Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ?

In article <f2jbq3t405h09137ags8i2agm4sn5bne1k RemoveThis @4ax.com>, tony cooper
<tony_cooper213 RemoveThis @earthlink.net> wrote:

> You want a lens with "DX" in the description to work with the Nikon
> D40.

not quite. dx just means the lens has a smaller image circle and has
limited compatibility with full frame cameras (some focal lengths will
cover the larger frame).

just about every nikon lens ever made will work fine with the d40
(there's a few obscure ones that require mirror lockup that won't
work). unlike other nikon dslrs, the old non-ai lenses can also be
mounted without risk of damage. however, for autofocus to function,
the lens must have its own focus motor, known as af-s or a silent wave
motor.

the 50mm f/1.8 that was suggested is a great lens, but it is not af-s
and it will require manual focusing (but there's a confirmation light
in the viewfinder). sigma makes a 30mm f/1.4 that has an internal
motor (sigma calls it hsm) and that will autofocus, giving a 45mm
equivalent focal length.

moving up to f/2.8, there are quite a few options that will autofocus,
including some excellent zooms from both sigma and nikon.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

tony cooper <tony_cooper213.RemoveThis@earthlink.net> wrote:
>You want a lens with "DX" in the description to work with the Nikon
>D40.

Why? The D40 works just fine with non-DX lenses.

Only the other way round, DX lens on non-DX body, may cause vignetting.

jue
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

On Feb 4, 5:05 am, sally <sa... DeleteThis @sally.com> wrote:
> Beladi Nasrallah <nasra... DeleteThis @inbox.com> wrote in news:a6c562a4-2040-4d58-a022-
> 0344960db... DeleteThis @l32g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
>
> > I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
> > main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light.
>
> For landscape photos, you don't need AF?  Just focus on infinity.  The Nikkor
> 50/1.8 is a great low-light lens for about $100 and works fine with the D40
> (manual focus).

When I said "landscape", I actually meant "city landscape" and
architecture. Focussing is still important.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
> main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light. Thus, I
> am looking for a rather short focal length lens. I want to have a
> fixed focal length. The aperture should be 1/1.4 or 1/1.8. I want the
> lens to be cheap (a few hundred dollars). Obviously, it should have a
> built-in motor. Someone mentioned such a lens around here, but I did a
> search and could not find. Can you advise me ? Thanks.

Doesn't Sigma do a 30mm f/1.4 or something like that? Not sure if it's
AF-S, though.

David
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
> main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light. Thus, I
> am looking for a rather short focal length lens. I want to have a
> fixed focal length. The aperture should be 1/1.4 or 1/1.8. I want the
> lens to be cheap (a few hundred dollars). Obviously, it should have a
> built-in motor. Someone mentioned such a lens around here, but I did a
> search and could not find. Can you advise me ? Thanks.
>
Hi, if you take picture of landscapes, a good old 1/1.4 ai or non-ai
will do.
It is cheap and will work manually only.
But who cares?
You will focus at infinity anyway, is'nt it?
Since the landscape will not disappear in seconds, so guess the speed,
shoot a couple of pictures and take the best speed.
Laszlo
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

David J Taylor wrote:
> Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
>>
>> I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
>> main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light. Thus, I
>> am looking for a rather short focal length lens. I want to have a
>> fixed focal length. The aperture should be 1/1.4 or 1/1.8. I want the
>> lens to be cheap (a few hundred dollars). Obviously, it should have a
>> built-in motor. Someone mentioned such a lens around here, but I did a
>> search and could not find. Can you advise me ? Thanks.
>
> Doesn't Sigma do a 30mm f/1.4 or something like that? Not sure if it's
> AF-S, though.

Yes Sigma HSM lenses will AF on a D40, that one is $640. They also make
20, 24, & 28mm f/1.8 lenses from $370 to $530 without HSM.

If the subject is landscapes though, a tripod might be the best idea.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

"Beladi Nasrallah" <nasralla DeleteThis @inbox.com> wrote in message
news:9b303763-7570-451a-b35e-1c5d9fb67205@1g2000hsl.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 4, 5:05 am, sally <sa... DeleteThis @sally.com> wrote:
> Beladi Nasrallah <nasra... DeleteThis @inbox.com> wrote in
> news:a6c562a4-2040-4d58-a022-
> 0344960db... DeleteThis @l32g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
>
> > I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
> > main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light.
>
> For landscape photos, you don't need AF? Just focus on infinity. The
> Nikkor
> 50/1.8 is a great low-light lens for about $100 and works fine with the
> D40
> (manual focus).

When I said "landscape", I actually meant "city landscape" and
architecture. Focussing is still important.

You might want to look at the tilt/shift lens.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

Beladi Nasrallah <nasralla.TakeThisOut@inbox.com> wrote in news:a6c562a4-2040-4d58-a022-
0344960dbcb1.TakeThisOut@l32g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
> I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
> main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light.

For landscape photos, you don't need AF? Just focus on infinity. The Nikkor
50/1.8 is a great low-light lens for about $100 and works fine with the D40
(manual focus).
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

On Feb 4, 4:09 am, Paul Furman <pa....RemoveThis@-edgehill.net> wrote:
> David J Taylor wrote:
> > Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
>
> >> I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
> >> main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light. Thus, I
> >> am looking for a rather short focal length lens. I want to have a
> >> fixed focal length. The aperture should be 1/1.4 or 1/1.8. I want the
> >> lens to be cheap (a few hundred dollars). Obviously, it should have a
> >> built-in motor. Someone mentioned such a lens around here, but I did a
> >> search and could not find. Can you advise me ? Thanks.
>
> > Doesn't Sigma do a 30mm f/1.4 or something like that?  Not sure if it's
> > AF-S, though.
>
> Yes Sigma HSM lenses will AF on a D40, that one is $640.

Yes, I did a search, and that's what I found (Sigma lens, that is,
which has autofocussing motor). But it is more expensive than Nikkor
50mm f/1.8 which is $130. Actually, here the notorious guy named Ken
Rockwell makes a comparison of Sigma 30mm f/1.4 with the Canon 28mm f/
1.8 lens,
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/28mm-f18.htm

To me, the quality of image is the same (Sigma vs. Canon lens). I
might well get Canon Digital Rebel 400D (XTi), which is of the same
size as Nikon D40. And the price of the Canon lens is slightly less.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 15:01:02 -0800 (PST), Beladi Nasrallah
<nasralla RemoveThis @inbox.com> wrote in
<9b303763-7570-451a-b35e-1c5d9fb67205 RemoveThis @1g2000hsl.googlegroups.com>:

>On Feb 4, 5:05 am, sally <sa... RemoveThis @sally.com> wrote:
>> Beladi Nasrallah <nasra... RemoveThis @inbox.com> wrote in news:a6c562a4-2040-4d58-a022-
>> 0344960db... RemoveThis @l32g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
>>
>> > I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
>> > main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light.
>>
>> For landscape photos, you don't need AF?  Just focus on infinity.  The Nikkor
>> 50/1.8 is a great low-light lens for about $100 and works fine with the D40
>> (manual focus).
>
>When I said "landscape", I actually meant "city landscape" and
>architecture. Focussing is still important.

Really? What subject distance?

--
Best regards,
John Navas
Panasonic DMC-FZ8 (and several others)
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
> sally wrote:
>> Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
>>
>>> I am thinking about buying a small dSLR such as Nikon D40 or D40x. My
>>> main interest is to take pictures of landscapes at low light.
>> For landscape photos, you don't need AF? Just focus on infinity. The Nikkor
>> 50/1.8 is a great low-light lens for about $100 and works fine with the D40
>> (manual focus).
>
> When I said "landscape", I actually meant "city landscape" and
> architecture. Focussing is still important.

20mm f/2.8 on a D80, or a used D50 which actually has pretty good low
light performance.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

John Navas <spamfilter1.TakeThisOut@navasgroup.com> wrote in
news:pujcq317im93k7i5f1dk2ngb3o0942otfh@4ax.com:
>>When I said "landscape", I actually meant "city landscape" and
>>architecture. Focussing is still important.
>
> Really? What subject distance?

This is true. The Nikon 50/1.8 lens doesn't focus beyond 10 meters (30
feet). Anything beyond that is essentially infinity. This is not a
telephoto lens.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ? 

On Feb 4, 11:59 pm, "David J Taylor" <david-tay... DeleteThis @blueyonder.neither-
this-bit.nor-this-bit.co.uk> wrote:

> When deciding between Canon and Nikon, be sure to hold the cameras in the
> shop.

I have already held those Canon and Nikon cameras in my hands, and
took a few snapshots with them. I borrowed them from my colleagues who
had them for work reasons. What stroke me was that both cameras were
compact, and I liked that. I did not find much difference between them
in the compactness factor.

Both cameras had kit lenses on them (18-55 mm ?). The quality of the
pictures was good, but unremarkable. I subscribed it to the quality of
the kit lens.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon D40/D40x + night lens ?