Sitarro - Lens advice please

[glockmail]

I'm planning on borrowing my daughter's D40 to take pictures of her at track meets and field hockey games. The ski club president also wants me to take photos for the race team events next year.

With my current 10x zoom Panasonic DMC-TZ1 I typically settle on the 4 to 6x range power for the field events, somewhat higher for the skiing. At 1x this is a relatively wide angle lens so I'm not sure how that relates to the typical SLR rules of (focal length)/ 55 for actual zoom power.

1. What focal length is comparable?
2. Which Nikon lens do you recommend? Budget is important.
3. Is the VR worth it? I haven't had an issue with shake before, so if I can save money by not going with that I will.

[Sitarro]

The DSLR lenses aren't promoted in the same way as the smaller cameras, the lens I bought with my D300 is the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor. It's not cheap, mine was 800 bucks and the new model has gone even higher but Amazon has a refurbished one for around 600 dollars. It's half the price and weight of my brother's 55-200 2.8 and does a great job. An important thing to remember is that the mm designation on these lenses are not correct for the sensor in the D40 or my D300. Our sensors aren't full size. Full size is the same size as the film camera's negative. With our sensors, you need to multiply the mm designation on the lens by approx. 1.5. My lens is actually a 27mm-300mm.

There is a great sight featuring a guy named Ken Rockwell that is a wealth of Nikon and general photography info. This guy is a no bull shit straight talker that loves his D40. He has everything Nikon has put out for years and yet grabs the D40 most of the time as he walks out the door. He recommends 3 lenses to be completely prepared for anything.... this is the link to the article......

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/dx-dream-team.htm

The 55-200 that he recommends is very inexpensive and he loves it, I believe it may be the same that came with my brother's D70, it works very well. It is also a VR. The VR does make a big difference with hand held zoom lenses but should be turned off for use on a tripod. It's also a good idea to turn it off if the shot doesn't need it because it uses the battery, not a lot but it does.

Ken's site will answer a lot of questions in a real world way, spend a little time reading what he has to say. He is a great photographer too.

[glockmail]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[glockmail]

It looks like the Nikon 55-200mm VR for $200 (wow- cheap!) is the ticket. What magnification power can I expect with this lens?