Brand New with USA warranty for $509 with Free Shipping. Nikon D60

3 Comments:
1. The D60 is a great entry point into DSLR cameras if you've never owned one. It's the Nikon equivalent to a mid-range Canon Rebel. I spent about 15 hours researching digital cameras and lenses, and found this to be ideal for my needs. Here's the most helpful review I found: link.

2. I bought the D60 refurbished a week or two ago for $450 from Newegg (I think), but that included the 18-55mm kit lens and not the longer 18-135mm lens. Great find OP -- I wish I had waited 2 weeks to save some cash and triple my zoom range! As far as I can tell, this is as good as new. I have had no problems with the refurbished model.

3. I like J&R. You can usually call and haggle out an additional 1-5% off, depending on the circumstances. However, I haven't had to return anything to them, so can't say too much about their service.

OH man.....

i got a d40 here that Im thinking of buying a 55-200 VR lens.

Here is my dilemma.

Keep my D40 (with 3 yr warranty)and buy 55-200 vr for ~$150 OR
Sell D40 for around $350 and buy this refurb kit.

dannieboiz said:I've been waiting out for a Canon XSI but this is a pretty good deal.

I've been told that the Nikon lensse are generally much more expensive than the comparable lense. Is this true?
Since both cameras seems to be equally good, I'd hate to save a few bucks on the body but spend much more on the lens especially when this is where it makes the difference.

Newer Nikon and Canon lens prices are similar. Off-brands may be cheaper.

If you want to save money, think about buying a Nikon D80, which fully supports the older, cheaper Nikon lenses. Newer Canon cameras do not support the older, cheaper Canon lenses.

what to do, what to do...

TheGodEye said:johnny98 said:Rtrain82 said:Is the lens included a VR lens?

No, but VR is much more useful for 200-300mm lenses than for lenses less than 100mm.

The review of the lense you posted (Thanks BTW!) seems to suggest that the non-VR is a bad bad thing. I think I would pull the trigger on this deal if it was, but the non VR is giving me pause.

It really depends what you are going to use it for. This is considered a fairly slow lens, meaning it is pretty limited as to how much light it can let through even when its wide open. That means the camera is going to have to compensate by using a slower shutter speed and/or higher ISO. This is exacerbated at the long (135mm) end, as the lens gets even slower at that end (f5.6, down from f3.5 at 18mm) and you need a faster shutter speed to keep things sharp the greater your magnification is. This is where VR comes in very handy. Its not as good as a faster lens (which are often much more expensive) but for stationary subjects it can easily add 2-3 stops of useful range at any magnification. This becomes an issue more quickly at the long end for the reasons mentioned, but is equally true at the short end. Your just less likely to run into trouble there.

Whether all that matters is a big function of what you are shooting, and in what kind of light. If you don't shoot in low light conditions much, VR won't matter much to you. If you are trying to shoot moving subjects in low light, (kids, night sports, indoor sports) VR will also not be of much help. For medium to long zoom in moderate light with fairly still subjects, VR will come in very handy to help you get more sharp shots.

Here's Ken Rockwell's take on VR:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/image-stabilization.htm

IMHO, at this price you can't go wrong even without VR. If you are really going to shoot in low light some of the time, your probably going to want a faster lens anyway, VR or no. I started with the 18-55 and 55-200VR, and added the f1.8 35mm DX prime for $200 for shooting the kids indoors. At least now I don't have to use a flash indoors in the day time, and can usually still get the shutter fast enough to keep the kiddos sharp. For lower light I added the SB400 flash for $100 so I can bounce and/or diffuse to get more natural looking flash pictures. For sports at night or indoors you probably really need a f2.8 tele, but now you're talking ~$1000 or more.

Rob

Pretty good deal considering the prices have been heading up lately. My only other suggest would be to sell the 18-135 and get the 18-105 VR. 18-105 VR is about $260 or so on eBay, but that's a refurb, I think at one point they were about $248 for the longest time, but like everything else, the prices have been going up on camera equipment due to the strong yen. There's also 8% bing CashBack on eBay.

Does anyone have any info on weather or not you can purchase an extended warranty on this camera?
And if so, where?

TheSaga3 said:Does anyone have any info on weather or not you can purchase an extended warranty on this camera?
And if so, where?

Pretty sure the Nikon extended warranty does not cover refurbs. You'll have to go with a third party one.

gilnavarro said:I am really thinking about this one, but the word refurbished makes me nervous.

I've had three camera bodies that have been refurbished by Nikon and haven't regretted it. I've only had one problem and the store sent me another body right away.