I should say so 'cause a NEWBIE in photography will know what a D40 looks or feel like, let alone a D90 or the D3. Don't you think so. Anyway, that's my personal view, no offence intended.
I don't understand your sentence "
a NEWBIE in photography will know what a D40 looks or feel like, let alone a D90 or the D3".
So a newbie will know what a D40, D90, and D3 feels like? huh??:dunno:
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Anyway, back to the "equipment = photography standard" point...
Say I'm a total newbie to photography. I can only afford to spend $1K on a DSLR kit, but lucky me bought '
6979' $5 small on Wednesday.
Today... I go through Nikon's website and Clubsnap, and hear so many people raving about Nikon D3, 14-24, 24-70, 70-200, SB900. So with the cheque from Singapore Pools, I can go out and buy ALL those tomorrow. But does that make me pro straight away? Of course the answer is no.
Some people just buy high-end cameras because they have excess $$. The world is unfair, yes. What to do?
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OK. Went OT too far already.
Back to TS' question. I think you should bring along your 55-200 since it's quite small anyway. I'm sure there will be interesting boats, birds, rocks, etc in Halong Bay that you would want to capture. If you had 18-105 & 55-200 combo, maybe you wouldn't take out the long lens much. But 18-55 is a bit too short in my opinion.