Recommend a lens brand for Nikon D50?

Question

Hi there! My wife has a D50 that she's been learning to use. She's grown out of the lenses she has and is lookign for some new ones. Anybody got a favorite manf. to check out? What about filters?

- Cluess George

Answer 1

For a Nikon camera, the ONLY lenses to buy are Nikons. It's the lens system that differentiates the best brands like Nikon and Canon from the others. Best of all, there are some excellent zooms available now that aren't expensive at all, around $150 brand new. They aren't designed for the kind of pounding that pros give their gear, but are great for consumer use. The 18-200VR is the best lens out there, but most camera stores are sold out, the demand is so high.

There are some decent 3rd-party lenses like Tamron, but they don't compare to the top manufacturer lenses.

For filters, you can probably get a pack of standard filters like skylight/UV, polarizer etc from your local camera shop for around $50. At the very least keep a skylight or UV filter attached at all times- in the event some small object comes flying at your lens, it will damage the protective filter instead.

Kenrockwell.com is a great site for checking out Nikons lens reviews. Here are a few links:

Answer 2

Stick with Nikon unless you have a good reason not to. The Nikon 18-55 is the kit lens for the D50 but the Nikon 18-70 is better - it also provides a bit more range.
If she wants more range at the wide end, Nikon makes a great 12-24mm lens. If she wants more range at the long end, you could consider something like the 70-300. For low light photography on the cheap, pick up a used 50mm f/1.8. And then there's the Nikon 18-200mm VR, AF, you name it, it's got it, all-in-one lens.
If you were thinking of serious upgrades (+$1000), the 17-35mm is fantastic for landscapes, the 17-55mm is a great walk around lens (it's what I have on my D200 95% of the time), the 70-200mm is stellar, the 85mm f/1.4 is pretty much the best portrait lens by any brand, there are macro lenses for close-ups, etc, etc, ...
As far as filters go, I personally use a UV for lens protection and occasionally a circular polarizer to cut the glare of foliage, etc. All of the colour filters and special effect filters can easily be reproduced in Photoshop.
I'd be happy to continue this by email - just let me know what you're looking for in a bit more detail (incl. budget). Or post additional detail in this question, and we can all have a go at it.

Answer 3

B&H Photo has good prices and they are dependable. The choice should be based on which camera lenses you already own. No need to replace perfectly good lenses. After that the dicision should be made upon how each camera feels in your hands and which feels the most "intuitive" to your shooting style. If you do not have a lot of experience with a film SLR, then you may not have a style yet. No problem. Just hold each of the cameras in your hands and see which fits the best in your opinion. The buy it along with a couple of 2GB memory cards and go have some fun!

Answer 4

For me, the reason to buy a Nikon CAMERA in the first place is so you can use Nikon LENSES. Stick with Nikon. If you want to score some real points for Christmas, buy the 18-200 VR lens OMG mentioned.

See http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htm for a review.

Thanks for the link, Kirkus.

Answer 5

Nikkor (Nikon) Brand
Here is a link to the Nikonians third party lens forum some are rated pretty high and produce great images. Unless you sell your images you won't be able to see a huge difference. You can pick up a prime 50mm f1.8 Nikkor for $100.

http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=DCForumID17&conf=DCConfID4