need help choosing a lens for my nikon D50

[ruddyduck]

I'm about to blow my savings on a Nikon D50 and can't decide whether to buy the D50 with nikon 18-55 lens and a sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 APO macro DG
Or should I just buy the body only and the sigma 28-300 f3.5-6.3 Asperical Macro?
I want to cover all aspects of photography, landscape, portrait, macro, so would it be wiser to get the 28-300 lens to avoid changing lenses so often and eliminating dust inside the camera, all opinions gratefully received, thanks!

Jude
PS. I want the best lens I can get for my small budget! :cool:

[OldasDirt]

Jude -

I'm in the same boat I want to buy a D50 but "I want the best lens I can get for my small budget!" In the US Nikon has a new lens with good reviews:

Zoom Super Wide Angle-Telephoto AF Zoom Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR II Autofocus

Nikon USA Price : $ 749.95

I figured with a 1.7 TC it'd be good for everything I'd want to shoot.

My problem is none of the US nikon dealers have them. (All on backorder).

You can get one on eBay for about $950 but it may be an import and I don't want to spend that much. I'll probably wait. I thought you might have better luck in the UK to pick up this lens. It has the new VR II, Silent Wave Motor, etc.

Good luck

Jack

[BenBirding]

By all means go with the Sigma 28-300. It's a great little lens, and very versatile. As for the Nikkor lens mentioned above, that is a little bit high for a "small" budget.
The default 18-55 is also a f/3.5 so I would just get the body, and save some money.

[yossi]

Jude -
I figured with a 1.7 TC it'd be good for everything I'd want to shoot.
Jack


The lens will physically not fit the TC-17EII. The TC I recommend to use with the 18-200 if at all, is the Kenko Pro 300 x1.4 TC. I wouldn't try a 2X TC as it slows down the lens too much and image quality is badly affected.
I have the lens and several TCs, and am talking from experience.

[g8ina]

I have the D70 with Tamron (Sigma clone?) 28-300mm XR Ultra Zoom, f6.3 max.

*ALL* of my last years photos with the D70 were taken with this. It's not the fastest AF in the world, but the images are sharp, and CA free(ish).

With a convertor, the extra stopping down makes the AF loathe to work properly, so try and stay below f6-f6.5 if possible.