Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I been doing a little research and have picked these Nikon products.
Did I leave anything out and can you recommend any good online dealers?

Nikon D70s camera body

SanDisk 512mb Ultra II Compact Flash Memory Card

60mm f/2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor

35-70mm f/2.8D AF Zoom-Nikkor

SB-800 AF Speedlight

Thanks
Steve

Steve,

Congrats on the new equipment. All of it is great stuff. But it's hard to say what is missing without knowing what sort of things you want to photograph.

Cheers,
WK

I have had a D-70s for about six weeks now. I saved some money on my macro lens by getting the sigma 50mm macro from sigma4less.com (which I am very pleased with). I have the SB-600 and love it, with some practice I am now getting excellent results with that combo. On weekend trips, I am nearly filling up my 1GB card, so you may want more memory.

Have fun

Matt

Nikon D70s camera body
SanDisk 512mb Ultra II Compact Flash Memory Card

Get a 1GB memory card. They don't cost much more and your 6MP camera can fill up a 512 faster than you think. The Sandisk Extreme III is a great card. I have two as well as two of the card you are considering. I never use the Ultra IIs because the Extreme IIIs are so much faster.

60mm f/2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor

Great lens. With the 1.6 crop factor it will be a 90mm macro which is a good focal length for herps.

35-70mm f/2.8D AF Zoom-Nikkor

Don't know this lens, but photodo.com gives it a good rating so it must be good. You might want to consider something a little wider than 35mm (which will be 52.5mm on your D70). There are some good ultra-wide zooms now for the D70.

SB-800 AF Speedlight

Buy from B&H photo (bhphotovideo.com). They are generally regarded as the most honest and dependable camera sellers and they are usually among the cheapest.
You can save a dollar here or there by ordering from some of the other online sellers (you won't save much), but MANY of them are crooks. B&H are honest and will sell you only what you want without any pressure and you can order online without ever talking to a person at all if you prefer.

If you are considering using someone else (I don't know why you would), make sure you check them out on resellerratings.com. You can learn from other people's mistakes there.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

Steve,

I would go with an 18 to 70 zoom nikkor (much better for habitat shots etc)

Maybe a decent telephoto /tele macro (I have a 70 300 tamron that I am very happy with)

Off camera body flash cord are very good especially when you you be close with the macro.

the infra red remotes are great with long exsposure shots (no camera shake.

Regards,
Scott

Cameta. They offer good package deals on ebay. I have the kit lenses. You need a macro to shoot herps (or at least I do).Here is a link to the kit I got.

cameta

Thanks all for your opinions.
Since posting this I have had some other suggestions and I will ask your opinions.
I'm pretty lost with the technical side of photography so I will make this easier. About 90% of my subjects are going to be captive reptiles; most are docile but I do have some exceptions that are not. Most of these pictures are going to be taken indoors under flouresent lighting while some may be taken in natural outdoor lighting. Most of my subjects will be between 3" coiled posision to about 36" coiled position.
I'm looking to only purchase one or possibly two lenses at the moment so I would like you to review what I picked out and give your opinions on what my initial purchase should be between the those lenses. Also is there going to be a big difference between the Speedlights for achieving my goals?
Below are products I've chosen at B&H who since I've heard so many good things about them and heard the horror stories from the other dealers listing much lower prices. I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for and I can do without the headaches....lol
Any other opinions or products I should consider please let me know.

Nikon D70s $899.95
Nikon MC-DC1 Remote Cord for D70s Digital Camera $24.95
Sandisk 1 GB Extreme III CompactFlash Card $109.95
Sandisk CompactFlash Card Reader/Writer (Type I & II) - USB 2 $19.95
Normal 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor $389.95
Telephoto AF Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D Autofocus Lens $659.95
35-70mm f/2.8D AF Zoom-Nikkor $679.95
SB-800 AF Speedlight $319.95
SB-600 Speedlight i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash $184.95
Nikon SJ-1 Color Filter Set - for SB-800, SB-600 & SB-80DX Flash $19.95
Nikon SC-29 TTL Off-Camera Shoe Cord with AF Assist - for SB-800 Flash, 3' Coiled $74.95
Slik Sprint Pro 3-Way Digital Tripod - Gun Metallic Finish - with 3-way Pan Head $84.95

Thanks all

If I had to choose from this list, I would get these:

D70s, SB800, SC-29, 105mm AF micro Nikkor, CF card (at least 512K), and remote remote wire. This would be a versatile and very capable macro setup.

Don’t waste time / money on a cheap tripod and get the best you can afford – you’ll be much better off in the long run.

Just my opinion.

Cheers,
WK