I need some help from our resident photographers

[Lakesrider]

Ummm.....Don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't buy a thing for her. Yet. There is nothing wrong with the lens she has now. Let her learn with that one. If she can't she isn't going to learn with a telephoto. Actually the pictures will be worse. She should learn to shoot from the hip first, then a tri-pod. She needs to learn the weight and balance of the camera. A sort of become one with the thing....thing. Plus it is a film camera. Nice camera of course. Great for black and white film too. Just see how she takes to photography for a while. Who is teaching her? She might want to go digital right away. So consider if any of her "new" lenses will go on say a D60 or D80 as well. Myself....I'd put the money toward a Digital camera instead. More practical, more sellable if she doesn't like it. Prices are great right now on the D60. Look at B&H photo. Ask for a catalog. She should like to look through it. Also take her to a good museum with a photography exibit. Get her stoked. It is a great field. I've been taking pictures with film camera, and am now still learning all the things my D80 will do. The new cameras are amazing.

Oh an a great way to get involved at her school is doing the yearbook. If they still do that anymore....looks good on a college application.

Just my $.0000000000000000000000000000002

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Lakesrider

She might want to go digital right away. So consider if any of her "new" lenses will go on say a D60 or D80 as well. Myself....I'd put the money toward a Digital camera instead. More practical, more sellable if she doesn't like it. Prices are great right now on the D60. Look at B&H photo. Ask for a catalog. She should like to look through it. Also take her to a good museum with a photography exibit. Get her stoked. It is a great field. I've been taking pictures with film camera, and am now still learning all the things my D80 will do. The new cameras are amazing.

I'm going to agree with Lakesrider here, I probably wouldn't spend any $$ on new lenses just yet. If she decides she likes photography she'll want to go digital and drop the film based camera. These days digital is sooo much easier to do and cheaper too ! And if you're just learning, the immediate feedback you get w/digital is a big plus. You get to experiment w/o having to wait (and pay) for film to get developed and so figure out what works and what doesn't while it's still fresh in the mind. So the question then is, will she go Nikon for her future camera ? Certainly no reason not too, though I wouldn't use the existing lens as a firm reason to go Nikon vs Canon or Sony or ???.

FWIW the N6006 has an F mount. F mount lenses will not autofocus on Nikon's D40, D40x or D60. To use it she'd need to step up to the uber new D90 or last years D80 (or possibly an older D70 - 6 MP). The lens she has is probably a f/3.3-4.5 and worth maybe $50-70 today. Now if she had the constant f/2.8D lens ... wells that's another story ($400+). You should see this link to see what lens is which. Even then I would probably opt to go digital w/o worrying much about compatibility with the existing lens. Figure out what camera feels best in her hand and then go from there. Fanatics can debate the picture quality differences but IMHO whatever small differences there may be pale in comparison to the talent behind the camera. For that matter you can get very good pictures from point'n'shoots and "super-zooms" under most conditions. dSLRs really only "rule" when things are dark or fast moving, though I have to say having gotten used to a good optical viewfinder I find it frustrating to use an LCD for framing.


ps - Remember if you do go Nikon digital (D70/80/90) that 35-70 lens will act like a 52 - 105 mm due to the crop factor. Not a bad short tele but she'll eventually want to go both wider (28mm) and longer (210 - 300mm) and so at some point new lenses will enter the picture.

[jeffk]

I would agree with others who suggested not to invest hundreds in lenses for a non digital camera. I think it is very likely that someone who really gets hooked will want to go digital. The ease of management, economics of no cost for taking lots and lots of pictures and printing only those you really want, and ability to manipulate the image via software creates enormous flexibility.

You might want to consider some camera filters; polarizers, UV filters, warming filters, and even special effects filters. These can be lots of fun to experiment with and if carefully chosen may be transferred to a newer camera. Go chat with people in a camera store for ideas.

I have the same Nikon N6006 camera your daughter has and I have 2 lenses, a 28 - 80 mm zoom for close work and a 70-210 mm zoom for other work. Zoom lenses allow you to frame a shot to your exact satisfaction. This is less valuable in the digital world since you can use software to crop and reframe but very nice in the film world where the shot you set up for is the one you get.

If you are set on a lens I would go with a zoom lens rather than a wide angle. I had a wide angle for my last camera and although it made some shots possible I used the zoom far more often. In addition, just because it is a Nikon camera doesn't mean you have to get a Nikkor lens. The Nikkor lenses are, as you would expect, generally VERY good. And, as you would expect, you pay through the nose for them. I got Quantaray lenses (Ritz camera house brand, rebranded Sigma lenses) and I have been very happy with them and they are much more reasonably priced.

If I made my living at photography I would get the Nikkor lenses. But for a beginner who who might want to change to digital and need a whole new set of lenses anyway the moderate priced lens may be a better choice for now.