What lens?

[Tony59329]

I have a Nikon D90 which I love, however I am strapped the the kit lenses Nikor 18-55 and 55-200 which I don't like. They are heavy and a pain to carry about. Quality is lousy also. I am thinking an 18-200 lense. Any suggestions?? Should I stick with Nikor or are there other good choices?

 

Thanks.

 

PS I am still learning to use the D90

[I Love You Longtime]

My advise is use what lenses you have and master your camera before you shell out on more expensive lenses!

 

Your ranges are pretty much covered with those lenses which you have already!

 

As for carrying lenses about it is a must you just buy a small backpack or shoulder bag it's a must as you never know which lens to bring!

 

If you haven't got a polorizer already or uv filter i would suggest buying 1 of each this will help turn the skies blue and the oceans green/blue and take reflections off the water!

 

Hope this helps and if your using your camera right you should be getting some great shots with the D90.

[capricorn]

I have a Nikon D90 which I love, however I am strapped the the kit lenses Nikor 18-55 and 55-200 which I don't like. They are heavy and a pain to carry about. Quality is lousy also. I am thinking an 18-200 lense. Any suggestions?? Should I stick with Nikor or are there other good choices?

 

Thanks.

 

PS I am still learning to use the D90

 

Hi mate, the 18-200 is practical to carry about but if you're concerned about quality it's not the best lens to have, it's slow and has a fair amount of distortion and vignetting.

 

The 18-55 and 55-200 are very good value for money lenses. I'm surprised you find them disappointing, they're quite capable of producing very good pictures.

 

I'm not a pro photographer so I'm not sure if I'm giving you very good advice but I think it's not the quality of the lens that will make a good picture but first of all composition and then your technical understanding of focal length, aperture, shutter speed and white balance.

 

You should learn first how to use your camera to its full potential (and the D90 has a lot of it) before considering buying other lenses. I find a prime lens like the 35mm f/1.8 is great to learn photography because you'll have to move around and actually think about what you want to get inside your frame rather than zoom in and out and shoot away.

[mufdi]

I would, too buy the opposite thing. The 35mm f1:1.8 is a great lens for most situation to leave on the camera. You will not have the will to zoom, if you own this lens

[jojo90]

I would, too buy the opposite thing. The 35mm f1:1.8 is a great lens for most situation to leave on the camera. You will not have the will to zoom, if you own this lens

 

Spot on - 35mm f1.8 prime will transform your shots and give you some decent bokeh. The 50mm f1.4 is very good but that focal length is a little tight for general purpose!

 

Some random shots from LR:

[Seedy]

The 18-200 is a superb 'all round' lens. My friend is a pro photographer and that is her preferred lens if she needs to stick to one.

[mufdi]

The 18-200 is a superb 'all round' lens. My friend is a pro photographer and that is her preferred lens if she needs to stick to one.

 

maybe allround in terms of focal length, but not allround in terms of aperture. If you are into shallow deph of field or low light ambient photography, a wider range of aperture is more worthy than a wide range of focal length

 

There is no such thing as a all round lens. It is allways combined with the purpose of use

[capricorn]

Yes, there's no perfect lens otherwise you wouldn't see tons of people lugging large camera bags around. I've yet to see a cheap, compact, fast 8-400 mm f/1.4 lens with perfect bokeh and no distortion on the market

[cuteincords1]

I have a Nikon D90 which I love, however I am strapped the the kit lenses Nikor 18-55 and 55-200 which I don't like. They are heavy and a pain to carry about. Quality is lousy also. I am thinking an 18-200 lense. Any suggestions?? Should I stick with Nikor or are there other good choices?

 

Thanks.

 

PS I am still learning to use the D90

 

 

May I suggest the Nikon 50mm F1.8D AF Nikkor Lens , this is a little gem of a lens sharp as a knife will work a treat on your D90 will give u a fast f1.8 apperture for hand held night time piccys , is excellent as a portrait lens and will be good for shooting video with your D90 ..........

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-50mm-F1-8D-Nikkor-Lens/dp/B00005LEN4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1308520475&sr=8-4

[bionome]

I have a Nikon D90 which I love, however I am strapped the the kit lenses Nikor 18-55 and 55-200 which I don't like. They are heavy and a pain to carry about. Quality is lousy also. I am thinking an 18-200 lense. Any suggestions?? Should I stick with Nikor or are there other good choices?

 

Thanks.

 

PS I am still learning to use the D90

 

This is what you have to look at. A D90 is a DX sensor. That means if you buy a FX lens you will have to mulitply by 1.5. A good walk around lens is the 24-120mm lens on your body it would be a 36mm to 180mm it have VRII. it a great lens.

[bionome]

May I suggest the Nikon 50mm F1.8D AF Nikkor Lens , this is a little gem of a lens sharp as a knife will work a treat on your D90 will give u a fast f1.8 apperture for hand held night time piccys , is excellent as a portrait lens and will be good for shooting video with your D90 ..........

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-50mm-F1-8D-Nikkor-Lens/dp/B00005LEN4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1308520475&sr=8-4

 

Nikon just came out with the new 50mm f1.8 it is $219.00 Great lens I have the 50mm f1.4 sharp lens. great for low light shooting. this will be a good lens.

[Agent Libido]

My favorite lens is a 50mm 1.4 and quality is great, super sharp and a great all-rounder

[Kayo]

The 18-200 is a superb 'all round' lens. My friend is a pro photographer and that is her preferred lens if she needs to stick to one.

 

 

The 18 - 200mm would be convenient, but anything with that range cannot be high quality - the lens elements float and have too flexibility to provide consistent results. As a general principle, any fixed lens will be superior to a zoom that covers the same range. But that said, at lower resolution, for non-print purposes, it may not matter that much...

[Seedy]

The 18 - 200mm would be convenient, but anything with that range cannot be high quality - the lens elements float and have too flexibility to provide consistent results. As a general principle, any fixed lens will be superior to a zoom that covers the same range. But that said, at lower resolution, for non-print purposes, it may not matter that much...

 

Yes but if you had to have just one lens to cover everything it is fine. Maybe not the best all round for aperture but certainly for focal length and it is the lens the OP was asking about, not a fixed or prime which may be better overall.

[EvilElvis]

I have a Nikon D90 which I love, however I am strapped the the kit lenses Nikor 18-55 and 55-200 which I don't like. They are heavy and a pain to carry about. Quality is lousy also. I am thinking an 18-200 lense. Any suggestions?? Should I stick with Nikor or are there other good choices?

 

Thanks.

 

PS I am still learning to use the D90

 

 

Maybe its a good idea to check what focal lengths you have been using the most with the lenses you have already, you might be able to narrow down a smaller zoom, maybe 18-135mm or whatever Nikon makes.

[Ah Hia]

For use in Pattaya on ur D90 i would rec...

 

1) AF-S DX 35mm f1.8

A good prime, fast and cheap too.

Great for low light and excellent for portraits.

 

2) AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8

If u want big aperture with a little more versatility on zoom.

More pricier than ur kit lenses.

Very sharp and nice pictures.

[m1rossi]

If you are still learning to use the camera are you sure it is the lens quality that is lousy? What settings are you using on the camera whilst taking photo`s? Are you using the auto settings or are you manually setting the camera? This can make a big difference to photos. Also depends on what you are photographing as to the requirement of your lens.

[Rockman]

I know this is an old thread, but Tony the 18-55 and 55-200 are both decent lenses. Actually much better than one is lead to believe simply by looking at them. I dont use my 18-55 much because I use a 35mm F1.8, but I used or did use the 55-200 and its really fairly sharp lens and one can get excellent pictures with it.. The VR works great when needed. Not sure what you dont like about them. U mentioned they were heavy. Not really, I'm pretty sure my Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 weighs as much as my D5100 and all the rest of my lenses together..

[robert69]

on a digital i would say the 50 1.8 for portrait and a nice longer range zoom lens for the other shots will give you a decent set for some nice photos on holiday

[dc_publius]

There is no perfect lens - that's why there are so many different options depending on what you plan to photograph, and quality you are willing to accept.

 

If you really want the zoom, go with 18-200 vr. (exactly the same as VR2, but cheaper)

 

If you can live without the zoom, and take around town pics, particularly after dark, go with 35 1.8 mentioned above.

[TheBloodyRedbaron]

I'm a Canon man myself, but if you are not happy with the 18-55/55-200 combo, the 18-200 will definately let you down. The quality will be worse if anything, although having the "all in one" range may be more convenient.

 

Check out http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ for some good lens review, but be careful, it can become expensive... trust me, I know..

[NorCalKid]

Guess this is kind of an old thread but I just saw it for the first time. My lazy mans travel kit. One all around lens 18-200 or 18-270(18-270 Tamron is the rout I went) + a fast lens I went with a 50mm 1.8 (IMO the best hundred bucks you can spend on camera stuff). I also carry a SB400 flash. This gives me a kit that works in most situations for the recreational photographer while just carrying one little bag while traveling. D80+Tamron lens is a little heavy but beats carrying a bunch of extra lenses.

[wilco318]

Have read of Photozone.de they have some great lens reviews.

[jerry]

In most cases it's not the lens but the person that handles the camera what's gonna make the difference .

 

18-200 is basicly the same quality as the standard 18/55 and 55/200 . The only thing it's more convenient

so if you're fed up with carrying 2 lenses around just buy the 18-200 .

 

Practice , practice , practice and put some time in learning Photoshop or similar programs . You can get a

lot more out of most pics with these programs .

[robert69]

it is the eye of the photographer that makes the difference but using the right lens for the right occasion helps