Questions about my Nikon F65

Hi everyone!

I just joined this forum and I'm new to photography so I know absolutely nothing about equipment (both bodies and lenses).

Like the title says I've bought a Nikon F65 with a Nikkor AF 28-80 lens.
I've read through some threads and noticed that a lot of you aren't that enthousiastic about this particular lens, but for now (cashflow had dried up) I'm just going with this one.

My questions for you are:

What can I do with this lens? What is it capable of? What are the downsides?
Which film should i use? (The salesman at our local photographystor gave me some Fujicolor C100 and Kodak 125PX)

I'm interested in cityscapes and architecture.

So whenever I would want to buy a new lens: which ones would you advise that would suit my needs?

And finally. I'm completely new to photography so please try to keep it as simple as possible!! All this jargon makes my head spin...

Thanks!!

Welcome to APUG. My advice is use the lens you've got. That lens should be capable enough for what you have in mind. Nikon made a few different versions over the years, and I had one which I took to Costa Rica and Panama. It's very light, which is nice when traveling! Also, as it's not that expensive, I wasn't too worried about what might happen to it in the rain forest.

Don't worry so much about how sharp or fast it is and just go take photographs. When you find that the equipment limits you, *then* start thinking about what equipment will produce the results you need/want. I say this as someone who learned the "it's not the camera/lens, it's the photographer" lesson after buying a lot of unnecessary stuff.

Try a lot of different films. When you get something you like, use that film more. There are plenty of threads here discussing film choice.

EXAMPLE: bigger or faster is not always better. I used to have Nikon's fabulous and seriously pricey 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens. It was great but heavy and didn't focus nearly as close as I'd like - the close focus distance is 5 feet. I sold it and bought an older, much cheaper, Nikon 70-210mm f/4 which is slower and technically nowhere near as sophisticated, but focuses as close as about 3.5 feet. It also weighs a lot less.

My rule of thumb is to buy a new lens when there is a specific application where old one *just* won't do. You can read all sorts of reviews online on all sorts of lens. But, most of "defects" people talk about won't be visible until you have a large enlargement or are comparing two prints side-by-side. If Nikon made the lens, it can't be so bad that the problems are readily visible.

As to film, my ONLY suggestion is to start with some basic stuff, such as Kodak TriX400 or PanX125. They've been around for long time. It will do most things you'd want to do.

Hi,

welcome to apug . When I started with photography more seriously - I had only nikon F801s and same 28-80 lens as you have. It can do many good things; only what I was missing is that I was not able to blur background like with fast lens (f1.8 for example). Play with this for time being, and later go for prime lenses - it is life time investment .

Hello and welcome to APUG. Send he lens to me for testing