[peteer01]

So yesterday I went to buy my D80, and it's my first SLR ever. (DSLR or SLR)

I am heading from Japan to Hawaii with my wife tomorrow afternoon, and the shop attendant advised me to take a lot of photos with it before I go so that I could exchange it if it had any problems.

So I headed out today and took a bunch of photos, mostly manual, but also taking a wide range of ISOs, shutter speeds, and the like, just to make sure everything works.

When I loaded up the photos, I noticed that some photos have particularly dark corners, and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong, or if the camera has a problem or what.

Here is a link to the photos I'm talking about:
Flickr: Photos from peteer01

(About the camera: I was originally going to buy the 18-70 kit and the AF-S VR 70-300mm, but the 18-135 kit was less than $35 more, so at the store I decided to go with the 18-135. The photos in question are using the 18-135 lens that came in the D80 lens kit pack.)

So far I've only uploaded two photos, because they're pretty large files and the dark corners are the most obvious in these two because of the blue sky. I believe they were taken in "Auto", and the EXIF data is there, so I hope this is enough for someone to let me know if I've done something wrong or if the camera has a problem. (I noticed dark corners in the first photos I took yesterday inside, but I thought they might be from the flash...I can upload more photos if necessary.) Also, I had put the lens hood (or "Bayonet hood" or whatever that is called) that came with the 18-135 lens onto the lens in the two photos, but in the indoor photos yesterday

If I should return this for another one, let me know quickly so I can go do that tomorrow morning (Japan time) before I leave the country for a week!

[Markulous]

It's vignetting and, I'm guessing as EXIF data wasn't there, was @ 18mm on that lens.

Do you have a filter on the front of the lens? It might be that - I'd be very surprised if either the lens or the lens hood led to vignetting

[Soupdragon]

It's the 18-135 lens, my one vignettes so bad it's embarassing.
It's not just your copy of the lens, they all do it.
I now advise the 18-70 over the 18-135 every time.
If you can? I suggest you take it back and swap it for the 18-70.
The only other alternative is to close the aperture down to f8! the downside of that is, your shutter speeds will be so low you will have to either tripod mount or use a higher iso.
Of course that in itself brings other problems!

Can you see where I'm going here?

[orangepeel]

Originally Posted by Soupdragon

Can you see where I'm going here?

not another suggestion to clean the sensor with cif is it?

[Soupdragon]

Here is another thing I found out the hard way.
When the lens is fully extended with the lens hood fitted, the pop up flash is obscured by the lens/shade so, when doing close work with the flash, I found huge dark shadows on my pictures.

While I am on the subject of "issues" I have with the 18-135! I was suprised how difficult it was to hand hold at the 135mm end of the world. Most of my shots at shutter speeds of less than 1/250th were blurred so, unless you have a very steady hand? you may find a good number of your pictures not very sharp.

On a lighter note; you now have the benefit of my ineffable wisdom and you could choose workarounds for my findings, at least you won't be caught off guard like I was.

Hope that's of some help?

[Soupdragon]

Originally Posted by orangepeel

not another suggestion to clean the sensor with cif is it?

I can't take credit for the CIF idea that was another genius on the forum!

[peteer01]

Yeah, it's not the filter. I was hoping it was that easy. I am using one. (I bought two Kenko 67mm "PRO1 Digital - PROTECTOR(W) <プロテクター・ワイド>" filters for the two lenses, at the recommendation of the store staff.) I was hoping it was as simple as the filter, so I took photos of the wall in my apartment with no flash and no hood and with the filter at 18mm and 135mm, then I took the same photos of the wall without the filter at 18mm and 135mm, and the problem still exists. Infact, there's very little, if any difference between the photos with and without the filter. And yeah, it's pretty bad...

Argh. I was hoping it'd be as simple as removing the filter.

I know there are trade offs with all lenses, and that's why I was going to get the 18-70 and 70-300 instead of the 18-200, but I changed to the 18-135 based on the negligable price difference. I'm amazed the vignetting on this lens is this bad at both 18 and 135! (It's more noticable on the almost-white wall than the blue sky.)

My thinking was that I would rarely be taking big zoom photos and normal photos at the same time, so I thought that for the same price, I'd be better of with a lens kit and the 70-300VR instead of the body only and the 18-200VR...but now I'm wondering if I've made the wrong decision or if I should have gone with the 18-70...or what.

I can absolutely appreciate the advice of going back to get the 18-70 instead of the 18-135...I'm assuming the lens takes as good or better photos just as fast or faster than the 18-135 and suffers from less vignetting? Any other advice? (Do other people think I should get the 18-70? Is there a big difference? Should have I have gone with the 18-200VR?) Any and all advice is appreciated!


(Also, if the EXIF data is helpful, I tried to post it, but it didn't work. I can repost it if someone needs/wants it.)

[Markulous]

Originally Posted by Markulous

I'd be very surprised if either the lens or the lens hood led to vignetting

It's official! I'm very surprised!

Originally Posted by Soupdragon

you now have the benefit of my ineffable wisdom

It's official! You have wisdom - and ineffable wisdom, too!

[Soupdragon]

I am sure plenty of people have an opinion on this.
Mine is based on experience of both the 18-70 and the 18-135.
My first D80 was fitted with the 18-70 and performed flawlessly in all situations.
Bear in mind I have only owned one 18-70 and one 18-135 but, given the choice again, I would be picking the 18-70 even if it was the same price as the 18-135.

[Soupdragon]

Originally Posted by Markulous

It's official! I'm very surprised!



It's official! You have wisdom - and ineffable wisdom, too!

I am a touch suprised you did not recommend night shooting only!

Tell me the truth now! did you have to google that word?

[peteer01]

Originally Posted by Soupdragon

I am sure plenty of people have an opinion on this.
Mine is based on experience of both the 18-70 and the 18-135.
My first D80 was fitted with the 18-70 and performed flawlessly in all situations.
Bear in mind I have only owned one 18-70 and one 18-135 but, given the choice again, I would be picking the 18-70 even if it was the same price as the 18-135.

One other thing I thought might be worth asking is that the body kit in Japan is 101,800 or so, while the 18-70 kit is 127,800. I paid 131,800 for the 18-135 kit. Now, there's a 15% point kickback, which is to say I get approximately 18,000 of my next purchase(s) for buying them, so it's not as expensive as it sounds. The 30,000 I've spent on the lens in the lens kit...($258) or the 27,000 ($232) I'd spend for the 18-70 lens...is there a lens in that price range that would be better? I want to be able to take macro and 18mm photos, and make sure I have atleast through 70mm because that's where the VR telephoto starts.

Right now I'm leaning heavily towards the 18-70 kit...but I can't even head out to exchange it for another 12 hours, and I'd like as much info as I can get between now and then!

Also, incase I haven't expressed it properly...THANK YOU. It is really helpful to be able to get some good advice from you guys on this expensive purchase!

[Soupdragon]

There is no one lens solution and I don't really like to give advice on what to spend your money on.
You would do well to read the reviews and base your decision on what suits your needs best.