I'm sure Nikon makes a 50mm lens in the 1.4 to 1.8 F range. Sigma makes a 24-70 f2.8 also..

Bill.

Charleslo wrote:.

Hi,.

I just got my Nikon D40x dslr 2 days ago. I'm learning a bit byexperimenting and reading from forums and pic examples. I realize Ineed a lens with a large aperture in order to take night shotswithout tripod. The lens that comes with the D40x is AF-S DXZoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II. I tried getting outside of myhouse and taking pics of the street light proves the need of a tripodas the shutter opens for several seconds..

I saw many great pics from others taking pics with F/2.8. I thoughtthat would be useful for nite pics without tripod..

Am I correct and any recommendation please?.

Thanks,-Charles.

Bill.

Shoot liberally!..

Wm Karoly wrote:.

I'm sure Nikon makes a 50mm lens in the 1.4 to 1.8 F range. Sigmamakes a 24-70 f2.8 also..

Bill.

I think the OP has to be careful too though because aren't the Nikon D40 series the cameras with no AF drive in the body? That requires the lens to have an AF motor. That means Sigma has to have HSM. I think the Nikon equivalent would be the S type lens...

Thanks Bill..

I searched on Nikon site and there aren't much choices. I heard of Sigma and Tamron brands as well but not sure which ones are good on Nikon...

Hi,.

I just got my Nikon D40x dslr 2 days ago. I'm learning a bit byexperimenting and reading from forums and pic examples. I realize Ineed a lens with a large aperture in order to take night shotswithout tripod. The lens that comes with the D40x is AF-S DXZoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II. I tried getting outside of myhouse and taking pics of the street light proves the need of a tripodas the shutter opens for several seconds..

I saw many great pics from others taking pics with F/2.8. I thoughtthat would be useful for nite pics without tripod..

Am I correct and any recommendation please?.

The D40 / D40x will work on autofocus only with those lenses that have a motor in the lens, as there is no motor in the camera body. Nikon call these AF-S lenses and they don't yet have a wide-aperture standard prime in this series (to my knowledge). So if you want a wide-aperture prime lens with autofocus you need something like the Sigma 30mm f/1.4. Sigma make several lenses of this type, with a motor in the lens..

Of course you could use the much cheaper Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (about 25% of the price) if you don't mind focussing manually. I guess at night you won't be doing action shots so taking a few seconds to focus manually won't be an issue. You'll probably still need a tripod though, even at wide apertures.Mike..

Thanks Mike. I'll keep in mind about the need of internal motor on the lens for D40..

On the Tamron website, there are lenses that is "(IF) Internal Focus". Does that mean it has an internal motor that takes care of focusing?.

-Charles..

On the Tamron website, there are lenses that is "(IF) InternalFocus". Does that mean it has an internal motor that takes care offocusing?.

-Charles.

No. It means the front lens element doesn't move during focus. Helps if you're using a polarizing filter..

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_focus_lens..