Recommendations between these 4 lenses for Nikon D5500?

[NoFX]

Hi All,

I've been a lurker for awhile, finally decided to become active. I've been researching bodies for a couple months and decided on the Nikon D5500, which brings me to the lense question. The kit lense is the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR lense, and I'm looking to pair one of the following lenses with it:

Nikon 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 G ED AF-S VR DX
Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G VR DX
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro

They seem to all have their pros/cons so I'm looking for advice on which would best suit my style within my budget. First, my budget is around $1,200 for everything. I have seen kits in various places (Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart) that feature the body, the 18-55, and one of those other 4 lenses for right under my preferred budget. My focuses are landscape, sunset, beach/ocean scenes, architecture, "urban decay"-type stuff, and just general cool imagery that I may come across in daily life. Patterns and color are big focuses as well in terms of style. I tend to seek out interesting (to me anyway) patterns or color schemes in compositions. I'm also very interested in Macro photography, and longer exposure/ night photography both landscape and stuff like traffic blurs and cityscapes. I have no experience in either, but will definitely be dedicating time to learning because I'm a big fan of the styles. Also maybe the occasional surf/skate/snowboard photography. It won't be a huge focus, because I'd rather be DOING those than PHOTOING them haha, and that's what my GoPros are for, but I'm sure I will be doing some dedicated shoots for friends. None of this is professional, nor will it ever be. I wouldn't say I'm beginner, just a beginner to the newest dslr tech and macro/long exposure/night photography. So if classify myself as enthusiastic hobbyist I guess?

So, going by my prefered styles, and budget, which of those 4 lenses would be good to pair with the 18-55? I know for the 5500 there is no auto focus or image stabilization in the body, and that it has to say AF-S (not just AF) for the lense to actually auto focus with that body. That being said, I'm comfortable manually focusing, so while nice, AF isn't a MUST. There doesn't seen much difference between the 55-200 and 300 besides auto focus. And the 70-300s don't cover that range between 55-70 but the Nikon offers AF and VR (vibration reduction seems pretty key for telephoto, especially no tripod), and the Tamron claims Macro. The Macro feature has me very interested and leaning towards that lense. Is this a gimmick phrase for this lense, or is it actually good for macro? Id assume for insect/wildlife you'd want to be able to be further away fm the subject to not spook it, and also just in general for shadows and such, and since a dedicated macro lense isn't in the budget right now when I want the 18-55 and a tele lense, I'm intrigued by the claimed combo of the two in the Tamron.

MI apologize for my mega post, I know that's a forum sin haha, but the more info given the better the advice received i think.

TLDR - Which of these 4 lenses to pair with an 18-55mm on a d5500? Styles are landscape, urban, macro, long exposure, and "action" sports (occasionally), budget is $1,200 total for body and both lenses (and ideally a couple memory cards, cleaning kit, other starting essentials):

Nikon 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 G ED AF-S VR DX
Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G VR DX
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro

Thanks,
Jason

 

[goodguy]

None of these telezooms will be able to do sports in low light situation, as long as there is plenty of light you should be fine.
I would recommend the Nikon 70-300mm VR, bullet proof lens, nice and sharp relatively for the money it costs.
If you want to do Macro photography then get yourself a dedicated Macro lens. These zoom lenses that have some macro capabilities are ok but not a serious macro tool.

 

[ruifo]

Good to see you did a good research. Well done.

I believe these two would work:

• Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR
• Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro

However, they will not deliver to you ultimate image quality, especially for low light situations. So one option is getting this kit now and save to get better (fast - low f/#) lenses in the future. The best and most affordable are the prime lenses (not zooms), like these (ideal for low light):

• Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX Lens [$180]
• Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G Lens [$200]
  
• Nikon AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G Lens [$450]

If you want to get one of these fast prime lenses as well, you could get a D5200 (an amazing camera), instead of the D5500, and with the price diference get one of these primes lenses as well. Lenses are always more important than camera bodies...

Good luck!