Which telephoto to choose?

[annika123]

Hi friend
my name is annika
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I hope you should go with the bigger zoom and the teleconverter. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]because[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] You will get even more length and still have a decent caperture for some lower light shooting. thanks...[/FONT]

 

[jkzo]

Hi friend
my name is annika
I hope you should go with the bigger zoom and the teleconverter. because You will get even more length and still have a decent caperture for some lower light shooting. thanks...

your suggestion with regard to going for bigger zoom is welcome at the same time if you want to have a decent capture of some low light shooting you need a fixed wide aperture lens something of 70-200

 

[Nikon_Josh]

Dear sleist, thank you for your reply!
Since I am a begginer I own only the 18-55mm VR.
I want to start building my portfolio of lenses and my next steps are to buy a telephoto and one macro lens (currently thinking for the 40mm Nikon micro). I never had a telephoto before, but I have used the 55-200mm of one friend of mine. I was satisfied by the sharpness but not the focal lenght. I would like to be able to shoot subjects in more far distance.

The Nikon 70-300 VR is an amazing lens really for what it does and the money it costs, it is slightly more money but worth it!

Avoid the 40mm Macro lens. The lens is great don't get me wrong, but 40mm is way too short in my mind for macro.. You would be much better off with a Tamron 90 2.8.

 

[sleist]

Sorry, been away and I don't seem to get thread updates consistantly.

Lens choice should always be based on need.
I wouldn't avoid any lens that met a specific need. If you need a 40mm DX macro, then it's a good choice.
Some macro work might require longer working distances, in which case a 40mm would be a poor choice (i.e. critters)
I think that the 40mm was an attempt to provide a DX equivalent (in angle of view) to the popular 60mm f/2.8 macro.
It seems to be a fine piece of glass, but I've never used it.

My son has a D5000 and his kit works well for him:

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX $220
Nikon 50mm f/1.8G $220
Tamron 90mm Macro $400 (after rebate if still offered)
Nikon 18-55mm Kit lens
Nikon 55-200mm VR DX $225 I think

The lens he has the most trouble getting sharp shots with is the 55-200mm
Seems to work ok for me on my D90 when I test it, but his copy may be a bad match on his body.

The difference between 200mm and 300mm is not huge. If your budget is limited, you could pick up 3 fine lenses new for the same amount of money as the 70-300mm VR

 

[Theodch]

Dear all thank you very much for your valuable advises!

 

[KmH]

Hi friend
my name is annika
I hope you should go with the bigger zoom and the teleconverter. because You will get even more length and still have a decent caperture for some lower light shooting. thanks...

But a teleconverter (TC) changes the effective maximum aperture.

A 1.4x TC changes the effective maximum aperture by 1 stop, and a 2x changes the effective aperture by 2 stops.

So low light performance suffers by using a TC.

 

[JohnS.]

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I'd like a telephoto as well but I don't know anything about lenses. I've been trying to spend more and more time searching on here and trying to find threads discussing lenses.

What are your guys' thoughts on the NIKKOR 70-300 AF? I have a D80 so having to get an AF-S is of no concern to me. I'm trying to get the cheapest lens that will perform adequately. I am not a pro at all or even semi-pro. It's just a hobby I want to take more seriously after recently upgrading to the D80 from a D40. So AF speed isn't too huge of a concern to me, at least now. But budget is a HUGE concern. I'm in the midst of trying to sell my AF-S 35mm 1.8G or trade it for an 18-55 & AF 50mm 1.8 since it's my only lens currently. I just need to add more lenses to my arsenal so I can start to take some different pictures.

My gear currently consists of a D80, AF-S 35mm 1.8G, and SB-600.

edit - What would you guys recommend for a telephoto under $200?