Inexperienced and needing advice before buying.

SuzieQ · Jul 14, 2011

Hello photographers!

I have a Nikon D40 that came with a Nikkor 18-55 and I later bought a 55-200. Since I don't have much time to spend on photography but I love having a great camera and photos, I gave both lenses to my daughter and bought a Tamron 18-270 all-in-one. I love the convenience of this lens. It is exactly what I need because it's compact, wide angle and zoom in one. I love photographing birds when I see them, but I don't want to change the lens back to wide angle afterwards to take regular photos.

The problem I had with Tamron is that the Auto Focus was terrible. Unless the conditions were perfect, the autofocus motor would groan and groan, but would not lock and so I could not take the picture. By the time I switched to manual and focused manually, I'd lost the shot, every time. So, I sold the Tamron. I've read that with some models, you can use manual while in auto focus. With the D40 I have to move the switch from AF to MF and usually by the time I've done that, it's too late. I find it frustrating.

I am now looking at the Nikkor 28-300 as a possible option which looks like the going price is a little over $1,000. Since I am considering this sizable of an investment at this point, I need to question whether I'm on the right track or whether I should be considering replacing my D40 to a different model. I'm basically looking for something simple to use, light weight, compact, big range from wide angle to zoom, and really good auto focus.

Any suggestions or advice? Thank-you in advance!!

Kerbouchard · Jul 14, 2011

Well, on your crop sensor D40, there is a huge difference in wide angle between 18mm and 28mm. I assume you know that since you've been shooting with the 18-270, but it might do you good to take a look and see how many of your photos were between 18-28mm. If a good portion of them are in that focal range, you probably won't be happy with the 28-300.

I don't know what lens you should get. If I were you, I would go through my photos, and see what range I normally shoot in. If it's on the long end, the 70-300 is a decent lens. If it's on the short end, the 18-200 might get you what you need.(There is a lot less difference between 200mm and 300mm than from 18mm to 28mm. If focal length range is the most important to you, the 18-200 is more versatile on a crop camera.)

All in one lenses make a lot of compromises and don't do anything particularly well, including focusing. One of the primary advantages of a DSLR over a compact or bridge camera is the ability to change lenses to suit the situation. If you aren't willing to do that, that's perfectly okay, but you're just not going to find a great all purpose, do everything lens. It just doesn't exist.

Find out which compromises you can live with and go with the lesser of all the evils, but before you decide, you need to know which focal lengths are most important to you.