Help on Nikon lenses

dcf1999 · Jul 9, 2009

Hello all!

I'm recently bought a Nikon D40 and now I cought the photograpy but. I'm reading books, etc trying to learn the most I can. I've learned a good amount but still confused about lenses. I have the one that came standard with the camera 18-55 mm... but i want to get a telephoto lens. I was looking at two different ones but can't find the difference. One is cheaper than the other. Could someone tell me the difference between the following:

Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX
Nikon 55-200mm f4-5.6G ED AF-S DX.

Is there a big difference between them... Is it work the extra money?

Last question. I was looking into a Tamron AF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di LD Zoom Lens.

Is it better to stick with the Nikon rather than the Tamron. The Tamron has 300mm compaired to 200mm for about the same price. Is the quality the same?

I guess the biggest thing is how much I can zoom in on objects. Does that 300mm really make a differance?

The Tamrom lens says it's good for Macro images, but won't the other nikons work for Macro also because of there zoom? I was told that macro was just andother word for basically a close up? That's probably wrong right.

Sorry for the long post

dave

PhotoXopher · Jul 9, 2009

Take a look at the Sigma 18-250 OS HSM lens, I recently got mine and I love it - great walk around lens that does about everything plus it will auto focus on your D40.

MarkV1184 · Jul 9, 2009

Hi Dave,

One big thing to look out for is the Auto Focus mechanism in the lenses when deciding. Since you have a D40 (and D60s alike), your camera body doesn't have the auto focus motor built it. With that said, I do not think the Tamron lens you listed will auto focus on your D40. You can, however, manual focus it.

As far as the two Nikon lenses you listed. They will both auto focus correctly (make note of the AF-S), however I believe the designs are different. I think the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX is physically longer.

Not sure if that's helped at all!

Mark

benlonghair · Jul 9, 2009

MarkV1184 said:
I think the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX is physically longer.

I don't know if this is true, but logically it would be. IF is 'internal focus' meaning when the lens focuses it doesn't change focal length, which is kinda nice.

kundalini · Jul 9, 2009

Nikkor Lens Acronyms.

I got the VR version when I first started out. It is a pretty sharp lens. Slow, but sharp.

sburatorul · Jul 9, 2009

well i have the 55-200mm af-s dx IF VR and i can tell you i love it! sure i would love a 2.8 aperture but for the price you cant get better! although the tamron will autofocus to and is a longer lens the iQ is far inferior, lots of CA and not as sharp! plus the autofocus on the tamron is really sucky! not to mention it is way bigger and heavier than the nikon. So my opinion is stick with the nikon and get the IF VR version. The vr is really nice and works great and the internal focus means you can use whatver kind of filter you want.