Calling all photographers
I have a d90 with a nikon 18-105 and a tamron 70-300 thats all i have what should i buy to improve my camera bag… Plus i want this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/...8wt_1224is it a good move or should i pay around a £100 more for a nikon grip
I was in the same boat as you about two years ago, I went with a similar grip for my canon, it has worked well for me, the extra batteries have really helped. Good enough quality for the money you are saving.
As far a lenses go, I suggest buying primes. I say this because it was the route I took. I have found that zooms tend to make you lazy, also they hand cuff you by not allowing you to shoot in different lighting situations. I'm talking aperture. I have a flash I can use, two of them in fact, but Rarely will I use them. I have found that buy buying the 30mm F1.4, 50mm F1.4 85MM F1.4 and 200MM F2.8 I have not only no need for flash less night or indoor photography, but my images are considerably sharper, plus I have the added effect of super shallow depth of field. These lenses are more compact than the zooms, but can be more expensive to. Usually they do not have image stabilization, in fact none of my lenses have IS, but aside form the 200mm if I keep my shutter speeds faster than 1/80 of a second I don't need IS.
The great news is that all of these wonderful primes except for the 200mm are made by Sigma and come in a Nikon Mount. The 50mm is a bit more expensive than the Nikon 50mm but is a much better lens when it comes to vignettes and Chromatic Aberration.
If you still don't want to invest in primes, I suggest a Super wides zoom, like a 10-20mm or a macro lens, many companies including sigma, nikon and tamron make several models of both types.
I would also suggest a super telephoto lens, like the 150-500mm from sigma, or the nikon equivalent. This lens does have Image stabilizer, but you will hardly be hand holding it due to it's weight. It's not a bad lens for the price.
The last thing I have to say is that in all camera bags we have several types of lenses, this is because there's never one perfect all around lens, you have two good zooms, my advice would be to have two great primes a 50mm and an 85mm these two will give you great portrait ability and image quality when walking around. From there a great wide angle is never bad, and a super zoom down the road if you are into taking pictures of birds and the like.
I think I'd be inclined to get a good speedlight first. Something you can tilt and swivel the head on. Also an omnibounce diffuser for the speedlight. After that, a good tripod. A lot of people try to save money on tripods… They'll spend serious money on a lens or a flash but balk at spending $300 on a tripod. I think it's better to get one good tripod that will do the job properly than struggling with $50 worth of rubbish.
Don't just buy gadgets just for the sake of it, buy only what you actually need. If you have large hands and shoot in portrait mode a lot then a grip can help, it gives you somewhere to park your 'pinkie' finger. Your camera will work all day on it's internal battery unless your rattling off 100's of shots.
My advice would be to join a club, the UK is full of good ones. You can see what other members are turning out, you can try different genre's, members will be ready with advice and tell you how they got the images they got. You can go on shoots with experienced photographers which is probably the quickest way there's to learn photography. You can see how you compare in competitions.
Play with what you've got, you may decide a Macro lens is for you, or a 'Nifty Fifty' with it's wide aperture and selective focus, or a wide angle for Landscapes, or, heaven forbid, even a fish-eye. In a club you can often try before you buy, members are usually very helpful here and will let you borrow gear so you can see what each lens offers (and what it doesn't).
You might go on a different route and want to do portrait with flash, then your in 'buying mode' again. Light stands, flash, light modifiers, radio triggers, our club has these for use by the members.
http://westfield-photo.org/index.html