Pardon my ignorance, but is 18-55mm a wide angle lens?

Is this a wide angle lens or not? It comes with my nikon D3100. And also can I buy lenses from another maker that will be compatible with my Nikon, since it calls out for a VR lens for auto focusing? And lastly… Is there a lens that covers very near focusing and far away items as well perhaps up to 200mm or 300 mm?

That lens is a zoom lens that covers wide angle and normal focal lengths. At 18mm on your camera it is equal to a 27mm lens on a 35mm film SLR.

VR stands for vibration reduction. You do not need VR on a lens to autofocus with your D3100. You need an AF-S lens, which is a lens that has the autofocus motor built into it. The D3100's body does not have an autofocus motor in it like its big brothers the D90 and D7000 do.

Nikon makes an 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 that is fully compatible with your camera. It retails for around $850.http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2192/AF-S-DX-NIKKOR-18-200mm-f%252F3.5-5.6G-ED-VR-II.html

Well the 18 part of the equation is considered a moderate wide angle when placed on your d3100 which is called a cropped sensor… Which makes your lens a 28mm approx at the widest end…

and extreme wide angle would be the 18mm on a full frame camera… Which would give you almost a 180 degree view… Like everything you could see on a horizon…

there are other companies that make nikon compatible lenses… Sigma, tamron and tokina are a few that i can think of… VR is NOT a necessity for focusing, it incorporates a vibration reduction technology into a lens, although you may need a lens with a focusing motor built in… Since i don't think the d3100 camera body has a focusing motor.

not sure if you can get a lens that has TRUE macro capabilities AND telephoto…

there may be some zoom lenses that claim to have macro capabilities… Not sure which ones though.

However, a TRUE macro lens… That will enable you to take a close up of a bee for example and fill the frame with the bee would be the 60mm f2.8 micro nikkor lens… For about 1000 bucks… You won't get telephoto with this though… Like i said its only 60mm… I believe there's a 100mm macro lens that would be about 150mm on your cropped sensor camera, but you would pay big bucks for this

i don't know if the 18-200mm lens the other person suggested offers close focusing… It offers the mid wide angle to moderate telephoto… Not sure about the macro capabilities

Answer to your queries:

# D3100 is a dx format camera, hence 18 mm actually corresponds to 27mm (due to crop factor) in full format. Anything below 35mm (also called human eye focal length) is considered wide angle. Hence 18 mm in your 18-55 is actually a wide angle, though not ultra wide.

# You may buy lens from other makers, but make sure it has a nikon mount to be compatible with your camera.

# VR and auto-focusing (AF) are different things. VR is for image stabilization. It reduces vibrations while you click the shutter. Its more an issue with telephoto lenses, where its difficult to operate without a VR.

# Auto focus is a property of the lens/camera where it helps the lens to adjust its focus without having to manually rotate the focus ring. D3100 doesn't have a built-in auto-focus motor inside the camera. Hence, you need to get lenses which has auto focus motor inside the lens.

# Yes, there are lenses which range from 18mm to 300mm. Some even have macro capabilities. These are mainly termed as traveler's lens. You may search google to get multiple options from different makers.

On the d3100 it would be considered a medium angle lens.

On a full frame camera 18mm would be considered wide angle.

On a medium format camera 18mm would be considered a fisheye lens.