HI,
After my old lens has been damaged I need to look for something new. I use a Nikon D50, so not a pro camera but it's good enough so far. I also have a D70 but there is not much difference between the two, so I mostly use the D50 as it is a bit lighter. I got a few lenses which are all not very pro either, some of them I got from my dad who has an analog Nikon, and my wife had also a couple of lenses. Here a quick rundown on what I got;
all lense have no VR
Nikkor DX 18-55mm Kit lens - not a very good lens I almost never use it since I have a 18-125mm
Nikkor 50mm 1.8 - a good standard lens with a sharp image, however I rarely use it as it is very limited for bushwalking, so only for portraits and stuff like that
Sigma 55-200 3.5-5.6 came with the body in the beginning(yes I made the mistake of buying the camera as a kit ) this lens is sharper than my 70- 300mm but again I rarely use it
Sigma 70-300mm 4-5.6 - When I bought this lens I thought it was a bargain and it wasn't really expensive. However I quickly lost interest in it and now only use it when I go to watch car races or stuff like that. F4 is not very useful too.
Sigma 28-70mm - this is one of my dad's lenses, never really used it.
Sigma 18-125mm 3.5-5.6 - I really like this lens as it covers a good range from wideangle to tele, whitout pushing it to far. the image is good but could be a bit more crisp and sharp like the 50mm. The lens is surely not perfect or pro, but for bushwalking I find it ideal, though sometimes I wish a bit more wide angle. Normally this is the lens I take everywhere and now it's broken.
As I have repaired a few of my dad's lenses before, I have tried to repair this one too but it is hopeless as there are some electronic's ruined. The lens is still working, but the autofocus has it's problems and more importantly the apature does not go below 5.6 anymore and there is no way to adjust it manually. As I said I really liked the lens and would somehow not mind to buy the same one, but as I now have the chance I would not mind to find something better.
The price tag should not exceed 500 $ however I had a look at the 16-85mm Nikkor and would probably be willing to pay 800 if it is an outstanding lens. I'm also willing to buy second hand if the price and quality is good.
So, I look forward to what you got to say. If there is interst we could also try to create a database of lenses we use with some information about it. I think walkinTas is also looking for advise, he is using Olypus though.
thanks,
Sam