seeking advice for a long lens

[OriginalGeek]

Nikon DSLR. I'm going to Costa Rica for a day (a port stop on a cruise of the Panama Canal next April) and want to get some good pics of the rain forest - (well, of whatever part of the rain forest they let us touristy cruisers go to anyway, lol).

I'm not married to Nikon brand but I am really good friends with it. I need to conserve money too, though. Is there such a thing as a good zoom/telephoto lens for a decent price? I know, "decent" is relative. Not sure of my budget yet but unless it's impossible I need to stay under 500.

[elleng]

1. I have a Nikon CoolPix

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/coolpix/p/p900/

does very well, but not sure how FAR it'll get you. I use for both zoom/telephoto and wide angle, but I haven't caught great detail for MILES away. For yards, GREAT detail! (Osprey nest, wings and feathers within 5-10 yards it's great.)
'Only' about $450 (refurbished.)

[OriginalGeek]

2. Oh I have a nikon point and shoot pocket size camera too

it has a great optical zoom lens and I usually just take that on cruises but this may be my only chance to ever get to a real rain forest and I want to bring the big gun - My D3000 and a really long lens to zoom in on some slothful cuteness and weird birds and cavorting monkeys without disturbing them...I just hope there is such a thing as a good long lens that I also can afford lol.

[elleng]

3. CoolPix ism't point and shoot but

others here will probably have suggestions for you. Have a GREAT time!

[OriginalGeek]

4. I'm sorry - didn't mean to imply it was :)

I just meant I do have a nikon point and shoot. It has like a 20x optical zoom (i forget exactly but it's pretty good for P&S). It fits in my shirt pocket and has a wrist strap so I like taking it on cruises because it's just a lot less weight and space than my full camera gear bag.

But I didn't pay all that money for the DSLR to sit in a bag in my closet while I'm in the rain forest lol. I was a bit scared to take my big camera on a cruise at first because I didn't know how much opportunity I would have to ruin it in water or lose or damage it some way. But now I've got a few cruises under my belt and I've seen all the touristy things and don't need another hundred megabytes of atrium snapshots with the cruise director and people acting stupid at the pool and my food at dinner.. Time to get down to some real picture takin'!

[elleng]

5. Gotcha. Have a great trip!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. The Nikon long lenses are very very good.........but also expensive.

I generally buy the Tamron lenses that are made for the Nikon camera bodies. Also very good quality and less money.

You might want to look at Tamron lenses.

Have a great trip!

[OriginalGeek]

11. I had a Tamron for an old Minolta many years ago

I liked it quite a bit. Thanks CP!

[flotsam]

7. Most Nikon DSLR's have huge backward compatibility...

Almost all can mount manual lenses back into the 70's as a minimum. So if you are comfortable doing your own focusing you can get some older glass at a better price or even an M42 adapter and extremely cheap screw-mount lenses...

[flotsam]

8. Here's a website...

I've bought from them and been happy. On the page I linked are several used Nikon AF 50-300mm in the price range of $75 and ship free. If you bought one you could use some of the balance to buy a good doubler for a 100-600mm, but because of the cropped sensor in the 3000 your actual effective focal length would top out at 840mm! Obviously you would need a good tripod and favorable lighting...

http://usedphotopro.com/products/usedlenses/used-slr-lenses/used-autofocus-lenses?manufacturer=6350

[OriginalGeek]

9. wow that's WAY inside the budget comfort

thanks!

[flotsam]

10. One more...500-1000mm Mirror set

manual focus, manual exposure or aperture priority. Less that $100 new. If you are unfamiliar with mirror lenses you should google before buying.

https://www.amazon.com/1000mm-Mirror-Telephoto-Digital-Camera/dp/B01FEA3SN6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1502484640&sr=8-3&keywords=nikon+mirror+lens

[OriginalGeek]

12. I was unfamiliar, I did Google

and this quote from a review made me lol here at work:

If you like the result and people who you hope will like the result do like it, then the result is fine. If you want to win competitions that are judged by donut hating bokeh snobs then the donuts are not fine.

I love the price so I'm gonna study pics and see if I'm donut hating snob or artistic free spirit lol.

[flotsam]

14. So many lenses (sigh)...

So little time...

[neeksgeek]

13. I've photographed in the rain forests of Costa Rica.

It can get dark in there. Expect to shoot at high ISO some of the time. I took a Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 and had some slow shutter speed issues in the deep forest. I switched to my 50mm f/1.4 for shots where I didn't need the distance. On the other hand, the 70-300mm was very helpful in the open wetlands and on the beach for birds and wildlife.

You should consider a fast lens if at all possible. If I could do it again, I'd take a 200mm f/2.0 and a 1.4x teleconverter. But that's $5000 of lens...

Edited to add, a 50mm f/1.8 AF-Nikkor is inexpensive and surprisingly useful.

Some kind of support, like a monopod or even a tripod, is going to be helpful.

*A quality rain cover is also a really good idea. There's a reason they call it a rain forest!

[OriginalGeek]

16. lol yeah we have panchos ready for the trip

but i guess I better look into one for the gear too!

If it's that dark all these f8s are scaring me.

So other than the tiny aperture, is this a deal or wishful thinking?

LA_785510854_39394051177_pla-309630176130:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&pid=kenshoo_int&c=785510854&is_retargeting=true&clickid=789b4a58-8956-4fcb-a3d5-38b4526af863" target="_blank">Opteka 650-1300mm

I can't help but think I'm missing something - with the doubler effectively 2600mm!?! for a hundred and thirty bucks? is the glass just old coke bottles? (Oops, 180 bucks) but still...

[neeksgeek]

18. I can't open your link, but...

I'd avoid any lens with a maximum aperture of f/8. I suspect you're pointing to the 650-1300mm f/8-f/16 lenses. I'd avoid those. Even if the optical quality is acceptable, it's going to be tough to focus.

For $170 you can get a Nikon 70-300mm AF zoom. A manual focus lens on a D3000 isn't going to give you metering, never mind focus. Do check that a particular AF lens is fully compatible with your camera. Nikon is famous for backward-compatible lenses, but not everything works on all cameras.

Edited to add: Forgive me; I'm more of a Canon user and I'm not that familiar with modern Nikons. So I checked on the Nikon D3000, and it's not fully compatible with the Nikon 70-300mm lens I linked to above. It will mount and it will work, but it needs a camera with a focus motor in order to autofocus. So, as pointed out below, you want an AF-S lens. This is the Sigma 70-300mm I used on my trip. It's not bad at all, and on a Nikon crop sensor body, it's effectively like having a 105-450mm f/4-5.6.

Unfortunately... super-telephoto lens are like this:

Fast, cheap, good. Pick two. Fast and cheap will not be good. Fast and good will not be cheap. Cheap and good will not be fast.

[OriginalGeek]

21. that's what I figured

seemed too good to be true lol.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Several choices...

For $1000-1500:

Nikon 200-500
Tamron or Sigma 150-600

For much less money, you could stay with the 70-200 or so kit lens that came with the camera. There are also better 70-200 or 300 zooms from Sigma, Tamron and Tokina at fair prices.

Now, you really have to think hard about what you're going to shoot there. Very little chance on that day trip you're going to get far enough into the woods to find some rare jaguar or parrot. You will find yourself at least at the edge of the forest, and maybe in some sort of zoo or preserve.

So, you may not get too much of a chance to use a really long lens, and a moderate zoom could be your best bet. You might even find that wide to normal lenses give really great perspective to what you'll see.

The last thing is that, sad to say, the Nikon sensor in the 3000 isn't that hot. I have a D3200 which isn't much better. It will be fine for what you want, but not accurate enough to warrant an expensive lens when the lens is better than the chip.


Here's a couple to show you what's out there:

http://www.cameta.com/Tamron-16-300mm-f-3-5-6-3-Di-II-VC-PZD-Macro-Zoom-Lens-BIM-for-Nikon-Cameras-81895.cfm

http://www.cameta.com/Tamron-18-200mm-f-3-5-6-3-Di-II-VC-Zoom-Lens-for-Nikon-Cameras-92703.cfm

[OriginalGeek]

20. I like the looks of those two too

thanks!

I guess it's my inexperience showing but I was just thinking a really long lens was what I needed to get good pictures from farther away than what I can do now. but my inexperience didn't know about secret weapon - asking DU.

f8 does scare me as stated before. I love bokeh maybe too much as I tend to use it all the time. But even if I train myself to not over-depend on it, I still want to be able to do it.

[Major Nikon]

17. You didn't specify which Nikon DSLR

If you have a D3xxx or a D5xxx, they are only fully compatible with AF-S lenses. Certain other Nikon bodies are more backwardly compatible with older lenses which expand the range of nice glass that's less expensive.

I've done the Costa Rica tourist rain forest thing, and honestly I wouldn't recommend investing a lot on a lens for that specific purpose. Chances are the light isn't going to be close to optimum and you'll only get a limited amount of time to photograph any subject, even if you run across a good one. Howler monkeys are the best find, but they generally don't let you get that close, and even if they do you they will shit in their hand and throw it at you. The next best thing are iguanas which are much more photogenic. They will often let you get quite close and you don't even really need a long lens to get a good shot.

If you insist on buying a lens in your budget and assuming you have one of the aforementioned series bodies, the obvious choice is the Nikon AF-S 70–300mm f/4.5–5.6G. It's a slow lens and not that great on the long end, but a decent performer in the 150-200mm range. It's also relatively light compared to more professional and faster long lenses, which also makes it better for your purposes.

Another option you might consider is renting a lens. Chances are you have a nearby camera shop that rents Nikon lenses as they can be found in most large cities. This will likely open up a much wider range of higher quality lenses, albeit at a much higher weight penalty.

[OriginalGeek]

19. Yep, D3000

Mostly I'm using this trip as an excuse to upgrade some areas of my photography kit lol. Wife is less likely to object to more money spent if it's in service to a higher goal - of taking great vacation pics - of course, then I will have to actually take some good ones.

I'm not afraid to set speed/aperture or focus manually but yeah, it would be nice if the lens is fully compatible.

This doubler/converter thing intrigues me - never thought about working with one before. do they add unwanted artifacts or anything I should know about them?

I was definitely hoping to get some candid howler monkeys - sloths may not even give a shit if I'm there but I do not want to find out the howlers literally do. Birds and flowers are also on the agenda but if I can get away with not spending an arm and a leg and just getting a better/faster but somewhat shorter lens then maybe a long long lens isn't the best use of my photography dollars at this time.


I might go and rent one for a day or two and see how well I do. Seems to be pretty reasonable for a day to get a pretty good lens. We have woods around here too so, while not rain forest, I can get a good idea of how well they perform in shadow.

[Major Nikon]

24. Teleconverters only work well under a narrow set of circumstances

The newest Nikon versions will only mount on certain lenses, and those are generally very expensive professional grade long telephotos. 3rd party versions are more widely compatible with which lenses they will mount. In my experience they are only worth it with very fast (wide aperture) prime telephotos, and even then quality falls off significantly. With slower consumer grade lenses it's very likely autofocus won't work and manual focusing will be a problem because there just isn't enough light available. With a 2x you lose two stops of light, which means a f/5.6 becomes a f/11 and will virtually become unusable from a practical sense.

[OriginalGeek]

25. eww

that don't sound good lol. Thanks for saving me some money there!

[ManiacJoe]

22. Buying is not necessarily the only option.

You can save some money if you are willing to rent the lenses. This is a good way to use the pro-level lenses for a week.

The rain forests can get rather dark. Any lens with a minimum aperture smaller than f/5.6 is going to hurt, like all these f/8 lenses being discussed.

It would be helpful to know which lenses you already have.

[OriginalGeek]

23. Just the 55-200 5.6 that came with the camera

And an 18-55.. imma look into renting around here ...just to see what the higher end lenses can do on my lower end camera lol

[Major Nikon]

26. The 55-200 is actually not that bad of a lens

Quality falls off a bit on the long end which is pretty typical of all zooms unless you pay big bucks. I own the 55-200 and the 70-200 which is a $2K lens and a monster in terms of weight and size compared to the former. I compared both lenses at 180mm and f/5.6 and there was little difference in terms of sharpness. The main things you get for the more expensive lens is the constant f/2,8 aperture and better bokeh.

[OriginalGeek]

27. Just nobody tell my wife about all this sensible advice.

I still wanna buy something. lol

Maybe I'll just get me nice fast prime lens. Then move closer when I can or swap out the zoom when I can't..

[Major Nikon]

28. The Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G would complement the lenses you have nicely

It's a great lens for indoors or situations where you don't have much available light. The Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G is also nice for the same reasons and is a short telephoto on DX cameras like yours which makes for a nice indoors portrait lens.

[OriginalGeek]

29. exactly what I was drooling at

over at B&H. Lots of search results both new and used and it looks like I might can get both of them for what I was thinking of paying for the zoom.

now I'll have to get a bigger camera bag - but I'm thinking of making a leather one. Or maybe a leather/canvas hybrid...

[Major Nikon]

30. I have a few different bags

The one that sees the most use is the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home. I find the messenger type bags are best for travel as they allow you more easy access to your gear while you are on the move.

[OriginalGeek]

31. Oooh, I like that -

I think I can make that with a bit of studying - and useful for a lot of things

[Major Nikon]

32. There's lots of other messenger style photo bags on the market

At the time I got mine, there weren't very many. I've had it for many years and taken it all over the world and it's held up quite well and still looks and works pretty much like new. I've seen some that are either leather or leather and canvass. I can't speak to them much, but leather does require some maintenance so for utilitarian purposes I prefer the one I have.