Stuart Herbert

Kristi’s recent interest in getting a Nikon D70s has reminded me that I still need to replace some of the lenses that I have. The old adage with photography is that you should put your money into your lenses, not your camera body. I picked up my 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses when I bought my first camera body in ‘97, and back then I couldn’t afford very much

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been replacing lenses in my bag with Sigma lenses. I tend to combine my photography with my walking (although I have done a wedding once for a friend, and wouldn’t say no to doing more), so I’ve been working through the range from wide-angle towards telephoto. You can’t guarantee good light, so I’m aiming to have all my lenses support a constant f/2.8 aperture throughout their focal range.

On holiday in North Wales a couple of years back, I started off my set with Sigma’s 15-30mm wide-angled zoom. I think the ones you can buy today are an improved version, but I’m very pleased with mine. One of the first photos I took with the lens was of Dolbadarn Castle in Snowdonia, framed my the magnificent Llanberis Pass.

A year later almost to the day, I picked up a Sigma 50mm macro lens. Macro photography’s fun, and if you don’t mind lying in the dirt you can get some great shots. A lot of people find the idea of buying a fixed lens (one with no zoom) odd in this day and age; most photographers love their zoom lenses, and would be lost without one. My thinking is that, pound for pound, you’ll get a better quality fixed lens for the same money as a zoom lens - simply because there are less parts to manufacture. This lens has become a firm favourite of mine, and it’s the one I use to take most of photos with today. About the first shot I took with this lens was a spider we came across during a walk on our honeymoon.

At the moment, I don’t feel the need for another macro lens, so next on my shopping list is Sigma’s 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG lens. This will replace my old Nikon 28-80 G lens, which came with my Nikon F80 camera body. Even a cheap lens like that can be used to capture a beautiful place. The only downside is that the lens is too large to fit my collection of filters - which I guess means I’ll have more room in my camera bag for one final lens.

Apart from being useful for the odd portrait, I’ve found myself needing a telephoto zoom lens to photograph standing stones sited on private property. This sucker is the lens I’d love to have, but at around £1700 and unwieldy physical dimensions, I’ve settled on the more realistic 70-200mm lens, which I’ll also get telephoto convertors for.

But first, I need to buy a mains adaptor for my Nikon D100, so that I can clean the sensor. It’s amazing what you can hide using Photoshop