for $5k, can i get....

d200
70-200mm vr
wide lens (suggestions?)
fishy (suggestions?)
battery grip
4-8gb cf card

20-200 $900
d200 body $1400
Wide Lens Nikon 12-24 $900.00
Card SanDisk 8 gb $140
Battery grip $200
Nikon 10.5 Fisheye $650.00

thanks rich. i'm not so sure about a 10.5 fishy. i will probably go with the 16mm.

also, i'm considering switching to canon. maybe buy a used 30d and used lenses; 70-200 2.8l is, 16-35 2.8, and 15 fishy.

(Message edited by dakid on April 23, 2007)

Hey Joe,

You can get a good used 1D2 now in the very low 2's. I just bought a refurb 1D2 for $2300, will be getting it thur. I'm still on a waiting list for the new 1D3 but I probably will wait til next year for that.

After looking at a lot of 1D2 files I decided there is plenty of IQ there for me even though I really wanted to keep it at 10mp. If you do go Canon I'd take a hard look at the new 70-200 f4L IS, as I've posted here before it's got the best IQ of any of the 70-200 Canon L's.

The f4L IS is weather sealed so if you ended up with that and a 1D2 or 2N you've got a rig that you won't have to worry about out in the boat.

Plus the 15mm's are more fishy because of the larger sensor in the 1 series.

Here's another breakdown:
Canon 1D2: $2200
70-200 f2.8 non IS or 4LIS: $1050
Canon or sigma 15mm FE: $350 - $500
WA: Tamron 17-35 f2.8-4: $300 or Canon 17-40L f4: $600

Joe, thats exactly what I did back in march. For a little over 5k (approx 5200) i got:

the D200
the 70-200mm vr
the 12-24mm
one sb800
one extra battery
the vertical grip
a 2.0 lens baby
two 4gig flash cards
a new camera bag

and I feel like I'm forgetting something... but that's all the major stuff. So far, I love the setup. Still working on customizing things and there are a few more things I'd like to get, but wait... there always will be.

rson - 20-200? do you mean the 18-200? I have that lens. waited nearly 3 months for it ($750) It is very very good outside in the sunlight. Indoors, the aperature isn't big enough for pics without a lot of overhead light and flashes. But to be able to go from a wide angle to 200mm with the twist of a wrist is awesome.

Then again, I have never used a 28-70 or 70-200 f/2.8 so I have nothing to compare it to.

It's a lot of money to spend for a fisheye. I don't imagine using the fishy except for a couple of specialty shots.

joe,

why dont you get a canon and some real lenses like the canon "l" series ?



(Message edited by clubmyke on April 24, 2007)

Oh yeah....I meant that.

That is the next lens on my list.

Canon 1 series is easier to keep clean then Nikon - just spray it down with the hose!


(Message edited by richd on April 24, 2007)

Canon is supposed to have a better lense system. I went with a D200 because of the underwater housing choices. Specifically I wanted a Sea & Sea housing, not Ikelite.

Rich is about dead on, for pricing. The 18-200mm lense can be had for $750 if you want to wait. I got mine for $819 to my door, but that company uped the price even.

The 12-24mm lense is a pleasure to have, but instead of getting a Nikkor lense, I went with the Tokina, which has received great reviews, for $450. Cashed in all my pocket change at Coinstar and took it as an Amazon.com coupon, to pay for the lense

There are many people that use a 10.5mm lense. I am going to be getting a 60mm macro lense for shooting underwater mostly and for shooting flowers etc.

The Sandisk Extreme III 4 gigs are going for around $54 delivered off Ebay, which is not a bad way to go.

This is a great website for info www.nikonians.com but you have to register, which is free.

Peter -

Do you find the 12-24 is good for indoor shots? At f/4 seems kind of slow. But since getting my Nikkor 18-200... I've been really enjoying my shots at 18 mm

You have a little left over.....get a SB800 flash

How about a Canon 40D?

12 mp, 5 fps, 40 frame buffer, self cleaning sensor, ISO 6400, new 19 point AF, digic 3 processing with 14bit color, Liveview.

All for $1399.00

clubmyke, only rookies that don't know how to use their cameras say things like that.

rich, wow! when's the 40d comin' out?

if i stick w/ nikon, i'm probably going to get the 17-55 2.8 for wide and the 16mm fishy. the 10.5 is "too fishy" for my taste.

Just Vaporware in my imagination at this point.

I think canon will intro something this fall and I'm just guessing at the specs, it would be a nice body and some competition for the D200 if it's anything like I listed. I'm sure features from the new mkIII will filter down to all of Canon's future offerings.

You probably don't want to wait that long.

joe -

when do you want to head out ?

Well if the 40D is announced, that's good news for Joe because it'll mean the prices for the 20D and 30D will fall through the floor!

Do you think that Canon is gonna run dual chips in a pro-sumer body? Maybe they'll just use one digic 3 chip for the 40D to keep cost down? Obviously Canon has a history of letting the higher end tech trickle down into the pro-sumer bodies, but it's always kept a separation between them.

I could see the twin digic III chips ending up in the next high end model (1DsmkIII?) because if it's 20+ MP it would need it to maintain any kind of reasonable shooting rate/buffer. I would doubt the twin configuration would ever end up in a non 1 series but who knows. I'm sure the digic 3 will be in all future Canon bodies. That's what happened after the digic II was introduced.

Don't get the 16mm fish-eye with the D200. The 16mm is designed for full frame so when you use it on your D200's cropped sensor you are going to lose a lot of the fish effect.

For me F4 s too slow for indoor stuff especially since you wil be fighting the noise at higher ISO.

I think the 18-200VR is over-rated. On the other hand I absolutely love the 70-300VR. They are both "sunny day" lenses when it comes to sports though.

The D40 is a toy compared to the D200

For the price it is hard to beat the D200 seeing as though it's competition is the 5D which is a bit more expensive

I love my sima 8mm FE. I use it on a 30d and it works great.

sigma 8mm

Spin2Win.....good fishy effect from the Sigma 8MM on the 30D...??

Looking for a fisheye...

Remember the Canon 15mm FE was designed for film cameras. When I used it on the 20D most of the time it just looked like a wide angle shot. If you want a true fisheye effect on a 1.6X sensor the 8mm is a must.

hell yea..the lens rocks. I took some shots from the tube this week ill try and post them up soon.