Birth photography is this lens OK ? (AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR)

I own a d300s with a lens AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR;
I will be shooting my best friend's baby birth in a few days

I did a research and I am not sure if my lens is good enough or what I can do under poor light conditions.

Can anybody help?

Regards
River

The 18-105 is not that good in poor or dimly lit conditions. Even when bumping up your ISO. I would suggest a 50mm F1.8 for that project.

Ditto. the 18-105 will not work well. 50mm 1.8 would be a cheap solution. they can be had under $100 used, and around $125-ish new. Its a great lens for the money. If money is no issue, and you plan to do alot more portraiture, spring for the 50mm 1.4....its just under $400 but worth every penny in my opinion. I had both.

thanks for so quick replies. Unfortunately they are out of stock for the lens you guys offered and I have so little time

I also have a QUANTARAY lens which is 18-50mm f3.5-5.6 QD. what do you think?

Are you shopping locally? I checked Adorama (as an example) and they have it in stock.

What about the 35mm/1.8? It is a little more expensive but it would work well too.

It's still f3.5 and has no VR. Between the two you already have, the 18-105 has VR so it's probably better. You'll probably have to bump up the ISO to get an OK shot. The D300 should do OK at 2000 if you're not planning on giant prints.

Can you rent an f/1.8 anywhere for the day? You need to get down to 1.8 or 2, this is called a fast lens, and that refers to shutter speed, not focus speed. Most likely you will be doing this in a delivery suite in a hospital, and they severely frown upon use of a flash.