New camera lens and the reason why

Yukino and I have a pretty good Nikon D40 that is a pretty decent camera.  A bit cumbersome to carry around but if used properly the quality of the shots can be amazing.  The lens that comes with it is pretty decent and covers about 90% of the pictures we want to take but with something special coming up it was time to invest in something a bit....larger. 

With a budget in mind I opted for the 55-200mm VR lens.  Even when it is completely zoomed out its quite close which doesn't make it suitable for most shots but the zoom and the anti vibration is quick a kick to use.

The new lens (notice its blurry due to the stock lens)

All the following shots were taken without a tripod.

Old lens zoomed in without VR-

 New lens zoomed in with VR-

  New lens zoomed in with VR-

Old lens zoomed in without VR-

New lens zoomed in with VR-

Old lens zoomed in without VR-

 New lens zoomed in with VR-

Old lens zoomed in without VR-

 New lens zoomed in with VR-

So why do I need something that can zoom in so far and have anti vibration?  Well, I recently was able to successfully snag a Press Pass for the first round of The Drift Muscle.  What is that?  D1 was the drifting competition series of drifting competitions in Japan.  After years and years though the two men who started it didn't like the direction is was going in and quit last year.  This was a huge blow to D1 as you can imagine.  They then started a new series, The Drift Muscle, to get back to the roots of drifting that would allow younger and more financially strapped drivers to compete.  In theory at least. 

My little car blog is to thank for getting the press pass and I plan to use it to its full extent. I just hope it offers me more privileges than the Osaka Auto Messe press pass did (other than free entry, nothing).