Question on Nikon lenses

[jblaschke]

The Wife is teaching an "Intro to DSLR" community ed class and they've gone quite well thus far. The next class is focusing on lenses, and we're scrambling to learn about Nikkor offerings, since the class breaks down 60/40 Nikon/Canon users (no Olympus or Sony users, interestingly enough). My question is, other than DP Review, what are good sites to learn about the Nikon lens lineup? Is there a Nikon equivalent to The-Digital-Picture.com? Thanks for your advice!

[gasrocks]

http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html#top1

http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html

[jblaschke]

Sweet! Thank you, kind sir!

[gasrocks]

http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/overview

http://www.photodo.com/

[gasrocks]

Let me know if you need more or info on a specific lens.

[jblaschke]

Thanks again. I don't need any specific lens info, but a general overview and places to send them for more information. The main thing is to teach the students how to choose the correct lens for their needs, and how to tell quality glass from, well, crap.

But I am going to bring up the Nikkor 6mm fisheye. That'll blow everyone's minds!

[gkarris]

Sounds like a bunch of consumers so send them over to Nikon:

http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Ni...ses/index.page

[CyberDyneSystems]

One thing to study up on if you are a Nikon shooter, is what lenses function in what way on what bodies.

All Nikon lenses will "fit" all Nikon bodies,. but there are MF/Manual Aperture only, and several types of AF/AE.. that will behave differently on different DSLR and or Film bodies.

[lonelyjew]

Here's another link to a review website

Go your wife for spending a day on this, my intro photography class didn't bother to get into any of that. I already thankfully knew about the importance of lenses but me and the professor were probably the only ones who did.

[jblaschke]

Originally Posted by lonelyjew

Go your wife for spending a day on this, my intro photography class didn't bother to get into any of that. I already thankfully knew about the importance of lenses but me and the professor were probably the only ones who did.

Thanks. She's got a photojournalism background, and between us we're trying to cut out all the theory and such we had during university photo classes and cut right to the practical information. She covered lighting last week, and gave the class the Strobist treatment, breaking out optical slaves, CyberSyncs and the like. Half the class wasn't interested beyond how to use bounce flash, but the other half went nuts for the off-camera stuff. So they're looking forward to the whole lens lesson.

It's a marked contrast from the Point-and-Shoot class she gave a few months back. Most of the folks sat back and wanted her to show them how to take great photos while keeping the camera in auto mode. There are a few of those in the DSLR class, but fortunately, she seems to have gotten through to them that they spent that money so they could get *out* of auto mode...

[jblaschke]

Originally Posted by CyberDyneSystems

One thing to study up on if you are a Nikon shooter, is what lenses function in what way on what bodies.

All Nikon lenses will "fit" all Nikon bodies,. but there are MF/Manual Aperture only, and several types of AF/AE.. that will behave differently on different DSLR and or Film bodies.

Thanks for the tip. We're already warning the Canon users to beware of FD mount lenses. The Nikonians will definitely appreciate this added info.

[lonelyjew]

Originally Posted by jblaschke

Thanks. She's got a photojournalism background, and between us we're trying to cut out all the theory and such we had during university photo classes and cut right to the practical information. She covered lighting last week, and gave the class the Strobist treatment, breaking out optical slaves, CyberSyncs and the like. Half the class wasn't interested beyond how to use bounce flash, but the other half went nuts for the off-camera stuff. So they're looking forward to the whole lens lesson.

It's a marked contrast from the Point-and-Shoot class she gave a few months back. Most of the folks sat back and wanted her to show them how to take great photos while keeping the camera in auto mode. There are a few of those in the DSLR class, but fortunately, she seems to have gotten through to them that they spent that money so they could get *out* of auto mode...

Can she come and teach in the Detroit area?

[CyberDyneSystems]

Originally Posted by jblaschke

Thanks for the tip. We're already warning the Canon users to beware of FD mount lenses. The Nikonians will definitely appreciate this added info.

With the Canon's it's a little more straight forward, albeit less flexible!
They are either EF and fit and work as expected, or they are FD and won't fit at all.

[yogestee]

I taught photography for a few years in the mid '80s..

You can present hours of lessons without being brand specific..

Talk about aperture, focal length, relationship between aperture and focal length.. Introduce different focal lengths and their main uses..Mention a few types of lenses like macros, portrait lenses (if there is such a thing), why large aperture lenses are useful in low light, image stabilisation,,stuff like that..

Talking about brand specifics will get you bogged down in arguements between the Nikon vs the Canon shooters,,totally counter productive..

[thenickster5792]

i know people are gonna hate me for saying this but......
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kenrockwell.com