Lens Recommendations (Nikon)?
I've just bought myself a Nikon D5100 which comes with a 18-55mm VR Lens Kit. However I'm looking at buying a lens that can be used for portraiture and, more specifically weddings.
Can anyone recommend something that will give me some detailed clean shots with perhaps something that allows for bright pictures.
You'll need to get a lot more than a lens for weddings…
and a higher spec camera (to impress your clients)…
Well, highly versitle, but look at the 18~200 IFED-VR.
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Good zoom range. Goos close up ability. Kinda slow for indoor use, but many pics should be with a off camera flash anyway
I've no idea of what your experience level with photography is but based on your question and what you say about wanting a lens that "… Will give me some detailed clean shots… " and "… Allows for bright pictures." I'm going to guess that you have little actual experience.
I suggest getting familiar with your camera and the 18-55mm lens that came with it before you consider buying another lens. This site is a good place to start:
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d5100/index.html Who better than Nikon to teach you to use your Nikon D5100? Reading & studying the Owner's Manual is also highly recommended.
Wedding photography is not for the novice photographer.
Buying a chemistry set doesn't make you a chemist.
Buying a cookbook doesn't make you a chef.
Buying a DSLR doesn't make you a professional photographer.
Do you have a budget? A 24-70 f2.8 will cover most situations but I think you also need a longer lens. The Nikon 70-200 f2.8 would give you everything you need but we're talking about 2 very expensive lenses. I do not shoot weddings or traditional portraiture but if I had to and could only pick one lens I'd get the 24-70 f2.8. You can also look at a similar lens by Sigma or Tamron, just make sure it's an f2.8 lens. The 24-70 will allow you to cover shots in a tight space. You should also consider lighting. If you are going to use an on camera flash, get a diffuser for it and it would be smart to buy an external battery for your flash as well. As you make more money slowly upgrade your gear. Don't worry about impressing anyone with your camera, impress them with your pictures!
Sure. Nikon's 24-70 f2.8 is great for that.
Don't get a wide range zoom, all lenses have compromises in their design, the wide range zoom has more compromises than any other lens, the first thing to be compromised is aperture, closely followed by barrel and pincushion distortions. Flat field (everything in focus from corner to corner,) is just not there at any focal length.
With weddings in particular you have to take good images in all lighting conditions, there's a lot of low light work, for that you need wide aperture lenses. Flash is usually banned during the official part of the wedding ceremony, but most officials will re-stage it for you, but it's just not the same. At other times flash will take lower noise images, the best way for low noise in low light shots is to increase the light level and noise magically disappears.
The cheapest wide aperture lens you can get is the 'nifty fifty', a wide aperture 50mm lens usually f1.8 or f1.4.It will be the equivalent of a 75mm lens on your camera which is a good focal length for portraiture, but it will still have the distortions of a 50mm lens when used close up.
Another good workhorse of a lens is a wider aperture version of the kit lens, there are some very expensive lenses in this range, one of the more affordable ones with good performance is the Sigma 24 - 70mm f2.8. Wide aperture comes at a price, either a lot of money or a compromise in image quality (or both in some cases), the Sigma strikes a good balance you would have to double it's price to get the same IQ with a Nikon lens. The Tamron equivalent is good too, but has poorer build quality.
Wide aperture lenses also reduce depth of field you really have to make sure of where they are focusing. This effect is often used to separate the subject from the background which is very effective and something that compact cameras can't do.