I am planning on purchasing the Nikon D40. It’s my first SLR carmera and I plan to use it on trips around the world (you might only go once so might as well take good pictures). I only want to take pics of landscape and architecture and hopefully only have to buy one lens instead of having to keep switching lenses. What would you recommend?
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Excellent. The D40 is a great choice. I recommend it, even though I don’t own one (they weren’t out when I shopped).
When traveling, I found that I usually ended up taking wide shots rather than zoom. It seems like I’m always trying to take it all in, rather than scope out some little thing far away. Also, wide lenses take in more light for in doors and low light situations. In fact, my zooms almost never made it out of the case. Most often, I could use the digital zoom then I really wanted something far away, like an bird or airplane.
Unless you are bird watching, I would suggest the lenses starting at 18mm. Spend a little more to get lenses that go from 18mm into the beginning zoom category; (90MM?) it’s unlikely you will take the time to switch lenses when you are on the move with travel companions and on a tight schedule to see the sights.
Wellll…depends on how you see the world.
Landscape and architecture means wide-angle to me, so the kit lens (18-55) is in the ball park.
However, Nikon makes a very nice 12-24 which would probably be my choice. Unfortunately it costs about twice as much as the camera.
There’s no combo 12-55 so I’ll recommend the 18-70. It’s better optically than the 18-55, has reasonably wide coverage and gets you a bit of tele.
Definitely a compromise, but that would be my 1-lens kit.
HTH.
I spent some time this summer touring China with my D70 and the only lens I brought was my Nikon 18-200mm VR. The 18mm gave a fairly good wide-angle (though you might want a wider one in some scenic situations) and the 200mm did a great job of bringing in details from temples and other sights.
The best feature was the VR (Vibration Reduction) which virtually eliminated the need for a tripod.
Here are some images shot with a D40 and the same lens.
I hope this helps.
I traveled for nine and a half weeks using a 12-24mm for landscapes, seascapes and architectural images. The rest of the time I used a 24-85mm F/2.8 Macro lens.
When traveling, changing lenses is a small chore when compared to coming back with “missed” images because you only took one lens.
The 18-200mm lens it the hot ticket right now and it has VR. If I had to only use on lens, this would be the one. But that said, I would have loved to have a 10.5mm lens on that trip last year.
Nikon 18-200mm VR lens is great but expensive. Assuming that D40 comes packaged with a 18-55mm lens, I would rather buy another D40 body with a Nikon 55-200mm VR lens for about the same price as that of the Nikon 18-200 VR lens.
The Nikon 55-200 is a high quality lens. Very sharp with Vibration Reduction. Check the Popular Photography review.
This way you have one D40 with 18-55mm lens and another D40 with 55-200. Not only you are covered in the range of 18-200mm but if one camera body breaks down, you have the other to use. Most of the time I use the small and light 18-55mm for landscapes. I travel with a D80 with 18-55 lens and a D50 with 55-200 VR lens. I am going to take the same camera-lens combinations to China in a couple of months.
If you want ONE lens, get the 18-200. No matter that it’s “expensive,” because this is your once in a lifetime trip. The price has dropped somewhat anyhow.
Here’s my standard praise for the lens:
Consider the popular Nikon 18-200 VR lens. Okay, it’s not the world’s PERFECT lens, but it is not too shabby. All zoom lenses are a compromise compared to single focal length lenses. Go here and read Rockwell’s review:
Here is the Nikonians Forum review:
Go here and look at the sample images. Click on them to view them full screen. If you click at least once in the white space, your cursor will turn into a magnifier when you scroll it back over the image. Click again over the image and it will zoom to 100% size so you can really examine the image.
“Optically, this lens is the best superzoom we’ve seen, though it’s not compatible with Nikon teleconverters, extension rings, or coupled macro bellows. It also costs about $300 more than third-party digital-only glass. But are extremely rugged construction, unusually well-controlled distortion, and four extra handholdable speeds worth the extra bucks? That, and more.”
Here are some of my own photos taken with the 18-200 VR lens, showing the versatility of the lens. These were all taken with the D200 and 18-200 VR lens. Read any comments below the photos for more information.
See also:
I love the Tokina 12-24 Super wide zoom….Great for landscapes and architecture… Got a barely used one at Amazon for under $400..
