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Buying a Nikon Pro Camera
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Personally I would spend most of my money on the lenses, get the best you can afford. Body wise get a second hand D200 or something…. The lenses hold their value much better than the bodies. The lenses are the most important part of a camera for most types of photography…
M
I don’t know, there and what you are going to shoot. D90 should be OK in Africa. Something sealed like d200/D300s would be safer though. There in Africa may be plenty of sand and dust.
Both nikkors are extending a lot during zooming. They are going to suck lots of dust. They are good optics, but they are plastic fantastic. Especially 18-105VR, which lens has plastic mount (sic!). These lenses are very delicate.If you need a long lens you can get sigma 100-300/4. It has no optical stabilisation, but it is fast lens, sharper than nikon 70-300VR, and does not extend during zooming or focusing. It is a lovely lens. If you need a longer range you can attach a teleconverter i.e. kenko x1.4, sigma x1.4, nikon x1.4 or x1.7. I heard that the newest nikon x2 version is excellent, but nikon’s teleconverters are pricey.
Sigma 70-200/2.8 is very good too, but it is shorter, not so sharp at 200mm wide open, and doesn’t work well with teleconvertes. It has all the advantages of the bigger sister (doesn’t extend during zooming, solid construction).
Some people like ‘bigma’. It is sigma 50-500. It is slow lens, but sturdy and quite universal thanks to zoom range. And like all the good tele lenses it is quite heavy :(Good walk around lenses are expensive i.e. nikon 17-55/2.8. You can buy nikon 18-105VR. No big deal if it dies.
I use nikon 35/1.8 instead and sigma 10-20.I gave you several options, but I’m not you. I may have different shooting preferences, and my choice may not suit you. If you prefer long lenses take a good one and something shorter for all the other shots. If you don’t take nikon 70-300VR, and better walk around zoom or something for landscape photos (see sigma 10-20).
Focus on your preferences, when you make your choice. Maybe you don’t need tele or wide angle lens? We can’t know that. Some people like 18-200 lenses, but I don’t. Although, it would be a very comfortable setup with d300s/d90.What else you may need?
1. Spare battery (1 or 2) is a MUST.
2. Good memory cards (not necessarily fastest) – couple of smaller capacity instead of 1 huge.
3. Filters i.e. CPL, graduated ND (others?).
4. Monopod or tripod. Monopod is handy to use with long heavy long lenses like sigmas. Not for nikon because this lens has no tripod mount.I’d suggest you to look for some second hand equipment too. People are selling loads of almost new gear. You can save a lot.
Both d90 and d300s have ultrasonic sensor cleaning system. Use it whenever you change lenses.
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