"Appropriate" Lenses For My D40

Now that the D40 (Plastic-Fantastic 2.0) has been acquired, what's the next step? Get rid of that wart of a lens, of course! You might have been able to tell by my previous post(s) that I don't have much use for that 18-55mm kit zoom that came with my "new" camera. And in my situation, I really don't. It's not just that it's an ugly lens either! So, it's about to hit eBay/Craigs List to return $75 or so back to the lens buying coffers. So, what am I going to do with that $75 and the occasional $25-30 that I can scrape together? Well, it's my intention to put together a lens "kit" that "fits" compact dimensions of the D40......plus it needs to also fit the intended purpose of the camera.

In a perfect world, one or of these modern pancakes and it's Voigtlander brethren such as the 28mm f/2.8 Color-Skopar, maybe even the 40mm f/2.0 Ultron would be headed toward my house via Amazon as we speak! Mounted on the D40, this 20mm would be an fairly wide 30mm, 28mm would be seen as a 42mm, and the 40mm Ultron would be a nice tight 60mm. Alas, such is not to be since every single one of these guys costs somewhere between $475 and $600. This is nowhere near where a frugal anyone goes. 

Where should be start then? Well, let's look at what that D40 will be expected to do....other than being the backup to the D300. That, it already does by being able to take decent pictures and coming equipped with the same lens Nikon F mount. What I really want it for is as a light/fast, "street photography" instrument. I also want it to become my secondary rig that I'm happy to grab and take random places like an amusement park or just about anywhere, where I'm not expecting to shoot anything, but be ready if something does come up. It appears that "small", "light" and easy to handle (quick) keeps popping up. Therefore, it's pretty obvious that I don't want to destroy these innate characteristics of the D40 by attaching some monstrosity of a lens! Then based on my needs, I'll want to have coverage from wide-of-normal, to short-telephoto, all in a nice compact size. In 35mm terms, that's somewhere in the 30's (millimeters, that is), up to something around 100. Since the D40 has an APS-C (DX in Nikon speak) sensor which is roughly 50% smaller than a 35mm fame of film, that translates to mean 20mm to about 70mm, giving an equivalent of 30mm to 105mm. When working with the standard focal lengths that are out there, we're talking 20mm (30mm eq.), 24mm (36mm eq.), 28mm (42mm eq.), 50mm (75mm eq.) and zooms up to 70-80mm (105-120mm).  Why zooms? It's because primes in the 80/85mm range tend to be specialized "portrait" or "macro" lenses (read expensive), while zooms that go up to that range tend to be common (read cheap). Anything else to think about? Yup. We want small, remember? Small can happen in several different ways: close to "normal" for that film/sensor size requires the least glass (so 28-50mm), slow as in lets through less light (we don't want this if we can help it), manual focus (no gears or motors= smaller/lighter). So, we are working  both ends against the middle. We want as fast (more light) of a lens as possible, while keeping the other dimensions small. We are already getting it relatively small by staying close to the "normal" focal length so there's only one more thing we can do. That's right; lose the auto-focus. Really, don't worry, you may or may not have as much experience as I've had doing this over the years, but you'll get the hang of it! Trust me!

Whaaaaat is this!?! Well....it's a picture from a Tamron ad circa late 70's. Now that you've been freed from the shackles of auto-focus, there's a whole world of cheap and great glass out there. It resides on eBay, Craigs List, Pawn Shops, Thrift Stores, musty old 2nd Hand Shops, and your grandparent's closets. Unfortunately, most people think they are useless, but fortunately, they seem too expensive (originally they were) to throw out. It's not just Tamron either, there's Tokina, Sigma, Asanuma, 5-Star; the list is long, distinguished but a little sad since most of those names are now gone.

Forgive my nostalgic wandering; I'm better now. Back to what I'm looking for in relation to System D40: small, fast (if possible, meaning affordable), and slightly wide to slightly long....right. Let's start here then. The Tamron (Adaptall 2 version) of their 28mm, f/2.5. Why Tamron Adaptall? It's because they are literally adapt-all, meaning you can just buy lenses willy-nilly and then worry about getting the correct mount later. That's if you have a camera that takes a classic mount, that is...... You do have one of those right.....? Nikon, Pentax K? OK, well, everybody else will just have to lose some communications but can use an adapter though. But hey, I'm only worried about me and I have a Nikon with an F-Mount. This lens is easy to find on eBay, often selling in the $20's, plus it's small (49mm filter ring, 1.3" long). That's "pancake" territory; oh, OK, maybe "biscuit" territory. Yeah; I'm gettin' me one of those! If I can figure out how to put a Dandelion programmable "chip" on it, then that'd be a bonus!

Then there's the 35-80mm, f/2.8-3.8 Adaptall 2 SP, which often sells at around $40. At an eq. of 52-120mm on the D40, this could be a decent walk-around lens, if I kept a 24 or even a 28mm in a pocket.

......And this, little stumpy thing? A 28-50mm, f/3.5-4.5 Adaptall 2. Not an SP (Super Performance), and it doesn't start at the fairly bright 2.8 f-stop, but these often sell for around $40 as well and is the eq. of 42-75mm that I think I'd love as a walk-around combo on the D40. Plus it's 1.8" long, completely retracted! With a filter ring diameter of 58mm, in my mind, this is an almost perfect physical match for the D40. I would have loved for it to be a fixed f/2.8 and for it to start at 24mm or go out to 55mm, but then, it wouldn't be this small physical size. Let's go with "muffin" sized. Anything else?

Sure there is! This may be sitting on my porch "as we speak". One of my famous cost less than the price of shipping eBay finds, it's an original Adaptall, 300mm, f/5.6. Sure, it's slow, but it's so small (for it's focal length), that it takes a 58mm filter! Has a built-in lens hood too!

Of course, you can't go all-Tamron without talking about the famed SP 90mm Macro lens. I could imagine myself adding this if the price was right (meaning sub-$50) since it'd be an eq. of 135mm on the D40 giving it very close to 1:1 magnification w/o tubes. Also, I've previously mentioned the equally famous 500mm f/8.0 SP mirror lens, but I'm not certain that I'd be willing to go over the $150 mark that they tend to sell at. But all in all, it's a good way to go. I'm bettin' that I can pick up at least 3 of these lenses for less than $100 total after shipping. Given the price, size, and speed, I think they'll be appropriate for my System D40.