Going on vacation, what lens is good for my DSLR?
I'm going to italy for one week, and i'm looking for a lens for my nikon D90 that's not too heavy that i can shoot some nice landscapes with and just the basics. Currently i have a very big lens on it and i didn't take it on my last vacation because it was a pain in the a** to carry it around all the time.
You can think for Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D lens. It will certainly fulfill your requirement. Believe me, it is a superb lens & never make you disappoint with the quality of the pics.
for your ref:
http://kenrockwell.com/...018daf.htm
At least 80% of the shots you'll take on holiday are covered by the 18mm - 55mm 'kit lens', certainly the cheapest option and the easiest to carry around. A wide aperture would be better if you have the money for the darker interior shots. The Sigma 18 - 70mm f2.8 - f4 is a good performer, but heavier to carry around.
For a longer reach the 55 - 200mm 'long kit lens' is OK. Again a wider aperture is useful but very expensive in this range.
The 'nifty fifty' wide aperture 50mm is limited in use, a good portrait lens, but useful for little else.
If image quality is really important to you then a set of 3 or, preferably, 4 limited prime lens kit is the way to go. I tend to take my 21mm f3.2, 31mm f1.8, 40mm f2.8 and 70mm f2.8, I might add the 15mm f2.8 when the price falls a little. A small bag holds them all (and camera) and is lightweight. Note a full set of limited primes will cost you around £2500, but you can see the difference in every image you take.
I shoot Pentax, but a similar prime lens kit exists for Nikon, just double the price. LOL
With solely a 50mm lens you will have a slightly 'tele' view, and will not encompass wide landscapes - set your present lens to 50mm and see. I do wish that people would not say that 50mm is 'standard' for crop-frame cameras such as the vast majority of DSLRs asked about on this site.
As others say, the kit lens of 18mm to 55mm will cover most of what you need. If you haven't got such a kit lens maybe go for 18 to 85mm, or 18 to105mm, or similar.