K200D with Sigma 28-300 DL
When buying a DSLR it is true to say that you are buying not just the camera, but the whole ecosystem of lenses, flashes and other accessories that go with it. This frequently has the effect of balancing out systems so that, once extra kit is bought, they are equally expensive. To summarise a cheaper body often means more expensive lenses and equipment whereas more expensive body sometimes means less expensive accessories.
The ageing Nikon D40 is a good example. It is a cheap body and can be found for around $540. It lacks built in focus motors in the body and hence requires more expensive lenses with the motors built in. A similar phenomenon is also seen at the lower end of Canon’s range. That said more expensive bodies don’t always mean cheaper lenses, but relative to the initial purchase they certainly seem to be cheaper.
Ultimately, like anything, it seems that you generally get what you pay for. The more expensive lenses tend to use better quality glass, with more elements and consequently a shaper image. For the amateur photographer, however, at some point the line has to be drawn between the cost of a lens and the quality of an image.
Certainly it would be nice to buy that $1250 Pentax-DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 ED AL[IF]SDM but do I really need an image that sharp and a lens that good? After all it is worth double what my body is (my camera body, my actual body is not worth anything like that). The answer of course is no. Which leads one on the search.
As I mentioned elsewhere there are a whole range of lens types that you could potentially buy – the prime, the telephoto, the telephoto zoom, the wide angle, the fisheye – the trick is to work out what you need and then find one you can afford. Hence the search. After deciding what I really want is a big zoom and a prime lens I started hunting on eBay for something suitable.
Now my theory with eBay is that it should be bargain basement stuff not retail pricing (I go to the shops for that). Searching on eBay for a lens prove fruitless. Most of the decent older lenses were over-priced and the new ones close enough to the RRP once all the bidding was done to make it silly to buy them. That was just the primes. There were hardly any decent zooms at all. This kind of makes sense as people are likely to hold on to good glass. Especially if they have paid a good deal of money for it.
Thank goodness for third-party lens manufacturers! I finally decided to buy a lens. Either a Sigma 70-300mm DG APO Macro or a Sigma 28-300mm DG Macro. Both are a similar price at around $400. I happened to go into the local Camera House the other day and they had an older Sigma 28-300 DL. Not realising it was the older version I handed over my $299 and bought it. Regardless of the age of the design the price was pretty good and so far I am extremely happy with the lens. It seems to capture colours well, although it is quite soft with the aperture wide open at higher zoom levels. It is quite quiet when focusing although I have found it hunting around a bit in low light conditions. It isn’t too heavy (I bought it as a travel lens) and it is very compact.
Some sample images can be found here. All in all it fills the balance of price and performance for my limited needs and proves to me that just because I purchased a cheaper body I don’t need to spend a fortune on equipment to extend my hobby.
