Which Nikon?

J. Hoffman

Dealer - Purveyor
My wife is looking for a DSLR. She has always just had point and shoot cameras. She was planning on buying a Nikon D5300 with 18-55 lens. She now found a deal on a used D300 with an 18-55 a 70-300 and a lens marked 50mm 1:1.4. I'm not even sure what that lens is. The guy may also throw in an off-brand 12-24 lens. The other lenses are all Nikon. Which will be the better camera in the long run? I'm learning that mega-pixels are not everything. Thanks Jess
 
The key think to remember is that once you buy into the system, your main investment will
be in lenses, not the initial body. You can always get another body later and still use all the
lenses you've got for the system.

A 50mm 1:1.4 is a pretty standard "fast normal prime" lens. I'll break that down:

- Normal means that the lens has a more or less normal field of view. Neither telephoto
nor wide angle. On a DSLR it's a good lens for knife photographs.
- Prime means that it is not a zoom lens. Prime lenses are generally, smaller, faster
and optically better than zoom lenses. Of course they don't zoom...
- Fast means that the lens admits more light when it's wide open. This lets you take
better pictures in low light. It also lets you take pictures with a shallow depth of field,
i.e. where only the part you focus on is sharp and rest is out of focus. This can be
very useful once you learn how to use it. Of course you can close the lens down
for greater depth of field and generally increased sharpness.

A 12-24 lens is ultra-wide to wide angle. It's an excellent complement to the other
lenses in the set. Don't worry about it being off-brand if the price is right. She can
always replace it with a better one later if (1) it's not up to snuff, and (2) she decides
that she likes that focal length (I do, and have a similar lens in my micro 4/3 outfit).

I'd go for the used set if everything appears to be in good condition.
 
For what its worth, after using Nikon for nearly 10 years and then trying a Canon for a week, I'd buy Canon. A friend of mine is a product photographer and pointed me to toward Canon and it will most likely be my next camera.
 
Yeah, I was trying not to get into camera brands since the OP (or his wife) seem to have already decided on Nikon. Both are high quality.

For the record, I was a Canon user too for quite a while and switched to the Panasonic/Olympus micro-4/3 system a few years ago because that system gives me smaller and lighter bodies and lenses with comparable results. A.K.A.: the camera in your hotel room because you didn't feel like lugging it around is infinitely less useful than the camera you have with you.
 
I would buy the best I could afford new. Nothing like breaking in a new piece of equipment. Cameras are sensitive pieces of equipment unless your very familiar with them you stand a chance of buying someone ones problems. The warranty is very important. Places like Best Buy have sales and offer great extended warranties. I prefer OEM lens. During the film age I shot Nikon exclusively but, today in the digital age I use Canon. It's all a matter of preference. As with your knife equipment buy the best model you can afford.
 
Back
Top