I've recently bought a Nikon D80 with an 18 - 135 f/3.5 lens and am now looking to purchase another lens. Being a complete novice I'm unsure of what to get next. I'm on a budget and don't want to spend more than about £200 Would the 18 - 55 f/3.5 give me anything that my current lens doesn't? If not, any suggestions for an all rounder lens?
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Which SLR lens next?
- Thread starter Candle1
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What type of shooting do you mainly do? You have a pretty good all around lens, the Nikkor 18-200mm is a bit better of an all around lens but it would be very redundant to get it after your 18-135mm.
Thanks, as I'm a complete novice I was looking for something that would allow me to experiment with as many different types of shooting. Of late I've been shooting a lot of christmas lights etc but don't seem to be getting it right? (this may of course be down to user error and not the lens!)
Do you have a flickr account or something similar to that? I should be able to help you a bit with that and seeing pictures that you've taken will show what you like to take pictures of.
Your next lens should be something fast, at least f/2.8. Right now you can't experiment with low-light photography (e.g. the Christmas lights you want to shoot) and shallow depth of field. You might consider the 50mm f/1.8; it ought to open up some new possibilities for you much more so than another slow zoom lens.
Either of those would be a lot more fun for you than any slow zoom lens, since you don't yet own a fast prime.
The lens you need next is the one you simply can't do without.
That is, keep your money in your pocket until you see a big, gaping lens-shaped hole in your life.
Your 18-135 lens offers a remarkable coverage... from wide angle, through 'standard', to mid telephoto.
You say you're a "complete novice". In which case (and not wanting to criticise
), the weak link in the photographic chain is more likely to be you than your equipment.See what you can do with your versatile lens for a few more months, before looking to spend ££. Just my two-pennorth (as a guy who shoots 95% of pix on a 'kit' 18-70 lens)...
I would also look at the 85mm ƒ/1.8, it's always better to be a bit more on the telephoto side IMO.
That would help immensely unless you are going for abstractions.
Now you're talking...
A tripod will do a lot more for your photography, IMO, than a new lens (for just about any kind of photography)...
Well to give you some perspective about what this beginner has found out...
I've had an SLR for about 8 months now which came with a 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 zoom lens. I thought my next lens would be a 70-200mm zoom lens for taking pictures of things far away but instead I've found that I mainly take pictures around 50mm - the only time I use the full zoom is conversely when I walk further away from the object to try and get some depth of field. I've also found that I enjoy taking evening & night photos but do not have a big enough aperture for what I want (6 months ago I didn't know what an aperture is, I just knew I wasn't getting the shots I wanted.)
So I've now found that my lens shaped hole in my amour is around 50mm with a larger aperture so I'm looking at getting a prime (non-zoom) lens like a 50mm f1.4 (this is what the guys call a 'fast' lens). But the only way you'll find out what you need is to go out and take some pictures!
I've had an SLR for about 8 months now which came with a 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 zoom lens. I thought my next lens would be a 70-200mm zoom lens for taking pictures of things far away but instead I've found that I mainly take pictures around 50mm - the only time I use the full zoom is conversely when I walk further away from the object to try and get some depth of field. I've also found that I enjoy taking evening & night photos but do not have a big enough aperture for what I want (6 months ago I didn't know what an aperture is, I just knew I wasn't getting the shots I wanted.)
So I've now found that my lens shaped hole in my amour is around 50mm with a larger aperture so I'm looking at getting a prime (non-zoom) lens like a 50mm f1.4 (this is what the guys call a 'fast' lens). But the only way you'll find out what you need is to go out and take some pictures!
The 50mm 1.8 is a GREAT second lens to get - it really allows you to experiment with depth of field and such - for a great price - just about $100. It would be a great lens to compliment your current gear
While it seems to be logical to get yet another lens, you have a very large focal length reach with that lens albeit not the sharpest lens out there.
You should consider other items to help you get the most out of your lens and camera such as software, tripod, flash to name a few.
On your camera a 50mm is a short telephoto. It can be lots of fun if you get a fast one as recommended and is probably the widest one can go for chest to head portraiture. Other lenses that come to mind would be a longer length zoom such as 70-200 or there about. Given your resources you may have to wait on that.
if it were me, I would focus on software at this point. Aperture, Lightroom, Photoshop CS3/4 or Elements. For hardware, I would look at a flash or tripod. Tripods are far more of value than most realize in that they allow you to take longer exposures, do smooth panning etc.
Just a thought.
- Phrehdd