Hello, My wife and I will be going to Disney World in April. ; I have had a Nikon D80 for a little over a year now and need some help with purchasing a lens or flash for the trip. ; Currently I have 3 lenses: 1. Nikon 18-55mm VR 2. Nikon 35-105mm 3.5 Macro lense (Its an older lense but works great) 3. Sigma 100-300mm 3.5 All the lenses work great except in indoor/low light situations. ; I was thinking about getting a prime lense 35mm 1.8 or flash(SB600) for the Disney trip but not sure which would be a better purchase or if i even need purchase a flash or lens. ; I was leaning toward a flash but looking over some Disney pictures in this forum and on flickr I noticed a lot of people using 35mm/50mm lens for low light situations. Any help/advise I would greatly appreciate. ; Thanks, Rob
Welcome to the forums Rob. To best answer your question, what kind of pictures are you thinking of taking that your current setup won't allow you to (easily)? ; And what kind would you like to have? Yes, the 35/1.8 is a great lens for low-light; the Sigma 30/1.4 is another option but more expensive. ; If you want more reach, both Nikon and Sigma have a 50/1.4. I'm not sure how many family pictures you're taking; a hotshoe flash is always a step up from the pop-up flash, and you can't go wrong with the SB-600. ; But it depends on where you want to go from here.
Welcome aboard!! If I could only get one, I would get the 35mm f1.8 and keep using the onboard flash! with the 35, you'll be able to shoot dark rides & night parades.
I'd recommend the prime first, myself...not only for general shooting needs, but especially for Disney. ; Remember that many indoor low light rides in Disney do not allow flash, so it wouldn't help there. ; But a nice fast prime is much fun for other reasons too, especially that nice shallow depth of field for closeups, and extreme sharpness when stopped down a bit. ; I've heard good things about the Nikon 35 F1.8 - I think they've got a 1.4 version too, but for much more money. ; You may also look into some third party options - like the reasonably priced and quite excellent Sigma 30mm F1.4, which is solidly built and quite sharp with good bokeh, with a very good price. Flashes are wonderful and useful too - but personally I bought my 30mm F1.4 and 50mm F1.7 before I bought my flash, as they were my priority.
The men in black helicopters with yellow lettering are coming for you now. ; Nikon doesn't have a 35/1.4 that autofocuses. Yet. ;D
Well I did say I 'Think'! ; Oh well - I think I was crossing the MF 35 F1.4 with the 28mm F1.4 they had, that one was autofocus, right? ; And reeeeaaaally expensive?
Hi Rob and welcome, ; a year ago I was faced with the same dilemma and it comes down to what you want to shoot. If you want to take a lot of shots while on rides then you'll want to go with a prime lens with an f stop of 1.8 or lower. If you have high ISO Noise Reduction on your Nikon (I'm a Canon guy so I don't know if your model has this) turn it on, crank up the ISO and shoot away. Post-Disney you can still use the prime for indoor shots at home for nice shots showing a shallow DOF. ; Personally, I never used my flash when in Disney and if I did, I found the onboard flash to be plenty sufficient. Good luck and have fun shooting!
I use my flash for outdoor parades and the like and the occasional character encounter but generally one set of batteries will get me through an entire trip. ; On the other hand, I use my fast primes almost every day. ; As previously mentioned, if you can only do one or the other, think about which one you will do more often. HOWEVER, I hardly ever use my fast primes anywhere but in WDW whereas my flash gets used often at home. ; Something else to consider.
Thank you so much for the help!!! I intend to take some photos on some of the rides and at night. ; I am thinking the lens is the way to go for now. ; I intend to also get the flash but not till after the trip. Also your website is great. ; I have picked up several ideas and what to look for while in Disney. Thanks, Rob
you're welcome rob and thanks for the compliments. ; around here we love ordering from b&h (great prices, fast shipping, customer service) ; (Click here for all Nikon lenses)... ; there is another link up top too if that works for you. ;
