Nov 13 2008
My Wish List …
Today, while having lunch with some friends, we got into discussion of what guys and girls are crazy about. Well, as usual girls are crazy for the latest collection of handbags, jewelry, clothes and guys the latest cars, motorbikes and etc. I thought for a while. I like beautiful cars, I used to like collection of guns but my latest craze are over photography equipments. I find myself, looking at the same lens, camera body at the same website almost everyday without fail. I have not really thought of when to get and how much damage it will make to my pocket credit card if I was to buy all of them in short. Therefore, a while ago I made a list of things I want to get for my new found interest. And guess what…
I need to have at least RM26,610 to own the camera body, lenses and speedlight flash. Even reducing down to the basic equipments I still need approximately RM18,000 (excluding other accessories like good tripod, bags and etc). That is a huge sum of money to invest into. I guess as for now, I still have to rely on my faithful Nikon D60 and its kit lens. All I need now is to work harder, save harder and pray harder so that one day I will own all of them. I have to keep telling myself during this period:-
“All that I can perceive, I can receive”
Here are some of the things I wanna get, complete with name, price and the justification to own it (in case, Juleen was to ask me the next time I wanna buy it..hehe):-
Type: Nikon D300 Digital SLR Camera Body Only (12MP CMOS, Live View)
Current Price: RM4,750
Justification: Nikon had just revised down the price of D300 and this is definitely a good camera to own especially with the new price tag. I think Nikon has done a good job by releasing D300 and definitely the best in its league. I am sorry to say this to the Canon’s enthusiasts. Canon 40D (even 50D - slight improvement of 40D) which people claim is in the same league as D300 is no way better than Nikon D300. Don’t believe me? Just check what dpreview has to say about Nikon D300 as compare to Canon 40D.
Type: Nikon 50mm f/1.4D Normal AF Nikkor Autofocus Lens
Price: RM1,050
Justification: This is a prime lens. Prime lens simply mean single zoom and single aperture lens. It’s inexpensive and light without compromising then picture quality. In fact, prime lens produce sharper picture due to its simple design (less moving parts) which reduces mechanical vibration. Good lens to have for portrait shooting, especially when you are obsess with BOKEH!!
Type: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G Zoom Super Wide Angle AF-S Zoom Nikkor ED Autofocus Lens
Price: RM5,575
Justification: This is a wide angle lens. Good lens to have especially if you wanna take panoramic pictures, my favorite actually. TC (my fund manager) just got one and I tell you, just by looking at the build of the lens itself, you will fall in love with this lens.
Type: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto AF-S Zoom Nikkor ED Autofocus Lens
Price: RM5,395
Justification: Okay, this lens require less justification. As a photographer you simply need to have a lens in the range of 24mm - 70mm (wide angle and zoom). Well, the price tag is a little pricey because this is a single aperture lens. This lens not only useful for multi purpose shooting it is also good in poor lighting environment since it has large aperture size (f2.8, mind you).
Type: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8D G Zoom Telephoto AF VR Zoom Nikkor AF-S ED-IF Autofocus Lens
Price: RM5,950
Justification: No camera is complete without a tele - lens. Good lens to have especially when you wanna capture pictures where you do not want to get too close with the subject. But TC, recently told me this lens is so heavy that you won’t want to carry around too long. “Your hand basically go numb after a while”, he said. Notice, they actually provide the mounting to support the lens using monopod. I would love to have this lens but I can definitely live without it.
Type: Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G Fisheye ED AF DX Fisheye-Nikkor Autofocus Lens for Digital
Price: RM2,295
Justification: Even wider angle lens and it is called fisheye lens. It is so wide that it offers 180 degree of angle - of - view. Good for creative photography. Good to have but also I can live without it too. I think by having a 14 - 24mm lens is good enough.
Type: Nikon SB-900 Speedlight i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash
Price: RM1,595
Justification: New speedlight flash from Nikon. Exceptionally good built and vast improvement from the its predecessor SB-800. Anyway, speedlight flash is never an option for a serious photographer. It is a MUST. I am serious, you know… he he!
…
More about camera accessories and pricing, I greatly recommend:- Shashinki
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Your wish list…. Want me get any lenses for u from Aussie? With the exchange rate now.. pretty good price!
Ruye, with the exception of the fish eye, everything that you’ve got in your wishlist is in mine too.
Time for us to chase some money so that we can chase our dream!
John Puah: Yes, I want you to get me a lens. You say want ar… I didn’t say it. Thank you, John. Yeah, I have lens for free.
Damon: Bro, that is the wrong concept…there should come a point where money just come to us.
bro… wrong lens and body combination, those are all full frame lenses!
if u get a d300 with those lenses ur going to be stuck at some really odd zoom lengths.
either change the body to d700 (at least) or change the lenses to DX lenses (except for the 70-200,which has no DX equivalent).
Oh yeah, you are right Wye Jon..can I use DX lens on my D700 if let say in the “far” future i upgrade to full frame camera? You have enlightened me a lot….so it means, I don’t need that much money to buy those DX equivalent lens.
Well, you can go fully DX or fully FX or even DX body using FX lens.
But u can’t (really shouldn’t) use DX lenses on an FX body.
Reason being that DX lenses gives u a smaller image circle so if you use it on a camera with a bigger sensor such as the FX cameras you will get black borders on your pictures. On the other hand, FX lenses give a bigger image circle than what the DX body requires.
However, if you use FX lenses on a DX body you must apply the crop multiplier which for Nikon bodies is 1.5x. Thus the 14-24mm ultra wide angle lens effectively becomes a 21-36mm lens for your D60 which is even less wide than your kit lens.
Also, I hear the 70-200 performs badly on FX bodies because the sides are not sharp.
While you are at it… Go all the way… Dont stop at D300! Go for D700 or even D3.
You can easily start with only 30-40% of your budget and get a D700 with f2.8 24-70mm, and maybe a SB900 if you have extra budget. That will carry you for a long long time!
full frame is teh phuture!! hahaha
invest only in full frame lenses