Whats a good lens to buy for my Nikon D50 for taking pictures of animals from far away. I mean telephoto lens.

Question

I need a telephoto lens that are good and not so expensive. I have $275 to spend. Any brands is fine as long as it takes good quality pictures.

Answer 1

You can't buy a new Nikon lens suitable for your purposes for $275, but there are others available. I do not have current experience with the aftermarket brands, so I rely on the word of others. I can NOT vouch for the preservation of all automatic functions, but the first group of lenses are all "digital lenses" made in recent years, so I would expect them to do pretty well. Please verify this before your purchase.

You can check for lens reviews at http://www.popphoto.com/lensIndex/

Here are a few to look into that are within your budget. I'm not in a position to recommend any of them, but I'm just trying to get you started.

"Digital Lenses"

Sigma Zoom Normal-Telephoto 55-200mm f/4-5.6 DC Autofocus Lens for Nikon Digital AF - $149
"Since I bought this lens I hardly change it into my other lens.
One comment I got from my pictures is the shots are crisp.
Money was well spent for amateur like me."

Tamron Zoom Normal-Telephoto AF 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Di-II LD Autofocus Lens for Nikon Digital SLR - $179
(No reviews at B&H)

"Full Format Lenses"
(These are still completely suitable for your D50 as far as image size, but double-check for preservation of automatic functions like autofocus and metering.)

Sigma Zoom Telephoto 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF-D - $219
The D50 manual says that this is 100% compatible.
This might be your best bet in your price range. 300 mm translates into a 450 mm equiv lens and this is pretty good for distance shots. "APO" is the good glass. It can go to a 1:2 reproduction in the macro mode. When you are out there taking pictures of animals far away, you just might see a wild flower that you want to photograph. (Note: There is another Sigma lens with the same specs that is NOT the APO glass and I wouldn't bother with that as long as you can afford this one.)

Sigma Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DG Macro Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF-D - $279
SLIGHTLY faster than the previous lens.

I'll call this "a start" and let you browse the reviews. You might find something from Tamron or Tokina that goes out to 300 mm in your price range, too.

Answer 2

I have a Tamron 28mm-300mm zoom on my Canon A2e, I am very happy with it. I forget the cost, but it wasn't too pricy. You won't get much for $275. I would save up a little more, and get a better lens. Otherwise you will be disappointed, and also out the money. I should point out that I have shot a lot of football games, weddings, forensics, and almost everything that got in front of my camera. I also do scenic pictures for post cards.

Answer 3

I have never like 3rd party lenses just because they cut corners somewhere to cut down on price. You need at least a 100mm lens. I'd say even more than 200mm for animals shots. I own a 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens from Canon and it works really nice, but I need more mm's for animal shots, you decide that.

You want a fast lens, f/2.8 or faster (2.8 or lower) and has is more than 100mm's. You will need to spend more than $600 to get at least a decent lens for what your asking for. I even say even more than $1000.

Animal photography is probably the hardest and most expensive photography out of all others.

Answer 4

here's a link to ebays guide on selecting a lens