Lens Shopping! *Warning, a bit dry if you're not interested in this*

So, I lied. The whole one-a-day didn't happen this week. I'm going to go ahead and blame the photography internship! Time well-spent and fun but not conducive to dedicating time to the blog... But I am currently chock-full of new information regarding lens shopping for my D5000. Awesome AWESOME camera although it doesn't pair with some lenses because it doesn't have an auto-focus (AF) motor in the actual body and so in order for auto focus to work, it needs to have a lens that has an AF motor built into the lens. This has been a pain trying to figure out, it'd be nice if people just stated it clearly rather than requiring me to wade through a ton of useless and unclear articles...

I do have a godsend though: Ken Rockwell D5000. Ken Rockwell is amazing. The only drawback is that since he reviews so much, he can't cover EVERYTHING and so there's still quite a bit of independent research to be done. So the goals I had this week were to find a super wide angle (wide angle appears to only be 18mm to 30-ish mm and I definitely wanted to go wider which means have a lower mm), a telephoto (not quite sure where the mm of the telephoto begins but I'm guessing 55mm and up), and a standard 35mm portrait lens. I have thus far purchased the telephoto and a fisheye (it just kinda crept into my shopping cart...). With limited funds, I have found the 35mm and will wait to purchase it until later, when I actually have money. This likewise applies to the super wide angle which is surprisingly pricey.

So, to begin. The telephoto was almost the easiest to decide on. I ended up opting for the 55-200mm Nikon lens because the lens that the D5000 comes with is 18-55mm and so I thought that it might make a better coverage. The sites that I've gone for have been: B&H Photo Video, Cameta Camera, Newegg.com, Amazon.com, and Adorama.com. Cameta and Newegg aren't that helpful. I bought mine refurbished by Nikon so I'm not too worried and it was cheaper! Always to be appreciated.

B&H Photo Video Nikon 55-200mm

There was a 70-300mm that was tempting me but from the reviews that Ken Rockwell gave, it wasn't entirely necessary. Eventually I'll upgrade to the 300mm but the 200mm is ample for now! The tip that I had to figure out after some research is that the D5000 is a DX camera meaning it is not a full-frame FX camera (these are the high end pro Nikon cameras and the film cameras).  Also, with a telephoto, vibration reduction (VR) is extremely important because with such a high zoom, it is noticeable when the camera is not held completely still. I don't have a tripod, so it will all be hand held shooting for me! 

Now, after doing preliminary research on the super/ultra wide angle, I found it too confusing and too depressing with the high prices sooooo I started looking up fisheyes! Fisheye lenses are awesome and fun, and while others may say they can be difficult or get boring easily, I beg to differ. Here is an example:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4456330924_96568f7a21.jpg

The Nikon AF DX Fisheye-NIKKOR 10.5mm f/2.8G ED is the really expensive one. It goes for around $650 to $750. I don't have the funds for that soooo, I have opted for my first non-Nikon brand lens! Now this was, not to put too fine a point on it, a pain in the @$$. There are so many off-brands and it's hard to compare them. Also, having grown up overseas, I have an extreme paranoia of knockoff items (fine for clothes, not so fine for electronics). After hours upon hours of research I finally narrowed my choice down to the Pro-Optic 8mm fisheye ($289.99) and the Rokinon 8mm fisheye ($284.85):

Pro-Optic 8mm f3.5 Fish-Eye lens

Rokinon Aspherical Fisheye

I finally figured out that the Rokinon brand is the same as Bower, Opteka, and Samyang. The Pro-Optic is a version of this exact same lens although apparently it is the Adorama house brand. I went for the Pro-Optic because Ken Rockwell gave an exact review of it and there didn't seem to be a difference. Both don't autofocus or meter (this has something to do with exposure) with my D5000, the only ones that do are the pricier models. I sucked it up since it's not such a big deal with a fish eye since the photos taken with this lens are for long distance and don't need as much fine tuning.

They look almost exactly the same don't they? The difference between the two seem to be that the Pro-Optic takes more of a wide angle view as opposed the more extreme distortion of a traditional fisheye.

Okay, so now that I finally figured out two of these lenses, I finally turned my attention back to the ultra/super wide angle lens. Again, after hours of searching I think I've decided on getting the Sigma 10mm-20mm ($479)! It is one of the cheapest out there and is pretty good quality:

Sigma 10-20mm f4.5

I was torn between the Tokina 11mm-16mm, the Tamron 11mm-18mm, and this Sigma. The Nikon 12mm-24mm DX was right out ($900 and up). While Ken Rockwell gives a favorable review of the Tokina, it isn't autofocus compatible with the D5000:

Ken Rockwell Wide Zooms Comparison

Plus, the Sigma is 1mm less, which probably isn't THAT important but it makes me feel better =) Here is an example of what this kind of ultra/super wide angle can do:

http://cache.foxsaver.com/thumbnails/2008/04/10/392993651l.jpg

As a helpful guide to what is compatible with the D5000, here is a great site:

Nikonians Compatibility

None of the photos are mine since I haven't received the new lenses and I haven't really gotten to shoot my own pictures recently but soon soon soon!

Ohhh! Here is something cool that I finally figured out: people kept referring to ghosts in the photos and I had no idea what that meant but now I do =) When you point the camera at a bright light or there is a strong light source nearby, small little circles can appear on the screen and those are ghosts:

http://www.angelsghosts.com/images/lens_flare_ghost_picture_112008a.jpg

That's it for now! I'll be sure to post what these lenses can actually do when I receive them =)