Dbrogers Loc: Shenandoah, Iowa

I'm thinking about buying a new zoom lens for my Nikon D7100. Just wondering what others are using and any recommendations.

photon56 Loc: North America

I have the kit lens 18-140mm and a 55-300mm. When I'm out doing my landscape shooting, I wish I had an 18-300mm zoom so I'm not switching lenses in the camera so much.

Both of these lenses have been very good for me on the D7100.

amehta Loc: Boston

What lenses are you using now, and how are you using them?

Bram boy Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada

go to a web site called

www. Bythom .com

he has a bunch of lenses he reports his findings on . he is the garu of nikon . I wouldent buy a len's with out reading what he has to say about it first . when his page opens just click on the first one with nikon in the wording . if a page other than a page of blue writing shows up go back and try again . if your a nikon person this site will keep you going for months

Dbrogers Loc: Shenandoah, Iowa

I'm using a Tamron 70-300 f/4-5.6 VC. Any thoughts on Tamron lens?

Dbrogers Loc: Shenandoah, Iowa

Thank, I'll check it out.

wingnut1956 Loc: chicago

I have a tamron 18-270 on my nikon 3200 and love it. They just came out with a 16-300 you may want to look into..I think I saw it for about $650.00 at Adorama

crimesc324 Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

I use the Tamron 10-270 on my D-7000

amehta Loc: Boston

The third-party lens manufacturers, especially Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina, make some very good lenses. In the past few years, Sigma and Tamron in particular have made a strong effort to compete with the Canon/Nikon lenses, in some cases going head to head (Sigma has two amazing 50mm lenses, and both have good 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses) and in other cases doing something very different (Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC). Each third-party lens needs to be evaluated on it's own. With the Canon or Nikon lenses, you can basically count on the pro and pro-sumer lenses, like the f/2.8 and f/4 zooms, being very good or better.

For specific lenses, my starting point is the DxOMark lens ratings page where I'll enter the camera I'm interested in and see how the various lenses stack up. I think DxOMark score differences of less than 2 points are insignificant, and greater than 4 starts to be perceptible with careful shooting.

Your Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC lens has only been tested on the Nikon FX bodies (D800/D610/D600), and it seems to be competitive with the Nikon and Sigma 70-300mm lenses. Basically, it's a good telephoto zoom for a consumer lens, and you have to spend considerably more to get a higher quality zoom.

RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

For my D7100 I use the Nikkor DX 10-24mm zoom, Nikkor DX 18-200mm zoom and Nikkor 55-300mm zoom.

Marilyng Loc: Lorain,Oh.

I love my nikon 55-300 & for my birds in flight my sigma 150-500 for my D7100.Both great lenses!

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

It hard to recommend not knowing what you have already but assuming this will fit you shooting preferences the newer 70-300 f/4-5.6 VR is a very nice zoom, great range and nicely priced. Here is an example image at 300mm on the D7100.

(Download)

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

I carry an 18-200 Nikon VRII on the camera. It is amazingly sharp and, for a zoom, distortion free.
I have had several Sigmas over the years and they were great, however about a year ago I bought their 18-250. It was soft, soft and focused slower than a turtle. I sent it in for a checkup under warranty. They did improve it a little, but still very slow and only one soft. It was unusable. Not saying all Sigmas are like that.
My other Sigmas were fine, but I went to Nikon glass and the improvement is immense.

Big Bill Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Why care what we use?
What's important here is what *you* want to use.
Do you want to really reach out and touch something? Then you want a really long zoom.
Do you want really high quality? Hard to get (and expensive if you do).
Do you want low-light (low F-number) capability? Really limits your choice (and, again, expensive).
Do you want something that will cover all eventualities (talking here about wide angle to long telephoto)?

Each choice has its answers. But you need to ask the right question to get the right answer. There are a lot of zooms out there.

garedfrog Loc: Northwest Ga.

I have been a "lurker" for a while on UHH....I love the forum and ya'll have helped me out a lot....I feel like it's time to maybe be of some help...I have a Sigma Zoom Macro Lens...it's a 70-300 1:4-5.6....I got this shot around 6 a.m. several years ago and was handholding my Nikon D300s....the photo was shot at 300mm and I cropped it and have had it printed poster size (24x36) and it's hanging in a classroom....I really recommend this lens