shivaswrath said:
I'm not sure they'll produce one man - I mean, the 24 2.8 is cheap and wide, for $250 used?

Yeah, that's still not wide enough for me. :D

shivaswrath said:
I'm not sure they'll produce one man - I mean, the 24 2.8 is cheap and wide, for $250 used?

Since when was 24mm on a crop camera considered wide? 36mm equivalent is more like normal than wide.

I'm not sure they'll produce one man - I mean, the 24 2.8 is cheap and wide, for $250 used?

shivaswrath said:
and remember on a DX body - you're shooting at effectively 100mm.

get the 35 1.8 DX if you need something sharp and "wider". . .or best bet, though more expensive, is the 18-105.

I still am waiting for a cheap wide DX prime, maybe 18mm or so.

and remember on a DX body - you're shooting at effectively 100mm.

get the 35 1.8 DX if you need something sharp and "wider". . .or best bet, though more expensive, is the 18-105.

70mm is not nearly wide enough. At 70mm, you'll be struggling to get any pictures indoors, and you won't be able to get many good ones outdoors either (landscape ones, that is).

If you are getting a D90/D7000 kit then just use the 18-105. If you are not getting the kit...Just get it.

Having 70 as your widest setting is very limiting. 18mm-35mm is about f/3.5-f/4 So you are losing 2 stops, not the worst thing.

Yeah, it's going to be a tight group. Again, it depends. I've only shot with two lenses, so yeah, I don't have much experience.

Mostly groups of 2 or 3 people, some individuals. From your experience it seems this is going to be a tight fit. If it comes to that, I can always take waist up pictures.

Nikoner said:
Let me ask you this, if I am in a 25 x 20 foot room with say 10 people. Would I be able to take decent shots of people? I know I will have to work harder moving around, but will I be able to get pictures of average sized people (say 5.8 to 6 foot)?

Will you be taking individual shots or group shots? It's very difficult for me to be at a reasonable distance with the 35mm 1.8 as it is, the 85mm has got to be much tighter.

Let me ask you this, if I am in a 25 x 20 foot room with say 10 people. Would I be able to take decent shots of people? I know I will have to work harder moving around, but will I be able to get pictures of average sized people (say 5.8 to 6 foot)?

You can use the lens however you see fit. There are no limits to what you can to do with the lens.

After a lot of review, research, and advice here; I have decided I need a Nikon 85mm 1.8D for my indoor sports shooting needs (Basketball, Volleyball, and Swimming & Diving). I will buy it along-with a D90+70-300vr kit, either before the current rebates end or wait till July.

I was wondering if I can get away with using the 85mm for day to day casual shooting as well, or should I look into buying cheapest available wide prime?

rusty - I never had this problem with my d90

Thanks Niko that explains it. Manager did say it was industry wide and they had similar stocking issues with Canon and Sony. I hope the prices come down once all those ships enter harbor.

Rusty: I agree with you, based on what I have read about D300(s). However, I feel that D300(s) would be a too much of a camera for me personally. I mean P6000 is touted as a bridge camera (and it is, I learned a lot from it) but it’s not gonna catapult me in a different league. If you don’t mind me asking: what sports do you generally shoot, and which lens do you use for it? Thanks.

I feel, that for sports, the higher frame rate of the D300s is a huge advantage, there hasn't been one mention of it in this thread.

When I shoot with my D90, I often just "miss" the action, maybe my intuition is faulty, maybe it gets "in between the (drops) frames."

With the D300s I have more throw-aways, but also more keepers.

Nikoner, read this post for the probable explanation.

http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=1856#post-31191

Though it might also be that a new model is coming soon too.

I was at Penn Camera - Baltimore area today, and they did not have a single D90 body in stock. Neither did they have any D90 kit except for one kit with 18-105 lens.

The manager told me they were in short supply and Nikon was unusually slow with restocking dealers. However, he denied that Nikon may simply be trying to clear inventory before the replacement hits the market.

He substantiated his argument with telling me they had ordered 100 units of D90 but the delivery was delayed due to slow market. I don’t know what to make of it.

I think the D90 is at a slammingly amazing price right now. . .at it's peak, it was floating body only at $900. . .I just actually sold my D200 to "upgrade" to the D90 . . .

For imaging reasons ALONE, it has been a pleasure. . .sure the metering is "okay" sometimes, but nothing a little spot metering can't handle. . .

Despite knowing it was getting discontinued this year, it's a gem of a body, has great features the D300 is lacking (some of the in camera processing stuff, for instance), and I would argue it isn't worth paying more than the current $750-800 on the 12mpx DX sensor when the D400 will be out in the next 12 months. . .

That was pretty much why I decided to just suck it up, get a great body at a steal of a price, and relegate it to a vacation/back up body when next sensor set is out (whatever it'll be). . .

Welcome to the forum, Unitymind. I agree with what you said and I'm in the same situation. The D90 is a great value.

I own a D90 and love it because it offers both worlds - point/shoot and advanced. One reason I can hand it to my wife on auto and she can fire away without getting upset. The D90 allows you to use most any lens and right now searching Craig's list you will find a lot of low shutter count D90's from $600-$750 depending on locations (me = Minneapolis). I did see a complete D300 set for $1300 the other day and a D300 body for $1100 obo.

I spent a month looking between the D90 and the D5000 and they are really different once you start shooting with it. The sensor is the same as a D300 and has most of the bells and whistles. The feel of the D5000 is lighter side if that matter.

I spend most of my money now investing in FX lenses and waiting for a new D700xx someday.

I would grab a D90 and/or D300 (non S) if you can find anything in your range.

Good luck!

I check rebate deals of D90 (Body only, Body + 70-300vr) on Adorama and B&H everyday, today I noticed they went up by 10 to 15 dollars on both the deals on both sites!

Whats happening, aren't the rebates valid thru May 1st?

Nikoner - with any of the new DX cameras 1600 iso is fully available, as for my picture above - there was only natural light available, not a single bulb was turned on as it was practice only

From what i've been reading the 85 1.8 seems to be a great indoor sports lens. Remember that on the D90 it is actually a 127mm.

this thread has some pretty sweet shots with it (canon version though).

http://www.flickr.com/groups/canon85mm/discuss/72157606546772493/

and honestly you can get great shots with slower glass indoors, it just means you have to rely more on luck. I just compensate by taking 3 times as many pictures as i think i do. I consider the extra time it takes me to filter all the crap as punishment for not buying faster glass ;)

Also, obviously, use a tripod.

Wow! that’s a nice picture, especially considering your f stop in the indoor environment. My apprehension is that basketball courts are notoriously poorly lit for photography, if I jack up the ISO I know I will have unusable picture quality even if I use some utility like neat image. Secondly the BB players move around very rapidly, so a fast shutter speed is a must at least 1/800 if not faster - bringing down the ISO even lower. Hopefully 85 mm will work out as basketball courts are thankfully smaller and one can get away with shooting only in one half of the court at a time.

I haven’t had a chance to explore this forum yet, I wonder if someone has posted D90+85 1.8 indoor sports pictures.