Which lenses should I get for a Nikon D80?

Question

I am getting it for my wife, who is studying photography. I am getting two lenses, but I really am confused which are better. Is a Nikon 18-55 mm lense better than a 18-135 mm? And is a Tamron 70-300 mm lense better than a Nikon 70-300 mm lense? I was told that for the first lense, the 18-55 mm lense was faster than the 135 mm. For the later, I was told that the Tamron had auto capabilities, and the Nikon 70-300 only had manual adjustments. Does this sound right? Thanks for any advice.

So, to recap, trying to find out if the Nikon 18-55 mm lense is better than the Nikon 18-135 mm lense. And also, trying to find out if the Tamron 70-300 mm lense is better than the Nikon 70-300 mm lense. Thanks.

Answer 1

Unless she's exclusively doing sports or action photography I wouldn't worry too much about the speed. Instead I would concern myself with sharpness and overall quality. With some personal painful experience I agree that Nikon Lenses of any description are going to be better than non-original brands.

The Nikon 18-55mm lens is a standard "kit" lens that is about the cheapest one sold with any camera. Having said this I started out with one and it was not too bad. For a student it gives reasonably sharp results, but lacks a focus distance scale. This makes it impossible to focus manually for depth of field shots. This is something your wife will no doubt be learning about. (Comes into its own on wider angle lenses) I would not recommend this for a student.

I have not personally owned an 18-135mm but I do believe it is quite a reasonable lens. Although from pictures I have seen I do not see a focal distance scale (not to be confused with the focal length scale)

When you refer to the speed of these lenses there are two features you might be talking about. Firstly is speed to auto focus. The feature that boosts this speed is inclusion of the silent wave motor in the lens. Both of these lenses have the silent wave motor and should autofocus with similar speeds. Secondly speed sometimes refers to the maximum aperture of the lens. Both lenses scale across their zoom ranges from a maximum aperture of 3.5 down to a maximum of 5.6. BUT there is an important difference. The 18-55 offers only f5.6 at 55mm wheras the 18-135 isn't restricted to f5.6 until it reaches 135mm. This means that at 55mm this lens would still be offering something like F4 as a maximum aperture making it the "faster" of the two lenses.

I have owned a Tamron 70-300mm lens and used it on my D80. Don't go there. Mine was distinctly soft and had horrible issues with purple fringe (a purple ghost that appears in high contrast situations)

Nikon makes two 70-300 lenses that I am aware of. One has VR and the other doesn't. The VR version is a lovely lovely unit. My history goes from Tamron 70-300 to Nikon 70-300 non VR through to the 70-300 VR. Don't waste the money I did.

Either one of these lenses is however fully compatible with the D80 there shouldn't be any problems.

These days after a lot of wasted moeny I pretty much have my dream kit and that is the D80 with the MB-D80 battery pack, a Nikon 12-24mm DX lens, the Nikon 18-200 VR and the Nikon 70-300 VR.

Lenses that I have owned in the past and either given away or sold inlcude:

Nikon 18-55mm (OK quality but lack of focus scale)
Tamron 28-200mm (Too soft or landscapes that I shoot)
Nikon 70-300 non VR (OK but the VR is better)
Tamron 70-300 (problems mentioned earlier)

For the record I love the D80, you wouldn't find a better camera at that price point in my humble opinion.

I hope my ramblings and exeriences are of some value to you.

Cheers, teef_au

Answer 2

If she is a beginner, she will learn at some point what she feels she is missing. My vote would be for the 18-135, which is a kit lens for the D80. More reach, reasonably sharp, and not too shabby for a kit lens. People might poo poo the plastic mount, but with a normal bit of care it will be fine. Mine has less CA than a friend's 70-200VR. The Nikon lens should be better than the Tamron, although I have a couple of Tamrons that are perfectly acceptable for the kind of photography that I do.

Answer 3

The best to start with would be the 18-55 MM lens. Then get the others as you feel the need would be. I have a 70-300 MM lens, glade I have them but never have used them yet.

Answer 4

Until she develops some feel for what she wants to shoot, all she'll need is a good mid-range zoom.

Nikon's 18-70 is the perfect choice. I have one and it's great (go look at some reviews).

Who knows, she may turn out to be a wide-angle sort of person, in which case the 70-300 will gather dust on her shelf.

Answer 5

Nikon has two different 55-200mm lenses. I'd highly recommend the Nikon 55-200mm VR as it has the Vibration Reduction feature for only $50 more.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/55-200mm-vr.htm