What kind of lens is this?

[hark]

Thanks, ya'll have been extremely helpful! Will the 85mm f1.8G. give me as much reach or maybe more than the lens i have now? When taking puppy pics i kinda just have to run from them, bend down in snap to get pics of them or else their jumping up on me.

You said currently you are using an 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 so no, an 85mm won't give you more reach. Using your current lens, if you were to zoom out to 105mm, you'd be able to take a closer looking photo. The downside is that at 105mm, your largest aperture will be f/5.6. The 85mm will offer much nicer bokeh but the dogs will look further away. Sounds like you might want to save up for a 70-200mm f/2.8.

 

[Kodiak]

Sounds like you might want to save up for a 70-200mm f/2.8.

… or cheaper, the 70-200mm ƒ4 is also a good alternative since it gives
you two of the three ways to gain bokeh: (re: post #15 of this thread)

2. Focus Distance. The closer the subject is to the minimum focus distance
of the lens the less DoF.
3. Focal Length. The longer lenses will render shallower DoF

 

[hark]

… or cheaper, the 70-200mm ƒ4 is also a good alternative since it gives
you two of the three ways to gain bokeh: (re: post #15 of this thread)

2. Focus Distance. The closer the subject is to the minimum focus distance
of the lens the less DoF.
3. Focal Length. The longer lenses will render shallower DoF

Probably a better option especially if the camera is being held rather than on a tripod because it's lighter.

 

[Kodiak]

Probably a better option especially if the camera is being held rather than on a tripod because it's lighter.

A normal man/woman has no problem with the weight… not even after a day.

I use the ƒ2.8 version every day! The only thing is that, as a pro, I "must" get
all the possible advantage a tool offers. The ƒ2.8 is expensive compared to the
ƒ4 version, again: "In photography, light is free… catching it is not!

The 70-200mm ƒ4's extra range will keep you away from the subject and the longer
focal length (250% long) will compensate for the lack of light.

All this thinking is based, of course, assuming that you camera is , like all mine, FX!

 

[kashkennels]

i think the 85mm f1.8G. might work for me if even when the puppies are more at a distance, & i cropped the pic to make them look closer, would they still look sharp with that lens? I know when i do that with the lens i have now, they don't look sharp at all.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

i think the 85mm f1.8G. might work for me if even when the puppies are more at a distance, & i cropped the pic to make them look closer, would they still look sharp with that lens? I know when i do that with the lens i have now, they don't look sharp at all.

They should look sharp no matter what lens you use if you shoot correctly.

 

[hark]

i think the 85mm f1.8G. might work for me if even when the puppies are more at a distance, & i cropped the pic to make them look closer, would they still look sharp with that lens? I know when i do that with the lens i have now, they don't look sharp at all.

Since you are shooting with a D7000 which has a 16.2MP sensor, you should be okay. However, I *think* cropping will affect the number of MPs that you'd be left with. It shouldn't affect the sharpness though. Do you use some type of photo editing software to increase your photos' sharpness with the current lens you use?