what's the difference between a 55 - 200mm Nikkor Lenses and an 18 - 55 mm lens?

Answer 1

about $ 500 give or take a hundred. depending on the band and the widest f-stop. and if its fixed or not.

Seriously, you need both.

50mm is considered normal. in 35mm film
200mm is telephoto
18mm is wide

General usage... not limited to.

18 mm wide is used for interiors, landscapes, architecture (not technical, you will need a PC lens)

50mm normal is for everyday use

200mm tele is for making far objects appear closer. But I use 200 and 300mm for portraiture and fashion. Makes my subjects slimmer and sexier. and with a f 2.8 its got a nice shallow depth of field. This lens is also good for outdoors. If you really want bird watching and safari stuff I suggest you start with a 600mm lens and go from there.

So all of that in mind. a 18-55mm, 17-55mm, 28-80mm, short zoom would be a really nice lens to have on your camera most of the time. you can take really quick "grab" shots with out having to look through the finder. Like what the paparazzi do.
55-200mm, 70-300mm are practical lenses for distant subjects.

Hope this helps.

The technical stuff just bores me.

Answer 2

Since you have a DX camera these lenses are about 1.45x the focal length, 18=26, 55=82 etc. The difference is that the 18-55mm is a wide to mid range, good for landscape and portrait, the 28-200mm is more for tele zoom far objects like a bird or a deer. However I should point out for you that because of the large zoom rang 28-200 the aperture loss is great: from 3.5 to 6.3. It will be better for you to get a 70-200mm with less loss on the zoom and better zoom to begin with 3.5 to 5.6. Since these lenses are DX they can not be use with Full Frame FX camera Personally I recommend for you to start with a mid level lens, the lenses that come with the camera are low end; You must always remember - The LENS is the most important part of the picture, therefor you should invest in mid to high end lenses. Starting with 24-85mm F2.8/4.0 is a very good serious amateur lens for wide angle(or 24-120mm), as for Tele Zoom I recommend the 80-200mm F2.8 ED even if you get it used from a good owner (new is almost $1000). with these 2 lenses you can not go wrong, the first lens also have a 1:2 Micro capability and since the D40 is a DX camera it will be 1:1.5, this will allow you to get very Very close to a flower or butterfly etc. The range will be 35-117mm and 117-290mm since they are FX lenses (which also gives you the opportunity in the futur to upgrade to an FX camera and then 24mm will be 24mm etc) the GLASS in these lenses are the best of NIKON NIKKOR.

Answer 3

They complement each other. The 18-55mm is a nice walk around lens that zooms from wide angle to mild telephoto. This range is great for indoor shots, street photography, landscapes, etc.
The 55-200mm picks up where the 18-55 leaves off. The 55-200mm is great for wildlife, candids from a distance, sporting events, zooming in on small details, etc.
These two Nikon lenses can only be used on digital SLR models, and they are budget lenses.
I personally don't use the 70-200mm range very much, so I would be tempted to get just one quality lens instead, such as the Nikon 18-70mm.