Lens Comparison

KOlmstead · Feb 9, 2011

I have a Nikon D5000 camera and am new to photography. I am learning on my own by trial and error. I mostly shoot for fun photos of my son and protraits of friends and family. I am looking to get a new lens I like my kit lens but I am looking to get a lens that where I can get better outdoor portrait shots. I want a lens that is able to produce pretty good Bokeh and that is able to shoot clearly at a good distance and also for close ups. I do mostly outdoor but also do some indoor using mostly natural light. I am looking into the following lenses to see which is best for what I described above.

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G SIC SW Prime Nikkor Lens
Nikon 35mm F/1.8 G DX AF-S Nikkor Lens
Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR
Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens
Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor Lens

These were all suggestions given to me by friends who own these lenses. I am leaning toward the Nikon 35 mm 1.8 or the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR I know these two are pretty different but these were the ones that my friends were the most impressed with. Please feel to correct me if I used any terminology wrong or anything as I am self taught lol

Ginu · Feb 10, 2011

Which "kit" lens do you have? I have seen a kit D5000 with a 18-55 or 18-105 or a 18-55 with a 55-300.

As you mentioned the distance factor which sounds like you should get a telephoto lens like the 55-200 or a 70-300 VR.
Any prime will give you really crisp images and great bokeh, but prepare to do the zooming with your feet. Keep in mind prime lens are great for indoor low light so they can come handy very fast.

One thing you should try to stay away from is overlapping lens which do the exact same thing; so for example assuming you have the 18-55mm AF and will be shooting outside with plenty of light then perhaps a telephoto like the 55-300 or the 55-200 will compliment your set nicely and will cover for most situations. 35 or 50mm primes are always nice additions since they are very fast, crisp and require little light, but you will be overlapping the 15-55 (assuming that's your kit lens).

Ken Rockwell is a great source for Nikon gear and I strongly suggest looking up on his site as he has a review on basically any Nikon lens, cameras, shooting tips etc...

KOlmstead · Feb 10, 2011

Thanks so much for your feedback! I have the 18-55 kit lens sorry I should have specified that! Someone told me that the 55-200 is a good lens to like go to the zoo etc but not good for trying to take portraits for a business? Feedback?

vivalaveritas · Feb 10, 2011

It all depends on what you are trying to use it for and where you want to go with photography.
The 55-200 is fine for fun outdoor stuff, but is limited as a lens due to the variable aperture throughout the zoom range. However, if you never plan on shooting in a low light situation then maybe this won't be an issue for you.
Primes are always good as mentioned above. The majority of what I do is with a 35mm & 50mm.

KmH · Feb 10, 2011

I think you've used the term bokeh when you are referring to depth-of-field (DOF). Shallow DOF provides a blurred background and a sharply focused subject.

DOF is controlled by 4 factors:

lens focal length
subject to image sensor distance
subject to background distance
lens aperture

Bokeh is a qualitative asthetic measure of the blurred portion of the background in an image and is a function of how a lens is constructed as well as the measure of the circle-of-confusion Circle of confusion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia a lens produces.
Lens aperture blade shape and number of blades there are have a big influence on bokeh quality.

There are 2 types of bokeh:

Cream cheese bokeh
Hollywood bokeh

Bokeh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The business of photography is more about business than it is about photography.
Retail photographers (weddings/portraits/events.etc) spend well more than 1/2 their time tending to self-promotion/marketing and routine business tasks than they do taking pictures and editing them.

mkoop · Feb 10, 2011

I did a lot of research on this as I was also considering the 55-200 vr as my next lens but I ended up getting the Tamron 70-300 and it has quickly turned into a work horse for me. I am very pleased with it, I tried them both for a day and the 70-300 was a much better lens imo YMMV.

Destin · Feb 10, 2011

Most likely out of your budget based on the lenses your looking at, but it's hard to beat an 85mm 1.8. Long enough focal length for candid shots, and portraits, and it's fast enough to shoot in low light. Also gives great bokeh.

Downside: It won't autofocus on your D5000, and it's $400 (which isn't that bad if you consider what it does.)