Just bought a nikon d300?

I just recently purchased a nikon D300 and it was the body only so was wondering what is the best all round lens to use for it just to start off with as I don't have thousands of pounds to go out and buy a load of lenses yet.

Get an 18-55mm, the AF-S VR is dirt cheap and will get you started.

I use an 18-200mm on my D300 as a daily take-around lens. If you can't afford that, the 18-55mm or 18-105mm are also good.

Excellent choice on the camera.

The 18-200mm VR is nice because it will cover most of the common focal lengths you want. If you were to get instead the 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR, while they would be a bit cheaper separate like that, you will be swapping your lens a lot. If that doesn't bother you, I say go for those two!

If you want the convenience get the 18-200mm VR. I would suggest augmenting it with a 50mm 1.8 when you can for low light work and portraits.

You can find a list of the best and most popular Nikon lenses here:
http://geartacular.com/top-nikon-lenses-best-10-nikon-dslr-lenses/
(you want to avoid "FX" only lenses for your D300)

The best, single all-rounder is probably the 18-200mm VR, but a combination of the 18-55mm VR and the 55-200mm VR would give you just as good quality at quite a bit cheaper price if you don't mind switching lenses from time to time.

Alternatively, if you can afford it, consider the 16-85mm VR which would give you more flexibility at the wide-angle end, and pair that with the 55-200mm VR lens.

EDIT - there's no such thing as an FX-only lens. FX lenses work just fine on DX bodies, but not the other way round. The only reason to avoid FX lenses might be the extra weight as you need more glass for the larger sensor.

I use an 18-200mm VR as my walkabout lens on the D300 - it is better quality than either the 18-55mm or the 55-200mm, so if you're getting one lens, get that.

I would recommend the 16-85mm AF-S VR. It has more consistent sharpness and less distortion than the 18-200mm.

According to this
http://www.dpreview.com/...0_4-mockup
Tokina seems to be working on a 70-200mm f4, but I don't know of any further progress being announced on it.

I second thankyoumaskedman's recommendation of the 16-85. Additionally it's slightly wider than the 18-200mm too, which you will find is actually quite useful, wheras most of the time you won't need to push beyond 85mm, unless you have some specialist requirement, in which case you may as well go and get those specialist lenses.

I would also add the AF-S 35mm f1.8 DX in addition to whatever lens you buy, this is because in low light, all the versatile zoom lenses are pretty hopeless thanks to a small aperture. The 35mm is a useful focal length, and because of it's large f1.8 aperture, gives you some options when light is limited. It's hardly expensive either.

For that generation of camera, the 18-70mm or 18-105mm lens is probably your best starter lens.

The 18-200mm gets mentioned a lot. And I also own one, but since it is more-or-less a super-zoom, I have found it does have some optical issues. If you use it at anything less than f/8, you may have some softness in your photos.

Here is a comparison between the 18-200 and the 18-55 + 55-200mm lenses:

http://www.althephoto.com/lenses/super-zooms.php

Nikon D3200 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens is a wonderful camera for the price. While it looks almost the same as the D3100 on the outside, it's a whole new camera on the inside. Greatly improved video. Various feature improvements that I'm sure everyone knows about, and of course, a 24 megapixel sensor. My biggest concern when deciding to buy this camera was noise - however, Nikon has done a great job on this sensor coupled with the new Expeed 3 processor. Noise is LESS than with the D3100 and it "only" has 14 megapixels. It is MUCH better with noise than the otherwise fantastic Sony A65, also with a 24mp sensor (and better than the A77 as well). Dynamic range is better than the D3100 as well.