Beginner lens question

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Dan Davies

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Daniel
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Hi,

Im new to the forum and this is my first post. Sorry if its a silly question.

I recently received a Nikon D750 as a gift and also a separate lens with it. The lens is a (Tamron AF 16-300 mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro Lens for Nikon Camera). Could somone tell me if this lens is suitable for the camera before I open it from the packaging?

I start my beginners photography course in January, so I dont know much

Regards
Dan
 
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It is a good walkabout lens.But if you want to use the full potential of the camera, then you may have to look at prime lenses and/or depending on the type of photography, you use it for.If you are going for the course,then maybe try this lens or just but a cheap prime lens such as Nikon 50mm 1.8g, which is an excellent lens.
 
Dan Davies said:
Hi,

Im new to the forum and this is my first post. Sorry if its a silly question.

I recently received a Nikon D750 as a gift and also a separate lens with it. The lens is a (Tamron AF 16-300 mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro Lens for Nikon Camera). Could somone tell me if this lens is suitable for the camera before I open it from the packaging?

I start my beginners photography course in January, so I dont know much

Regards
Dan
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That's one heck of a gift (y) but that lens is designed for use on cameras with an APS-C 'crop format' sensor, and your D750 is known as 'full-frame format'. It will work on the D750, but you'll be wasting half of the sensor area for which some kind person has paid a lot of money, and losing out of the D750's full potential.

What you should replace it with is another question. You probably don't want a prime lens and will almost certainly find a zoom much more versatile and useful (primes are fixed focal length, vs zooms that have variable focal length). What kind of photography/subjects are you most interested in? What's the budget?
 
Return the lens and get something else...
My favorite general purpose "walk about lens" is the Nikon 28-300, but the price is a bit steep. You might be able to find the Sigma version and still have some change left over...

It's a "jack of all trades" type of lens... after some time/experience you can decide what other lens might suit you better for a specific need.
 
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As above, the lens is not really designed for your camera and you will get some serious vignetting. As for the lens, it depends on what you want out of it. Do you want a general all in one lens knowing that you are going to sacrifice image quality, or do you want a lens collection that will give you the best image quality but meaning you may have to change lenses frequently?

Normally I would recommend starting out with 2 lenses, a short zoom such as a 24-70mm and a longer zoom such as a 70-300mm. The trouble is the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 is quite an expensive and relatively heavy lens. Tamron do a 24-70mm f2.8 lens which is considerably cheaper but still quite heavy. There is then the Nikon 24-120mm f4 which is considered a decent walkabout lens.

Then of course you can get into prime lenses (fixed focal length lenses). Generally prime lenses give better image quality than zooms (although the gap is quite narrow these days), are smaller and lighter, and also faster (meaning they have a wider maximum aperture allowing more light to be let in making it better for low light situations, and also wider apertures allow for shallower depth of field/more subject subjection isolation). You can get some bargains, such as the 50mm f1.8 which can be had for around £130 new.

On your course they may suggest using primes to get you to move around rather than relying on the zoom.
 
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HoppyUK said:
That's one heck of a gift (y)
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Sure as hell is. Can you point me in the direction of someone who hands out kit of that value.

I use the 28-300, like Steven. Highly versatile lens and a very respectable performer.
 
arclight said:
Sure as hell is. Can you point me in the direction of someone who hands out kit of that value.

I use the 28-300, like Steven. Highly versatile lens and a very respectable performer.
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one more for the 28-300!
 
Dan Davies said:
I recently received a Nikon D750 as a gift and also a ...Tamron AF 16-300 mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro. Could somone tell me if this lens is suitable for the camera?
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It's a Nikon-fit lens so it'll work after a fashion, but also it's a 'do everything' lens and thus comes wth its own compromises.

I would return / sell / keep it, but get a simple (but higher image quality) single prime lens like a Nikkor 50mm (making sure it's one that covers the full-frame FX sensor of the D750) - as Ramesh suggests above in the first post after yours. Such would have fewer distortions / aberrations and better flare resistance. As a raw beginner you've got too much to learn already. Keep it simple (at least for now).
 
sk66 said:
When I was deciding on keeping the 28-300 for use on a D800 (very demanding sensor) I did a test. Can you tell which is which?


Lens test w/ D800 by Steven Kersting, on Flickr
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I'm not even going to try. All those images are taken from the centre of the lens, at f/8. That's pretty much the absolute sweet spot and you'd expect most half-decent lenses to perform well there. (Remember, the Nikon 28-300 is still a £650 lens - it isn't "cheap".)

What you get for your money when you buy a better lens is sharpness away from the centre of the image, and sharpness wide open as well as at f/8. That's where you'd expect to see the 70-200/2.8 shine in comparison to the 28-300.
 
StewartR said:
I'm not even going to try. All those images are taken from the centre of the lens, at f/8.
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Yup, and that's the point.
Many bang on about how superzooms and kit lenses are terribly compromised, and rave over primes and very expensive pro lenses (TBF, most of my lenses are of the latter types). But the fact is, if you know your gear, probably 75% of images can be taken very well with basic/"compromised" kit (probably more if you consider output/use).

Yes, the Nikon version isn't "cheap" (well, it is compared to most of my other lenses). But the Sigma version also rate quite well/similarly for a lot less money.
 
sk66 said:
Yup, and that's the point.
Many bang on about how superzooms and kit lenses are terribly compromised, and rave over primes and very expensive pro lenses (TBF, most of my lenses are of the latter types). But the fact is, if you know your gear, probably 75% of images can be taken very well with basic/"compromised" kit (probably more if you consider output/use).

Yes, the Nikon version isn't "cheap" (well, it is compared to most of my other lenses). But the Sigma version also rate quite well/similarly for a lot less money.
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Depends on who you are I guess. The only time I shoot with apertures this small (f8) is for landscapes and then I'm wanting good edge to edge sharpness too, therefore kit lenses are a big compromise for me.
 
snerkler said:
Depends on who you are I guess. The only time I shoot with apertures this small (f8) is for landscapes and then I'm wanting good edge to edge sharpness too, therefore kit lenses are a big compromise for me.
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I won't argue... sure, if you have specific needs/goals there's probably a better lens *for those particular needs/goals.* And there's probably another better lens for another specific need/goal... and so it goes. There's a reason I own a dozen different lenses for my DSLR's... and probably 8 lenses for my Nikon1... and there's a reason my bank account is as empty as it is.

(no, I didn't go broke buying lenses... everything was easily paid for and (mostly) justified. but it *is* a lot of money.)
 
My advice on this is to get yourself a used intermediate camera with a kit lens, say a D5300 and learn with that first. Also trade in the Tamron lens and when you've had more experience behind you, you'll know what lens to use with the D750 and it'll be easy to upgrade to it. If you decide photography is not for you, Thats a camera worth £1,500 you can probably cash in.

It's a beast of a camera to start learning with and you'll appreciate it more after learning more about photography.
 
To me it seems very counter-productive and somewhat rude to sell a gift because of a slightly harder learning curve. It's really not too scary to spend a bit of time reading up on how to use the base functions. One doesn't have to use every single button on the back of a camera on day 1.
Lens wise it would be a great idea to swap that lens for one fully compatible with the 35mm format. I'm a prime guy myself, but there are many zoom alternatives for those who prefer not to move their feet or shoot things far away.

I wonder if the Op will ever return!
 
Dan Davies said:
Hi,

Im new to the forum and this is my first post. Sorry if its a silly question.

I recently received a Nikon D750 as a gift and also a separate lens with it. The lens is a (Tamron AF 16-300 mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro Lens for Nikon Camera). Could somone tell me if this lens is suitable for the camera before I open it from the packaging?

I start my beginners photography course in January, so I dont know much

Regards
Dan
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Depends on what you photograph but 50mm 1.8 is an excellent and underpriced lens, don't let people lead you to think you need expensive lenses you don't always get what you pay for, there are excellent cheaper lenses but again what you'll need depends on what you photograph
 
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