Finally got upgrade...

[Armadillo]

Well after months of research and accosting camera salespeople I finally got our camera upgrades. For the Minister of War and Finance, an upgrade from a Pentax 100D to Nikon D90 and myself from Minolta 7D to Nikon D300s. We are absolutely stoked...now to get out to take some pics :):).

I'm still working through the manual and so far so good - I must admit it was sad to see the 7D go, but it has left me in good stead for the D300s as it was a brilliant workhorse with it's very "manual" approach.

The "nice" glass will come in the next week or two ;).

[big guy]

Exciting times.:cool:

You are actually reading the manual, all 3 million pages?

Wow, tried a search on shortcuts and instruction on you-tube?

Just a thought, now no skimping on lenses and you are set for some time.;)

[CowsGoMoo]

Got to be pretty happy. What sort of glass you getting?

[dmdigital]

Nice :)

Good learning tool is the Guides for each by Thom Hogan - Thom Hogan's Nikon Field Guide and Nikon Flash Guide (http://www.bythom.com)
He's on his annual month down time so won't ship until October.

[Armadillo]

Got to be pretty happy. What sort of glass you getting?

I got really spoilt with the superb Minolta glass so I'm hanging out for some good stuff....

We have the standard kit that came with the D90, however the shopping list is shaping up as the following (for starters ;))

Sigma 50mm f1.4
Either the Nikon or Sigma 70-200mm f2.8
Either the Sigma 150mm macro or 180mm macro - although I have heard the 180mm is no longer in production.
I'm undecided on the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 or the Sigma equivalent.

I think the higher end sigma gear may be a viable proposition both for performance and price but I have heard there are sometimes issues with Sigma QA.

After this lot I will have to sneak in primes that will "miraculously" appear in the camera bag :eek:

Gotta love lens envy :p !


Exciting times.:cool:
You are actually reading the manual, all 3 million pages?


Yep - already nailed the D90. The D300s is another beast altogether though :eek:

[dmdigital]

I love the 24-70 f/2.8 it is a fantastic zoom. There is now a 24-120 f/4 VR Nikkor as well. Haven't read any reviews but I suspect it will be very good and has the bonus of VR, though the bokeh won't be as good. The Nikkor takes a 77mm filter like most Nikkor Pro lenses, the Sigmas vary depending on lens.

The Sigma 150 Macro is also excellent - I have one. If you do buy any older Sigma's than can sometimes need a chip upgrade to communicate with the newer cameras. As for the 50 f/1.4 consider the older Nikkor D series instead of the G-series. I still have mine and its over 20 years old now. Great lens and no real need to upgrade. The older model is still available and a lot cheaper.

One thing on using the cameras is to work in when to use Auto-ISO. On the D3s this is so good it's scary but even on the D90 and D300s the low light ability is so good this gives you a 5th shooting mode - Manual, fixed aperture, fixed shutter speed, Auto ISO.

[C0L0N3L]

Mmmm... D300s.

I'd go nikon for your glass espically if you can afford it otherwise I would cut back and just pick one nikon. I think the 24-70 is one of the sharpest zooms around, I don't particularly care for that focal range on a crop body though.

[Chucaro]

Great combo of cameras, the D300s is IMO the best crop pro camera in the market.
I have the D200 abd the D300s and I am very happy with both.(I have to read the manual :angel:)
The Sigma macros are excellent and if you like to have a 180mm then the Tamaron it is excellent as well/
The new Nikons with VR are awesome :)
IMO the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 and my 70-300VR @ 200mm are superior to the Sigma.
Read the reports on all of them. Many rate the 70-300 VR @ up to 200mm equal to the 70-200 and you can get it for $700 on the grey import market ;)
Plenty money left for a good quality tripod then ;)

[Armadillo]

I beginning to lean towards the Nikon glass now :cool: - at least the quality is a known factor too.

[Armadillo]

OK, the first lens arrived today..

I went the Tokina 28-80mm AT-X Pro f2.8 which seemed to be better than the Sigma and a good compromise against the Nikon .A Heavy bugger though :eek:. All the pets are getting sick of me sticking the lens in their face :p I can't wait to get outside and take "proper" pics.

Appears to be very sharp right across the range with not too much softness at 80mm/2.8 :). Stopping down it is awesome.

What is amazing is I bought it on eBay last Thursday and it was delivered to my door this afternoon...from Japan.