Camera recommendation

[LastingImpressions63]

Hi All! Thought I would report back and let you know what I ended up purchasing. A Nikon D7500. It came with an 18-140mm lens. I am excited but boy do I have alot to learn, lol. Any suggestions on what my next lens should be?

 

[Peeb]

Well, I recommend that she just jump in with something nice, but used. If it turns out to be perfect- then perfect! If either the lens or the body turns out to be not quite what was desired, it should bring on the used market about what she paid for it and she can replace with a different lens or body.

At least that's what I did, and I'm quite happy with the state of my gear.

 

[JoeW]

Hi All! Thought I would report back and let you know what I ended up purchasing. A Nikon D7500. It came with an 18-140mm lens. I am excited but boy do I have alot to learn, lol. Any suggestions on what my next lens should be?

First, thanks for following up and sharing with us.

Second, you have a dilemma. Let me explain. You bought a crop body camera (no problem--they're cheaper). And lens for crop body cameras are usually cheaper than lens for a full frame camera. But a crop body (ie: DX) lens won't work with a full frame camera (you get vignetting around the sides). It would be nice (but not essential) if you buy lens that you can then use on a full frame mirrorless camera. That will be irrelevant if the camera you upgrade to isn't Nikon. But I'm just pointing out this consideration. As it is, the D7500 and the 18-140mm lens is a versatile package that is perfect for what you want to shoot and where you are.

That said...

I suggest you buy a prime lens as your next lens. What you've got is an excellent "walking around" lens. It's excellent for hiking or walking around the town and you don't need to swap out lens to get in closer for that couple in the coffee shop having a romantic conversation or back out for that scenic shots of the mountains. For what you had described (hiking, some wildlife), that is a very good lens for your purposes.

However, a zoom lens with such a wide range in focal lengths will inevitably be a bit soft. Basically, in order to have one lens that can be a modest telephoto (140mm) but also landscape/wide ange (18mm) you sacrifice some sharpness. And that's usually and the extremes (so probably 18-25mm will be soft and the 120-140mm will be soft). That's not a criticism of the lens, that's just the reality. You got a very versatile lens and I'm positive you'll enjoy the heck out of it and it will rarely leave your camera despite what other lens you buy.

I think your next lens should be a prime lens. That will be a good contrast to the existing lens you now have. A prime lens has a fixed focal length. That means fewer pieces of glass in it. Prime lenses are almost always sharper than zooms because they're simpler to make. You've got 3 pretty good (and not expensive) Nikon prime lenses to choose from. 35mmDX is a nice wide angle and it's f1.8--so great in low light. If you were doing a family gathering inside in the evening, it's the lens you'd use (instead of the 18-140). Very small, light, and inexpensive. A slight notch up in expense is the 50mm prime (multiple versions: f1.8 and I think they make an f1.4, available in full frame and I think DX or crop). Also very small in size and weight with less keystoneing issues than the 35mm. Finally, the 85mm f1.8., available in full frame (not sure if it is available in DX). Most studio portrait photographers will tell you that 85mm produces the least physical distortion. What all of these lens have is a very narrow DoF (from f1.4-f.18 depending on the lens). And being able to call on a DoF narrower than the 3.5-4.5 of the lens you bought is a nice feature to be able to call on at times.

Now, let's suppose you decide DoF isn't a big issue for you and you are going to take a pass on all 3 of those options. Nikon makes an inexpensive 300mm prime lens. That will be better for wildlife than the 18-140 that you bought. It's also pretty light as I recall.

I would hold off buying trick/speciality lens at this time (like a macro lens to get really close to a subject--you can just buy inexpensive extension tubes, or a lens baby--cute and fun but only worth it if you're going to shoot a lot of content with that look, or a fisheye lens--a ton of fun to play with but for now you've got better places to spend your money).

Last thought--some camera stores will try to sell you a UV filter to put on the end of your lens to protect it. NO! You're taking good glass and putting a cheap piece of plastic on it. It degrades the quality of your shots. If you want to put something on the end of your lens (especially as a hiker, outdoors person and wildlife shooter, get a circular polarizer. It will reduce glare off of leaves (great for shooting fall foliage) add pop to the sky, and also be helpful if you try to do a long exposure during daylight.

 

[cgw]

Try to snag a DX Nikkor 35/1.8g--cheap, fast, sharp, light. It's a 50mm equivalent on your D7500. That focal length was sold for decades as the kit lens for literally millions of Japanese-made film SLRs from the 1960s on. The little close-focusing DX Micro-Nikkor 40/2.8g is a sleeper lens that does nice macro superbly with great bokeh and doubles as a walk-around lens.

 

[Peeb]

Hi All! Thought I would report back and let you know what I ended up purchasing. A Nikon D7500. It came with an 18-140mm lens. I am excited but boy do I have alot to learn, lol. Any suggestions on what my next lens should be?

That's a very nice rig! that zoom will catch most commonly-used focal lengths quite nicely. Maybe a nice low-light lens, like, say, an f/1.4 or 1.8 lens that will produce nice background blur when 'wide-open'. The D7500 is a 'crop' sensor body, so a 50mm lens will give you the same field of view as a 75mm full frame body. Nice for portraits, or you could go 35mm for a more standard field of view.