Favorite walk around lens for NIKON under $500??

[ATVrider43]

So I wanted to see what is everyones favorite walk around lens for their nikon camera. For under $500. Any brand

 

[JoeHemi]

For under $500, my favorite "general" walk around is the Nikon AF-S 50mm f1.8G. It's easy to handle, produces sharp images, and perfect for indoor & flash prohibitive environments.

 

[cwcaesar]

50mm f/1.8

 

[ATVrider43]

two for two lol I am for sure getting this lens! Just need another, keep them coming people !!

 

[JoeHemi]

If you have a DX body, the other lens I'd recommend is the Nikon 55-300mm VR. It's certainly not the best glass out there, but getting a decent lens with a 300mm range for $400 is a good deal. When it first came out, I got it from Newegg for only $199 shipped . It's a nice walk around for areas where your distance from the subject is out of walking distance.


*Couple of sample pics from a D5100 w/ the 55-300. It's hard to get hand held sharp at that range, but hey, it's 300mm for under $500.

 

[MitchStrp]

tamron 28-75 f2.8

 

[KmH]

A clean well cared for example of a used Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4.0D IF AF Zoom Nikkor Lens

The lens also has a 1:2 Macro capabliity from 35 mm to 85 mm.

 

[daggah]

For DX, I really like my 18-105 (as I have said before) but I've been using my 17-55 f/2.8 more since I got it.

I don't think I'm in the market for it any longer, but if I didn't have my 17-55, I'd be very interested in reviews of the upcoming Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 lens as a walk-around zoom. I think that aperture range is a good compromise between being reasonably wide-open without requiring too much size or weight.

 

[invisible]

tamron 28-75 f2.8

Another vote for the Tamron here. Awesome lens for the price.

 

[Usul]

I give my vote for tamron 17-50 for DX cameras. When I choosed main lense I'd install ExposurePlot and found out that the most usefull focal range for traveling is between short end and 40 mm (about 70%). Also there is a peak at 55mm but i think it becouse of[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]portraits.[/FONT]

 

[soxOZ]

For a walk around, my choices would be depending what FL you prefer, but the Nikon 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 VRII, Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 or the Nikon 18-105 VR.
Any of these will produce very good IQ, so really you need to decide if you prefer to shoot wide or long, but a mid range zoom which IMO is what you need for a walk around lens...
But that's just me...

 

[ATVrider43]

Awesome! KEEP IT COMING PEOPLE I want this to help as many people as it can as it did for me

 

[2WheelPhoto]

50mm is my low-budget/smallest lens in the sack.

 

[MSnowy]

tamron 28-75 f2.8

Another vote for the Tamron here. Awesome lens for the price.

I triple that!

 

[Solarflare]

Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G

Is on my camera 99% of time, and about 80% of the time when I'm actually shooting. The rest is mostly my AF-S DX 55-200mm f/4-5.6G VR and very, very rarely I use the AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR for macro and wide angle.