Big Nikon lens and camera review

I've been taking pictures for almost a year now. I wouldn't describe myself as a photographer..more like a camera enthusiast.

I started with a Nikon N65 and a normal zoom lens that my dad had bought me new in 2001. Over the last 10 months, I've been doing a lot of eBay shopping and have now accumulated 9 lenses and 5 camera bodies:

Lenses:

1. 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-D
2. 50mm f/1.8 AF
3. 70-210mm f/4-5.6 AF
4. 200mm f/4 AI
5. 180mm f/2.8 AF
6. 180mm f/2.8 AI
7. TC-200 2x teleconverter
8. 24mm f/2.8 AI
9. 20mm f/4 AI

Camera bodies:

1. N65
2. FE

Here are my thoughts on this collection of photography equipment:

Lenses

28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-D

Bought new at some camera store in 2001. A bit on slow side (it's only f/4.5 at 50mm), and I wish it were a little bit longer, but it's super light and focuses nicely on the N65.

Haven't used it much since I got the FE, but the N65 with this lens is great for traveling light.

50mm f/1.8 AF

$87 (10/30/10). Seller said it was an AF-D, but it's not. Seemed like an honest mistake, though.

50mm is a bit longer than I expected. I keep having to take a couple steps backwards to get the framing right. Maybe 35mm would be a more appropriate "normal" lens?

The speed makes this lens indispensable for taking pictures of fish. I've also tried using it with the teleconverter to take macro shots - I like this approach better than using close-up filters.

Nikon's next faster lens is a f/1.4 that is 100 g heavier. Given that tradeoff, I've been pretty happy with the speed.

70-210mm f/4-5.6 AF

$71 (12/4/10). Some initial thoughts.

Haven't used it much since then. It's definitely on the heavy side, and f/5.6 is kinda slow. I also haven't found the zoom to be all that useful. I use it mostly from 135mm to 210mm, and even then mostly at the long end of that range, so I prefer to just use the 180mm f/2.8 AF instead.

However, I may find myself using this lens more in the future, as some intense jostling has resulted in my 180mm f/2.8 not being able to focus to infinity anymore.

200mm f/4 AI

$93 (3/8/11). I really like this lens - the manual focus is great, it's a good tradeoff between size/weight and speed, and it takes good pictures.

A bit of a stretch to use with the 2x teleconverter, though. f/8 is kinda slow, and the split-prism focussing aid won't work (it appears to require at least f/5.6).

180mm f/2.8 AF

$225 (5/2/11). Mine has a scratched front element, but it really doesn't matter. If you're shooting wide open, you could cover up half the lens without noticing (well, except insofar as you're getting 1 stop less light).

It is a lot of glass to carry around, though, and it's a lot fatter than the 200mm f/4. Works great with the teleconverter!

Ever since our Mono Lake trip, it hasn't been focusing to infinity. Perhaps it got jostled past a helix thread?

180mm f/2.8 AI

$142 (7/10/11), and came with an FE camera body. Forgot that I meant to buy the ED AI-s version, not this older non-ED glass.

So far I've only used it once, shooting pictures of birds on the Dish with the teleconverter. It's bigger and heavier than the AF version, but the focusing is so much nicer. No slop at all; very smooth.

Compared to the 200mm f/4, though, it's a pretty big increase in size to buy an extra stop of speed.

TC-200 2x teleconverter

$56 (4/19/11). No surprises here. Note that it doesn't pass on the autofocus or the aperture contacts.

24mm f/2.8 AI

$208 (3/12/11). It doesn't really seem all that much wider than 28mm. It's a really nicely made lens, though.

This is better than the 50mm for taking pictures of the fish tank - for the same reproduction ratio and aperture, this has a greater depth of field.

20mm f/4 AI

$240 (7/15/11). Quite small and light! And you do notice the wideness - it's definitely a different perspective than what you usually see.

I was pretty excited because I thought I would be able to stand in a corner of a room and get all 4 walls, but that's not true. But even with that let-down, I still think it's a neat lens.

There's quite a bit of flare/ghosting, and due to the wide angle it's not always easy to keep the sun out of your shot.

Cameras

N65

It's a pretty straightforward autofocus camera, and one of the lightest SLRs you can buy. I really wish it would meter with manual focus lenses - then it'd be pretty close to ideal.

FE

Stuff happened, and at one point I had 4 of these:

1. $0 (2/28/11). Originally $36, but it turned out to be broken. The seller refunded the payment and said I could keep the camera. I later sold it for $15 (8/13/11).
2. $41 (3/5/11). I put in new mirror foam and light seals ($10, from "interslice" on eBay). Have some issues with intermittent under- and un-exposed frames. This is the one I've used the most.
3. $57 (5/25/11). Hadn't yet figured out the issue with the previous camera, so I panicked and bought a backup for the China trip. Everything works on this one, but there's some ringing when the shutter goes. Bad damping somewhere? I sold it for $17 (8/13/11).
4. $0 (7/10/11). Came with the 180mm f/2.8 AI lens. I've shot one roll of film with it, and it seems to work fine. Mirror foam looks new, but the light seals are reduced to gummy residue. Cosmetically, this is in the best shape. I've since switched to using this as my primary camera. Once I had some weirdness with the metering needle jumping around, but I wiggled the ISO knob a bit and it went away.

I think it's a pretty nice camera, with all the functions you could want. In particular, the analog metering is nice to work with. I do have my wish list, though:

• A bit on the heavy side. If it were made like the N65, imagine how light it could be!
• Not particularly ergonomic
• Auto-lock (it locks the auto-exposure) would be better suited as a button rather than a lever
• Needs a rubber eyecup, or at least something that's not a thin metal edge
• Exposure compensation is way too hard to do. Not a big of a deal, though, because auto-lock is a good substitute