Re: Low-Light Options for Theatre

Hi,

OP here.

First, I want to thank everyone for all of the info and feedback. It
has been SO helpful and has really helped push my researching this in
the right direction.

Following up on Dudley's last commends about AF and AE, I've been
thinking along those same lines. As I dig in more and learn more
about metering, etc... well, the first thing that keeps hitting home
is I have a lot to learn. That's no surprise, I knew there was a big
learning curve coming my way. However, when you really start looking
at DSLR's seriously... let me just say, I feel less capable every
day. I know I can get there, my day job is in IT and I've always been
pretty good technically - but I'm very cognizant that I've got a huge
learning curve ahead of me.

Here's where I'm leaning: First, I have admit I have a possibly
unfounded bias against Canon. I had a couple of SureShots in the
mid-80's and they were truly horrible cameras. They had this weird
battery loop where they drained the battery, even if the camera was
off, the lenses kept jamming, the rewind kept jamming, it was really
awful. Just like my family has a bad track record with Ford cars, the
Canon brand just fills me with a lack of confidence. I'm still going
to research them, but there is such a huge wealth of information about
Nikon bodies and their lenses that the scales are tipped in that
direction anyway.

Going back to the AE, AF capabilities - right now my thoughts are
moving away from the D40 and more toward the next step up in the line
that can take more lenses and leverage their AF capabilities, as well
as having what seems to be more rubust AE functions. I've been
researching the D80 with a general lens, and even considering looking
into buying a used D70 kit (seems to be a similar processor as the
d40). The ability to take so many more AF lenses, older ones as well,
is just hard to argue against.

Beyond that, A lens I like what I've read about is the Nikon 50mm f/
1.8 AF D (with the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF D a wildcard). Though that
kind of lens wouldn't buy much from the back of the house, it would be
great to have something that fast from closer in (and it seems these
are just great lenses anyway.) In terms of a target larger lens, for
the kind of stuff I'd be doing, as nospam advised, the Nikon 70-200mm
f/2.8 VR seems like a no-brainer to aim for. It might not be in my
budget this go-round, but this is obviously a cumulative disorder I'm
diving into.

The price and performance of the 50 mm f/1.8 AF D seems to be a no-
brainer. But, I'd love to get your thoughts on a walk-around lens.
The 70-200mm is awesome, but I don't think I'd be too keen to screw
that on to take party pics. So, what would you recommend for a
general lens that doesn't necessarily have to answer my low light
problems?

To be clear, this is the direction I'm leaning - but I am going to
still check in with my friend who has the great setup, and check in
with friends, try some stuff, before diving all the way in.

Thanks to all once again.

.

Relevant Pages

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