beegal Loc: Pennsylvania

Okay, so i decided to go with the Nikon D5100.... Now what lenses would you buy????? I saw a package on "bigonphoto..com" and they have a package with the Nikon D5100 with nikon 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 af zoom nikkor lens and nikon 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6g autofocus nikkor lens with a bunch of other items included for $599.00. I thought this was a pretty good price. Are these good lenses???? I have never had a camera with the capability of changing lenses... There are a bunch of other package choices as well so i am just not sure what to get...

What would you suggest in lenses... I like to do close ups of flowers, take photo's of my grandkids and other nature photo's, which lenses would you recommend?????

You were all SOOOO helpful with the camera choices that i really value your opinion...

Thanks again...

mzsha

Nice price but, slow...slowww.. lens. The lenses included with the camera body are good for click and point stuff. If that is cool with you than $599 is cool! But, if you are planning a life of photography, you will find that lenses are expensive but, worth the investment!!!!

For me, I like the 24-120mm f/4 lens. It is expensive but, you can find on a series of discounted websites.

beegal Loc: Pennsylvania

thanks

beegal Loc: Pennsylvania

I am really new to the changeble lens world... what do you mean by slowwwwww???? :lol: :lol:

Phyllis Loc: NE PA

beegal,

The Nikon 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 is a great lens at a reasonable price. Here is one of the many photos that I have taken with that lens. It does a nice job.

mzsha

There are prime lenses such as 85mm,60mm etc which provide specific fixed views of the world. Then, there are zoom lenses such as 70-300mm, 18-135mm etc which give you a range of situations to photograph. Every photographer will have a certain view on which style is better. I guess it just depends on what they photograph.

Slowwwww - lol, means if you see something you want to capture in a quick way - like a person walking or like Phyllis (sorry if I spelled your name wrong) a squirl running..the lens apeture (4.5-5.6) itself is will drag a bit. Or slight blur will occur. With a faster lens will catch the speed with total clarity. Now there are other factors - your ISO, Shutter Speed, Lighting conditions.

If your use is casual, vacations, family, etc - I think it's your choice is great! If your use is growing into a professional thang - the camera is good and the lenses are a good start. Consider researching different lenses that you can add to your bag of tricks!

Hope this helps.

Sea horse using 3.5-5.6 lens


example of what a prime lens at f2.8 can do


example of zoom lens at f3.5 with high shutter speed can do

Randyb1969 Loc: Armpit of California

I'm afraid if you're bargain hunting, you've gotten into the wrong hobby. I made that mistake. Champagne appetite, beer budget. You'll do fine with the lower end lenses. I have. Just know your limitations.

tsamori

It is hard to tell someone which lens to get. You need to know what you requier in a lens according to what you like to shoot. some type of some lens is handy and gives you a variety of distance/focal lengths to use without having to swap out lenses. If you like a lot of landscape, a wide angle works better. if you like macro pictures then you are going to want lower aperture capabilities and not so much distance. think about what you like to shoot the most for now and then decide. Personally I like to be able to have an assortment of lengths so I went with a tameron 18mm to 200mm and I have had this since mar and I am just now comming to see all the benefits and limitations of this lens and I am thinking about what I want my next lens to do.
I would suggest going general and figure out what you want to do, then when the time is right, find the next lens to fit that. good luck

evandr Loc: Tooele, Utah

The maximum aperture that a lens will open up to is a major consideration. The speed of a lens determines how fast a lens will let in a given quantity of light.

Each whole f/stop will let in twice as much light as the next smaller f/stop, ex: an f/stop of 1.4 will let in twice the light as a 2.8 which will let in twice the light as a 5.6 - F/stops are universal across all lenses meaning that an f/2.8 on one lens will let in the same amount of light as any other lens at f/2.8 when presented with the same intensity of light.

The big advantage of a fast lens, one with a maximum aperture opening of f/2.8 or larger (commonly the largest is f/1.2) is that it can collect adequate amounts of light for a proper exposure using faster shutter speeds (hence the term “fast” lens). This makes them especially useful in low light conditions where a faster shutter speed is needed.

Any lens will eventually collect enough light for a proper exposure but the smaller the aperture the longer the shutter needs to remain open and that may not be desirable depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

There are other considerations too such as fall off, quality of bokeh, vignetting, chromatic aberrations and so forth but its light collecting capability is the big issue – also these fast lenses tend to rise in price dramatically over those with maximum f/stops of 4 or smaller, often as much a four-fold, because of the amount of quality glass and mechanics involved in making one.

dblackard Loc: Rockport Texas

I am in the same boat as our right now. getting a 5100 and some seperate lenses. after lots of research ( and i mean lots) I found the 50 mm f/1.8 g is a good fixed ( prime ) lens for a good price. It would not have the zoom you probobly want but it would work well for inside pics of grandkids and is fast. something i have been told to keep in mind, make sure it is american made or has an american warranty and if you are getting the 5100 it doesn not have the internal autofocus in the camera body so you need to make sure your lenses you buy are autofocus.

evandr Loc: Tooele, Utah

A 50mm f/1.8 prime is a good lense, you can get great sharp pictures in low light conditions. Another great thing about the 50mm lens is that the human eye sees at 50mm (excluding periphreal vision) so what you produce is faithful to what the human eye sees all by itself.

laith

To keep your pocket and to get very good images get the NIKON D5100 with Nikon 18-55mm VR and Nikon 55-300mm VR.

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

A "slow" lens, in the world of DSLRs, means that the widest available aperture, or lens opening, is...not very wide. It's not an absolute, and all relative - like the EPA Mileage stickers.

For example - a 50mm lens that has a maximum aperture of f/1.2 (pretty wide) is FAST, compared to a 50mm lens that can only open to, say f/3.0

So of those two, the f/3.0 lens would be called "slow".

It has nothing to do with capturing fast action, per se.

A 'fast' lens is generally thought of to be better, because a wider aperture means you can use a quicker shutter speed to capture action. However, if you're not doing action shots, then it doesn't matter quite as much.

Remember, that aperture numbers get SMALLER the bigger the opening - f/1.2 is very nearly wide open, f/22 is a teeny tiny opening.

The bigger the opening, the quicker the shutter can be because more light is getting to the sensor.

pyoung3000

If auto focus isn't a huge issue, you can do well with older manual focus lenses. My entire collection of lenses are at least 25 years old.

Gail

I started out purchasing a bargain package. It's a great way to learn the basics of DSLR without spending a lot of money... which you will eventually do if you love photography. Once you decide on the type of photography you want to do, you'll be able to choose the right lenses. The best piece of advise I got was to purchase the best lens you can afford... you'll eventually upgrade your camera, but your lenses will last a long, long time if you take care of them.