Help in identifying camera accessoreis - lenses/flashes etc.

[taysdad]

Hello,

While a long time lurker on this board, I am a new member and this is my first post.

I am a new hobbyist who has always been fascinated and intrigued by photography. Now that I am at a point in my life where I have a bit of time and money to invest into the hobby, I finally took the plunge and bought a new Nikon D90. As for now, I only have the included Nikon 18-105VR lens. I am looking for some advice as to what other lenses and/or other accessories I should look to buy (and in what order) to maximize my enjoyment of this new camera.

Here is a bit about my personal situation. The primary use of this camera will be for sporting events (photographing my daughter). She plays soccer (outdoor) nearly year round. She is the keeper, so she is almost always 1/2 - 3/4 of the field lenght away from our position. Typically, everything is a daytime game. She also plays volleyball. While the distance is typically shorter, its indoors and the lighting is highly variable depending upon the gymnasium.

My short term budget is about $1000 for additional lenses and accesories. Over time, I will probably spend much, much more, but for right now, this is what I am working with.

My question to this very knowledgable group is "what would you buy and in what ordrer if you were in my shoes?"

Thanks,
Michael

[mtclimber]

Michael-

Note to Moderators: This should be moved to the Nikon DSLR-Lens Folder

Welcome ton the Forum, and congratulations on your purchase of a Nikon D-90. The D-90 is a great camera, I also shoot with a D-90 as does TCav, one of the other regular psters on the Forum. We're please that you dropped by.

A good lens to consider would be the Nikon 70-300mmVR lens. For daylight situations, and providing that you were on the field side lines, it would give you good coverage.

Have a great day.

Sarah Joyce

[JimC]

Originally Posted by mtclimber

Note to Moderators: This should be moved to the Nikon DSLR-Lens Folder

Done (actually to the main Nikon dSLR forum by mistake, but I'll leave it there since the OP looks like he wants to ask about other items for it, too).

Note that we don't read every single post here (I just happened to notice this thread). So, please send me a PM when you see something that we need to take action on.

Thanks.

JimC

[TCav]

For the Volleyball, the Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D would be a good choice. I use this with my D90 for indoor equestrian events and have been very pleased with it.

For the Soccer, the Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED that mtclimber mentioned would be good.

For shooting sports, continuous drive mode is a good idea, but it can go through batteries, so you might want a spare battery or two, and maybe even a spare charger.

[paniolo]

I also have a D90. In addition to the 18-105 I added the Nikkor 70-300 VR for longer shots (really like the lens), Nikkor 50/1.8 for low light, Ml-L3 wireless transmitter for tripod shots, and a few filters. I used a good filter on the 70-300 but found that the images were degraded significantly and am now shooting without (probably a bad copy as I don't have the problem on my other lens with the same model filter). Good thing about the 70-300 is that it uses the same filter as the 18-105 so can share the polarizer and close-up filters. I also have the SB-600 flash - works very well with the swivel head and with a diffuser.

[KDKarlson]

Not that I'm any expert, but I would also suggest the 70-300VR. Hopefully, you'll have a fair amount of light to work with as it does have a fairly slow minimum aperture. I just bought a D90 this morning, so I have no idea what the high ISO performance is like.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by KDKarlson

... so I have no idea what the high ISO performance is like.

When I was shooting these, I found that any ISO over 1600 produced noise in the out of focus woodgrain that I found objectionable, and the camera's High ISO noise reduction removed the detail from the horses' fur. But for sports uniforms and smooth or more blurred backgrounds, you can probably go higher.

[taysdad]

Thank you to everyone who gave such fantastic advice and thoughtful consideration to my needs.

I have taken the advice of this board and I have added the 70-300 Nikon Lens as well as the SB600 flash. I will also likely get the 85mm prime lens from Nikon as well.

Michael

[TCav]

Very good choices.

Please come back and show us how they worked for you.

[lonestardiver]

I am in a similar situation...4 daughters (soccer, volleyball, softball, choir, cross country, band, cheerleading, etc.). I've used the 70-300m af-d with good success except for the night games and indoor volleyball for the sporting events...thus I've obtained a tokina 80-200 f/2.8 which will help in many low light situations...(night soccer games, volleyball, band/choir concerts, etc.). I carry 2 d-50's, one with the zoom and the other with a 50mm f1.8. This seems to be a good combination for me and hasn't broken the bank too much.....yet.