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I finally got lens number three of the 17-50 f/2.8 lens from B&H. Before I put the lens on I cleaned the contacts very carefully with rubbing alcohol, and made sure it was dry before putting the lens back on. It seemed to work well, except once. I got the no lens attached thing again. This time no amount of turning off/on would work. I had to unseat the lens and reattach. It just happened once. I am going to hope that it is just a D40 issue, or just this D40 and keep it. It is really nice to have a faster lens. I found that I had to swap in my 55-200 often though at the Lantern Lighting event. I didn’t always need the upper end, but 50 was just too short most of the time for an event like this. The 55-200 works fine in the middle of the day. I like it a lot, it is just too slow as evening come on. Oh well. Can’t get everything with one lens.

I must say, I am happy with B and H. When I called to talk about the lens, they said, send it back. They didn’t try to talk me out of it. If you have a credit card (with room) they can charge you a second time for your purchase, ship it out how you got it the first time (2 day) and then refund you when they get the old one back, so that’s what I did.

The new lens seems fine. I don’t have the same problems as before, and it seems just as sharp. I need to try to take some tests vs the Nikkor kit lens to see if I can tell a diference.

Edit: Not so good. It has the same problems. It seems that changing the focal length will sometimes cause it to malfunction. Just shooting on the same focal length seems fine. I don’t get it.

The Tamron 17-50 has an issue. It sometimes doesn’t think that it is attached. I will be shooting pictures, when it will just stop auto focusing. Sometimes if I turn it off and then on, it will say the lens is not attached. That just doesn’t seem good. It was really sharp though. I was tempted not to send it back it seemed so sharp. I have a new one coming, and hopefully it will be just as sharp.

What is normal? Well, the 18-55mm kit lens that comes with the D40 is considered a normal zoom lens. I would really like something faster. This is a common theme with me and lenses at the moment. I am also not convinced that the lens I have is all that sharp, but I have yet to try to take real test shots. Read the rest of this entry »

I was out at a family event, on a farm in Rochester with several families and more than a dozen kids. I decided to make myself the family photographer, as it gave me something to do. I was using my Nikor 55-200 f4-5.6 to get pictures of the kids. It was great during the day, but as the evening came, and the sun started going down I was getting frustrated.

In shadow, I could no longer shoot at ISO 200 with any sensible speed. I was down to a shutter speed of 50-60. Too slow to get kids. I bumped the ISO up to 400 then 800, but the shutter was still slower than I wanted. The lens is just too slow.

What are the options? Not much. The Nikor 70-200 VR f2.8 is huge, with a huge price tag of $1700. Yikes. Sigma has one with similar specs, no VR for about $800. Getting better. Even still, this wish item is likely to stay a wish.

A few days ago I received a new lens in the mail. A Nikkor 50mm 1.8D. I debated getting this lens for quite some time. The lens only costs about $120, so what was the holdup? It doesn’t auto focus on my D40. I really wanted something that would let in more light. I had been kind of saving for a Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC HSM that does autofocus on my D40, but it is around $400 now. Bit of a difference in price.

When I first got my D40, I soon found out that the kit lens on my camera was almost useless shooting in my light deprived house without flash. I did get an SB400 flash, but I wanted to shoot available light.

The 50 has been pretty good, but I am finding it a bit difficult to focus. There is no focusing screen on my camera, just a little dot in the bottom left corner that I have to look for. I find that trying to focus and look for the dot is adding just that little bit more that is making it hard to compose and ensure that I am setting the proper exposure and other settings.

I think it is good that I am forced to focus with this lens, as a learning experience, but it sure would be nice if I didn’t have to.

Here is an indoor picture of Kate that I couldn’t have taken with the kit lens.