Well, So Much for That

Yesterday, I wrote about not falling pray to the lure of all that photographic goodness at the camera store. Last night, we went to Penn Camera, to look at and possibly purchase a macro lens for Donna. She ended up ordering a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens. In fairness, I did say that she probably ought to have a good macro lens, and this one will do a nice “double duty” as a long portrait lens (very good for head shots). For medium length portraits, we have the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D.

After some thought, I decided that I really ought to start moving up to some faster lenses. While all the f/3.5+ lenses I have are pretty good, they’re not really fast enough for weddings and events. And, while that’s not presently my primary shooting effort, I do do the occasional wedding. And, with careful choices, I can greatly simplify my kit.

I spent a good deal of time with the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8, which I decided will be my next lens. On my D70s, it will translate out to, effectively, a 42-112mm lens, which is an excellent range for wedding work. It also very neatly fills the range between my Toking 12-24 f/4 (which I won’t ever be getting rid of!), and any of the 70-200-or-so f/2.8 zooms that I may buy in the future. That will allow me to drop at least one lens from my bag — for 90% of my shooting, I’ll be able in great shape with just a couple of lenses, and occasionally need to carry three. Right now, I carry five!

• An interesting aside here … back when I was shooting Canons, I usually opted for Sigma lenses. I found that they just worked better with the Canon bodies then the Tamrons did. Now that I’m shooting Nikon, I’m finding that I’m liking the Tamrons and Tokinas better. Odd, but it seems like I’m not the only one. In reading online forums and reviews, it just seems that the Sigmas don’t work as well on Nikon bodies (although, my Sigma 28-135 has been flawless). I’m not sure what’s up with that.

So, the steps in my better/faster lens upgrade “program” will be:

1. Get the Tamron 28-75
2. Sell off the Nikkor 18-70
3. Sell off the Sigma 28-135
4. Get an f/2.8 long zoom, (though I don’t know which one yet)
5. Sell of the Tamron 70-300 f/3.5-5.6
6. Get a 2X converter for the long zoom?

Numbers 4, 5 and 6 will depend on how much wildlife I decide to shoot. I really don’t do a lot of that now, but who knows. With the right lenses, it may actually become enjoyable.

So, have I fallen into “the trap,” or is this just my answer to that rhetorical question I posed yesterday, or, is it what I should have done from the beginning — a reasoned, planned approach to lens selection that will serve me well no matter what I’m shooting?