NIKON 3100 PHOTOGRAPHY Christmas present need lense suggestions

charlow · Dec 7, 2012

I bought the Nikon 3100 for my wife as a Christmas present. She enjoys photography mainly on vacation and outdoor family portraits could you guys please help me out with lense suggestions. Thank You

shadowlands · Dec 7, 2012

Nikon AF-S 35mm f1.8G or Nikon AF-S 50mm f1.8G
Both are affordable. Both are prime. Both are fast.

Another awesome, affordable thing to consider would be the Nikon SB-400 flash.
It's just over $100.00 and it lets you "bounce light".

TCampbell · Dec 7, 2012

A key bit of info that you'll want to know when you go lens shopping... SOME Nikon bodies have in-body focus motors, some do not. Nikon makes two flavors of auto-focusing lenses. Some rely on the camera to have an in-body focus motor, others have their own focus motor so the body doesn't need to have it's own motor.

The D3100 does not have an in-body focus motor and that means you'll want to stick with the lenses that have their own built-in focus motor.

"AF-S" lenses have an in-lens focus motor. "AF" (without the "-S" suffix) do NOT have their own built-in focus motors and rely on the camera body to have the motor. That means you'll want to keep your searches to "AF-S" lenses. You can mount and use either lens... the only difference is whether or not the auto-focus feature will work.

manicmike · Dec 7, 2012

35 mm 1.8

charlow · Dec 10, 2012

Thanks for all the suggestions!!! I had no clue, where to even start on this.

joshua_ · Dec 10, 2012

Hello, I recently started my journey with all of this as well. I bought a few lenses to start. One of them is the AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G and it is by far my favorite so far. I'm new to this but have been able to use that lens for some great photos.

One thing to keep in mind is that due to the crop sensor the 35mm is more like a 52mm and the same is true for the 50mm (more like a 75mm), etc. One place this matters is if you are in a smaller room trying to take photos of folks.

I also got the 55-300 lens and I really do like it and am glad to have it to reach out a little for soccer, etc. My camera came with the 18-55 and I've practiced with that one a lot. So far though, if I could only have one lens I would have that 35mm.

I'm also using my speed-light a lot so that is something else to consider.

Designer · Dec 10, 2012

charlow; what is your budget? I think you should focus on either of the two lenses listed by "shadowlands", or if you are feeling particularly generous, get her a speedlight as well.

Did you get a lens with the camera?