A beginner doubt

Hi, all of you people. This is my first post at this forum.

I'm buying a DSLR soon and I need to have things clear.

As an introduction, I've never held a DSLR in my whole life, but I've learned some photography using my point-and-shoot. Also, I consider myself as a fairly good self-teacher. This means, I can get started at photography and develop further skills.

My budget is around 350-450 USD, to begin with, and the option that's most likely is the Nikon D3100. If I can gather a little bit more, I could go for the D3200. But right now, I can only afford the D3100. As you may know, Amazon sells the Nikon D3100 with a default lens here.

That lens (AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm) seems to me a good option for a starter. However, many photographers agree that a 35mm 1.8 lens would be much better for a beginner. A good option would be the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX (here), but sadly it goes beyond my budget if I bought both the body with the default lens and this extra 35mm lens.

Now, regarding my budget, I went to consider if I should buy the body of the D3100 camera alone and the 35mm lens separately. That would exceed my budget for a tad, but seems like a good deal. Another more expensive option would be purchasing the D3200 body and the 35mm lens.

My doubts raise several questions. I'd be glad if you could help me:

1. What's the big difference between the default 18-55mm lens and the 35mm one? I know this goes deeper, but, what does it make the 35mm lens the "one every photographer should begin with", according to a YouTube photographer? This connects to the first paragraph: I've been in situations when I "devour" new items (for example, I've needed to buy new guitar amps because I wasn't a beginner anymore) and felt the need to get more advanced ones. I hope you can tell.

2. I can't confirm whether the 35mm lens has that shake-remover, vibration thing, called VR, that comes with the default 18-55mm lens in the original package. Any insight on this? Is this that important?

3. Would you recommend me to buy the camera with it's default lens, or purchase the body and the lens separately?

Thanks for taking your time to read.

Have a good rest of the day.

(I'm not sure this is the right place to post it, so, if it needs to be moved, please notice me.)

First, welcome to the forum!
While the D3100 is a good camera, I had one, if you could go with the 3200 you would be better off. I would get the 18-55 first so you can try different focal lengths to see if a 35mm is what you want. The 35mm, and other prime lenses tend to give you sharper, clearer images. The 35mm 1.8G does not have VR (vibration reduction) which isn't a big concern anyway unless you are shooting slow shutter speeds. Then just use a tripod or brace the camera.

Welcome to the website,
I have the D3200 which is a good camera, I also have the 50mm F1.8 lens, which is very good, and might be a little cheaper than the 35mm lens.

This is where I bought my D3200, BuyDig.com - Nikon D3200 24.2 MP 1080p DX-format Digital SLR - Body Only- FACTORY REFURBISHED these are refurbished cameras from Nikon. A great deal and mine came with less then 100 shutter actuations. You can get the 18-55 cheap.

The 50 is a great lenses. Just remember it will be manual focus. The 35 he is looking at will AF on the 3200.

If I was you, I'd stick to the cam + kit lens for the time being. The 18-55mm is your 35mm and your 50mm and much more. Yes it is not as sharp as a prime and yes you can not open it as wide but those are worries for later.

I did exactly the same with my D3300. It was my first digital and instead of worrying about lenses, I first wanted to find out if I even liked shooting that thing for more than a month. My 18-55mm was perfect for that.

weebee said:

First, welcome to the forum!
While the D3100 is a good camera, I had one, if you could go with the 3200 you would be better off. I would get the 18-55 first so you can try different focal lengths to see if a 35mm is what you want. The 35mm, and other prime lenses tend to give you sharper, clearer images. The 35mm 1.8G does not have VR (vibration reduction) which isn't a big concern anyway unless you are shooting slow shutter speeds. Then just use a tripod or brace the camera.

Click to expand...

Thanks. About that page, where is it based in? Also, how do you know how many shutter action it has?

J-see said:

If I was you, I'd stick to the cam + kit lens for the time being. The 18-55mm is your 35mm and your 50mm and much more. Yes it is not as sharp as a prime and yes you can not open it as wide but those are worries for later.

I did exactly the same with my D3300. It was my first digital and instead of worrying about lenses, I first wanted to find out if I even liked shooting that thing for more than a month. My 18-55mm was perfect for that.

Click to expand...

Thank you. That's a good point. I just don't get why the default lens goes from 18 to 55 mm and the other is only 35 mm and more expensive.

JcatG said:

Thanks. About that page, where is it based in? Also, how do you know how many shutter action it has?

Click to expand...

They are out of NJ. They won't tell you the shutter count because the cameras are in a sealed box from Nikon. There is a easy way to find out when you take a picture. I've bought other refurbished items from Nikon and they look like new. A great way to save money.

JcatG said:

Thank you. That's a good point. I just don't get why the default lens goes from 18 to 55 mm and the other is only 35 mm and more expensive.

Click to expand...

Well, the one is f/1.8. Which means the lens is larger diameter, relative to its focal length. And large diameter lenses are simply more expensive to make, harder to make good.

fstop number is focal length / aperture diameter (which is actually the front element effective diameter).

So 35mm f/1.8 is 35/1.8 = 19.4mm diameter
and 18mm f/3.5 is 18/3.5 = 5.1mm diameter (and 10mm at 35mm f/3.5).

The larger lens has to be ground accurately way out to 19mm diameter. And it has several elements needing this accuracy. This is harder to manufacture. Wide apertures are expensive. Many of the Nikon f/2.8 zooms cost up near $2000, and there are no f/1.8 zooms - too expensive and difficult.

I would certainly start with the 18-55 zoom. It is vastly more versatile, and it will do 35mm too. Phones typically do not zoom, but point&shoot compacts did. Same thing, more versatility, wide angle to telephoto (in some degree).

The 35mm f/1.8 does offer f/1.8, which if 1.8 is used, it is a specialty or novelty feature, not for general purpose at all. It is good to normally use f/5.6 or f/8 for general purpose (sharper, more depth of field). And the 35mm probably is a little sharper lens (higher price - certainly better at wide apertures like f/3.5), but it only does 35mm. 35mm is the number you would want if you only had one focal length, but you can have from 18 to 55 mm instead.

JcatG said:

Thank you. That's a good point. I just don't get why the default lens goes from 18 to 55 mm and the other is only 35 mm and more expensive.

Click to expand...

Better quality and since it is fixed at one focal setting it is calibrated for optimum sharpness. There are zoom lenses out there that rival the IQ of primes. But you'll pay premium for it

I too would suggest, if you can afford it, the D3200. Buying refurbished means that Nikon has gone over it to make sure all is within spec. You're not going to know how many shutter actuation's it has until after you have purchased it. However, it's really not a big deal as these cameras are made to shoot well over 100,000 images. And chances are that if you are hooked then you will down the road upgrade the camera anyway once you understand so much more about dslr photography. On the flip side, if you don't find dslr photography is for you then you're not heavily invested and can always sell it.

On lenses, a fixed focal length such as 35mm, 50mm, etc... is what we call a prime. Because they don't zoom in or out they tend to be sharper lenses and much wider aperture (f/1.8 wide lens opening, more light in, area is focus much tighter & the smaller the "f" number the larger the opening - kind of backwards to wrap your brain around). But, the 18-55mm kit lens will give you great pictures once you learn technique, editing, and proper settings in the camera - it's a big learning curve stepping up from a point-and-shoot. I tell you of the learning curve because it can be frustrating, but VERY rewarding once you get the hang of it.

Here is one of mine from last year using the 18-55mm.

I have bought refurbished lens and a camera body in my time and found them to be flawless. I too would recommend you start with the 18-55 kit lens. It is more than sharp enough to give you good photos and is more versatile than the 35mm. As you gain experience then you can decide to expand your lenses to include specific lenses that best serve your interests.

JcatG;379340[COLOR=#000000 said:

][/COLOR]2. I can't confirm whether the 35mm lens has that shake-remover, vibration thing, called VR, that comes with the default 18-55mm lens in the original package. Any insight on this? Is this that important?

Click to expand...

The Amazon linked D3100 does state and show the VR lens. If most of your shooting will be handheld then the VR could be useful. There are 3 18-55mm lenses, but guessing this is the first VR edition, which would be this lens: AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR from Nikon .

The 18-55mm is a good lens to start and may offer the most bang for the buck of any lens.

The 18-55mm lens is way underrated. It has ED glass. It has an aspherical element. Those are things you find on higher end FX lenses usually. For the price it is an excellent lens, certainly a very capable short range zoom lens. Sure it is not as sharp as a prime lens, but for a beginner it is a great way to start and still yields very nice images. Get one used on Ebay for cheap (like $80) and get the factory refurbished D3200. My D800 was factory refurbished from Nikon and has performed superbly.

If you have never shot with a SLR/DSLR, then desist from acquiring extra lenses right in the beginning.

I would suggest that you save a bit more and get the D3300 with the new kit lens. The difference in price between theD3200 and D3300 is not all that much. This kit is much better (both body and the lense) than the D3200 with its older kit lense. The advantage in D3300 is that you get sharper images, faster burst rate, better VR, better battery life, as well as excellent video. The kit will see you through initial months of shooting. Once you get familiar with the camera and the kit lense, then you may think of adding lenses.

Hi there, welcome to the forum.

I think the 3100 is a great camera, indeed I purchased one a few months back as a second camera. I can recommend this for a beginner with the 18-55 kit lens. There is a lot to learn when jumping from a P&S to a DSLR, a fact which many people underestimate. Should you decide that you have neither the time nor enthusiasm to get away from the automatic mode of the dslr, then your investment will have been minimal. If however (an I hope) you find that this is just the hobby for you, then your shopping list for santa will not be empty this year!

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

PS. Even though I have my D7100, I still take my 3100 out with me very regularly due to its compact size and great quality.