I'm looking for a budget wide angle zoom lens for my D5100!

yioties · Feb 13, 2013

I have the 18-55 kit lens and the 50mm 1.8 G for my Nikon and need a lens that will give me a longer zoom. I'm not familiar with aftermarket lenses for nikon. I know thew 18-200 Nikon is a great lens but it's not in my budget. I'm actually looking around the $400-$500 range and the lens to have satisfactory performance indoors as well. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

manicmike · Feb 13, 2013

Tokina 12-24 f4

TheLost · Feb 13, 2013

yioties said:
I have the 18-55 kit lens and the 50mm 1.8 G for my Nikon and need a lens that will give me a longer zoom. I'm not familiar with aftermarket lenses for nikon. I know thew 18-200 Nikon is a great lens but it's not in my budget. I'm actually looking around the $400-$500 range and the lens to have satisfactory performance indoors as well. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

A used Nikon 18-200 will be around $400-$500. Tamron and Sigma both make decent superzooms (18-2x0mm).

It it was me, i would pick up a Nikon 70-300VR (Refurbished ~$300 from BH, Adorama or Nikon when they are in stock Nikon Store - AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED (Refurbished)).

Super zooms are nice but you loose quality... i own the Nikon 18-200 but it gets more use as a paperweight then a lens.

manicmike · Feb 13, 2013

TheLost said:
yioties said:

I have the 18-55 kit lens and the 50mm 1.8 G for my Nikon and need a lens that will give me a longer zoom. I'm not familiar with aftermarket lenses for nikon. I know thew 18-200 Nikon is a great lens but it's not in my budget. I'm actually looking around the $400-$500 range and the lens to have satisfactory performance indoors as well. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Click to expand...

A used Nikon 18-200 will be around $400-$500. Tamron and Sigma both make decent superzooms (18-2x0mm).

It it was me, i would pick up a Nikon 70-300VR (Refurbished ~$300 from BH, Adorama or Nikon when they are in stock Nikon Store - AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED (Refurbished)).

Super zooms are nice but you loose quality... i own the Nikon 18-200 but it gets more use as a paperweight then a lens.

Reading fail on my part. This would be a good suggestion.

Mike_E · Feb 13, 2013

Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Lens 2178 B&H

You said you wanted a wide angle but spoke of the telephoto end so I split the difference.

If it's the tele end you might try the auction site for a sigma 70-200mm f2.8 hsm but a new one is between $800 and $900.

What about the 55-200mm Nikon?

yioties · Feb 13, 2013

I went to a baptism last Sunday and from far back i didn't have the range to shoot good photos with my 18-55 or my 50mm and was thinking maybe to get something longer. I know affordable zoom lenses don't give the greatest quality indoors but if you guys know of any hidden gems it would be great. I like the 18mm on the low side so I don't need to keep switching lenses.

The Tokina doesn't have the range I am looking for but thanks for the quick response.

yioties · Feb 13, 2013

My wife uses my D5100 and seriously is a clutz so the 55-200 would stay in her hand and the camera would be by her knees! (plastic mounting)!

yioties · Feb 13, 2013

What auction site brother?

Mike_E · Feb 13, 2013

How about a prime? Focusing manually isn't hard and a 105mm f2.5 AIS is well within your reach. Works out to about 153mm in a DX. A 135mm f2.8 would be even cheaper. About 202mm.

Also, let me mention a little thing called a monopod.

http://www.keh.com/camera/Nikon-Manual-Focus-Fixed-Focal-Length-Lenses/1/sku-NK06010200589N?r=FE

yioties · Feb 13, 2013

Because my wife insists on using my camera a manual focus lens is a last resort for me. I can't deal with the nagging! i had a 50mm 1.8d and I had to take it back and get a used 50mm 1.8G so I could shut her up! hahaha

TheLost · Feb 13, 2013

I would stick to the standards...

Nikon 55-200mm VR (decent quality image.. slow auto focus.. plastic build)
Nikon 55-300mm VR (decent quality image... slow auto focus.. plastic build)
Nikon 70-300mm VR (good image quality.. super fast AF.. semi-pro build)
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII (Best image.. best AF.. best build).

IMHO.. the 55-200mm or 55-300mm are FINE for most people. Don't get hung-up on the plastic mount... its not a problem for 99% of the people who use them (The other 1% should be using something better anyway). They are great until you start taking pictures of things running around (kids sports.. dogs running.. birds.. etc). You'll end up wanting something with a faster auto focus for those types of pictures.

The 70-300VR is the sweet-spot (price/build/featuers).. Better image quality then the kit lenses, Works on DX and FX, Super fast auto focus, better build quality, and much less expensive then the next options. You won't have any issues with the 70-300mm VR unless you start to take pictures in dark situations (indoors, dark cloudy days). If thats the case you'll end up wanting something with a fixed f/2.8 aperture.

The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII is the lens you want but cant afford

There are also TONS of other options from Sigma, Tamron, and even Nikon... but they all have +'s and -'s.

yioties · Feb 13, 2013

I think I'm going to start searching for the 70-300 and the 18-200 (both used or refurbished). Thanks for all your help guys! I'm skeptical on buying lenses that aren't from Nikon because I'm not too familiar with them. Plus I am careful with reviews as well because I was almost burned once! (Thank god I had the lens under a month and could take it back!) Thanks again guys!