BUY THE THRIFTY 3
(ON EBAY*) & THEN
TAKE THE CHALLENGE
Before you can take the Thrifty 3 Challenge you must search...as lore-like as it sounds. Yes, we do earn a small commission "from qualifying purchases" when you use the links below, but our goal is to help you to get your kit, as quickly as possible...so that's another reason we do it. Sometimes, we might sell these items on our eBay store too, but that means you'll be getting the exact gear we were testing, so you know it works.
The Nifty Fifty (TIGHT)
Minolta AF 50 1.7 (OPTION #1 for "TIGHT" shot)
I’ll cut to the chase and say this lens is super useful but it’s one of the least expensive lenses I use. It’s a 1990s vintage Quantaray AF 70-300 (for Nikon F mount) and it’s almost identical to some of the Tamron and Promaster versions (they are optically identical, per testing).
As an Amazon or eBay Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase through a link (at no additional cost to you).
The Kit Lens (WIDE)
A vintage full-frame kit lens (OPTION #1 for "WIDE" shot)
The interesting thing about getting a wide angle lens, is if you have a full frame camera, you can use an affordable old 35/28-70 kit lens (from back in the film era). So, the CAMERA is more expensive, but the availability of inexpensive kit lenses is greater. Kit lenses for cropped sensor cameras, especially Micro Four Thirds, are a bit more expensive (not so much with 1.5/1.6x crop cameras though).
As an Amazon or eBay Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase through a link (at no additional cost to you).
The 1990s 70-300 (TELE)
Quantaray 70-300 1:2 MACRO (OPTION #1 for "TELE" shot)
I’ll cut to the chase and say this lens is super useful but it’s one of the least expensive lenses I use. It’s a 1990s vintage Quantaray AF 70-300 4-5.6 1:2 MACRO version (for Nikon) and it’s almost identical to some of the Tamron and Promaster versions (of the same specifications) which leads me to believe they were manufactured by the same source, and that they are optically identical, which I proved out during testing.
As an Amazon or eBay Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase through a link (at no additional cost to you).