Lenses!!! :o

[Lindsie Nicole]

So I have had my Nikon D5000 for a couple of weeks now. I have the 18-55mm kit lens and I need to be able to zoom more!! Haha. I feel so limited. haha. So I was wondering what lens would be a good zoom and still take good pictures?

I was looking at the Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens and the
Nikon 55-200mm f4-5.6G ED AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens.

I know the 70-300mm will obviously zoom more right? But on the website I'm looking at its cheaper? Is there a reason for that? I'm confused! haha

Thanks for any help!
Lindsie

[Potty]

The 300mm is a G lens, not suitable for the D5000. Go for the 55-200mm AF VR lens as it is a stabilised lens, much better for hand held work. If you are not short a few £££'s go for the 70-300mm AF VR for more distance.

[Bipin Nair]

How about getting rid of your 18-55 and get a 18-200 VR which will cover your 18-55 and 55-200 range..I have 18-200 and I like it..

[inkista]

Originally Posted by Potty

The 300mm is a G lens, not suitable for the D5000.

S'what?! I'm a Canon shooter, and even I know that a G lens just means there's no aperture ring. It's the AF (vs. AF-S) that's the issue here. Not the G. The AF lenses don't have focus motors in them, the AF-S lenses do. So, on a D5000, AF lenses won't autofocus and AF-S lenses will. Both AF and AF-S will autofocus on a D90.

The main cost difference has to do with VR and AF-S. You'll note that there's also a VR AF-S 70-300, which costs quite a bit more than the 55-200.

A superzoom like the 18-200 is very convenient, but you are going to be compromising on image quality to cover that large a zoom range, and chances are good you'll bet better image quality at a lower price by splitting the range among a walkaround zoom and a telephoto zoom. The weirdest bit of the 18-200 is that it can exhibit "mustache" distortion: a combination of barrel and pincushion distortion in a single image. This typically requires specialty software to correct for in post.

[Nicole]

Actually, the reason the 70-300mm lens on your list won't autofocus is because it's AF, not AF-S. The G designation simply refers to the fact that there isn't an aperture ring on the lens, and you have to adjust the aperture using your camera body.

AF-S Lenses generally cost more because there is a motor built into the lens. Since your camera's body doesn't have a motor in it, you need these kind of lenses if you want to auto focus.

You might be interested in this article on what the letters mean on Nikon lenses or this page on which lenses will auto focus on your camera.

edit: posted same time as inkista

[Potty]

Sorry, my bad. I'm on info overload at the moment, new to the D5000 myself, I've been studying too many lenses, getting confused with the letters

[inkista]

Originally Posted by Nicole

edit: posted same time as inkista

Snap! Hey, never hurts to tell 'em more than once and as many ways as possible. You never know which one's gonna turn on the lightbulb.

Originally Posted by Potty

Sorry, my bad. I'm on info overload at the moment, new to the D5000 myself, I've been studying too many lenses, getting confused with the letters

No worries. It happens a lot. And Nikon has a lot of letters, depending on how far back you wanna go with the lenses.

[Potty]

[which lenses will auto focus on your camera.

[/QUOTE]This wikipedia item is terribly misleading and should be rewritten correcting obvious misinformation. The lenses will NOT autofocus on the cameras mentioned as they have no internal motors. That, I am sure of.

[Nicole]

Actually, if they are AF-S lenses (Nikon), HSM (Sigma) or whatever the indications are for Tamron, etc. they will auto focus. Without actually going through and double checking if all of them are actually AF-S lenses on Nikon, I'm not sure which lenses you are referring to.

[LoveDSLR]

Originally Posted by Nicole

Actually, if they are AF-S lenses (Nikon), HSM (Sigma) or whatever the indications are for Tamron, etc. they will auto focus.

Tamron BIM (built-in-motor).