What should I choose

[tkaat]

I have been thinking of buying a new lens for my D40. My problem is I can't decide if I should buy a nifty-fifty or a 55-200 or not get a lens at all and buy a Sb-600.
The reason I can't decide is that I am a noob to photography - 6 months - and I keep on hearing that it is good to use a fixed lens as your beginning/ main lens because it limits you and forces you to try and obtain your desired photo a different way. And I was thinking about getting the 55-200 because I was at one of my little sister's ocean swim, during summer, and couldn't zoom in close enough to get a good photo but also I am like how much am I really going to use the 55-200.
I am in to all types of photography but mostly into macro, landscape, & portraits.
Or what do you think I should get

 

[chrisburke]

personally based on the photography your into, i think i would get a flash, epecially for the macro stuff... but i sure do love my nifty 50... and i hardly ever use my 70-300...

 

[andrew99]

The Nifty Fifty is great, but it might be annoying to manual focus it on your D40. If you shoot indoors a lot, the SB600 will be a huge help. As for the 55-200, I'm not familiar with that lens.

I think you need to decide what is the biggest limitation you have now as far as getting the shots you want, then you will know which one to buy!

 

[Overread]

ways to choose a new lens/bit of kit
1) work out how much you have to spend
2) work out where your weaknesses in your current kit are - you speak of reach at the pool and not having enough - and also that macro is an interst, yet you lack a proper macro lens
3) research the market to find out the cheapest and the best lenses for achiving your end goal (asking on forums can be a part of this phase)
4) work out which bit of kit you want - do you go with what you can afford now or do you save and wait to get something of a higher level of quality

 

[ksmattfish]

...I keep on hearing that it is good to use a fixed lens as your beginning/ main lens because it limits you and forces you to try and obtain your desired photo a different way.

BS in my humble opinion. You should learn to compose with perspective, as in all other 2D visual arts. A fixed focal length tends to encourage composition by field of view. Perspective is controlled by where the camera is in relation to the subject; a variable focal length allows for cropping in camera, which is usually a good idea for small formats.

A good reason to get the nifty 50 is that it's cheap and fast. Fast often comes in handy.

If you don't have a flash I think a good external flash will teach you more than a new lens. For all the talk about sharpness and resolution it's really almost all about the light.