Upgrade Nikon Lens Help: My daughter has a Nikon D3400 with the 18-55 lens and 70-300 lens kit. She takes amazing photos of her boys with it, but barely uses the 18-55 lens. I was...

CRoy

My daughter has a Nikon D3400 with the 18-55 lens and 70-300 lens kit. She takes amazing photos of her boys with it, but barely uses the 18-55 lens. I was thinking of a holiday gift of the 18-140? Would like to get a low aperture, but boy does the price increase when you do this! Any thoughts on a lens upgrade would be appreciated. Personally, I only stick with Nikon lenses, but I know there are other good ones out there. Thanks!

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

My wife was quite pleased with the 18-140 for a couple years and thousands of pics. I got her a Tamron 18-400 before our October Yellowstone trip and she finally gave me the 18-140.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

CRoy wrote:

My daughter has a Nikon D3400 with the 18-55 lens and 70-300 lens kit. She takes amazing photos of her boys with it, but barely uses the 18-55 lens. I was thinking of a holiday gift of the 18-140? Would like to get a low aperture, but boy does the price increase when you do this! Any thoughts on a lens upgrade would be appreciated. Personally, I only stick with Nikon lenses, but I know there are other good ones out there. Thanks!

The 18-140mm has gotten good reviews, it covers a large range, and the price is reasonable. Yes, the price, size, and weight increase as a lens is designed to gather more light. Raising the ISO and using the pop-up flash can save you a lot of money.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18-140mm.htm

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

CRoy wrote:

My daughter has a Nikon D3400 with the 18-55 lens and 70-300 lens kit. She takes amazing photos of her boys with it, but barely uses the 18-55 lens. I was thinking of a holiday gift of the 18-140? Would like to get a low aperture, but boy does the price increase when you do this! Any thoughts on a lens upgrade would be appreciated. Personally, I only stick with Nikon lenses, but I know there are other good ones out there. Thanks!

Before I would get her the 18-140 I would get her the 18-200 VR it is excellent!
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htm
https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/camera-lenses/af-s-dx-nikkor-18-200mm-f%252f3.5-5.6g-ed-vr-ii.html

CRoy

DaveO, we were in Yellowstone in Sept! It snowed but we have amazing photos and memories. Do you feel Tamron is as good as Nikon?

Archboo3 Loc: Central Florida

Why wouldn't you just buy her the 18-300, as the kids get older and more involved in sports and other activities, 18-300 would give her a lot more range. I would prefer the range of the fast lens. Most cameras today allow you to shoot at a much higher ISO and they are now giving you much better quality at those higher ISO's.

jccash Loc: Longwood, Florida

Recommendations so far:
18-140
18-200
18-300
18-400

All good lenses. My vote: Tamron 18-400
But, there are some fantastic used 18-200 deals due to people selling them for the 18-400 or 18-300.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

CRoy wrote:

DaveO, we were in Yellowstone in Sept! It snowed but we have amazing photos and memories. Do you feel Tamron is as good as Nikon?

Apples and oranges...but I would say image quality is comparable. The extra reach was a no-brainer in the park. My wife used the 18-140 for two trips and took another 1600 pics with the 18-400 and is sticking with the Tamron. There has been a couple threads with pics. Here are a couple shots: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-491438-1.html

whwiden

Maybe a 35mm f/1.8 dx prime? It will look very different than the 18-55mm kit.

queencitysanta Loc: Charlotte, North Carolina

I have a Nikon 18-140 ED lens. Send me a PM if you are interested.

queencitysanta Loc: Charlotte, North Carolina

I have a Nikon 18-140 ED lens. Send me a PM if you are interested.

mmeador

I had a D3300 and purchased a 18-200. That is my carry lens most of the time even though I upgraded to a D300s body. There was nothing wrong with the performance of the D3300 but I wanted to option to use the older Nikkor lenses.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

CRoy wrote:

but boy does the price increase when you do this! !

If this bothers you, forget Nikon !

Get her the older/discontinued Sigma 50-150mm f2.8 ! .......and other options :

Sigma 17-70 2.8-4
Sigma 50-100 f1.8
Nikon 70-200 f4
Tokina 70-200 f4

CRoy

I am narrowing down my search and considering the Tamron 18-400, Tamron 16-300 or Nikon 18-300. Does Tamron offer VR on their lenses? Comparable image quality? Does Sigma make a similar quality lens?

jccash Loc: Longwood, Florida

Yes Tamron has VR. I like my 18-400. It’s well made and does a good job.