Digital Camera

Any suggestions on lens combinations and filters?

Either the US$400 Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX or the US$750 Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX are ideal good quality (not kit lens quality) photo-journalism type lenses for the D80. Functionally they are like 27-200mm and 27-300mm lenses respectively when used on the D80. The 18-200mm is pricey but the Vibration Reduction feature is IMO well worth the extra money in terms of creating a great one-lens camera.

Beyond the main photojournalism lens that generally lives on the camera the sky is the limit. Many folks, including me, find a macro (60mm or 105mm) lens important. For superwide the 10.5mm fisheye (rectilinear when software-corrected) and/or the 12-24mm are both very good; I own both. Generally do not consider third party lenses since even though they may have good optics, over time they will limit the featureset of your Nikon DSLR.

Quality telephoto lenses beyond the zooms suggested above are special purpose lenses that can get very pricey. I suggest you wait a while before venturing farther into telephoto purchases, since less than high quality tele purchases are invariably a waste of money.

Every lens should have its own clear u/v filter permanently affixed, and always use the provided lens hood. I cannot count how many of my lenses have been saved when the filter instead of the lens got smashed (however many folks do not work their gear as hard as I do). If you shoot much outdoors a circular polarizing filter is very useful, IMO pretty important for your main lens.

One or more SB-800 flash units should be on your wish list if you intend to do much flash photography.

Best vendor overall, by a lot, is http://bhphotovideo.com/ but other good vendors also exist.

Some photogs will say prime lenses are best, only buy primes (non-zoom). Today's zooms are pretty excellent (the Nikon 12-24mm being one example) and the sensitivity of DSLRs to dust that enters the camera when changing lenses make modern zooms often a good choice.

-Allen Wicks

Ah, sorry for the confusion.

Still, someone who "thinks different" enough to be bucking the Adobe/Microsoft hegemony should be willing to avoid the C/N hegemony as well.

My advice is to buy the best glass you can afford, then scrimp on the body -- you'll be replacing it sooner than you will the glass!

I bought an Olympus E-300, purely because of the superb 7mm-11mm wide angle zoom. If you're a wide-angle freak, there is no other lens available like it! I've already scored a couple covers from this lens, and a site gig that would have been impossible otherwise.

With Leica and Sigma producing 4/3rds lenses, you've got the "boutique" high end and the low end covered, as well. But to me, the Zuiko glass is everything... they also have a 150/2, 300/2.8, and an incredible 35-100/2 zoom. If you like fast glass, Zuiko has some world-class lenses.