I have a 5200 Nikon and was wondering what lens would be good for a zoom for distance?

I have a 5200 Nikon and was wondering what lens would be good for a zoom for distance?

A zoom that goes out to 300mm is what most people use. Nikon's 55-300 is great lens that complements the 18-55 kit lens.

My recommendation is 55-200VR. I have one. It's a cheaply made all plastic (except for lenses which are glass) lens, that you can buy for about $200. It's not as durable as others but mine is about 5 years old and still doing just fine.

Despite the price, this is a very sharp lens. I have some of Nikon's best lenses so when I say it's sharp, I'm actually comparing with those best lenses. While you may think you'd want 300mm, but in reality, you will probably not use that range all that often. I personally never needed it.

So that's my recommendation.

Difficult question to approach without a bit more background info.

'Zoom' is only part of the equation, depending on what you are hoping to shoot (if it's wildlife or sport) then you would need a lens with a decent aperture (fast glass). I might be nitpicking here but when someone needs advice on lenses they really should put some effort into researching what's out there and working out what their own needs are, it isn't much fun buying that 50-200mm lens and then finding out it isn't up to the task.

You Tube is a decent source of comparisons and reviews on photographic kit.

You need to determine what is a "good" zoom distance. If you are doing wildlife, probably 300mm is a minimum. I like my Tamron 18-270mm PZD lens for a general, walking around lens and have gotten some good wildlife shots with it.

Up to about 300mm is average for a casual photographer. Above that, they become terribly expensive.

Depends what you want to photograph (bird, lion, sportsman?) and how far "distance" is. But you would not go wrong for a start with a tele zoom lens marked as 300mm at its top end.