Hello Everyone

[TahoeDust]

I just got my first DSLR for Christmas and have a few question. I got D40x kit with the 18-55 kit lense and so far I love it. I am looking for another lense with a little more magnification. I want to maintain all the features of the camera and from what I understand this limits me to Nikkor AF-S or AF-I lenses. Does anyone beside Nikon make lenses that would fit my D40x and also maintain all the auto features? Also, what type of teleconverter can be used?

Thanks.

 

[elsaspet]

Hi Tahoe,
I'm a Canon shooter, so I can't really help you out here, but I'm sure you will get lots of people who will.
I just wanted to welcome you to the forum.

 

[Robp412]

Sigma makes a line of AF-s and AF-I lenses... You just gotta search around. check the sites that they have as banners on here. Thats where everyone goes through.
Good luck!

 

[sabbath999]

If you don't want to spend a ton of money, but are wanting a good, sharp lens, take a look at the Nikon AF-S 55-200 VR (make sure it is the VR version), which will run you about $190 or so if you shop around online (Amazon had them last week for that price). I own one, and can attest to the excellent image quality it makes first hand.

It will give you some "range" without costing a lot of money, and it is quite sharp. Yes, there are better lenses out there, but for the money that lens is a STEAL of a deal.

 

[adolan20]

Sigma makes some lenses denoted as HSM, those are compatible with the D40's.

 

[sabbath999]

Ok, as far as the "other manufacturers" part of your question goes, Sigma makes quite a few lenses that will work full-function on your D40x, and some of them are quite good. Here is a link to the page on Sigma's website that tells you which lenses are fully functional: D40/D40x Sigma Lenses

As far as teleconverters go, the only ones that are full-function on the D40/D40x are the three Nikon puts out... BUT... they only work on a select few (and generally VERY expensive) lenses, so unless you are buying one of those lenses first, you should not even consider buying one of these teleconverters. They are excellent (I own one), but they are "specialty" converters, and they won't even fit on most Nikon lenses.

I do believe that, as I have stated, the best bang for your money when just starting out is the 55-200 VR.

Here are three pictures I took with mine this weekend (I didn't feel well, so I wasn't in the mood to lug around a 70-200 f/2.8 VR that I generally use for this stuff) as I was playing with my new D300. This gives you an idea of how sharp this little inexpensive consumer grade lens actually is... QUITE sharp. These pictures are not anything special, I just thought them a fair example of what the lens can do both outdoors and in.

(shot indoors)

 

[TahoeDust]

Thanks for the info guys. I think I will be picking up the Nikkor 55-200 VR lense this week. Just out of curiousity, does the one of the Nikkor teleconverters work with the kit 18-55 and the 55-200?

 

[sabbath999]

No, the Nikon TC's won't work on either of those lenses (although I have never actually mounted on it, the documentation says that it won't and I am not in the mood to destroy one of my lenses, the TC or both just to find out since I wouldn't use a TC on a lens as slow as either of these to start with).

You need to keep in mind that if you are going to be getting some pretty small maximum apertures if you start putting a TC one one of these already slow lenses.

There are three, a 1.4, a 1.7 and a 2.0 in their line, and they are basically designed to be used with Nikon's "Big Bangers", the really big long lenses. Even within this lens line, there are limitations... for example, only the 1.7 allows VR functions to work... there are other limitations as well, for example you can mount a 105 f/2.8 VR macro to the TC-17 just fine, but the autofocus won't work... whereas with my 70-200 VR, all functions work just fine.

Personally, I think you are best off to forget about teleconverters entirely, unless you get a REALLY good one that is matched to a specific lens, their optical quality reduction and speed reductions make them not worth it... never mind the fact that they won't (except the Nikon ones) autofocus on your camera.

 

[TahoeDust]

Thanks for the quick replies. Nikkor 55-200 VR it is.

 

[Joves]

Also Tamron has a new lense out that will work with the D40. I cant remember which one though. Might try searching dpreview and, see if they have the annoucement up.