Best overall lens???

[Gwenise]

I have been looking at A LOT of great pictures on this site and am truly inspired by many. Being new to photography I am slowly learning that different len's give you different pictures. So with that said is there a best over all lens that is good for a multiple of uses (somewhat of a "GO TO" lens). As of right now both my lenses have a F/stop of 4-5.6 or 3.5-5.6, from what I have seen so far it looks like I would need a lens with a lower F/stop (make sense?) and are Sigma and Tamron good len's to look into or is it better to stay with your camera company lenes? ( I apologize in advace if I am not making sense...lol)

[private]

A go to lens for many photographers is the 50mm 1.8. Its a great lens to start with. Its a fast lens AND its affordable. around $100.

[Gwenise]

Originally Posted by private

A go to lens for many photographers is the 50mm 1.8. Its a great lens to start with. Its a fast lens AND its affordable. around $100.

Thanks...now does it matter what maufacturer I get it from and what about the 35mm?

[nickbedford]

There really is no "go to" lens except for maybe the large zoom budget lens like the 18-200mm but then they're not actually fast lenses or of a high optical quality.

If I had to have any go to lens, I'd either go with the 17-55mm F/2.8 or the 35mm F/2.0. But they both restrict the types of shots I can take to a degree.

[private]

Since you are a beginner, its best to minimally invest - IMO (more bang for your buck) You can get the Nikon 50mm. Check out BH photo. I am not a Nikon shooter - I shoot people with my Canon (:-))

[dlambert]

I generally find that the best lens is the one you're trying to talk yourself into buying next. ;-)

Seriously, there's no such thing as a single lens that's best for everything. The more specific your purpose, the closer you'll be able to come to an "ideal" lens, but it's still going to vary somewhat due to personal preference. If you're looking at a super-versatile "one lens to rule them all" solution, be forewarned that lens designers have to compromise quite a bit in order to get a single lens to cover really wide zoom ranges, so the really versatile lenses tend not to be the best lens for any specific purpose.

The best you can do to find *your* perfect lens is to shoot as much as you can, and start to learn about the types of photography you like to do, and the sorts of features that'll help you with those types of photos. You'll have no trouble at all coming up with a lens shopping list.

[RichardTaylor]

For multiple of uses, but not shooting hand held in low light, for me is a superzoom.
Mainly because of the large focal length range.

See this tutorial.
Lenses #3 - Superzooms.

You may find this multi part tutorial on lenses helpful.
Lenses #1 - Introduction to DSLR lenses.

Re third party lenses.
It depends on the individual lenses and you need to take it on a lens by lens comparison..

From personal experience with Canon lenses (which is most of my lenses) nothing else touches the good (usually expensive) ones. However I do use two third party lenses and they meet my needs.

[TheMoons678]

With the D3000 you either need to get the 35mm 1.8G or 50mm 1.8G, both around $200.

If you get a 3rd party lens (like my Tamron 28-75mm 2.8), it must have a built-in-motor (BIM) bc your D3000 does not have a motor to focus the lens (which is why you cant AF the 50mm 1.8D AF).

[Gwenise]

Thank you for all the info!! I did some research and with the help of you guys/girls I think I am going to go with the 35mm f/1.8 bcs of the AF.

Cheers!

[kirbinster]

Please, enough already about the stupid 50mm lens. People like them because they are the cheapest prime out there because about 30 billion zillion of them have been made and the cost to make them is like dirt. They are not the be all and end all that some think they are. In fact, they are not really an idea length for much on a DX body.

That said there is no one ideal lens, the ideal lens is the one that best captures the image the way you want to shoot it.