking long shots...?

depends what you want to know.
for long shots the extended lens and increased magnification will increase the change of the camera moving resulting in a blurred shot.
the Nikon lens you're looking at is ok but not particularly fast so shorter shutter speeds could be a problem in lower light especially if you have a polarizer attached.
Hold the camera steady using both hands and when you're about to shoot, hold your breath to reduce movement. Brace your self against a tree/street light/wall etc to further reduce movement.

You could also increase the ISO setting to help reduce the exposure but the trade off is that the picture will become progressively more noisy as the ISO increases.

moonrakerz

A good working rule for using a long lens is don't go below the shutter speed that equates to the focal length.

If you're at 200mm don't go below 1/200th sec, VR will give you a couple of "stops" leeway below that if you are careful.

But Darich's comments are still good sense !

JoeA81

moonrakerz wrote: »

If you're at 200mm don't go below 1/200th sec, VR will give you a couple of "stops" leeway below that if you are careful.

Why does the camera world always refer to "stops". When people talk about VR etc they always say "ooh it gives me a couple more stops".

Now I understand that they are talking about F-stops, i.e. the apature of the lens, and I assume they mean that because of the VR they can afford to use a smaller apature because not so much light is needed to produce a blur-free image if VR is used compared to non-VR with the same shutter speed.

But logically people could also say about VR "ooh it allows me to have a slightly longer exposure", which to me is more of a benefit that a higher F number, but they always go on about "stops"...why?