It is a GREAT lens that you DO NOT NEED unless you are shooting action photography in low light.
If it is a GREAT lens that you WANT, enjoy your new toy.
From my research the D610 has a DX crop mode so that you can turn your EXPENSIVE FULL FRAME D610 into a D7100.
YES!
MOST lenses will do MOST jobs just fine. When you get into specialty situations that MOST lenses won't handle, THEN you get the expensive lens you need. If this is a ONCE A YEAR or so event, you RENT the lens.
I shoot with a crop frame Nikon D90 and own the following lenses:
35mm DX 1.8 G - $196 new
18-55 VR - $99 refurbished
55-200 VR - $99 refurbished
80-200 f2.8 - $600 used
I use the first three lenses for just about everything. The 80-200 is used to shoot action in dark theaters. The wider lenses cost six times as much. I can compensate with higher ISO settings and shutter speeds and taking two steps back.
It is like I tell people, I own golf clubs from the 1990s. Top of the line in 1991. I will give this set of clubs to Tiger Woods. I will then go down and get the absolute top of the line, custom fitted clubs for me AND I will go hire Jack Nicklaus to give me private lessons for a solid week, eight hours a day. SO, when Tiger Woods and I play, him using my old clubs and me with my custom clubs, who are you going to bet on?
Expensive lenses are just like the expense clubs. If you don't shoot well with cheap lenses, expensive lenses are NOT going to make a difference EXCEPT to create more room in your wallet where you took the money out.
That being said, the reason I OWN the 80-200 f2.8 for action in theater work is because the 55-200 VR is NOT capable of producing the desired results. I OWN the 80-200 f2.8 because it is $600 used. The 70-200 f2.8 VRI is $1400 used and the 70-200 f2.8 VRII is $1800 used. For the type of shooting I am doing, the VR feature is not used. The 70-200 focus just slightly faster than the 80-200 but I can compensate for that with technique and experience.
BUYING a super expensive lens ONLY makes sense when the type of shooting you are doing REQUIRES it AND you are going to be doing this on a fairly regular basis.
If you are a HOBBYIST and you WANT that expensive lens and you can AFFORD that expensive lens, go for it. But it is a WANT not a NEED.
FAT CHANCE - SLIM CHANCE
Both have a low probability of occurring.
Steep learning curve - Shallow learning curve. Depends on how you draw the curve.
Use a slower shutter speed to get some motion blur on the background. Go out to
www.nikonrumors.com and search back a couple of months. They has a GREAT article on photographing racing and some crazy good examples of what can be done. Worth the time to look it up.
I went out on ebay and found softboxes, stands, and mounts for Speedlights for about $80 for the pair.
I shoot with a D90 and setting the camera in commander mode and the two speedlights into slave mode with a disfuser on the camera flash, I have a VERY functional and portable three light camera system for cheap.
Something to consider and you get double duty out of you flash without having to buy yet MORE equipment.
Astronomy is my other passion.
The Green Flash is generally more prevalent in the Southern Hemisphere and occurs just before sun rise out in the ocean. As the sun light is racing across the surface of the water it can refract the green color spectrum into the sky causing a Green Flash.
I too was on a cruise ship and hope to see this for myself. No luck. I asked several crew people about and they all thought I was crazy. I got up very early one morning, it was still pitch black out, and went in search of food and coffee. I found the UNIFORMED ship's crew having breakfast and invited myself to sit with them. I asked about the Green Flash and got the same reaction for three of the four uniformed crew present at the table. Fortunately one of the gentleman retorted that he knew what the Green Flash was and had seen it and explained it to me and his fellow crew members as I did above. He seemed to think that it was not that big a deal and was not worth getting up early for. It is very quick and very low key event. My experience hunting the Green Flash. Good luck and have a fun time on the crew ship.
If you don't want to do it yourself, contact:
www.mtdigital.comI KNOW that they clean EVERY slide as I used to work for them and did slides and cleaned EACH and EVERYONE before scanning.
It is like everything else, it depends on what you are doing with it. I consider it a TERRIBLE lens for the type of shooting I do. It was a substitute lens, but a 4.5 was not up to the task of shooting action in a theater. I could have gotten an additional stop with the 55-200. I now have an 80-200 f2.8 for this type of shooting and it works much better than the 55-300.
Need plenty of light for that lens and a stable or slow moving subject.
Sorted as we go. We will take some 30,000 photos in a day and must display them within 5 minutes of the event.
I CAN use Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 to do this job. I will shoot over 100 images in 3 minutes time so any software MUST save to the computer with each shot. I put all of these images into a numbered folder corresponding to the event. I have 20-30 seconds between events and the event numbers are NOT sequential. I have between 5 and 8 seconds to find the next folder.
Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 does not have the ability to change the folder number on a command line. You have to select the folder tree, find the folder, select the folder, then ok the folder, all in about 8 seconds. Rinse and repeat about 300 times in a day. Lightroom 4 and under are not fast enough for this job. I have not tried out Lightroom 5.
Does anyone use a better tethering program that is fast enough to keep up with this work flow AND have a better interface for quick folder change? I emailed Nikon on this and got a canned response.
Boulder County Colorado is the same way. There are LOTS of trees here today. Irrigation certainly hasn't hurt that cause either. However, if you look at pictures of Boulder County Colorado from say the 1870 - 1890, there is not a tree in sight.
Yes, you can plant trees and regrow forests. Takes about 20 years, so I could have done it 2 and 1/2 times in my life time.
You are 54, just like me. YOU ARE NOT TOO OLD TO START ANYTHING NEW!!!!
In 2004 the IT market fell apart and I started to teach myself videography. I have been doing it ever since. However, keep you day job. It takes a number of YEARS to build up a business and it you need the income to live on you WILL regret the decision. After several years and building up a portfolio and a reputation, you will SLOWLY grow you business into however much time you want.
GREAT photo equipment is now cheap. There is NO BARRIER to entry to become a photographer. The gear is smart enough so that some one with a tiny bit of talent can produce a good product. Develop a business plan is you plan to be a business. If you are looking for a hobby that pays for itself, that is a different story. There are a LOT of hobbyist photographers out there who undercut pricing everyday.
I am a Nikon shooter who is PRIMARILY a videographer.
Lenses are better on Canon.
The A7 is smaller, lighter, and PROBABLY does better video.
The A7 is full frame and the 70D is not.
I would probably RENT a rig and try out DSLR video before you just in with both feet. I have two Nikon D90 that will shoot 5 minutes of DSLR video. I have two Canon HF S21 that are HD camcorders. I plan to use them together.