55-200mm for Nikon D40, Sigma? Nikon?

[Ed_Sutch]

I know what you're thinking, 'another guy trying to get into photography' But, having the summer off from Uni I thought I'd take the plunge and buy a camera as I've been meaning too for ages. D40 it was with kit lens etcetc.

Anywayyy.. I've had it all of a day, and was already thinking of another lens, relatively cheap but still being good enough to get some practice with.

Now, I've had a search on here, and this Nikon Af-S 55-200mm seems to be quite well received for what it is, a quick browse later and I've found Sigma 55-200mm From what I make out, the Sigma doesnt have any form of image stabiliser like the Nikon lens, but for £90 if I went with the Sigma am I likely to be happy?

Any feedback on these/ similar is what I'm after from you guys!

PS. Student bank account so keep it do-able for me

Thanks, Ed!

 

[itsdavedotnet]

haha, after another lens already XD

uh... the nikon 55-200 (that I had for sale in the same thread you bought my d40 in) is a pretty good lens, and the additional VR-ness (if you can stretch to that) is a pretty cool feature, and useful especially for slower but long lenses like this, as it helps eliminate hand shake.

On the other hand, the sigma/tamron ones are pretty cheap... check ebay and camerapricebuster, pretty sure you can get them for less than £90, though the prices I can remember are pre-inflation by manufacturers...) they're meant to be pretty good, just make sure you get the HSM versions or they won't focus on the D40!

 

[Ed_Sutch]

haha, after another lens already XD

uh... the nikon 55-200 (that I had for sale in the same thread you bought my d40 in) is a pretty good lens, and the additional VR-ness (if you can stretch to that) is a pretty cool feature, and useful especially for slower but long lenses like this, as it helps eliminate hand shake.

On the other hand, the sigma/tamron ones are pretty cheap... check ebay and camerapricebuster, they're meant to be pretty good, just make sure you get the HSM versions or they won't focus on the D40!

Damn right, I gave up on a few hours of revision to go an have a play, this and may car and going to be an expensive summer lol!

I wish I had have seen the thread earlier and would've had the lens of you too, was about to ask about 'Tamron' I'd never heard of them, but they seem to pop up everywhere so may take the plunge!

AutoFocus is the first thing I'm checking at every lens I see, I know I need all the hidden help I can get!

 

[leaky5]

I have just picked up a D90 and used up most of my budget for the moment. But wanting a slightly longer lens than the kit one, I started checking out the Tamron 55-200.
When I had a Sony, everyone raved about the quality (for the price) of these.
For a Nikon, you can pick one up for around £70-80 new, obviously no VR and I am not sure if it will AF on the D40.
I am hoping I was lucky, the other day one came up on Ebay for £41 inc p&p, says hardly used, guess I will see when it turns up.
As I have some over lapping focal lengths, I will do some comparison shoots between the kit and Tamron.

BTW I am blown away by the D90 shoots straight from the camera