Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm going to purchase a Nikon D-80 and I'm thinking of just purchasing the body then build it from there, or is that a bad idea.

I'm a point and shoot kind of guy and I don't have a huge amount of expertise when it comes to the right lenses to use. 97 % of all the photos I take are of my snakes.

I want to be the man version of Celia (I hope that came out right). Celia please take that as a compliment. If I've ever taken a good photograph it was only by luck.

I would appreciate any help I can get.

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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

Hi Brian-

I just bought a D-80 myself, it's a great camera. My advice - you can buy it as a kit with one of two lenses, a 50mm fixed or a 18-135mm zoom. Get the 18-135mm kit. Initially, it costs a bit more, but buying lenses for this camera is not as easy as you would think right now. Most camera stores don't have good stock and a lot of popular sizes are backordered. If you're taking pictures of animals, the 18-135 is a great size that allows for good close up detail. I'm working on putting together an available animals page myself, if you're interested, I'll send you a link to it once it's done and you can see what my very mediocre skills can produce. Have fun,

-Rolf

Little cheapo Nikon 7900 can getRdone !

All the quality at half the price

M/

You have the most creative company name I have come across in this business. (Which is not to say I'm experienced, it's to say your name is fantastic.)

And seeing as I'm in film production I may actually have something to contribute here. In case you haven't, I would recommend checking out B&H Photo. They are based out of NY City, but ship world wide. They usually have decent prices, and more importantly, different packages to suit customer needs. Their website is www.bhphotovideo.com

My personal opinion is that you will save money if you buy a package all at once instead of buying individual parts, but there are always sales and things, so it's pretty circumstantial.

As far as the actual lens, my understanding is that something between 40mm to 55mm (a standard lens), would suit your needs just fine. Most of your subject matter will be close up, so anything larger than 55mm is probably a bit superflous.

Hope that helps.

Hey Brian, I know you've seen many of my pics. I have the Canon 20D with a 28 - 135 mm lens. Very versitile lens for taking pics. One other "must" is a large memory card. I have a 4MB CF disk drive and never run out of storage. I used to use 256MB CF cards and when they got full, pic time's over until you download to the PC. The 4MB is the same way but takes forever to fill.

With a large mega pixel camera, shoot wider than you want and crop later.

For sure check into a package deal.

>>I'm going to purchase a Nikon D-80 and I'm thinking of just purchasing the body then build it from there, or is that a bad idea.
>>
>>I'm a point and shoot kind of guy and I don't have a huge amount of expertise when it comes to the right lenses to use. 97 % of all the photos I take are of my snakes.
>>
>>I want to be the man version of Celia (I hope that came out right). Celia please take that as a compliment. If I've ever taken a good photograph it was only by luck.
>>
>>I would appreciate any help I can get.
>>
>>
>>-----
>>Brian Gundy
>>
>>www.for-goodness-snakes.com
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
12.24 BRB
11.13 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Hey Dave, That's what i use too. I love my canon 20d.

Christian
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christian@redwoodreptiles.com

Hey Brian

Its been about a year since I have deeply researched lenses for Nikon digital SLR's... but the great thing about it is, they dont get passed up technology wise every few months like with computers and many other electronics!

If you want a general purpose lens, which I would reccomend to start. There are three primary choices:

Nikon 18-70 - Last time I checked this could be had in the $300 range if I remember correctly. Think of this as the "good" step.

Sigma 18-50 2.8 - A step above the previously mentioned nikon but you give up the brand name... a bit of zoom... and price. But its a 2.8 fixed aperature lens (=better, put shortly). This is the lens I use. I believe it runs $399 from sigma4less.com or $499 from most general retailers. Thinkg of this as the "better" step.

Nikon 17-55 - This is somewhat of the "holy grail" of a wide angle general purpose lens. Best of the best... and you pay for it. $1400 range if I remember correctly.
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Take Care,

-Ryan Homsey

www.topnotchboas.com