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Nikon D80 Digital SLR "2" lens kit with 18 – 55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Vibration Reduction) & Nikon 55mm – 200mm f/4-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR (Vibration Reduction) & DVD , USA Warranty
—–$835.00

OR

* Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera and 18-135mm f/3.5 – f/5.6 DX Zoom-Nikkor lens* Rechargeable Li-ion Battery and charger* A/V cable, USB cable* Body cap, eyepiece cap, rubber eyecup, LCD monitor cover, accessory shoe cover* PictureProject CD-ROM and owner’s manual
—–$807.49

Same camera…different lens options. I guess, should I go with the one with 2 lenses or one?

If I’m forced to pick between the two, I’d pick the one lens deal and here’s why.

On the 2 lens kit, you’ve got the 18-55mm. The 18mm end is a fairly wide shot. But 55mm on the long end is a bit short. 55mm would be about 2x or 2.5x on a compact camera.

The next lens 55-200mm The 55mm is too long for any kind of a wide shot. 200mm is nice and will reach out far. You’ll be changing lenses a lot to get the shots you want. That’s a huge pain for a casual shooter.

The one lens deal covers the wide shot on short end 18mm, and the reach is decent on the long end.

The better thing to do if you have your heart set on this camera, get the body only for the best price you can. Next, start looking for a 18-200mm (give or take) zoom that will cover that entire range in one lens.

Now, there are pros and cons to doing such a thing, but for a casual shooter, it would be fine, plus no having to carry around 2 lenses and dealing with lens changes. You could miss a shot doing all that.

Look into Nikon, Sigma and Tamron to see what they carry and for how much that might be a better way to go.

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At the moment I have a slight dilemma, I’m not sure as to which path to take on my route to buying my first DSLR. I am willing to spend a nice amount (by my standards) on a camera and all the other goodies, but right now I don’t know which of those I should put the most in to. I first considered the Nikon D40. I thought that would be a good start w/ the addition of a new lens and some other goodies. Then I started thinking long term. I thought maybe it would be better to get something higher in the Nikon line like a D80. Then compromise comes in; if I get the more expensive camera, I have a LOT less money for another lens (preferably a higher power zoom lens) and accessories. That or I would have to wait a long time to save up enough to get a good lens or the accessories I would have gotten if I went with the D40. I hope everyone understands what I mean.

What I would like to know is what would you do and why?

You may be over thinking this issue.

Since the most important investment are the lenses of any given camera system, you should spend your money on lenses first … the camera, especially digital cameras only last a few years before you will be replacing them (due to the rapid advances in technology) while your lenses will last decades (20 to 30 easily).

So what to do? Buy the D40 and if you have it in your budget get the 18-200mm VR lens, if not the 18-55mm VR is a good start. Then as you save your money for new lenses you can buy the ones that fit the subjects you typically shoot.

pinback13 is right … look for a D70. It is one of the "sleeper" cameras out there .. a really great camera for the money.

Link to the D70 and D40

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

And to the 18-200mm VR and 18-55mm VR

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18-55mm-vr.htm

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Hey, I will start off by saying I know absolutely nothing about photography, but I would like to purchase a Nikon D80 as I heard it produces good professional looking high quality shots while still remaining user friendly. My goal is to capture professional looking portraits such as these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25348945@N06/4079546867/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chipsmith/716153887/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25348945@N06/2937483559/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/supermarion/3772036570/

I keep hearing of accessories such as strobes, umbrellas, reflectors, 18-135mm, 50mm, and etc which I have no idea what they are and what they are made to do; it’s really overwhelming. What accessories do I need to create the type of shots I’m looking for? Thanks!
Do you really have to lower yourself just to express your frustration with elementary sarcasm? I’m tired of arrogant photographers who over-exaggerate their trade who use their technical knowledge to debase curious minds. I am studying in the science field (yes, I’m going to school because I want to work in science as a CAREER not photography, which is one of my HOBBIES), so I do not have the free time to go to photography school JUST to take a couple of high quality portraits…
I can understand frustration over people saying ‘I want professional photos, how do I get them?’, you’d ask ‘What type of professional photos (landscapes..portraits), and what are examples of what you want to produce? I gave ample explanation of my goal in mind; you could have just told me what is needed for portraits and what will get certain effects. Now don’t go calling yourself an idiot for going to photography school because self- deprecation is ugly, but not as ugly as being rude and condescending.
Marathon? I’m not trying to be a professional photographer with studio lighting and backdrops for high fashion models. I just want to create high quality portraits! You can say ‘A true photographer is in the skill, not the equipment, yadda yadda yadda, but that’s a bunch of fluff and just feeds your egos. A lot of photographers just play by ear and snap a few shots where they think someone or something is pretty and compliment the shots that turned out well by expressing joy over forces beyond their control most of the time such as the pose or expression of the model or how the sky looked that day. You can’t capture detail and so sharply or create a certain lightingwithout the equipment!
I sincerely appreciate your answer Kevin K.

Secondly, I was not undermining the trade of photography besides noting some stereotypes of snarky untalented photographers. Of course I know there are photographers with genius visions and really know to manipulate angles and lighting to evoke certain emotions from people. I am also aware of the extensive details evolved in mastering photography. HOWEVER, I asked a specific questions that just needed a specific answer with some guidance, such as how Kevin K. answered. If I said I wanted to sing pleasantly to the ear, would you direct me to a Music 101 class where I would study the history of music and different periods such as classicism and romanticism as well as studying structures and forms of lieders and symphonies? I’m not trying to be the digital Picasso; I just asked if I needed any extra equipment to take aesthetically pleasing portraits for crying out loud! My area of study is just as extensive as yours for more information.
And the reason why I stereotyped some undeserving photographers is because that’s how you responded towards me. Instead of giving me a specific answer to my question, you acted exactly how those unqualified condescending photographers act. And top advice? According to 75% of these answers, the "advice" I was given was basically mean spirited humor and abrasive useless answers. If that’s top advice then I don’t want it! I’m glad you don’t care about receiving 10 points on Yahoo!Answers as I hope you have more important goals in your life than that, such as getting beautiful results from your photography!

OK you’ve been flamed over your question, I understand why but it is possible to learn this stuff. You will have to put some time & effort into learning to use a DLSR manually and learning about off camera lighting, but its not an esoteric art that takes a lifetime to learn so lighten up folks!

Kevin K has given some practical advice but that website (CGIpix) does have a lot of poorly explained misinformation.

A D80 is a good starting point, the D90 suggested by Kevin K would be a substantial upgrade but its bell & whistles are not necessary.

Given the camera body, what you then want are good lenses and good light. Good lenses usually means good primes (50mm f1.8 or 85mm f1.8 are good choices). You can however use some general zooms too – your first link was shot with the Nikkor 18-200mm lens & I use this for some studio work.

Most of those links you posted are to shots done in natural light, but seeing as you asked about additional lighting terms I’ll add the following.

Lighting can be studio style flashes (monoblocs) which are for the most part mains electricity (although some systems allow battery packs for outdoor/location shoots but these can be expensive). or a hotshoe flash (speedlight) based system. Both are often referred to as ’strobes’. David Hobby in his Strobist blog concentrates principally on speedlight systems – well worth a read as a starting point;
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html

Go to Lighting 101 & a short way down the page there is a handy little vid on the basics.

Speedlights are lightweight & portable – ideal for indoors & for location shooting being battery operated.

Bare flash (whether it be from a monobloc or speedlight) can be good but it creates hard shadows (the bigger the light source the softer the shadows) so to make a small light source large you add modifiers such as umbrellas & softboxes. These make the light larger & more diffuse & give soft edge shadows. Umbrellas generally allow more light ’spill’ everywhere, softboxes have less spill.
If you want hard light, then you use bare flash or make the size even smaller by using a snoot (a sort of tube) which concentrates the light into a smaller area.

The important thing is how you trigger the flash (off camera) when you press the shutter button on the camera. There’s several ways but radio triggers are popular because they are reliable have good range & you don’t have wires trailing everywhere. I use RF602 triggers – you have a transmitter that goes on the hotshoe of the camera and a receiver for each of the flashes.

There are things to remember when shooting flash – the camera has a maximum sync speed (that synchronises the opening of the shutter with the flash firing) usually around 1/200 or 1/250 sec. If you try to shoot with a shutter speed faster, then the shutter curtain starts to close & you see a black band appear across the image, or its all black. The slower the shutter speed the more ‘ambient’ light is allowed into the image. It is the aperture that principally controls the flash exposure and the shutter speed that controls the ambient light exposure.

If you have the cash – Zack Arias’s One Light DVD is well worth it (Google it for a link).

I would link to my Flickr stream but the front page has some adult content (18+). If you have a Flickr account, let me know your link & I’ll add you.

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I took my kids to get outdoor professional pictures taken and noticed that the photographer had the same camera as we do, a Nikon D80. The pictures came out beautifully and i feel like we should be able to get the same or similar effect if we used the same lense she did. We have a 50 mm/1.8D. she said she used a 50mm lense. Should i get a wide angle lense? Is there an accessory like a hood that i should get? My pictures don’t come out like hers do – i’m sure some of it has to do with her skill & expertise – but in some of the pictures the boys were just sitting on a stoop and she sat directly in front of them and clicked away. They had that beautiful professional picture look – sharp focus yet soft looking. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

The simple reason your pictures don’t come out the same as the pro’s is because they know what they are doing and have learnt how to use the light, angles, composition etc etc.

Nothing to do with the camera or equipment.