Hi...I love photography and bought a Nikon D90 with several lenses and am trying to take great shots at construction site. I love my photos (automatic Mode ;) 35mm lens) but with the zoom lens I find I lose quality (resolution) in my photos.. I have used a tripod and automatic settings—should I always use a tripod when I use the big lens?
Will I always lose sharpness when using zoom? ..does that make sense to you? It has been very overcast and getting darker being winter here, maybe the lighting is hurting the sharpness. I am not that great with a camera yet, but trying.....Thanks! Sue
Sue,
The D90 has the same sensor as the D300 and has pretty good higher ISO capabilities.
If you expose the picture correctly and use some noise reduction software, your should be able to shoot at ISO 1600 and get good shots. If you even get a picture that you really like but has more noise than you would like, covert it to B&W and notice how the noise adds a nice grain look to you pictures and makes then very usable.
When shooting on a tripod you can bring down the ISO and let the camera expose for you with a longer shutter speed. Might want to use a timer so that you don’t bump/move the camera when pushing on the shutter.
Loose sharpness when using a zoom? Well....yes and No. As a general rule Prime Lenses will give you better results. Even inexpensive (Kit Lenses) have a sweet spot and can still take great pictures.
Much more to talk about......
If you want to sharpen your shots, first stop using auto mode. Try appeture mode and start with a setting of around f11.
For the zooms, the best thing for sharpening your shots, without a tripod, is to get a lens with VR II.
Zooms are getting good enough now that you will not notice a difference, that is assuming it is a narrow range zoom. No more than 3 to 1 Zoom range and a name brand maker will result in images for all practical purposes that will equal single focal length lenses.
The 18-200 or 28-300 are very handy but they are invariably slow (small maximum aperture) and image quality is definitely not up to par. I would not recommend them at all for your purposes.
Someone mentioned the 85mm f1.8 and with cameras which use a smaller sensor which effectively gives you a 1.5x or 1.6x multiplier effect it would be about perfect.
Do not try to use any lens with less than an f2.8 aperture.