Nikon AF Lense

[stoakseya4]

Hi
I've recently bought a D40 with the obligatory 18-55 AF Lense.
I want to get a larger lense though, up to 300mm. A quick search on the Bay shows that 55-200 are AF compatible, but not a 300 lense. Is this common/normal?

Thanks

 

[johnnythepie]

Hi.Welcome to the wonderful world of spending loadsacash on nikon lenses!!I run a D60 at the moment, and use a 18-200 af vr lens with it, as i sold the 18-55mm that came with the body.Great lens, but i too could do with a larger lens.There is a 70-300 mm af vr lens that is just over 400 squid:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-70-300mm-f4-5-5-6-g-af-s-vr-if-ed-lens/p1014102

or a 18-200mm vr with a teleconvertor....trouble is the convertor costs as much as the lens!You are however restricted to lenses that have the motor built into them if you want to use the af.
Just be careful when buying off ebay though

 

[Caesium]

Dont forget if you don't have full frame then your focal length is multiplied by a higher factor than 1.0 its normally about 1.5.

 

[stoakseya4]

Hi.Welcome to the wonderful world of spending loadsacash on nikon lenses!!I run a D60 at the moment, and use a 18-200 af vr lens with it, as i sold the 18-55mm that came with the body.Great lens, but i too could do with a larger lens.There is a 70-300 mm af vr lens that is just over 400 squid:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-70-300mm-f4-5-5-6-g-af-s-vr-if-ed-lens/p1014102

or a 18-200mm vr with a teleconvertor....trouble is the convertor costs as much as the lens!You are however restricted to lenses that have the motor built into them if you want to use the af.
Just be careful when buying off ebay though

Thanks
Is a 200 lense ok for relative distance shots though? Obviously a 300 would be better... Is a big deal I guess doing manual focus with a 300 lense?

Thinking about going to races (car) etc...

 

[stoakseya4]

Dont forget if you don't have full frame then your focal length is multiplied by a higher factor than 1.0 its normally about 1.5.

Ok that makes sense...?!

Gonna have to see what that means!!

 

[johnnythepie]

What A4Quattro is saying is that our cameras are not full frame(dont go there...the more expensive ones ie D3 are), and such the quoted focal length is differant.Ie: compared to full frame cameras, a 200mm lens is equivilent to a 300mm lens....something which i personally cant tell with mine.My 200mm range appears less than my old wet film minolta at 300mm.But thats just me.My eyes lie to me as my focusing eye is slightly blurred(metal splinter injury), so I have to rely on af.If your going to shoot fast moving stuff, then a combination of higher iso settings ('film speed') etc will help.Best thing is to go into jessops with your d40 and try a few lenses on it to give you an idea of the magnification...dont expect much in the line of product knowledge though!The d40 has a sports exposure mode that sorts most of the settings for you.Manual focusing at 300mm would ne a real c*** though for me!!
I found that using a dslr compared to a compact it a diff ball game, and have had to read up to get the best out of it.Reading a few mags will help, there will also be some good examples of what your camera is capable of.Have a look to see what lens and settings theyve used....but they are normally done by pros with expensive kit.welcome to the nightmare....but worth it.