Zoom recommendation

[Fred Kingston_RIP]

The Nikon kit lenses are NOT significantly different (from a technical perspective) that any other Nikon lens... Nikon (without explicitly stating so) price tiers their products between consumer/pro-sumer/pro level... The higher priced (pro level) equipment tends to be less plastic, and more metal and glass... than the less expensive products...

A perfect example is the lens mount... although they all use the Nikon F mount... the lower priced (kit) lenses use a plastic mount, whereas the higher priced lens has a finished metal mount... certainly the mount materials won't affect the len's technical characteristics... The higher priced lenses are also sealed better than the lower priced versions... again, that won't affect the len's characteristics...

I think any/all of the Nikon lenses you've talked about are fine lenses... the only question is whether the focal length meets your friend's needs, and whether it also meets her budget requirements...

 

[crossmr]

The Nikon kit lenses are NOT significantly different (from a technical perspective) that any other Nikon lens... Nikon (without explicitly stating so) price tiers their products between consumer/pro-sumer/pro level... The higher priced (pro level) equipment tends to be less plastic, and more metal and glass... than the less expensive products...

A perfect example is the lens mount... although they all use the Nikon F mount... the lower priced (kit) lenses use a plastic mount, whereas the higher priced lens has a finished metal mount... certainly the mount materials won't affect the len's technical characteristics... The higher priced lenses are also sealed better than the lower priced versions... again, that won't affect the len's characteristics...

I think any/all of the Nikon lenses you've talked about are fine lenses... the only question is whether the focal length meets your friend's needs, and whether it also meets her budget requirements...

Thanks, that's more or less what I wanted to know. In the case of pentax, it's really only their 18-55 kit lens that comes with a plastic mount, the rest all come with metal. It's definitely a known thing that this lens is really below the IQ of all other lenses, but I had no idea if that translated to Nikon and Canon, etc.

But i'll definitely make sure she focuses on a VR lens. Thanks for the help!