Nikon SLR Cameras

Recommended Lenses For Nikon d5100?

Ashley
Ashley

I recently just bought the nikon d5100 camera with kit. So it came with the 18-55mm lens.

i was wondering your recommendations for the - best ZOOM lens for this camera?
- best lens for shooting people /outside /indoors/?

thanks so much!

Added (1). And lens price range - under $350

Added (2). * if you have any sample picture, please attach*.

bikinkawboy
bikinkawboy

The 55-200 DX VR (vibration reduction) is in the $200 range and is a great lens. It's made in China (what isn't these days?) and has some plastic lens elements (but how many people have plastic lenses in eyeglasses?), but optically it's a gerat lens. The 70-300 f/4-5.6G is about the same money or less, but doesn't have VR and optically isn't as good as the 55-200. The biggie is that it will not auto focus on the 5100. I've had the 55-200 for a number of years and find it to be a good lens. If you want a lens that has limited applications, but can provide a lot of fun for the money is the $169 500mm telephoto you see on ebay. I have one (made by Kalimar in Korea) and while the color reproduction is a bit dull and contrast is a bit flat, it opens up a whole new world of photography. The color and contrast can be corrected with phot programs, so don't let that stop you. It's maximum aperture is f8, meaning you are going to need to use high ISOs when hand held, which makes you use faster shutter speeds. A $25 set of close up lenses is a good addition as well. You can find many used 3rd party lenses on ebay such as Vivitar, Sigma, etc that have the Nikon mount. The less expensive ones will require manual focus and exposure, meaning you use the M setting. But many of these older lenses have some really good optics and $25-$40 will get you a lens that will provide some real fun.

keerok
keerok

That is already the best zoom lens for any beginner with a dSLR. If you don't understand it then that's because you don't understand what zoom means. Zoom is nothing more than the ability to change focal length. When you speak of zoom, you most likely refer to how large a distant object will seem to you in the camera. To do that, you get a longer focal length lens. The longest right now is an 800mm lens. It does not zoom at all.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/...era_Lenses
http://keerok-photography.blogspot.com/2011/05/lenses-so-many-of-them-there-is-no-best.html