Nikon D3200 DSLR - lens help needed

[srinisundar]

Recently purchased Nikon D3200 DSLR with 18-55 F-S 18-55mm VR lens supplied with...

Thinking of buying extra lenses, can anybody suggest next step of lens to go with?

Also need opinion on " Nikon Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm F/4.0-5.6 IF G DX ED VR AF-S Lens"

Regards

 

[Jaybe]

Recently purchased Nikon D3200 DSLR with 18-55 F-S 18-55mm VR lens supplied with...

Thinking of buying extra lenses, can anybody suggest next step of lens to go with?

Also need opinion on " Nikon Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm F/4.0-5.6 IF G DX ED VR AF-S Lens"

Regards

Srinisundar,

I opted for Sigma 17-50 f2.8 instead of 18-55 VR with my D7000. I have an older Nikkor 70-300 f4.5-506VR but find its use beyond 200 mm unacceptable. Nikkor 55-200 f4.0-5.6 is a good lens for the price.

Jayant

 

[srinisundar]

Srinisundar,

I opted for Sigma 17-50 f2.8 instead of 18-55 VR with my D7000. I have an older Nikkor 70-300 f4.5-506VR but find its use beyond 200 mm unacceptable. Nikkor 55-200 f4.0-5.6 is a good lens for the price.

Jayant

Thanks Jaybe,

So far an starter along with the earlier kit( 18-55) this should be fine Nikkor 55-200 f4.0-5.6 for time being till i get familiar with ?

Regards

 

[nshankar]

The 18-55 should be good enough for a starter.

The next lens will depend on your interests... could be a portrait, macro or zoom.

 

[srinisundar]

The 18-55 should be good enough for a starter.

The next lens will depend on your interests... could be a portrait, macro or zoom.

Thanks for your reply.

Will be more interested in zoom and Portrait, not macro.

Regards

 

[Jaybe]

Thanks Jaybe,

So far an starter along with the earlier kit( 18-55) this should be fine Nikkor 55-200 f4.0-5.6 for time being till i get familiar with ?

Regards

Srinisundar,

Yes it is good to get your feet wet with both these lenses. This will also show you if you like to shoot at wide or tele end or both. There is an excellent choice of lenses from several manufacturers in the ultra wide range of 10-24 mm for DX Cameras.

I recently switched from Olympus to Nikon. Since I started with OM2 Film camera of Olympus, I have much wider selection of Zuiko lenses. Unfortunately Olympus could not keep up their bodies with their excellent lenses.

I find 17-50 mm f2.8 serves 90% of my photography needs. I shot with Ultra wide lens on Olympus (E3) but haven't used Sigma 1-20 much on Nikon.

Jayant

 

[iaudio]

Srini anna, Also look at 55-300 VR, its about 5k pricier than 55-200. And you should consider the 50mm f1.8 definitely if you are into portraits!

 

[ajay124]

srisundar

There is no need to buy another lens until you have explored the potential of the kit lens. It is more important that you should become familiar with all the controls and menu options of D3200 first.

The D3200 body does not have a focusing motor. Unless you are prepared to focus manually you should only buy lenses which have in built focusing. Specifically the G series of Nikon and a few third party lenses. The chief lure of buying Sigma and Tamron zooms is their cheaper price. They are not bad lenses, but the only third party lenses I would want to buy are Tokina, Voigtlander and Zeiss.

Budget Nikon G series lenses:
35mm 1.8G (prime) 12K
40mm 2.8G (micro) 14.5K
55-200VR (zoom) 12K
55-300VR (zoom) 17K

Personally I only like prime lenses and if I had a D3200 I would buy the 35mm 1.8G. The 50mm 1.8D is a fantastic lens and costs only 5.5K but unfortunately it will not auto focus with your camera.

 

[srinisundar]

srisundar

There is no need to buy another lens until you have explored the potential of the kit lens. It is more important that you should become familiar with all the controls and menu options of D3200 first.

Thanks Ajay,

I have gone thru your detailed thread on cameras... Hmm never know upto last week I will end up buying this, since my friend bought this i just decided to join the gang.

Yes, i should be conversant with the functions, but my never ending spending spree in AV makes me to go into this camera hobby in one shot. So no looking back.

srisundar

D3200 does not have a focusing motor therefore only the G series of Nikon lenses and a few third party lenses will auto focus with it.

Budget Nikon's G series lenses:

35mm 1.8G (prime)12K
40mm 2.8G (Micro)
55-200VR 12K

Yes above is an nice point you have quoted which i should keep in mind before buying lenses. So far only gone thru the details of 55-200VR.

 

[olly42]

Srini,

You should consider picking up a portrait lens

 

[Ghostrider]

hi Srini,

I have been using AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED with my Nikon D60 and enjoying till date......been starter 18-55 and 55-200 and get you good shots....

All d best..

Cheers..

 

[vivek.saikia]

I have the Nikon kit lens (18-55mm) and the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G. Both are decent lenses (not great).
After using my friend's 50mm f1.8G for a week, I just don't want to go back to my other lenses. The creamy bokeh is just too CREAMY!
Needless to say, my next upgrade is a 50mm f1.8G for my 5100.

 

[srinisundar]

Srini,

You should consider picking up a portrait lens

Yes, looking all the comments from fellow members, will venture into it.

Regards

 

[srinisundar]

I have the Nikon kit lens (18-55mm) and the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G. Both are decent lenses (not great).
After using my friend's 50mm f1.8G for a week, I just don't want to go back to my other lenses. The creamy bokeh is just too CREAMY!
Needless to say, my next upgrade is a 50mm f1.8G for my 5100.

Hmm. 13K ++..How it can be compared to normal kit lens supplied with body ( 18-55 or 55-200 or 300)..Not much gone into deep yet from AV into photography, just an lay man question..

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm F/1.8G Lens | Lens | Flipkart.com

 

[ajay124]

srisundar

Your 18-55 is a decent general purpose lens but it will never be a good portrait lens. Because:

Portraits taken with a pop up flash have a synthetic, unnatural quality.
Portraits taken at high ISO levels have a noisy, unpleasant quality.
Portraits taken at apertures f/3.5 - f/22 cannot isolate the subject from the background.
Portraits with a shallow depth of field require the wider apertures from f/1.8 - f/2.8.

For shooting portraits with your present camera and lens you are starting with (what can be considered) a few handicaps. Handicaps which you will have to learn to overcome.

Lens handicaps: The 18-55 kit lens cannot shoot at apertures wider than F/3.5. Even this aperture is variable and not constant. At the 18mm end the widest aperture is 3.5. At the 55mm end (which is closer to what you would normally use for portraits) the widest aperture is 5.6. At f/5.6 the portrait would reveal too much of the background. At 5.6 (in most conditions) you may need to boost the ISO, use the pop up flash or shoot at very slow shutter speeds.

Camera handicaps: The D3200 has a crappy viewfinder. If you can't clearly see the shadows and highlights in the viewfinder you will have to hone your guessing skills! The D3200 cannot auto focus with good and affordable Nikon portrait lenses like 50mm 1.4D, 85mm 1.8D and 50mm 1.8D. The D3200 has a cropped sensor which allows less light than a full frame sensor and also effectively increases the focal length of your lens by a factor of 1.5.

For shooting portraits you need to be clear about a few things:

What focal length do you want to shoot from?

How much of the subject do you want include in the picture?

What distance do you want to shoot from?

Do you want to shoot a posed picture or a candid one where the subject is unaware of the camera?

In a nut shell your (budget) choices for lenses which can auto focus with D3200 are:

General purpose with variable focal length - 18-55, 18-105
General purpose with fixed focal length - 35mm 1.8G
General purpose+portrait with fixed focal length - 50mm 1.8G
General Purpose+portrait+micro with fixed focal length - 40mm 2.8G

In my opinion if you want only one lens with your D3200, then it should be 35mm 1.8G. With a little bit of practice this lens will give you the kind of knock out pictures which would not be possible with the 18-55.

If you are willing and able to shoot with a manual focus (or willing and able to change your camera for the similarly priced D90) then your choice of great and affordable lenses would increase by leaps and bounds!

 

[gannyboy]

Srini,

nikkor 35mm i.8 G DX is a cracker of a lens for absolutely sharp mindblowing portraits...does a decent job for video also with D3200.
Also think of nikkor 18-200 VR the 'do all ' lens which I have..bit costly but got good reviews all over.
Lenses are your investments....the bodies u keep upgrading time to time...

cheers
ganesh

 

[mgdelhi]

I agree with others that 35mm 1.8G is the best companion for your D3200 because I feel 50mm is too close for indoors.

You should also consider and read reviews of Tamrom 17-50 f2.8 which is very sharp and gives a good range which is priced at 20-21k. You can trade off your 18-55mm for that.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[matbhuvi]

I got both Nikon 18-55 and 55-200 as part of kit with my D3100. Both are marvelous lenses. Using them for about 1.5 years now. If you compare that with much costlier 18-200 lens, they do perform very well within their range.

I see 55-200 (or 300) as the logical choice for a 2nd lens as you would need the 'reach' sometimes.

For the 3rd lens, i have 35mm F1.8. It is the best for indoors and portraits.

 

[srinisundar]

Thanks everybody,

Jumped in for 55-200 in ebay.us for an nice cheapo deal.. Look forward to get nikkor 35mm 1.8 G soon

Looks like the investments will go up, now looking for an backpack to pack those and will be deciding on Lowepro fastpack 350 or similar + looking for an underwater bag to cover-up for using in rainy days.

Regards

 

[matbhuvi]

Thanks everybody,

Jumped in for 55-200 in ebay.us for an nice cheapo deal.. Look forward to get nikkor 35mm 1.8 G soon

Looks like the investments will go up, now looking for an backpack to pack those and will be deciding on Lowepro fastpack 350 or similar + looking for an underwater bag to cover-up for using in rainy days.

Regards

Congrats Srini..Wish u many many beautiful clicks with it

I have Lowepro Slingshot..Quite convenient for your choice of lenses. Also, you can take the camera out of the bag very quickly like a P&S..quite convenient. It also has a rain cover attached under the bag.