New Toys

Did you ever really want a toy when you were a kid? Something that you swore would be the last thing you'd ever ask for?

I said that when I purchased my Nikon D70s. It would be the last DSLR that i would buy, with the condition that if it broke, got stolen, or became obsolete then I could get a new one (you never know...). I realize that I can't afford it right now but I really want a D200... Do I need it? Well the 70% increase in pixel count wouldn't hurt. The robustness of the body is a plus as well since it's made of magnesium. The metering is much more versatile as well as the white balance controls. The photos are a bit warmer than the D70s' without needing a warming filter.

Will I get one? Well I want one... Should I get one?

Probably not.

The benefits aren't that big a leap over the D70s and while it may turn out to be more resilient to shocks and drops than the D70s, I do believe in something I read somewhere... "metal dents, plastic just bounces". If it doesn't shatter into a million pieces first... Maybe I'll wait for the D73.6s or something or other...

New bodies in the future will probably have better software, hardware, sensors, specs and due to Moore's law might be cheaper for the package. I'm sure we'll hit the 20MP mark in a year or so with the pace of development these days. If so, that'll be twice the resolution of the D200. Prices have continued to drop as well.

Nikon D1, Circa 2000

The D1 launched at around $5500 with 2.7MP and now the D40 with more MPs (6.2), better overall specs and more versatile settings is just $600 with the 18-55 kit lens. That's around 10% of the price of the D1 after around six years. Nikon's baby DSLR does more things better than the D1 so hopefully the trend will continue in the coming years.

Nikon D40, Circa 2006

Enough about camera bodies then. How about lenses? Granted, the Nikon 18-70 "kit" lens from Nikon is pretty much all you'll need for casual photography. It's 18mm is pretty wide but with Nikon's crop factor, that'll end up being the equivalent of 26mm or so on 35mm film, which isn't that wide at all.

I admit, I do have Lens Envy, Lens Lust, LAS (Lens Acquisition Syndrome), OCD (Optics Collection Disorder) and any other euphemism and acronym you can call it. While I only have three lenses now (kit, 70-210 4-5.6 and the 50mm 1.8) it doesn't stop me from wanting to acquire the latest and greatest of the Nikon lens stables.

So which ones do I want? Damn... too many to mention I suppose. In a nutshell, all the VRs and all the 2.8s... That should do. For now...

Realistically speaking though, I can name several that I'd like to shoot for in the coming years.

In no particular order;
18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor
17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Zoom-Nikkor
28-70mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Zoom-Nikkor
10.5mm f/2.8G ED AF DX Fisheye-Nikkor
12-24mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor
70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor
200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor
105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor

All that would cost more than a million and a half PhP! Considering that, then I'd probably just reach for the 18-200VR (P45,000-50,000) and the 12-24mm (P40,000-47,000). I don't really need a lens longer than 200mm right now since I have no plans to go into wildlife photography so the 18-200 should suit me just fine for everyday stuff. You can't go wrong with an ultra-wide though so the 12-24 is a must-have. If i'm in dire enough straits, then I'll opt for the sigma 10-20mm which is around half the price of the Nikkor. reviews aren't bad and I've tried one on several occasions... it's not bad.

Nikkor 18-200VR

Some things I haven't tried, but I do want to get, are teleconverters and fisheye lenses.

While TCs (teleconverters) only work on lenses with the largest of apertures (uo to f4 or so), it'll be nice to extend a 400mm F4 to an 800mm F8 for serious in-your-face shooting. that'll make great shots of the moon, sports events where you're on the bleachers, car races and etc... An F4 400mm lens though would cost around P200k, and the TC-20E II (an autofocus 2x Nikon teleconverter) itself is no lightweight at around P25-40k.

Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye

Nikon's new 10.5mm Fisheye is a digital specific lens meaning it'll only work with the APS-C sized sensors. It's a fun lens. the fisheye effect is similar to what you get from looking through a door's peephole. It gives you a very large degree of vision in a 205-deg arc in front of you. That's huge! Also, since it's reallllly wide, focusing on a single point up close will give you strange distortion effects. sort of like barrel distortion magnified a thousand-fold. Taking a portrait gives you an abnormally large nose ith the ears absurdly placed on the side of the subject's head. .It's cute ^_^ In general use though, it's a nice toy and interesting for architecture work since it'll really give you weird perspectives. the total damage - P42k.

Fisheye samples:

Ouch.

Anyway... Photoworld Manila is on right now. I think i'll pop over later today and see what they have there. Last year, they had Manfrotto tripods at 50% off, EOL Canon and Nikon lenses going for 20-30% discounts, off-brands like Sigma and Tamron showing their wares and anything photo related scatterred all over the place.

So see you in Glorietta! I'll be there later today. Maybe I can pick up n 18-200VR for 10k...

Asa... (and I don't mean ISO...=P )