Fast Prime Lens or SB600 Flash???

I know this has been discussed and debated many times but I want to get some opinions of FChatters before I decide. For a long time now I've been set on purchasing the new Nikkor 35mm 1.8 AF-S for my little D3000. I want a fast prime lens and with the auto-focus sensor compatible with my body I decided on this one. Great price too at ~$200. I'm looking for something to shoot with indoors and in low light. But lately I've been having a slight change of heart. I may be leaning towards getting an SB600 Flash. Bounce capability and an all around great light. I have a media pass to cover the entire Festivals of Speed in Orlando, FL in October, including the Jet Port Reception Party held on a Friday night inside an airport hanger. Light isnt very good, especially when the sun goes down. My kit lens and pop-up flash had a hard time at the same event in St. Pete a few months back so I need to get either some fast glass or bright flash before then.

What do you suggest? I currently have an 18-105 VR and I plan on getting the 35mm at some point in the near future. Price difference between lens and flash is only about $50, then the next stop is the 70-200mm f2.8 down the road.

Suggestions, opinions, comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Peter

 

Personally I would go with the lens. I bought a couple of flashes to use off-camera and I hardly ever use them. They are manual so not ideal on-camera shots, but I'd still rather crank up the ISO and shoot at max aperture. I don't know about the Nikon, but I loved my 70-200mm from Canon, maybe get the 50mm f1.8 and the rest toward the 70-200.

 

If you don't already have a bounce capable flash, the flash is the more usable option in general. That said, for the particular event you mention I am not sure you can bounce off a hanger roof and get enough light reflection (I'm imagining a large hanger like where they repair jumbo jets) for your slower lens.

Do you have a local place that rents lenses?

 

All I have now is the pop-up built in flash. I was just mentioning bounce capability as a bonus. I havn't been to the event in Orlando yet but in St. Pete the hanger had two G550 private jets, a full bar, about 12 cars and a few bikes, jewelry and other misc. displays, so yeah, it was pretty big. I'm just trying to decide if I should get the flash before the lens.

And the closest place that rents equipment is 2 hours away, in Orlando, but I'd want to give it try for a day or two before I use it so I don't think I'd rent from there.

 

You could always go with lensrentals.com, I usually only get to the track once or twice a year and I always rent from them. Very good service.

 

I checked lensrentals before posting, the 17 bucks for 4 days is great, but the 21 for shipping starts to sour the deal. That's why I suggested local. A fast lens is the way to go for the event, do you have any buddies with one you can borrow?

 

True, for such a cheap lens it's probably not worth it. I pay $100 a year basically to use a $1000k lens for a couple days, so in that case it is worth it.

 

I am using a zoom as my Prime..
14mm to 24 mm..2.8
or digitally 21 to 36
very wide, only slight distortion at edges when ultra wide,
but you can crop it out easily
The low light capability is staggering..
I shot at dusk this weekend at it looks like Daylight..600 iso

Love this lens


Fast, ultra wide-angle AF-S zoom lens optimized for edge-to-edge sharpness on both the Nikon FX- (23.9 x 36mm) and DX-format image sensors.
Two Extra-low Dispersion (ED) elements and PGM aspherical lenses control chromatic aberrations while enhancing sharpness and contrast even at the widest aperture settings.
Nikon's Silent Wave Motor (SWM) enables ultra-high-speed autofocusing with exceptional accuracy and powerful, super-quiet operation.
Focus as close as 10.8 inches at the 24mm setting.
M/A focus mode switch enables quick
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082311nikonafs14-24-70lenses.asp

 

I've looked there also. Almost rented the 70-200 VR for Sebring Raceway but couldn't justify spending more money on shipping than holding the lens for a whole weekend. I'll have to ask around, my friend who shoots Nikon moved and two others who are friends use Canon gear.

So we have a few votes for the prime? I guess my original thoughts were smart.

Just as a reference, here are the photos from the last event in St Pete. D3000, 18-55mm VR (now I have the 18-105), standard pop-up flash. Didn't use a tripod because there was too mny people to be carryin it around. Using that lens hand-held was pretty hard, as you can tell.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pt1202/sets/72157623828212790/

 

This is the one lens I covet from Nikon.

 

I have the 50mm 1.8 and an SB800 with my D300. I vote for the lens every day of the week.

 

Looks Like Nikon has upt the anti

Next will be Night vision with a negative 1.4

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10081915nikon85mm.asp

 

They have had 1.4 lenses for a while but they are much more expensive. My 50mm 1.8 was < $100

 

I've looking into that for the price point. Only thing is that I need one for lower light and indoor, so how hard is it to manual focus with not much lighting??

 

Oh right, because your D3000 won't be able to autofocus with it. If you have it wide open at 1.8, it probably won't be very easy to autofocus. With that kind of depth of field there isn't much room for error.

 

So I've heard. Been reading that f/2.8-f/4.0 is where it really shines. Probably wouldn't shoot wide open very much if at all.

 

the nifty fifty ... a steal at ~$100
i love it.... i find myself using my 50 and 85mm 1.8's the most
such great lenses

 

I think I moved back to the 35mm. I've spoken to a lot more people and did some more research. Seems as though the people who are/were deciding between the two chose the 35mm f/1.8 AF-S lens over the light. People I've talked to who have both a prime and a flash say they rarely use the flash, but it is nice to have just in case. I think I'll go with the lens.

Thanks again for all the comments and opinions

Peter

 

I have a manual 50mm 1.8 for my D40, and all I have to do is turn the focus ring until the green focus indicator lights up in the display - idiot proof!

 

Wow really? I didn't know that's how it works! Well for only ~$100 I may have to add that to my bag as well. Thanks for the info

 

http://www.thedphoto.com/gear-equipment/the-brand-new-nikon-af-s-nikkor-85-mm-f-1-4-g-lens-review/

If Price is no object this is Prime

 

Glad to see Nikon is finally bringing out some decent AF-S lenses, but I think they missed the boat for a lot of customers. I used to have a D40 and switched to Canon simply because of the much much much larger amount of lenses available.

 

You might not even need to spend that sum, I got mine for 40 or 50€ on Ebay...

 

Well I finally made my purchase. Went with a brand new Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 AF-S from Amazon. When I bought Halo: Reach (which I sold like 3 days later...) it came with a $20 Best Buy giftcard, so I figured I'd buy the lens online from BB and save twenty bucks. So $199 + tax + shipping was like ~$225, minus giftcard and I could've had it shipped for just over $200 with a week to ship.

I found it on Amazon brand new with warranty from Nikon for $192, no tax, no shipping, and 3-5 day delivery. Save an extra $8-$10 over Best Buy. Sold.

Can't wait. Should be here by Thursday

Thanks for all the help guys,

Peter