what is the best le ses for my nikon d3000

[miggy]

I like photography all sorts of things my lens at the moment is an 18-55mm and would like to get another lens so can anyone help me with suggestions

[Ads]

[domu221]

Low light, Portraits, and General Use.
The Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G is a good place to start. It is a DX lens and costs about US$199.95. With it, you can try using your D3000 under low light conditions without using a tripod or a flash. You can also do portraits with this lens cause the bokeh is very nice (although you can get very good results with more expensive glass). It's a prime lens, so you don't have the convenience of a zoom but you have the advantage of a wider aperture. It's also common that prime lenses offer better Image Quality than zoom lenses, but that's up to you to see. It does not have VR but you get faster shutter speeds with this fast lens at wide apertures. An alternative would be the very expensive Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G that's an FX format lens with nano crystal coating; the lens i shoot with 80% of the time.

General Use.
IF you think you won't be taking in low light situations without a flash and would prefer the convenience of a zoom, then I recommend the Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-f/5.6G. This is also a DX lens for around US$699.95 and the lens that lives in my D3100 (I replaced my 18-55mm f/3.5-f/5.6G VR with this one). It's has Vibration Reduction II and Extra-dispersion glass. With this, you have the convenience of shooting wide (16mm) if the space is too tight to walk around. This lens is very hard to find and is available as a backorder in online resellers; there are rumors that there will be a new 16-85mm soon. An alternative would be the expensive 17-55mm f/2.8G; doesn't have VR though but among the very best DX lens ever.

Wide.
No question about it: Nikkor 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G. It costs around US$899.95, has extra-dispersion glass, no VR. No alternatives.

[Dao]

I like photography all sorts of things my lens at the moment is an 18-55mm and would like to get another lens so can anyone help me with suggestions

I recommend you stay with what you have now. Learn more about photography as well as photography gears. Once you know more, you will know what to get next.

Lenses are tools, different types of lens can help you to create different type of result. Without knowing what you like to achieve, it is hard to recommend a tool for you. Just like in cooking, boiling an egg, prepare the pancakes or making fry fish require different tools. I can recommend you a high grade sauce pan to boil an egg and turn out that you are only interested in wok since you like stir fry stuff. Hope you get my idea.

So stay with the kit lens for now and start learning. Once you identify the limitation of your current setup, you will know what to get next. Or at least narrow down to what type of equipments you can choose from. Of course, it does not always means new lens.

[greybeard]

The 55-200mm f/4-5.6 AF-S VR or 55-300mm complements the 18-55 you have really well. I use the 18-55 / 55-200 combination a lot and in most situations these 2 lenses are all you need. The only place they fall short is in low light. In that case the a 35mm f/1.8 AF-S or 50mm f/1.8 AF-S would be a good choice if you are wanting better low light performance. The 55-200 or 55-300 will give you more reach, or the 35mm or 50 mm will give you better low light performance. (my suggestions)