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Camera info and online instruction at KenRockwell.com
September 6, 2008
I was given a Sigma lens for a Nikon 70 (film SLR) years ago, and then started using it on my Nikon D80 (digital SLR) this past year with mixed results. I won’t go into why I felt short-handed with the old lens, but will say that I was not entirely unhappy when I dropped the camera right on the lens while cavorting with the dogs down by the Yellowstone River. The ground was pretty soft, and the D80 is unscathed, thank goodness. However, I now have an excuse to buy a new and better lens. (I will confess that I am neither a patient or a gifted amateur photographer, but I know very well that fine pictures can be achieved with inexpensive or inferior lenses. In short, I will not blame my tools.)
In the process of deciding what to get in a new lens–something that can be overwhelming if you need to brush up on everything you ever sort of knew about lens behaviors, from focal lengths to vibration reduction–I came across this great Web site: http://www.kenrockwell.com. Ken Rockwell is a photographer who knows a wide range of equipment, and–best of all in my former-tech-writer/instructor heart–he knows how to talk about it. I’d zeroed in on the Nikon 18-200mm for its versatility (less lens changing) and its VR (vibration reduction, goodbye tripod!), but I wanted to see what other options there were. Were there less expensive alternatives? Should I get two lenses instead? I got more useful information, in language I could understand, from this site than the six or seven others that I visited this morning combined.
I like how Ken describes the alternatives in a meaningful way, and how he discusses the values of each proposition without being dogmatic or a spokesperson for any one manufacturer or online retailer. If you’ve looked at comparison charts for camera or lens purchases and come away scratching your head, this is the site for you. The only thing that Ken asks in return for his comprehensive Web site (and I know what it takes to maintain and update a Web site like that) is that you click through to some of the vendors he mentions when it is time to buy. These are not odious pop-ups that get in your way; they are inline links to dealers with whom he has actually done business, and Ken is up to date on who is offering special pricing.
I really appreciated the insights I got into my lens options, and I do think I’ll get the Nikon 18-200mm VR. But I’m afraid that my die-hard principles about buying local will forbid my purchasing online via one of Ken’s links. I’m heading off to the excellent camera store where I have been buying my equipment for as long as I’ve been in Montana: F11 Photographic Supplies (16 East Main Street in downtown Bozeman, 888-548-0203 or 406-586-3281). Sorry about that Ken, but thanks for the hard work and thought you put in to your incredibly helpful Web site. [By the way, Ken will also take donations of old camera gear so he can write about it (you'll get online recognition), or PayPal donations to fill out the equipment he needs so that he can review and write about the older gear–all stuff that will help him keep the site useful and up to date. But none of this is required for you to cruise through a wealth of information.]
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For a video tour of the lens mentioned, see this good, short clip at CameraLabs.com. Then you really must go to Ken Rockwell’s more extensive discussion of the lens.
For Nikon D80 usage insights that go well beyond the Nikon manual, check out Ken’s D80 User Guide. And for all-around useful photographic techniques, photo software how-to, and gear assessments, check out the rest of KenRockwell.com. Ken includes online galleries of his own excellent work, and–get this!–he also has some “teaching galleries” that give you details about how the shots were achieved. Ken also generously directs you to other artists, including links to folks like Galen Rowell and Jerry Uelsmann, and Edward P. Richards, who is new to me, but whose photos offer a unique and evocative view into the post-Katrina world of Gulf country. (For an eloquent and suggestive image that captures how the US government failed the people of New Orleans–my interpretation–check out this Edward Richards photograph taken in a 9th Ward warehouse destroyed by the hurricane. ) All of that and more; I can’t say enough good stuff about this Web site.
As for the lens I buy, I’ll let you know how it works out.
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