Which lens for Nikon D70s?

Question

Hi,

I was going to get a Nikon D70s body, and a few different cheaper lens's until I get the feel for the different focal range and aperture. I was wondering if I can get regular 'ol nikkor automatic focus lenses and put them on the D70s, or do I have to get a digital lens for decent pic?

I'm looking at a:

Nikon 24-70 3.5 5.6 Ix Lens F/nik Proni
Condition E

Will this lens work for the camera?

Any other thoughts?

(PS, yes, I know not to go cheap with lens's but until I know what I really want to shoot, i'm thinking of going to the cheaper route.)

Thanks

Answer 1

All lenses for the Nikon mount (from Nikon, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, etc.) with auto-focus will work on the D70s.
A 24-70mm lens will give you a nice zoom range, but I personally like to go wider for indoor/ landscapes/ street photography. I'd opt for the kit lens for the D70s: the Nikon 18-70mm zoom. This also happens to be a great lens for the price. For less, you could look at the 18-55mm lens that comes with the Nikon D40/ D50. You can find tons of these used, from people that have already upgraded. Or you could look for a third party alternative that starts at 18mm.
(If focal lengths mean anything to you, Nikon dSLR bodies effectively magnify your lenses by a factor 1.5. So an 18-70mm lens will appear to be 27-105mm.)
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Emma, the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 is a +$400 lens and it's soft along the edges. Still, it's a great lens in the right hands. Also, Flikr isn't necessarily the best place to look for samples - you have to downrez the crap out of your pictures there unless you have a pro account. At just 500 pixels wide, anything will look good.

Answer 2

All lenses made for Nikon can be used by the D70s. But I would suggest not only to avoid the cheap lenses, but also avoid old lenses. The moest important feature of new lenses is the "ED" or extra low dispersion elements in the new lenses. For this feature alone, the new lenses will be superior.

If you want an all-around lens, I suggest you get the 18-200VR where you have a wide angle (18mm) and a strong zoom (200mm) plus a VR for vibration reduction.

I also suggest avoiding third party lenses (Tokina, SIgma, etc). Dont get me wrong. They are also excellent lenses. But you may experience metering problems especially when using flash.

Answer 3

My favorite lens on my Canon (which they also make for Nikon bodies) for a long time was my Sigma 30mm f/1.4.

If zoom is super-important to you, this obviously isn't the lens for you, but the quality of image is fantastic, it isn't very expensive and you can take great pictures in low light (you won't find that kind of aperture on a zoom lens). 30mm on a cropped sensor is about the same as 50mm on a full frame, which is considered "normal" eyesight.

Whatever you choose, you should look at Flickr for examples of photos taken with that lens, by looking at lens tags.

Answer 4

I'm not sure the Pronea's lenses will work on the Digital DSLR's and retain full functionality. They were designed for the APS SLR's. Someone might correct me on this.

you can find the 18-55 (kit lens for D50/D40) on the cheap too. and these were designed for digital.