buying new camera...need advice

[woodpecker 0]

Looking at buying a Nikon and lense for macro, etc.....(not skydiving). Any advice on which model, which lense?

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[dragon2 0]

My advice, purely for macro (for anything else you will probably need another lens or two):
Camera: D80 for sure, or if you have the cash a D200, do not buy a D40/x (really). D70s is also ok if you can still find one new, I'd avoid the D50 and D70 myself.
Buy a couple Extreme III or IV cards (CF for D200, SD for D80) and 1 or 2 extra batteries.
Lens: Nikon 105 VR macro or the cheaper and longer sigma 150mm macro, both are great lenses.
Then also buy a SB600 or SB800 flash

And you probably will want to buy or make your own macro flash bracket if you want to do macro in the field. I use mine a lot, it's created from some RAM mount pieces (for GPS mounting) which worked out way cheaper than buying a ready-made one.

See attachements for some pics with D80/Sigma150/SB600 and of my setup.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[woodpecker 0]

Wonderful photos and thanks for the info. Those are the kinds of pics I want to start taking.

Billy

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?