New and considering lenses

I've been playing with taking pictures for awhile and I'm ready to get in a bit deeper At the moment I have a Sony A230 with the 18-55mm lens it came with and for the quick grab point and shoot I have my faithful old Sony H9. I was considering buying new lenses for my Sony A but I've never been overly pleased with the colour of my pics.

Anyways, I'm thinking the D5100 will be the best fit for me I'm interested in the D7000 but I'm a bit intimidated by it though. Most of my photography is low light (inside terribly lit rooms like Christmas morning haha and school concerts etc) or outside around fire pit and I'd love to finally get a shot of the northern lights. I've been trying and trying but without luck. I don't do much macro but taking pics of kids and animals they are quite often in my face! I take a step back to get the shot and they take 2-3 steps towards me!
Otherwise I like to take lots and lots of outdoor landscape, nature shots (wondering what that bird is way at the back of the field or if its a moose or deer in the neighbours yard) and most often my kids running or riding horses which are rarely close by or still

I don't want to carry a ton of lenses and have to change them for every situation as I have young children so usually have lots to pack anyways! But I also don't have a huge budget

I'm thinking of gettng the D5100 body with a 35mm f/1.8 DX and a 70-300mm VR
Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated looking at the lens options is so overwhelming

5100 will handle just about any light you can throw at it...can't go wrong with just about any lens. personally I prefer primes but that is just me. I use ancient primes at that...like how they feel.

Any suggestions? I keep going around and around trying to look online and decide which to choose. My understanding is that I must have an AF lens since the 5100 doesn't have AF in the body. I rarely ever take stills as my subjects always seem to be moving! Living rural means I don't get much chance to get out and try these out before buying and having a limited budget I don't want to spend money on lenses that I don't use.

snaphappy said:

Any suggestions? I keep going around and around trying to look online and decide which to choose. My understanding is that I must have an AF lens since the 5100 doesn't have AF in the body. I rarely ever take stills as my subjects always seem to be moving! Living rural means I don't get much chance to get out and try these out before buying and having a limited budget I don't want to spend money on lenses that I don't use.

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If you want auto focus with the D5100 you need AF-S lens..The D7000 will auto focus with AF lens...

What budget do you have to play with..

And if you want to go old school any kind of non ai, ai, ai converted, or ais Nikon F lens will work on your camera albeit in manual focus manual exposure only. Many of them are available dirt cheap they are well made and relatively easy to learn how to use. Yes the 5100 doesn't have the built in AF motor which sucks but it also means that the 5100 can use ANY of the lenses.

I'm still pretty new and learning (slowly) how to use SLR rather than my old advanced point and shoot. I still find myself using the auto function on my A230 far more than I'd like but quite often I grab my camera and take pics so often don't get a chance to set up a shot (frustrating on my A230 since every button has about 3 functions depending on the button I hit previously) So I'm looking to grow but still need a camera that isn't too much for this newbie.

I don't have a huge budget but thought I could do the 35mm with the 70-300mm and the 5100 body. I looked into the kits but I'm thinking I should save money and just pick lenses that will suit my needs and allows to me to add later as I grow and learn. I also looked at the 50mm but with a family of 5 and a small house I think it'd be tricky fitting us all in

I think you should concentrate your budget on glass rather than the camera body. The D90 is still a fine camera and will do anything you need - and focus with non AF-S lenses.

Just a thought.

Hello & Welcome!

I have a 5100 and it will serve you well.. I also have gone the way of lens options and trying to sort things out, there are a lot of options. Your selection of 35 prime and 70-300 zoom are both good lenses. My only question to you would be the 35 - 70mm gap that you will have. I think I would consider the 55 - 300.. it greatly reduces your gap and it also is a tad more economical. I have that lens as does Marilynne (I think) and you can look at some of our pics of wildlife with the lens.

Do not mistake, I think the 70-300 may be a tad better unit but I have been more than satisfied with my 55-300.

Pat in NH

RockyNH said:

Hello & Welcome!

I have a 5100 and it will serve you well.. I also have gone the way of lens options and trying to sort things out, there are a lot of options. Your selection of 35 prime and 70-300 zoom are both good lenses. My only question to you would be the 35 - 70mm gap that you will have. I think I would consider the 55 - 300.. it greatly reduces your gap and it also is a tad more economical. I have that lens as does Marilynne (I think) and we you can look at some of our pics of wildlife with the lens.

Do not mistake, I think the 70-300 may be a tad better unit but I have been more than satisfied with my 55-300.

Pat in NH

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Yes Pat, I have the 55-300mm and never take it off my D5100.

Welcome Snaphappy!

Another vote for the 55-300,bought it yesterday and i think it will stay on my camera most of the time after playing with it today,not a great fan of having to keep changing lenses while out and about.

Andy

Thanx so much everyone this is such an exciting but confusing undertaking. This is a purchase that will have to last me for awhile so I don't want to choose the wrong body and be wishing I'd bought something else. So Oy's comment got me thinking and maybe I should go all in and get the scary D7000 and be able to pick up great used lenses when I can. The 5100 sort of limits the lenses I can use. I just so rarely take still or even slow moving subjects and when I do it's because they're close and I've bribed them hahaha so I'd love to get a nice used prime to play with and see what I can do. But this time of year before it gets seriously cold I'd really like a nice tele so I can be out playing and figuring how to get the sparkling snow to look nice and get nice shots of the snow flying as horses, kids and dogs run and play Those are my favorite shots to take

So really I'm still confused and changing my mind every 5mins as to which camera and lenses I want LOL

If you're taking pics of the kids playing etc, then you might not even the reach of the 55-300mm, a 55-200mm would suffice as you probably won't be that far from the kids anyway

A prime is a great idea - the 50mm f/1.8G is fantastic, but also worth considering the 35mm f/1.8G, or even both
The money you save on getting a 55-200mm would pay for almost all your cost towards the 35mm

If you're not worried about the wider end too much, then the 24-120mm f/4 is a nice (FX) lens (£~800 though)

But all these options, depends on your budget most importantly!!

Don't doubt, you made a great selection in your initial post.

As I see it, there are a number of bonuses to choosing the D5100 in your case, the auto mode has an excellent in built tutorial to help you progress, there's the flip out screen that will help capture images in tight locations and there's not "too much" to mislead you.

The lenses you selected will cover the situations you described admirably. Although, all tele lenses are rather cumbersome so you may find yourself leaving it at home if you've already got a lot to carry!

Rocky - I see that you have the 55-200 and 55-300. Just curious why? How do you use your 55-200 vs. the 55-300?

Trying to figure out these lenses as well. The 55-200 is about half the cost on the used market, which is tempting but I wonder it will be the right solution in the long run.

brrit said:

Rocky - I see that you have the 55-200 and 55-300. Just curious why? How do you use your 55-200 vs. the 55-300?

Trying to figure out these lenses as well. The 55-200 is about half the cost on the used market, which is tempting but I wonder it will be the right solution in the long run.

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brrit, thats a good question...

When I got the camera, it came with the 55-200... After using it for a while, I decided I needed a little more reach, primarily for the wildlife pics. I researched and looked at both the 70-300 and 55-300. I think the 70 was a bit better but not enough for me and my usage to warrant the extra $$$. I ended up getting a 55-300 factory re-furb for a pretty good price. When I ordered, I had every intention of selling the 55-200 (they only get about $150 and there are tons for sale.

I have kept it so far because'
A. Smaller
B. lighter

For traveling light it is better unless I know I need the reach. When I head out to shoot wildlife, planes in flight etc, I always take the 300. I still may sell the 200, I need to see where I gravitate to. I am keeping the 300 for sure, only need to decide if and how much value on the 200 vs what it will sell for.

If you are planning to shoot wildlife, I would absolutely got with the 300.. If not, and you want to save some bucks, there are plnty of 200's to be had.

Pat in NH

If you're mainly shooting moving subjects, I'd suggest you use shutter priority mode. Aperture mode is for static subjects. Auto mode won't do it either.
Handy tip for you:
if it moves.....Shutter Priority
if it's not moving.....Aperture Priority, Auto, Program.

and yes, the 55-300 is a great lens. I have it and use it a lot.

As for a camera that can use a lot of lenses other than the AF-S lenses, the D90 would be a perfect fit for you. Look for previously enjoyed ones on Kijiji or Ebay.

Thanks Pat! That makes perfect sense.

Need to put the 55-300 on my wish list. Love taking pictures in nature. On Christmas morning there was a hawk having a little Christmas meal in our backyard, I was really coveting a telephoto lens. The 55-300 would have made a great photo.

Glad you were able to sort it out... I went throught the same type of anaylsis when I was looking. Good luck on your search!! You can save a few bucks if you go to a factory re-furb, thats what I ended up doing. It worked out real well for 2 lenses that I got.

Pat in NH

I am not regretting the D5100 yet! I previously had a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F717, that I bought while in Iraq in 2004. Even though it is only a 5MP camera, I will not get rid of it, because it offers some creative shots with the swivel lens. Now that I am getting more into photography I feel the 5100 was a good starting point for me. After reading the manual and other books now, I feel I can use the Sony for some creative shots.