New lens for Nikon D5000?

[Squirrel684]

Hi. Over the last few weeks I have been pondering about upgrading my D5000. I had seen the D5200 and have continually looked at it. Even before joining talkphotography, I persuaded myself that the 5200 isn't going to a huge upgrade - figuring the the 5x series would all have a lot of similarities.

So...what lenses might people recommend I go for? I have the kit 18-55mm lens and a Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gad-westy]

Hi. Over the last few weeks I have been pondering about upgrading my D5000. I had seen the D5200 and have continually looked at it. Even before joining talkphotography, I persuaded myself that the 5200 isn't going to a huge upgrade - figuring the the 5x series would all have a lot of similarities.

So...what lenses might people recommend I go for? I have the kit 18-55mm lens and a Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD.

Thanks in advance.

Obvious questions but what do you want to use the lens for and how much do you want to spend?

 

[Dale_tem]

What do you shoot? What limitations have you found? What do you wish you could do?


This will tell you should you upgrade your glass or your lens.

You have loads of options, wider, faster or longer, but it depends what you want.

 

[Squirrel684]

As I posted I figured I should add some more details.

Obvious questions but what do you want to use the lens for and how much do you want to spend?

At the moment most of my photography is landscape/country walk related with some attempts at wildlife too. I would also like to move into portraits too at some point.

As I was considering spending £600 on a new body, I guess that's my upper limit but lens-wise, perhaps not as much as that?

I am after any advice going really. I have done so much reading and exploring online that I have confussled myself completely!

 

[gad-westy]

That's a pretty healthy budget especially if you're prepared to buy used.

Personally I'd split your applications across two lenses. Maybe something like a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for landscapy/general stuff and a Nikon 70-300 VR for wildlife which would also work for portraits if you're outdoors. They'd replace both your current lenses so you could recover some cost by selling those. Maybe even have some money left over for a lovely fast prime...

You could also consider something like an 18-200 VR for a one lens for everything option.

 

[Dale_tem]

Have you found any limitations?

Do you do tripod work? Do you want to go ultra wide?

How does your lens cope with wildlife? struggling for light? Not enough reach?

 

[Squirrel684]

That's a pretty healthy budget especially if you're prepared to buy used.



Personally I'd split your applications across two lenses. Maybe something like a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for landscapy/general stuff and a Nikon 70-300 VR for wildlife which would also work for portraits if you're outdoors. They'd replace both your current lenses so you could recover some cost by selling those. Maybe even have some money left over for a lovely fast prime...

You could also consider something like an 18-200 VR for a one lens for everything option.

Thanks for the advice. Are there any places you would recommend getting new things from? The lenses you have recommended above, I assume that's based on buying used lenses with that budget?

Have you found any limitations?

Do you do tripod work? Do you want to go ultra wide?

How does your lens cope with wildlife? struggling for light? Not enough reach?

Biggest limitations I have found tend to be limited reach and/or lack of clarity. That might just be me still learning though.

Yep, I have a tripod and monopod. Some of my landscape photos are tripod based. Wildlife tends to be handheld, particularly with birds. I haven't put much thought into going wide to be honest but I think that's because I am still trying to develop my skills.

See above! Don't have too many problems with light, generally. Sometimes have exposure problems but that's me still learning

 

[faddius]

I think the Nikon 70-300 is a very good suggestion - I hear many good things about it.

To throw a spanner in the works, the nikon 16-85 vr might fall just within your budget along with the 70-300. I used to have one, on a D5100, lovely combination

 

[gad-westy]

Thanks for the advice. Are there any places you would recommend getting new things from? The lenses you have recommended above, I assume that's based on buying used lenses with that budget?

Yeah, those were based on used estimates. I rarely buy any photography gear new so a bit out of touch but you can use camerapricebuster to do a comparison but I don't know how up to date it is kept. If you're okay with grey imports, Panamoz and Digital Rev are usually very reasonable.