Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, I have narrowed it down to a Nikon D80 or a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, but I am having trouble picking out which lense to buy. With the Canon, I think I would like to have an Image Stablizing lense, (IS), but cannot find out which Nikon lense has IS. In your opinon, if I were to buy a Camera and lense to take Ball pics, which camera and lense should I get. Is IS that important, which Nikon lense should I get if I get a D80?

Dave

Hey,

IS really isn't THAT important, it is a relatively recent development in photography - Certainly people took lots of photographs before ANYTHING was image stabilized.

That said, IS will buy you a couple of stops of handheld stabilization - if the standard rule of thumb to prevent camera motion blur is to shoot at (1/focal length) or faster for handheld shots, that means maybe 1/60s on a 100mm IS lens, or 1/30s on a 50mm IS lens. That might be a make or break difference for shooting herps in the wild, where lighting is unpredictable and you might not be able to carry/set up a tripod, or the situation may be too tight for one.

If ball pythons in captive environments are your subjects, IS will not be important at all. You can set up a tripod, light the scene properly, and shoot at any speed you want. Certainly 1/100s is very possible with a dSLR handheld indoors, and I doubt you will need a lens longer than 100mm to shoot ball pythons.

If I were you, I would consider lens cost too, Nikon lenses tend to cost more than the competition. The D80 and the XTi are both capable cameras, you will be very happy whichever way you go. Of course, IS is a nice perk, but both nikon and canon offer IS lenses.

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Erik Williams

fattailed geckos, western hognoses, and a bunch of postage stamps.
Contact me
www.chicagoherp.org
Chicago Herpetological Society

Canon image stabilized lenses are labelled IS.
Nikon image stabilized lenses are labelled VR (Vibration reduction).

Another alternative you should at least consider is to look at some of the camera brands that have in-camera image stabilization. It doesn't work as well in long lenses (300+mm) but for shorter lenses and macro lenses it works just as well. And you have the advantage that ALL of your lenses become image stabilized, not just the high priced IS/VR lenses.
Another reason to look at in camera stabilization is that image stabilized lenses generally aren't quite as sharp as the non-stabilized forms, according to test sites like photodo.com.

You should certainly consider the Sony Alpha 100 or the Pentax 110D. Both are very nice cameras and you can get excellent lenses for both of these lines and you get in camera stabilization.

The Sony Alpha or Pentax 110D (or 10D) with a standard macro lens will get you more keepers than a Nikon or Canon with the same lenses.

If you really are stuck in the Canon/Nikon groove, consider that Nikon lenses are more expensive generally and aren't any better than equivalent Canon lenses. I like the general feel of the Nikon cameras better, but I wouldn't pay the extra money for the name.

You might also consider (regardless of the camera brand you buy) the very good macro lenses made by third party manufacturers. Sigma and Tamron make dedicated macro lenses that are as good as (if not better) than some of the camera brand macros. The macro zooms aren't quite as good, but there are some nice ones. The Sigma 17-70 DC Macro gets rave reviews.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas