Nikon D60 with Customized Lens Kit 10.2 Megapixel

Ok, this is a great camera. I'm not going to cover the features of this camera, there are lots of places to learn about it. Let me point out a few things to watch out for.

*****LOUSY LENS KITS**** The Nikon D60 is a fantastic camera, but lots of sellers will try to getcha by bundling a $650 camera body with one or more really mediocre lens. If you're going to spend that kind of money on a camera, don't get seduced by these horrible lens kits.

First, decide if you are planning on using a camera bag everywhere you go or not. This is important. Unless you are planning on taking a camera bag with you everywhere, you do NOT want 4 lenses -- 3 of the 4 will just stay home 95 percent of the time. What you will need in this case is ONE REALLY GREAT LENS.

The most common lenses offered with this camera is an 18-55mm lens either alone or bundled with a 70-300mm lens. Now the 18-55mm a really nice wide angle lens down at 18mm. However, you really get very poor (55mm) telephoto capacity with that lens. If you're looking for a great all purpose lens, 18-55mm is not it.

Next, you'll see the 70-300mm lens. That's a great telephoto zoom and gives you lots of pretty nice range. But keep in mind that 70mm is NOT wide angle. That means you'll struggle to shoot close-ups of anything. No wide-angle shots of buildings, landscapes, mountains, or even large groups of people at the dinner table. A great second lens, but not a great single all-purpose lens.

Any lens kit that mixes up 2 or 3 of the above lenses are still leaving you short of ONE GREAT all-purpose lens.

The best value in an all-purpose lens is the somewhat rarely offered Nikon 18-135mm zoom. 18mm is plenty wide-angle enough for anyone. And 135mm gives you enough zoom lens to shoot the kids soccer game close-up from across the entire field. With 10MP, you can still crop down for a nice close-up and get great high-quality prints. With this lens, you won't need a camera bag for 90% of you who are buying this camera for non-professional work. To get that lens, you'll have to buy the camera body and lens separately.

For the big spenders, a better choice is Nikon's $700 18-200mm lens. You'll get the single best all-purpose lens Nikon makes/ You'll pay as much for that lens than the camera body itself.

***BE AWARE*** Many sellers package non-Nikon lenses with this camera. Do yourself a favor and buy a great genuine Nikon Lens.

Next, a lot of sellers advertise four lenses, but really give you two lenses and then two "over" lenses that give you extra wide-angle or telephoto capacity. Avoid these lens correctors that screw into the end of your lens and give you more or less "magnification". These lenses are uniformly lousy.

Also, the "bonus" items in these kits, like the tripods and camera cases are cheap, cheap, cheap. Lowepro makes good camera bags. If the camera bag is not a name brand bag, it is the bottom-of-the-line junk. Better to buy these components separately. Same goes with the tripod.

On the whole, I recommend buying the camera body and lenses separately since neither 18-135mm nor 18-200mm are not currently available as a kit with the D60. Buy your memory cards, straps, cases, tripods, filters and other accessories separately and as you need them. 99 percent of people won't carry around all that stuff anyhow.

I also recommend "Camera Armor" to protect your SLR against bangs and scratches.

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