Shopping For lens's... Help!

[imRunninNaked]

Im currently shopping around for a longer range lens for my D50..
i dont REALLY need a macro.. but at the same time i need something balanced between range, quality, without going absolutely crazy on my pocket. thing is im currently trying to collect the basic equipment to get into private investigateing, while at the same time keeping photography as a hobby... (i.e. people & landscape photography{being the reason i dont quite need a macro})
i was thinking in the area of up to a 400mm lens question is i'm not to savy with lens brands and who has what quality.

one a side note:

this may sound as a weird question but my mind thinks in ft. so how far in ft (roughly) will a 300 or 400mm zoom into to get a full up front picture?

so anyone with recomendations please feel free ..

[Landis]

this may sound as a weird question but my mind thinks in ft. so how far in ft (roughly) will a 300 or 400mm zoom into to get a full up front picture?

Running Naked, a full up front picture of WHAT? With my old Canon D60 and a 400mm lens I could pretty much fill the screen with a person at about 200 feet. You need to do some Googling and get the angle of view for different lenses (usually given in full frame 35mm images) do the math and find out what the angle of view is for your camera, which I think has a factor of 1.5 or 1.6.

Then look in the threads here for the other people who have asked about lenses for their cameras and read who has been said about different telephoto lenses. There are a number of good brands and some to stay away from. It's all be stated numerous times.

[Apoc112]

the Nikon D50 is, indeed, a 1.5 factor to 35mm

i think you might find some good information in a recent topic of mine that got some good replies. it is a rather similar question... just a little more generalized.

http://www.photozo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24357