Keyroo's reviews

  • Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II DX AF-S Nikkor

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    Cheap, better that canon kit lenses, very clear for a low end lens
    very loose, cheap construction, blurry around outside of picture, slow autofocus

    For a kit lens this thing is great, much better than the kit lenses that come with the rebel xti etc,
    i found the autofocus to be quite slow and hunts a lot in low light (the body i'm using doens't help that though)
    one thing i did find very impressive on this is close ups, the focal distance for close ups, (bugs etc) is closer than nikon claims.
    the construction is very loose and rattly but it is just a entry level kit lens,
    great for getting started and learning about photography.

    reviewed October 22nd, 2007

  • Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED DX AF-S Nikkor

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    Awesome quality for price, sturdy construction
    focus ring is near impossible to use, autofocus a little slow

    one of the best kit lenses i've seen, great quality, good construction, especially for the price. don't bother trying to manual focus it, the ring is tiny and hard to use,
    i did find the autofocus a bit slow but thats expected on a non USM lens
    but all up a great lens, good price and a great way to get started in sports or wildlife photography.

    reviewed October 22nd, 2007

  • Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Very sharp, fast lens, small, light weight, cheap
    so small it's almost hard to hold on a big camera

    Great lens for day to day, great price, best quality lens for the money, highly recommended

    reviewed October 3rd, 2008 (purchased for $270)

  • Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR AF-S Nikkor

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    Good price, very sharp, well constructed, comes with lens hood
    variable appeture gets a bit slow at full zoom, hard working with polarising filters with lens hood

    Great lens for the price, very sharp when stopped down a little, very fiddly adjusting polarising filter with lens hood on, but really good lens for the price range, i recommend it for a next step up from kit lenses.

    reviewed October 3rd, 2008 (purchased for $800)

  • Nikon 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro Nikkor

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    VERY sharp, sturdy construction, great for macro
    super noisy operation, focus hunts

    This is by far my favourite lens, really fun to use and very versitile, good portrait lens and excellent for macro, put a UV filter on it though, if you get dirt in it ti's a bitch to clean,

    very happy with this lens, i played with the new AFS version and i found the build quality to be very cheap and i don't think it was any where near as sharp when comparing images side by side,

    reviewed October 3rd, 2008 (purchased for $400)

  • Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical IF SP AF

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    fast lens, great construction, fairly light, great all rounder
    lens hood can be a pain to put on and off, focusing ring moves when autofocusing, have to switch to manual to focus

    This is my day to day lens, very versitile, not very big, feels good on the camera.

    Operation wise ti's great, smooth zoom motion, easy focus and zoom ring to use, and image quality is great,

    i have a few gripes but they are all small really, the lens hood gets stuck sometimes and is a bitch to put on and off, the focus ring moves when autofocusing which can throw you off a bit if your not carefull of hand placement on the lens, the switch between manual and autofocus is kind of annoying ti's small and fiddly if you want to switch to manual real quick, lastly be carefully of stacking filters, putting a polarising filter on top of a uv creates some major vignetting, especially when stopped down, but thats common of most wide angle lenses

    overall a great all round lens, i used this for a whole ski season as my main lens and it never faultered, very pleased

    reviewed October 3rd, 2008 (purchased for $500)

  • Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    sharp especially when stopped down abit, solid construction
    jerky and annoying zoom, filter size too large, lens creep, flaring

    Value for money it's a good lens, and once you get used to the wacky functionality ti's not that bad to use, but when you first stick it on the camera, ti's weird, i found the zoom ring too small and too far back, ti's stiff between 24 and 40 mm and then loose up to 70,

    filter size is huge and expensive if you want to use good quality filters,

    if you shoot any other way than the sun being behind you lens flare is a major issue

    lens creep sucks, it has a lock for when ti's wide but doesnt' really seem to do anything


    even though i'm slandering this lens, i still think ti's very good value for money, 850ish australian compared to the 2400 aussie for the nikon equivelent (yeah i know it's go a focusing motor) there is a big difference in price and not THAT much difference in quality, so value for money i'd recommend it.

    reviewed April 24th, 2009 (purchased for $600)

  • Nikon 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S VR Micro Nikkor

    5 out of 10 points and not recommended
    sharp, super close focusing,
    really bad hunting

    everyone raves about this lens, and in perfect conditions ti's really good, especially when manually focusing, BUT autofocus is TERRIBLE, i've used it on my d200 and my d700, on both cameras it hunted so bad, while shooting jewellery i only hand one hand free to use the camera at the time and had to rely on autofocus, by 2am i was about ready to throw the dam thing out the window

    my advice, get a 60mm, get closer to the subject, my 60mm very rarely hunts, and in my opinion is sharper, i can see how a 105 has it's benefits for insects etc where you can't get physically that close (although i still do with my 60) but yeah

    i'm glad i only borrowed it from a friend for a few weeks and didn't buy it, i would have lost it by now i recon.

    reviewed April 24th, 2009