Questions

Dooginfif20

I am in the market for a new lens. I have a Nikon D60 and I am looking to upgrade from the kit lenses I got with it. I do a mix of shooting but I can tell the differences in shots because the lack of VR or because of the lowest F-stop being at 3.5. Anyone with ideas of the best lens I can get for around $500-$750. All opinions are appreciated!

WilliamClark77

Dooginfif20 wrote:

I am in the market for a new lens. I have a Nikon D60 and I am looking to upgrade from the kit lenses I got with it. I do a mix of shooting but I can tell the differences in shots because the lack of VR or because of the lowest F-stop being at 3.5. Anyone with ideas of the best lens I can get for around $500-$750. All opinions are appreciated!

Is VR a must and what focal length range do you have in mind?

In that price range (actually cheaper) I can highly recommend Tamron's 17-50/2.8. It lacks VR (IS in my case since I shoot Canon), but it's so light I routinely handhold 1/25s shutter speeds at 40mm or so with sharper results than my 70-200/f4 L IS at 70mm and 1/50s with the IS humming away. The only real drawback is some grarly distortion at 17-18mm and I constantly zoom the wrong way since it's backwards from most lenses.

ziggy53

Dooginfif20 wrote:

I am in the market for a new lens. I have a Nikon D60 and I am looking to upgrade from the kit lenses I got with it. I do a mix of shooting but I can tell the differences in shots because the lack of VR or because of the lowest F-stop being at 3.5. Anyone with ideas of the best lens I can get for around $500-$750. All opinions are appreciated!

The Nikon D60 is one of those curious new cameras from Nikon which does not have an AF drive screw, so you have to either get an AF-S lens or similar from another manufacturer, or you have to manual focus.

A pretty good standard zoom with a built-in motor and reasonable price is the new Tamron 17-50mm, F/2.8 XR Di-II LD SP ZL Aspherical (IF) (the "ZL" is important and implies the built-in AF motor).

I believe this is the correct lens at B&H:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/550954-REG/Tamron_AF016N700_17_50mm_f_2_8_XR_Di_II.html

swintonphoto

ziggy53 wrote:

The Nikon D60 is one of those curious new cameras from Nikon which does not have an AF drive screw, so you have to either get an AF-S lens or similar from another manufacturer, or you have to manual focus.

A pretty good standard zoom with a built-in motor and reasonable price is the new Tamron 17-50mm, F/2.8 XR Di-II LD SP ZL Aspherical (IF) (the "ZL" is important and implies the built-in AF motor).

I believe this is the correct lens at B&H:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/550954-REG/Tamron_AF016N700_17_50mm_f_2_8_XR_Di_II.html

The Tamron is the one I would go with.

Dooginfif20

I appreciate all the comments! I will look into the lens that you have all recommended! I am actually looking for a lot of different lenses. I want to purchase a wide variety of lenses but first I want just an all around handheld lens that is better then my kits AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 lens. I would also like to purchase a macro lens as well! Feel free to share more! I am the sponge here to soak up your knowledge!