Opinions on lenses and tripods

deltableh

deltableh

Active Member
Original Poster
I'm going to Disney in December, and I'm looking at maybe renting a lens to add to my collection of two lenses, just so I have something new to play around with. I was hoping to get opinions from other photographers on what they find to be "fun" lenses to shoot. I have a Nikon D60, and my two lenses are a Nikkor 18-55 DX VR, and a Nikkor 55-200 DX VR.

Secondly, I want to bring some sort of stability device (read: tripod) to me with Disney, but I'm not sure I want a full sized tripod. I think it would just be too much to schlep around, especially for how little I think I'd use it. However, I'm very interested in the Gorillapod for DSLRs. Does anybody have any experience with it? Or any recommendation on whether I should go with a traditional tripod or the Gorillapod?

Thanks in advance.
 
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
Every lens is "fun" for me. Although my Lensbaby is getting a tad gimmicky. The 14 is great for super-wide stuff. I love my 20 but its all messed up. The 24-85/2.8-4 is good for a mid range zoom. Love the 50/1.8 & 85/1.8. The 80-200/2.8 is okay, doesnt focus fast enough. The 300/2.8 is amazing but expensive and the 400/2.8 is just damm heavy.

Normally i walk around with a 14 on one body & an 85 on the other.

I look at Disney photography as a way to get as creative as humanly possible through every compositional technique that i can think of.
 
RiversideBunny

RiversideBunny

New Member
The Nikon D60 and the D40 series both need the DX lenses to take full advantage of features. On a D60 many regular lenses that are not DX type cannot use the autofocus.

:)
 
WDWFigment

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
RiversideBunny said:
The Nikon D60 and the D40 series both need the DX lenses to take full advantage of features. On a D60 many regular lenses that are not DX type cannot use the autofocus.

:)
Click to expand...

That's not quite true. While everything below the D700 is a DX (Nikon's lingo for crop sensor) camera, the "DX" on the lens is not the determining factor for whether a lens will autofocus on D40/60/3000/5000. The relevant factor is the AF-S on the lens. That means that the lens has an auto-focus motor built in (Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina each call this something different, so check the specific lenses to find out compatibility).

Plenty of full frame (FX) lenses are great on DX cameras. Now for things like ultra-wide angle lenses and fisheye lenses, it's probably not the smartest thing to get FX lenses since they won't be as wide a DX, but for a telephoto like, say, the 70-200 f/2.8, it's no big deal.
 
J

jdrork

Member
To keep the weight down I tend to bring a 24-105mm (really 37-160) on my standard body and a 17-40mm on my full frame body. I carry my 50mm 1.8 for dark rides and switch that between the to bodies depending on whether I want 50mm or 78mm.

As for tripods, this last trip in Oct. I needed new tripods because all I had were a few cheap tripods that came in camera kits that folded down to 21 inches and only opened to 54in. I went with one Gorilla pod, and a Velbon ultra MAXi L that folds to 13in and opens to 63 inches.

The Gorilla pod worked fine. The biggest problem I had with it was no quick disconnect which became an issue when switching between my 70-200(which has its own mount) and other lenses. Other than that it handled the weight of a Canon 5D and the 70-200 just fine.

The Velbon was not so good I am affraid. The 3 way head was limiting at times. The biggest issue though was the twist lock legs made it a two+ hand job to adjust if I needed to level just one leg. This was an issue when you consider I was shoot two camera which meant I didn't have one hand spare. I also would say a remote is a must. You can't push the shutter without blurring. Yes its small, lite, and compact but its not an all day tripod. Great for day shooting but a pain at night.
 

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